This rich and delicious strawberry cheesecake ice cream combines everything we love about cheesecake into a decadent, but easy ice cream recipe.
Ingredients
We only need a handful of ingredients to make this strawberry cheesecake ice cream, and you probably already have most of them in your kitchen right now.
- Strawberries - Nothing beats fresh strawberries in the height of spring and summer. They're extra ripe, sweet and juicy! If you want to make this ice cream when strawberries aren't in season, I recommend using frozen strawberries.
- Lemons - We use the lemons to brighten the flavor of the strawberries and give the ice cream base more of a cheesecake flavor.
- Vanilla - I love adding vanilla to round out the strawberries and the cheesecake ice cream base.
- Cream cheese - The cream cheese is what gives the ice cream an incredible cheesecake flavor. It's tangy and it gives the ice cream a really nice mouthfeel.
- Sweetened condensed milk - We use this to bring in all the sweetness we need in the ice cream base.
- Heavy cream - The cream works to add volume and air into the mixture to keep the ice cream light and irresistible. It's the key ingredient to making sure you can easily scoop the ice cream when its frozen.
- Graham crackers - No cheesecake ice cream is complete until you add the graham cracker base.
- Butter - The butter is needed to mix with the graham crackers to give it that authentic cheesecake crust flavor.
How to make
Making this strawberry cheesecake will be one of the easiest things you will ever do. It is a very fast recipe to put together.
The longest part is cooking down the strawberries and waiting for them to cool, but altogether, it still takes less time to make and assemble your ice cream than most other recipes.
- Prep your strawberries and cook them with a it of sugar and lemon juice until the mixture is thick. Let it cool, then add vanilla extract.
- Beat the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until fluffy. Add in vanilla, and lemon zest.
- Pour in heavy cream and beat until the mixture is fluffy and thick.
- Swirl in the strawberries
- Alternate adding in the ice cream and the graham cracker crumbs into a container.
- Freeze, then enjoy!
Why it works
This ice cream is so good. I love making ice cream, but I don't really eat much of it. Strawberry cheesecake ice cream is the exception.
- Ripe strawberries give us an incredible burst of flavor you can't get with just using jam or even preserves.
- Using full-fat cream cheese gives us that classic cheesecake flavor while also improving the texture of the ice cream.
- We use just the right amount of buttery graham cracker crust to give us the full cheesecake flavor and a bit of added texture.
- It's so easy to make, kids love helping out!
- No need for an ice cream maker! We can use a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer.
F.A.Q.s
You can, but you will need to make the ice cream differently than what is in the recipe card. Instead of adding the heavy cream to the mixture, whip the heavy cream separately, and fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
Absolutely! If you don't have any fresh strawberries, or they aren't in season, please feel free to use your favorite jam or preserves.
The lemon brightens up the flavors in the ice cream, but if you don't have any around, feel free to skip it.
Absolutely not! This is a no-churn ice cream recipe, so you only need a stand mixer or hand mixer.
Related recipes
For more delicious creamy scoops of ice cream, try this churro ice cream sandwich, vanilla ice cream, strawberry rhubarb ice cream, horchata ice cream, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, maple bourbon ice cream, birthday cake ice cream, and churro ice cream.
Recipe Card
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 pound strawberries leaves removed and sliced in half
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ lemon juiced
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract divided
- 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- ½ lemon zested
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ¾ cup graham crackers
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Add the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a saucepan.
- Cook on medium until the juices release and start to thicken and the mixture is reduced by about ⅔.
- Stir in the salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla Set aside to cool.
- Beat the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, and remaining vanilla together until well-combined and fluffy.
- Add in the heavy cream and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and almost doubled in size.
- Pour the strawberry mixture into the ice cream base, but fold it in only twice so as not to overmix.
- Mix together the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter into a small bowl.
- Sprinkle some of the crumbs into the bottom of a 9 x 5 baking pan. Add some of the ice cream, then more crumbs.
- Layer the ice cream and crumbs into the pan until you've run out of both.
- Freeze the ice cream until solid, then cover.
N says
Do you need sweetened condensed milk? Or is there and alternative?
Amanda Powell says
It would need to be sweetened condensed milk both for the thicker texture and the sweetness it provides