Last updated on October 20, 2023
We are Italians and we share the recipe for Strawberry gelato: ice cream with milk, whipping cream, fresh or frozen strawberries, and no eggs. Quick and easy to make
In Italian ice cream shops there are two types of strawberry ice cream: made with milk, creamy and light pink in color; or made with water, with a bright color, called sorbet.
We shared the strawberry sorbet recipe in our ice cream recipe book: refreshing and quick to prepare, especially suitable for summer.
On this page of All Italian we make strawberry ice cream with milk and whipping cream. We prepare the ice cream with the ice cream maker and share the step-by-step process.
As with all fruit ice creams, we do not add eggs to strawberry gelato. The egg in ice cream is a thickener, but in fruit ice cream it is not necessary and indeed changes the taste.
The Italian words of this page:
| 🔊 Gelato | Ice cream |
| 🔊 Fragola | Strawberry |
| 🔊 Gelato alla fragola | Strawberry ice cream |
This is the basic strawberry ice cream recipe with the ice cream maker, made with milk, whipped cream, sugar and without eggs.
You can use both fresh and frozen strawberries. We get a creamy and delicious ice cream like that of the best ice cream parlors.
Want an even lighter strawberry ice cream? Check out the sorbet recipe, which uses fruit with plain water instead of milk and whipping cream.
| Ingredient image | Ingredient name | Cups | Grams | Ounces |
|
Whole milk | 1 cup | 230 g | 8.11 oz |
|
Whipping cream | 0.4 cup | 90 g | 3.2 oz |
|
Sugar | 0.5 cup | 90 g | 3.2 oz |
|
Strawberries | 8.8 oz | 250 g | 8.8 oz |
The ingredients you pour into the ice cream maker must be cold from the fridge.
As in the Italian ice cream basic recipe we recommend using:
fresh whole milk 3.5% fat;
whipping cream 35% fat; it is not necessary to whip it before adding it to the other ingredients.
White sugar to obtain the right texture and creaminess.
For each ingredient we indicate both the volume in cups and the weight in ounces and grams.
In the US, most online ice cream recipes indicate the ingredients in cups: it's a very practical unit, in which each ingredient is already converted into volume, so you don't need a scale.
👉 To be more accurate, however, we prefer to weigh all the ingredients: both solids and liquids before pouring them into the ice cream mixture.
For this you need a kitchen scale, preferably a digital one, which usually expresses the weight in ounces (oz) and/or grams (g).
👉 Especially if you're just starting out, don't fill the ice cream maker completely: making ice cream in small quantities is easier.
You can make our ice cream recipes with all types of ice cream machines: compressor, with freezer bowl, and with the Ninja Creami with the “gelato” program.
Also check out our guide about the usage of a compressor ice cream maker.
If you use fresh strawberries: wash them, clean them and cut them into small pieces. Frozen strawberries are ready to use.
After washing the strawberries, turn on the ice cream maker. So you let it cool down while mixing the strawberries with the other ingredients.
It depends on the ice maker, but it usually takes 10-15 minutes for the ice maker to be cold and ready to make gelato.
Put all the ingredients in a bowl, including the chopped strawberries. First the liquids, then the strawberries and finally the sugar.
Use a immersion mixer on low speed to mix the ingredients: this will give you a smooth mixture.
👉 If you use frozen strawberries, they will be whole and rather difficult to chop: in this case it is easier to use a blender than an immersion mixer.
Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and make sure that:
The ice cream maker is cold enough.
Some ice cream machines indicate the temperature, which must be at least -7.6°F / -22°C for ice cream to form.
We pour the ice cream mixture after letting the ice cream maker cool down for 10-15 minutes. Since the countdown starts at 60 minutes, we pour the ice cream when the timer shows about 50-45 minutes.
The mixing paddle should be already rotating.
👉 Your ice cream maker probably has an opening that's useful for pouring the mixture without lifting the lid completely, preventing the cold from spreading.
It is important to pour the ice cream when the ice cream maker is very cold: this applies to all ice cream makers, the ones with compressor and those with freezer bowl.
