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This Strawberry Balsamic-Ice Cream is a delightful indulgence that perfectly balances sweetness and tanginess. The addition of aged balsamic vinegar adds a unique sweet-tart note, elevating the strawberries’ natural sweetness and resulting in a richer, more flavorful ice cream experience.
Why You’ll 🫶🏻 this Ice Cream
Many of you likely know the delightful pairing of strawberries and balsamic vinegar, a classic Italian combination. While strawberry ice cream is a cherished treat on its own, the addition of aged balsamic vinegar transforms it into a gourmet experience. This distinctive recipe amplifies the strawberries’ natural flavors, creating a harmonious blend of sweetness, acidity, and creaminess—perfect for summer indulgences or elegant occasions year-round. Whether you’re an adventurous cook or someone who appreciates traditional desserts with a modern twist, this ice cream delivers a rich complexity in every spoonful. Enjoy! ~Nicole
Key Ingredients for Strawberry-Balsamic Ice Cream
Ripe Strawberries are the star ingredient. They provide the sweet, fresh, fruity flavor. Look for berries that are bright, blemish-free, and have that one-of-a-kind strawberry aroma.
Granulated Sugar adds sweetness, contributes to a smooth, creamy texture, and helps lower the mixture’s freezing point, enhancing overall consistency.
Balsamic Vinegar adds a delightful tang that beautifully complements the strawberries’ sweetness, resulting in a rich, intricate flavor profile. Using a nice aged vinegar adds a depth of flavor that enhances the strawberry flavor.
Egg Yolks are essential to the custard base, creating a smooth, creamy texture.
Heavy Cream and Whole Milk are dairy ingredients that provide fat, with heavy cream having a much higher fat content than whole milk. Both are needed to create a balanced richness.
Kosher Salt helps balance and enhance the ice cream’s sweetness.
Strawberry Schnapps is a strawberry liqueur. The added alcohol keeps the ice soft and scoopable. It is optional and can be omitted.
Equipment Needed for Strawberry-Balsamic Ice Cream
- Small saucepan
- High-speed blender
- Glass bowl set
- Wire whisk
- Fine-mesh strainer
- Ice cream maker
- Ice cream containers
Tips for Making Strawberry-Balsamic Ice Cream
- Macerate the strawberries by combining them with 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar for 15 minutes. This helps the strawberries release their natural juices.
- Transfer the berries and their liquid to a small saucepan. Over medium heat, cook the berries, stirring often, until the mixture thickens and becomes jam-like, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Pour the mixture into a blender and process briefly to form a coarse purée (about 2 cups). Transfer the purée to a bowl, cover, and chill. (This can be done one day in advance.)
- In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and ¼ of the sugar; set aside. In a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, salt, and remaining ¼ cup of sugar until just steaming, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- To temper the egg mixture, ladle 1 cup of the hot cream mixture and, pouring slowly, whisk it into the egg mixture. (This will warm the egg mixture and keep it from scrambling before adding it to the hot cream mixture.)
- Pour the egg and cream mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large bowl.
- Set the custard over an ice bath (a large bowl filled with ice), and stir until cool. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, several hours or preferably, overnight.
- Whisk the strawberry purée, the remaining 1 ½ teaspoons of vinegar, and the schnapps (if using) into the chilled custard.
- Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- When you churn the ice cream mixture in an ice cream maker, it expands as air is incorporated, giving it that creamy texture we love. At the same time, the freezing process produces small ice crystals that play a key role in shaping the final product.
- Use a wooden spoon to transfer the ice cream to ice cream containers to keep from scratching the inside of the ice cream churning bowl. Place small sheets of plastic wrap directly on the ice cream to prevent freezer burn.
Substitutions
- Substitute fresh strawberries with defrosted frozen strawberries.
- Substitute the heavy cream and whole milk with full-fat coconut milk for a dairy-free version.
- Substitute the strawberry schnapps with vodka or omit it altogether.
Serving Suggestions
A scoop of strawberry-balsamic ice cream is delicious served with sliced fresh strawberries, shortbread or sugar cookies, or served alongside slices of cake, like Southern Pound Cake.
This recipe is designed for an ice cream machine, but if you don’t have one, try this method. Just pour the ice cream mixture into a large freezer-safe container or bowl and freeze it for about 2 hours. Once it’s mostly frozen, take it out and use an electric hand mixer to mix it until it’s nice and smooth.
Freezing ice cream in freezer-safe containers allows it to stay fresh for up to two months without suffering from freezer burn. I have a few favorite containers that I enjoy using for this purpose.
BALCI Premium (2 Pack-1 Quart Each) Ice Cream Containers (My pick!)
ZICOTO Set of 2 Reusable Tub Containers
CYRICO Pack of 2 Homemade Ice Cream Containers
Yes, you can omit the alcohol. I add a very small amount to lower the freezing point, keeping the ice cream soft.
Yes. You can use large eggs to extra-large eggs in a 1:1 ratio.
Other ice creams you may enjoy…
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Strawberry-Balsamic Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 pints ripe strawberries (about 1 pound or 3 cups), hulled and quartered
- 3 tablespoons plus ½ cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 ½ tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar, divided
- 5 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon strawberry schnapps
Instructions
For the Strawberries
- In a medium bowl, combine the berries, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Let the berries macerate (release their juices) for 15 minutes.
- Transfer the berries and their liquid to a small saucepan. Over medium heat, cook the berries, stirring often, until the mixture thickens and becomes jam-like, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Pour the mixture into a blender and process briefly to form a coarse purée (about 2 cups). Transfer the purée to a bowl, cover, and chill.
For the Custard
- In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and ¼ of the sugar; set aside. In a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, salt, and remaining ¼ cup of sugar until just steaming, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Ladle 1 cup of the hot cream mixture and, pouring slowly, whisk it into the egg mixture. (This will temper the egg mixture before adding to the hot cream mixture.) Pour the egg and cream mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large bowl. Set over an ice bath, and stir until cool. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, several hours or preferably, overnight.
- Whisk the strawberry purée, the remaining 1 ½ teaspoons of vinegar, and the schnapps into the chilled custard. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Enjoy immediately as soft-serve, or freeze for at least 2 hours for a firmer texture. Ice cream can be stored in an ice cream container in the freezer for up to 1 month. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Source: Adapted from A Little Taste of San Francisco by Stephanie Rosembaum Klassen
