Out-of-This-World Roasted Strawberry Custard Ice Cream

There are strawberry ice creams… and then there is roasted strawberry custard ice cream.

This recipe started with a simple question: how do you make strawberry ice cream taste more like strawberries, without it turning icy, watery, or bland?

The answer is roasting.

Fresh strawberries are delicious, but they contain a lot of water. When that water goes straight into ice cream, it can create icy texture and muted flavor. Roasting the strawberries first concentrates their flavor, deepens their sweetness, and gives the finished ice cream a rich, almost candy-like strawberry taste.

To keep the flavor bright, this recipe also uses a small amount of fresh macerated strawberries, lime juice, vanilla bean paste, and just a touch of balsamic vinegar. The balsamic does not make the ice cream taste like vinegar. It simply deepens the strawberry flavor and gives the finished ice cream a little something special.

This is a large-batch recipe designed for a big ice cream maker with a max fill of about 6.85 pints, or roughly 13.7 cups of mix.

Why Roast the Strawberries?

Roasting strawberries does three important things:

It removes excess moisture.
It concentrates the strawberry flavor.
It adds a deeper, slightly caramelized sweetness.

Simmering strawberries can also reduce moisture, but it can push the flavor closer to jam. Roasting keeps the fruit flavor bold while adding depth.

For the best result, this recipe uses mostly roasted strawberries blended into the custard base, plus a smaller amount of fresh strawberries added before churning for brightness.

Roasted Strawberry Custard Ice Cream

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 1 40

Servings: Pints

Ingredients

Roasted strawberries

2½ pounds fresh strawberries washed, hulled, halved or quartered
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon salt

Fresh strawberry finish

¾ pound fresh strawberries washed and hulled
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons lime juice

Custard base

4⅔ cups heavy cream
4⅔ cups whole milk
2¼ cups granulated sugar divided
10 large egg yolks
¾ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste
3 to 5 teaspoons lime juice added to taste after blending
½ teaspoon lime zest optional

Instructions

1. Roast the strawberries

Preheat oven to 325–350°F.
Wash, hull, and halve or quarter 2½ pounds strawberries.
Place them in a large shallow baking dish or on two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets.
Add:
⅓ cup sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
Toss well.
Roast for 35–50 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the strawberries are soft, glossy, syrupy, and reduced.
They should look jammy and concentrated, but not dry.
Remove from the oven and cool completely. Refrigerate until cold.

2. Make the custard base

In a large saucepan, combine:
4⅔ cups heavy cream
4⅔ cups whole milk
1½ cups of the sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
Heat over medium-low heat until hot and steaming, but not boiling.
In a large bowl, whisk together:
10 egg yolks
Remaining ¾ cup sugar
Whisk until lighter in color and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.
Slowly pour about 1½ cups of the hot dairy mixture into the egg yolks while whisking constantly.
Add another 1½ cups hot dairy mixture, still whisking constantly.
Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard reaches 170–175°F and lightly coats the back of a spoon.
Do not boil.

3. Blend in the roasted strawberries

Remove the custard from heat.
Add the chilled roasted strawberries and all their syrupy juices.
Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
Stir in:
2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste
3 teaspoons lime juice
Taste it cold or at least room-temp if possible. Add more lime juice ½ teaspoon at a time, up to about 5 teaspoons total, only if the strawberry flavor tastes flat.
Add ½ teaspoon lime zest only if you want the lime to be slightly noticeable.
For a smoother ice cream, strain through a fine mesh strainer.

4. Chill overnight

Transfer the base to covered containers.
Refrigerate for 12–24 hours.
Overnight is best. The colder the base, the better it churns.

5. Prepare the fresh strawberry finish

About 30 minutes before churning, finely chop or mash ¾ pound fresh strawberries.
Mix with:
3 tablespoons sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons lime juice
Let sit for 20–30 minutes.
Then mash very well or pulse briefly with an immersion blender.
You want a loose strawberry sauce with tiny bits, not large chunks. Big strawberry pieces will freeze hard.

6. Combine and check volume

Stir the fresh macerated strawberries into the chilled custard base.
You should be around 13 to 13½ cups total.
Since your max fill is about 13.7 cups, this should be very close to a full batch.

7. Churn

Pour the chilled strawberry custard into your ice cream maker.
Churn according to the machine’s instructions until it looks like thick soft serve.

8. Freeze to cure

Transfer to freezer-safe containers.
Press parchment paper or plastic wrap directly onto the surface.
Freeze for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
One small caution: this is a big custard batch, so use a large enough pot and keep the heat gentle. With 10 yolks, it will thicken nicely, but boiling it can scramble the eggs.