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Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: It tastes JUST like a strawberry cheesecake, but more flavorful since I roast the strawberries in this recipe.
Texture: Rich and creamy with chunks of fruity strawberries and crunchy graham crackers.
Ease: Roasting the strawberries is an extra step, but it’s so worth it and will make your house smell amazing!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: There’s no custard or eggs, and my special tricks make this one your family will request on repeat.
This Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream is about to become your new summertime favorite!
When temperatures soar to over 115°F here in Phoenix, ice cream is all I can think about.
I have a few tricks up my sleeve with this recipe, so you’ll have to trust me.
Absolutely incredible. It took all of my willpower to not eat the whole tub in one sitting. I am normally a chocolate person and typically don’t enjoy vanilla/fruity bases, and I LOVED this ice cream. The perfect recipe and a new staple in my home.
Why You Should Roast Strawberries (Trust Me!)
It may sound strange to roast strawberries, especially with my secret ingredient, but the results are positively MAGICAL:
- Toss the strawberries with sugar and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (don’t skip it!!) and roast in a low 300°F oven for about 30 minutes in order to slightly caramelize the strawberries and bring out all their delightful flavor.
- This also softens the strawberries so we get little bites of strawberry chunks, which I just love!
- The trick is to do this ahead of time and refrigerate the strawberries until they’re chilled. That way, they won’t melt the ice cream when we add them in at the end.
How to Make Soft & Creamy Homemade Ice Cream
- For luscious ice cream you need to use dairy whole milk and cream. Anything else will be watery, thin, and just not worth the effort.
- The recipe contains a small amount of corn syrup. Why? It helps to prevent the ice cream from crystalizing and getting too hard. Feel free to omit it if you want.
- Another good trick to prevent fruit ice creams from hardening (because of all the water content) is to add a tablespoon of vodka just before you finish churning.
- Lastly, if you prefer a smoother ice cream texture, feel free to use a blender to blend all of the ingredients together except the graham crackers before churning. Then add the graham crackers at the end as directed in the recipe.
How to Churn Ice Cream
- I used my trusty Cuisinart ice cream machine to make this recipe.
- If you’re using a similar machine, make 100% sure that the freezer bowl is COMPLETELY frozen before churning, otherwise you’ll end up with soup.
- That means when you shake the freezer bowl, you should hear absolutely no liquid sloshing.
- No ice cream maker? No problem. Just follow my tutorial for making ice cream without a machine here.
Storage & Make ahead
Make Ahead: You can make both the roasted strawberries and ice cream mixture up to a day ahead of time. Just store in separate airtight containers in the fridge.
Store: Be sure to use a well-sealed airtight container with plastic wrap pressed against the surface. This prevents ice crystals. Store it for up to 2 weeks. The flavors will intensify as the ice cream is stored!
To Serve: Homemade ice cream will harden with time in the freezer. For easiest scooping and the smoothest texture, allow the ice cream to soften in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound (453 grams) fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 6 ounces (170 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup*
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 whole graham crackers, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Toss the strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar and the balsamic vinegar. Spread strawberries into one even layer on the prepared baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, or until the strawberries have darkened in color, are soft, and their juices have released. Transfer the strawberries and juices to a medium bowl and mash until only small pieces of fruit remain. Cover and refrigerate the strawberries until chilled, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a blender or food processor, puree the remaining ice cream ingredients, except the graham crackers, until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl and press plastic wrap against the surface. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 day.
- Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. During the 5 last minutes of freezing, gradually add the roasted strawberries and graham crackers.
- Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, press plastic wrap against the ice cream, and freeze until firm and flavor is ripened, at least 2 hours.
Notes
This post was originally published in 2016 and updated with new photos, tips, and recipe improvements. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
How much does this recipe yield?
1 quart. The yield amount is listed right below the title of this recipe at the top of the page as well as right below the title of the recipe where the ingredients/directions are listed 🙂
Unfortunately, the recipe did not work for me in the sense that the ice cream wasn‘t super creamy. However, I loved the idea of the strawberries and I used speculoos cookies like someone commented. The taste of this recipe is honestly divine!! I loved the addition of the cream cheese. I will absolutely make this again, but I will use my standard go-to ice cream base that has a very different milk to heavy whipping cream ratio (way more cream!) and that also uses egg yolks. Overall, a very nice recipe, thank you!
I’m sorry to hear your ice cream wasn’t creamy as I haven’t had that issue with this recipe! Did you substitute any ingredients or reduce any of the sugar? Did you use full-fat milk and cream cheese? I’d love to help figure out what went wrong.
How did you get the graham crackers to stay together in large chunks as pictured? I followed instructions to the recipe, and they all crushed. I even gently stirred in two extra “chopped” crackers and they still didn’t come out as pictured.
If you’re looking for chunkier graham crackers, I’d suggest waiting until the very last minute to add it in. As soon as you see them at the consistency you want, go ahead and turn the ice cream maker off. Hopefully your ice cream still tasted amazing!
Great recipe! I used 8tbs of butter for 15 whole graham crackers because the crust still seemed too dry after 5tbsp. Baked the cheesecake for an hour and it really turned out fantastic.
So glad you tried this recipe out!
Amazing icecream thank you so much
After the strawberries come out of the oven there is quite a bit of liquid surrounding them. Toss the liquid or mix it in?
Thanks.
Looks amazing. Looking forward to make it.
So good! Very creamy. I will definitely make this again !
It sounds wonderful! I do love cheesecake in any form! Can you use freeze-dried strawberries
It sounds wonderful! I do love cheesecake in any form!
Can I substitute blueberries in this recipe? Blueberry cheesecake ice cream is my Husband’s favorite, and it is very hard to find.
I made this for mother’s day and my mom loved it!! As time passes, the strawberry flavor gets stronger and sweeter. Instead of graham crackers I added speculoos cookies and honestly it tastes like heaven.