4 Ingredient Creamy Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream

posted by Britt Berlin on Jul 29, 2024 2 comments »

This ridiculously creamy fresh strawberry ice cream uses just 4 simple ingredients and no ice cream maker (nor Ninja Creami!) is required! Deliciously sweet, refreshing, and unbelievably dairy free!

The best strawberry ice cream you’ve ever had- and it’s VEGAN!

I know you know that flavor- that how-is-this-real deliciously sweet and juicy strawberry flavor that only comes from the best picked strawberries. All packed into the creamiest, most lush dairy free strawberry ice cream that is truthfully better than anything you’ll find in stores (or even at an ice cream shop!).

This strawberry ice cream is it.

It’s the best way to use up those summer berries before the season is over and stay cool and refreshed on a hot summer day. And somehow it’s so easy, you don’t even need an ice cream machine.

There’s nothing artificially strawberry about these ingredients either. Just real strawberries and a few other plant-based ingredients, and it’s perfectly scoop-able and even fun for the kids to join in on making.

I’d even recommend it as a layer in my copycat Carvel vegan ice cream cake. Or sandwiched between cookie dough in my cookie dough ice cream sandwiches.

Only 4 ingredients:

Fresh strawberries: We’re going to be using the strawberries to make a strawberry reduction. This will pack in the strawberry flavor, without adding any extra sugar!
Vegan heavy cream: Silk Vegan Heavy Cream and Plant Crock are my favorite vegan heavy creams. Califia is okay, but honestly, it’s hit or miss with how it thickens into stiff peaks. Some boxes work okay, others split very easily, even when everything is kept the same. Plus, it does have more of a coconut flavor, as it’s very heavily coconut based (which probably explains why there is so much variability in the result).
Sweetened condensed milk: I really like Nature’s Charm’s oat milk sweetened condensed milk. It’s pretty neutral in flavor, and will serve as the overall sweetener of the ice cream (without being granular, like with sugar!).
Vanilla extract: Make sure you’re using one that contains alcohol. I really like Simply Organics for this. The alcohol will help keep your ice cream scoop-able without an ice cream machine.

Why no ice cream machine?

My idea for this 4 ingredient vegan strawberry ice cream was to keep this as minimal as possible. And to be honest, how often are you reaching for an ice cream maker? Not that often, unless you’re in the middle of summer, so many people don’t feel the need to invest in an ice cream maker (though I do love my vegan chocolate ice cream and oat milk ice cream!).

And of course, while I caved into the hype of buying the Ninja Creami (it is pretty cool!), not everyone will.

So this recipe is designed to be approachable. I want the most amount of people to be able to make this strawberry ice cream, and most people will have a hand mixer on them (because it’s used most often for a variety of recipes!).

Don’t worry- the ice cream can still be super creamy without a machine, and I’m going to talk about my how’s and tips in the next section!

In Britt’s Kitchen: Why use strawberry reduction instead of just strawberry puree:

So when recipe testing this ice cream, I tried a few different routes- one with just strawberry puree, one with strawberry jam, and the final, with strawberry reduction.

The first yielded a super ice texture that was barely scoop able even when it sat out for a while. This is because there was too much water in the strawberry puree.

The second (the jam) tasted too much like- well, jam! And I felt like it defeated the whole purpose of using fresh strawberries. If you have to go through the whole process of making jam to get to the ice cream, what’s the point?

That’s when I finally settled on my final recipe: strawberry reduction, which is made from strawberry puree. This one just checked all of the boxes. It amplified that strawberry flavor (much like the jam), but kept it still tasting like biting into fresh strawberries. And it also didn’t have a ton of liquid in it, because we reduced the liquid, which made it scoop bale (along with using an alcohol-based vanilla extract! That is key here, as alcohol will remain liquid at freezing temperatures!).

So to make strawberry ice cream without an ice cream maker, we’ll first start by chilling the bowl.

Then we’ll cream the vegan heavy cream until it reaches stiff peaks, or semi-stiff peaks. Add in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, and mix again.

Then add in the strawberry reduction, and cream until smooth and fully incorporated.

Freeze, then scoop!

Can I use frozen strawberries here too?

Of course, it’s lovely to be making this strawberry ice cream in the peak of the summer season. But sometimes the craving strikes, and you want that strawberry ice cream in the middle of winter too.

So yes, you can! You will need to allow them to set at room temperature first before you bend them to a puree. And the reduction might take a bit longer, as there’s some extra liquid, but it will still work!

My favorite serving suggestions:

Load up on some vegan chocolate ganache or sprinkle on some vegan vanilla wafer cookies for a strawberry crunch bar-inspired ice cream (the cheesecake version is LEGIT).

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!