Take a break from the summer heat with this cool and fruity dairy free Strawberry Ice Cream! Our recipe is so easy to make, and it’s dairy free, paleo, vegan, and made in 30 minutes or less.
When the summer heat is crazy, one of the best things is cold, creamy and fruity strawberry ice cream!
If you’re craving ice cream but trying to find some that fits your food allergies and can be made quickly and easily, try our quick dairy free strawberry ice cream.
Our strawberry ice cream is super easy to make, no cooking on the stovetop required. Plus it’s paleo, vegan, peanut free, tree nut free (if you don’t count the coconut), and can easily be made added-sugar free if you use a sugar free syrup.
Is there such a thing as quick ice cream? There is! We’ll show you how to make this delicious dairy free strawberry ice cream in 30 minutes or less.
My kids love this ice cream and it’s pretty healthy, too, since it’s made with natural ingredients and doesn’t have a long list of additives like other ice creams do.
Read on for tips on how to make this vegan strawberry ice cream along with notes about the ingredients!
How to make dairy free strawberry ice cream
We made our strawberry ice cream quick to make by using frozen strawberries to make our ice cream mixture half frozen before it’s even put into the ice cream maker, so it only takes about 10-15 minutes in the ice cream maker!
Here are the steps to make this paleo ice cream, it’s pretty simple (don’t forget the full recipe card is at the end of this post!):
- Place your frozen strawberries, Silk heavy cream or canned coconut cream, and the other ingredients in a high powered blender (we use a Ninja blender with multiple blades that works good on frozen fruit).
- Process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Pour the strawberry mixture into your ice cream maker and run the ice cream maker for about 10-15 minutes until it’s creamy and mostly frozen through.
- Serve right out of the ice cream maker.
- Store leftovers in a freezer-safe glass dish for later!
We use a the Hamilton Beach ice cream maker that’s a bowl-type ice crea maker . It’s pretty easy to use, much easier than an old fashioned style ice cream maker.
It’s a bit noisy, but does the trick. They only fit about a quart of ice cream in them, so if you need bigger batches, you’d have to make it in batches.
Ingredient notes for our paleo strawberry ice cream
We used pure maple syrup to sweeten this recipe, but don’t worry, it doesn’t make this taste maple-y or anything. You can use other types of syrups too like cane sugar syrup if you want instead.
If you try this with a sugar-free syrup (like Torani or Lakanto) I’m not sure how the end result will be since I haven’t tried those. I don’t think they’ll have any impact on the final texture, but some might cause more ice crystal growth than others so that’s something to keep in mind.
We add a bit of vodka to this recipe since it helps to keep the ice cream from freezing overly hard and making too many ice crystals since alcohol doesn’t freeze at normal freezer temperatures.
It adds a negligible amount of alcohol to the recipe, you won’t taste it or notice it and it’s not enough to cause a buzz. But you can skip it if you don’t want it in your ice cream, your ice cream will just freeze much harder.
Can I make this without an ice cream maker?
Yes! This recipe will work with or without an ice cream maker, but it takes much longer if you don’t use an ice cream maker. It’s also much creamier when made with an ice cream maker, so if you have that option, I recommend using it.
Our first batch was frozen in the freezer in the loaf pan without an ice cream maker and our second batch was finished in the ice cream maker.
Both turned out good, but the ice cream maker made the second batch creamier. With the first batch made without the ice cream maker, we had to warm up the ice cream for a bit before scooping since it got pretty hard even with the vodka in it.
Why are there white specks in my coconut milk ice cream?
You might notice that there might be tiny flecks of white in the ice cream. That’s because you’re adding coconut cream or Silk heavy cream (which is coconut based) to the frozen strawberries that will cause the coconut cream to harden a little on contact.
Our first batch of ice cream we made with regular canned coconut milk instead of coconut cream and our second batch we made with the Silk dairy free heavy cream. Both batches had those frozen flecks of coconut fat.
I didn’t notice or mind this at all once everything is frozen, but if it bothers you, you can always create this recipe with fresh sliced strawberries and not frozen strawberries to make it more smooth.
Check out our other dairy free frozen treats!
- Dark Chocolate Fudgesicles
- Pomegranate Chia Popsicles
- Chocolate Cookies n Cream Ice Cream (DF GF)
- Pineapple Popsicles
- Strawberry Mango Popsicles
- Peppermint Chocolate Chip Nice Cream
- Homemade Mocha Ice Cream
- Chocolate Nice Cream
Strawberry Ice Cream (Dairy Free)
Ingredients
- 4 cups sliced frozen strawberries
- 1 ½ cup Silk dairy free heavy whipping cream or canned coconut cream
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon vodka**
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a high-powered blender, blend together all the ingredients until blended well. You'll need to stop the blender and scrape down the sides a few times to make sure everything gets mixed well.
- Because the strawberries are frozen, the mixture should be thick and half-frozen already. Scoop this into an ice cream maker and process until frozen into soft ice cream, about 10-15 minutes.
- Serve right out of the ice cream maker for best texture, or freeze for later by scooping into a glass baking dish or loaf pan, cover with foil, and place in the freezer to freeze completely.
- Once it's frozen through, it will need to be softened a bit for easier scooping by setting on the counter for 10 minutes or so, or warming in the microwave for 10-20 seconds.
- If you choose not to use an ice cream maker, scoop out of the blender into the dish and freeze until firm, about 4 hours.
Notes
Nutrition
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and allergy friendly food blogger of 12 years based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist