This strawberry cheesecake ice cream is rich and decadent, pairing zingy sweet fruit with creamy vanilla and graham cracker chunks!

In the mood for a treat? Try this over-the-top dessert: Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream! This homemade ice cream is decadent and rich, featuring zingy-sweet fruit against a creamy vanilla base and soft graham cracker chunks. Take one bite and you’ll mumble “wow” before immediately poising your scoop for another. (At least, that’s what we did!) It takes a bit of effort to put together, but it’s worth it for this special indulgence. Our family went crazy over this one…and it’s hard to find a person who doesn’t!

Ingredients in strawberry cheesecake ice cream

This strawberry cheesecake ice cream recipe has several components and takes a bit of time to put together. But if you’re up for the challenge of making a showstopper of a dessert recipe, it’s absolutely worth it! This recipe uses our base cheesecake ice cream recipe, then swirls in a homemade strawberry sauce. You can also shortcut the recipe a bit by using purchased strawberry jam, which makes it more manageable. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

• Cream cheese
• Cornstarch
• Whole milk
• Granulated sugar
• Heavy cream
• Kosher salt
• Vanilla extract
• Graham crackers
• Strawberry sauce: strawberries, sugar, balsamic vinegar and cinnamon

Homemade strawberry sauce and a shortcut

The best way to make this strawberry cheesecake ice cream? With homemade strawberry sauce! It has a pure, sweet tart flavor that’s not possible with any other store-bought shortcut. In particular, we love how the balsamic vinegar and cinnamon flavors accent the sweet berries. It takes a few minutes to prep and 10 minutes to simmer on the stove.

But we get it! Sometimes you don’t have the extra 15 minutes or want to clean up a sticky pan. (Noted!) So you can easily make this ice cream recipe with purchased strawberry jam. Try to find the best brand you can: a more expensive jam will most likely taste better than the cheapest jar on the shelf.

Required equipment: ice cream maker

Strawberry cheesecake ice cream requires an ice cream maker, so make sure to have one hand before you start! You’ll find this piece of equipment a great investment you can use to make sorbets, sherbet and ice creams year round. There are two main types of ice cream makers to try:

• Freezer bowl ice cream maker (inexpensive). This type of ice cream maker is the most economical choice. Here’s the 2 quart freezer bowl ice cream maker we use. It’s a little more expensive than some in the category, but it’s held up well over time. With this type of maker, make sure to freeze the base of the ice cream maker overnight before churning.
• Automatic ice cream maker (expensive, but easy to use!). Do you make ice cream often? You might want to consider this automatic ice cream maker, which is larger and more expensive. It requires no pre-freezing of the base, so you can make ice cream any time you please.

How to make strawberry cheesecake ice cream (basic steps)

This strawberry cheesecake cream recipe is a classic ice cream: you’ll make a custard base, then churn in an ice cream maker, then add mix-ins and freeze it again in your freezer. It does take a bit of effort to put together, but it’s well worth it for an over-the-top treat! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Make the custard (5 minutes): Soften the cream cheese. Simmer the cornstarch, whole milk and sugar 4 to 5 minutes, taking care that it doesn’t boil. Then add in the heavy cream, more milk and vanilla. Pour it over the cream cheese and whisk to combine.
• Cool the custard (1 hour): Cool down the custard before churning it. You can do this in a few ways. Our favorite is to transfer the mixture to a large metal or glass bowl and place the bowl in a smaller bowl of ice water for 1 hour.
• Make the strawberry sauce (during the cool time): Make the homemade strawberry sauce. Place it in the refrigerator to chill.
• Churn (25 minutes): Then churn the custard in the ice cream maker.
• Add the graham crackers and strawberry sauce: Swirl the chopped graham crackers and strawberry sauce into the custard (if using).
• Freeze or “ripen” for hard ice cream texture (at least 2 hours): Freeze the ice cream for 2 to 4 hours for a scoop-able, hard ice cream texture.

Storage info

Some homemade ice cream recipes turn into a frozen block after storing for more than a day. But this strawberry cheesecake ice cream stays creamy over the storage time! (The secret? Cornstarch keeps it creamy over time.) The flavor is best right away, but you can store this ice cream for up to 2 weeks and it still tastes delicious.

After you store the ice cream in the freezer for several days, it will be very hard. Allow the pan to sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before scooping.

More ice cream recipes

There are so many ways to use your ice cream maker to make homemade treats! Here are a few of our favorite ice cream recipes:

• Go for classic Vanilla Ice Cream or Homemade Ice Cream
• Add chunks for Chocolate Chip Ice Cream or Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Try Cheesecake Ice Cream, or vary the fruit flavor in this ice cream to blueberry or raspberry
• Whip up Peach Ice Cream

This strawberry cheesecake ice cream recipe is…

Vegetarian. For gluten-free, use gluten-free graham crackers.

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