Usually the ice cream maker takes half an hour to make ice cream: maybe a little less if you use frozen strawberries. You can check the status of the gelato through the transparent lid of the ice cream maker.
The ice cream is ready when the rotating paddle stops or the ice maker timer runs out.
With a little experience, you'll understand just the right time to get the ice out of your ice cream maker.
Your Italian strawberry gelato is ready, light and creamy. Buon appetito! 🍨
In the restaurant in Italy, when you finish eating, the waiter will ask: 🔊 andava tutto bene? (was everything fine?)
To make our recipes on we use an ice cream maker. But on all pages we write that you can also make ice cream if you don't have one. How do you do this?
First of all, the ingredients: also without an ice cream maker, you can use the same ingredients from our recipes. Mixed together they make an excellent base mix for ice cream. After that, the procedure for making the ice cream is different.
An ice cream maker slowly mixes ice cream in a cold container. This is how ice cream increases in volume, absorbs air, and becomes soft as gelato from the ice cream parlor.
The most common method is to let the mixture freeze for a few hours. Once frozen, blend in a high-powered blender to make a cold dessert. It won't be as smooth and creamy as real ice cream though.
Another method, perhaps more practical and which we prefer, is to mix the ingredients of the ice cream and then pour it into the ice cream moulds: to get a creamy ice cream stick in a short time.
Finally, many online sites share recipes for making ice cream without an ice cream maker with condensed milk: we recommend that you avoid it, because condensed milk is not necessary to make ice cream at home and it is very high in calories.
Instead, it is much healthier, faster and cheaper to make your own ice cream with an ice cream maker. There are ice machines that are great for gaining experience and that are rather inexpensive, for example those with a freezer bowl.
You can make ice cream in many ways: light and low in calories, or rich in ingredients and calories. As we often write: most websites publish recipes with eggs, which often do not fit in Italian ice cream; especially in fruit flavours.
The lightest and simplest strawberry ice cream you can make is strawberry sorbet, with water and sugar.
However, there are also alternatives to a creamy but dairy-free strawberry ice cream. We wrote a page about low calorie ice cream where we share the tips for making ice cream without whipped cream, without milk and with sugar alternatives.
For example, you can use coconut milk instead of dairy products; though make sure you dose the ingredients correctly, because coconut milk has a very strong taste and changes the taste of strawberry gelato.
We also use soy milk in strawberry ice cream and we like to experiment with adding a bit of banana to make the ice cream creamier.
There are two ways to make strawberry ice cream: with whipped cream and milk, such as the ice cream base recipe with the addition of fresh or frozen strawberries. Or without dairy products but with water and sugar, in the form of sorbet.
Strawberry ice cream made with water and sugar (or honey, or another sweetener) is called strawberries sorbet. You can recognize it by its intense pink color. The taste of strawberries is strong, easy to prepare and low in calories. Perfect for a summer day.
Strawberry sorbet goes well with both milk flavors and other fruit sorbet flavors. The classic ice cream cone we ate as kids was, of course, strawberry and lemon. As adults, we like to combine strawberry ice cream with yogurt ice cream.
Strawberry ice cream made with milk, whipping cream and sugar has a light pink color. A good strawberry ice cream depends on the quality of the fruit you use, but it also depends on the other ingredients: the taste of dairy products should not exceed that of strawberries.
Strawberry ice cream can have different flavors: it can have notes of lemon flavor, or it can be sweetened by the aroma of whipped cream. We like to experiment and also make stracciatella based on strawberry ice cream, with chocolate flakes.
Strawberry ice cream is higher in calories than strawberry sorbet. Even if you make it at home with fresh ingredients, it still contains whipping cream, milk and sugar.
I am Italian from Trentino. I studied philosophy in Padua and worked for many years between Milan and Amsterdam in the field of media and culture.
Since 2021 I write on All Italian to practice foreign languages; meanwhile I share with you the customs and traditions of my country, and the recipes that I prepare at home.