This summery homemade strawberry cheesecake ice cream recipe is an irresistible combination of rich cream and honey, pockets of tangy cream cheese, and swirls of fresh, syrupy strawberry sauce.
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If you’ve never made homemade ice cream, you’re missing out! It’s one of our favorite desserts and the perfect way to use seasonal fruits.
When you make your own ice cream, you have full control over the ingredients and flavors.
You can enjoy adding your touch while avoiding all of the unnecessary and questionable additives that the store-bought ice creams contain. No artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners needed!
This recipe is for the strawberry cheesecake lovers. It’s such a fresh, boldly-flavored, creamy ice cream with bursts of frozen strawberry sauce and cream cheese.
It’s one of those perfect summer recipes!
Why You’ll Love Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Homemade ice cream is easy: Warming and mixing the custard ingredients, simmering the strawberry sauce, chilling, churning, and freezing — homemade ice cream is not difficult!
Fresh ingredients provide the best flavors: Summery fresh berries, rich cream cheese, silky honey, and creamy milk all meld together for a full-flavored ice cream experience.
No additives or artificial flavor: Unlike most store-bought ice creams, homemade ice cream is made with real food ingredients and no mysterious additives. The colors and flavors are natural and nutritious.
Ingredients
Whole milk: Full-fat, whole milk lends the creamiest, smoothest consistency, but you really can use whatever milk you prefer with great results.
Heavy cream: Cream adds richness and a luxuriously smooth texture.
Egg yolks: Fresh egg yolks deepen the flavor, thicken the custard, and provide gorgeous color.
Honey: The addition of honey is for sweetness, as well as that natural flavor that complements the fruit and cream so well.
Cream cheese: It wouldn’t be cheesecake ice cream without a whole block of full-fat cream cheese to add that classic tangy flavor.
Strawberries: During strawberry season, this is a great way to use our fresh harvests. The rest of the year, we dive into our store of frozen, summer berries.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Tools You May Need
Ice cream maker (optional)
How to Make Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Step 1: Combine milk, cream, egg yolks, and honey in a blender and pulse until smooth. Add pieces of softened cream cheese into the blender with the custard and pulse a few times. The cheese should be combined, but I like to leave a few chunks. Pour custard into a bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill.
Step 2: For the strawberry sauce, combine the fresh strawberries and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the mixture begins to thicken.
Step 3: Mash the strawberries with a potato masher or an immersion blender (careful, it’s hot!), leaving it as smooth or chunky as you prefer. Remove from heat and refrigerate the sauce until chilled.
Step 4: Pour the custard into the ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. It will generally take about 20-25 minutes to thicken to ice cream consistency.
Step 5: Once the ice cream is fully churned, pour into a freezer-safe container, alternating layers of creamy cheesecake ice cream and strawberry sauce.
Step 6: Use a knife to swirl the strawberry sauce into the ice cream, if you’d like. Cover with parchment paper and freeze for a minimum of four hours. Alternatively, you can serve the cheesecake ice cream with a drizzle of warmed strawberry sauce over the top. Let me know how you like it!
Make without an ice cream maker:
Pour the chilled custard into a glass baking dish and freeze for an hour. As it begins to freeze around the sides, stir down the edges to add the frozen parts to the rest of the mixture. Freeze for an additional 30 minutes and scrape down the sides. Repeat until the ice cream is fully and evenly frozen, stirring it every 30 minutes or so.
Tips
- Make sure your ice cream maker canister is in the freezer a full day ahead of the recipe. Don’t remove it until you’re ready to pour the ice cream in.
- Set the cream cheese out ahead of time to come to room temperature.
- Save the egg whites for a zucchini frittata, use it as an egg wash for sourdough Italian bread, or you can even freeze egg whites for later use.
- Choose raw dairy whenever possible, or go for milk or cream without any additives. Just in case you were wondering what the hype is, I wrote a whole post about why we drink raw milk.
- Your custard mixture should also be completely chilled before churning.
- Quickly freezing ice cream to the correct temperature will impact how smooth and creamy your final product will be.
- When ready to serve, let the ice cream sit out for five to ten minutes to help with easier scooping.
- If you want to be extra fancy, you could add some graham cracker crumbs to the ice cream. Simply crush up some homemade graham crackers (or store-bought) in a zip lock bag and sprinkle over the ice cream when creating the layers of jam and ice cream.
Recipe FAQ
The primary ingredients are whole milk, cream, egg yolk, honey, cream cheese, strawberries, and sugar.
I love to use raw milk, but store-bought milk is also a great option. A higher fat content will yield creamier ice cream, though most types of milk will work just fine. Heavy cream gives the richest texture, though half and half or more milk will also substitute well.
When milk freezes, the milk nearly always separates into its different parts, giving a crystallized texture that is not creamy and luxurious. You want the ice cream mixture to be chilled until very cold before freezing.
Eggs provide a rich color and heightened flavor to ice cream, as well as a smooth, creamy, and thickened consistency.
More Ice Cream Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Chai Ice Cream
- Dairy-free Date Ice Cream
- Java Chip Ice Cream
- Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
- Honey Lavender Ice Cream
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup honey
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
Strawberry Sauce
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar, or regular sugar
Instructions
- Combine milk, cream, egg yolks, and honey in a blender and pulse until smooth.
- Add pieces of softened cream cheese into the blender with the custard and pulse a few times. The cheese should be combined, but I like to leave a few chunks.
- Pour custard into a bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill.
- For the strawberry sauce, combine the fresh strawberries and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Mash the strawberries with a potato masher or an immersion blender (careful, it’s hot!), leaving it as smooth or chunky as you prefer.
- Remove from heat and refrigerate the sauce until chilled.
- Pour the custard into the ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. It will generally take about 20-25 minutes to thicken to ice cream consistency.
- Once the ice cream is fully churned, pour into a freezer-safe container, alternating layers of creamy cheesecake ice cream and strawberry sauce. Use a knife to swirl the strawberry sauce into the ice cream, if you'd like.
- Cover with parchment paper and freeze for a minimum of four hours. Alternatively, you can serve the cheesecake ice cream with a drizzle of warmed strawberry sauce over the top.
Notes
- Make sure your ice cream maker canister is in the freezer a full day ahead of the recipe. Don’t remove it until you’re ready to pour the ice cream in.
- Set the cream cheese out ahead of time to come to room temperature.
- Your custard mixture should also be completely chilled before churning.
- Quickly freezing ice cream to the correct temperature will impact how smooth and creamy your final product will be.
- When ready to serve, let the ice cream sit out for five to ten minutes to help with easier scooping.
- If you want to be extra fancy, you could add some graham cracker crumbs to the ice cream. Simply crush up some homemade graham crackers (or store-bought) in a zip lock bag and sprinkle over the ice cream when creating the layers of jam and ice cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello Lisa, This is a question about the ingredients listed on strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Two cups of whole milk and 1 cup of heavy cream. Can raw milk/ cream be used?
Thank you, Jill
P.S. loving your recipes!
Sure can!
Looks delicious 😋 thank you very much!