No Churn Strawberry Pretzel Ice Cream

No Churn Strawberry Pretzel Ice Cream- This dessert is the ice cream version of strawberry pretzel salad, complete with cheesecake ice cream, strawberry swirl, and candied pretzels.

June 21, 2025 by Nicole Collins

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Today, we’re making No Churn Strawberry Pretzel Ice Cream!

Guys, today’s recipe has been a long time coming. I’ve had this one on the “to do” list for 2 years. TWO YEARS. And the reason we haven’t gotten to it yet is so dumb, BUT I’ve found a solution for it for the future.

You see, I’m actually not a big ice cream eater. I love it, of course. But, it’s not at all my go to treat. So, I’ve had this batch of no churn oreo ice cream sitting in my freezer for, welp, about 2 years. This was a problem because 1. It was taking up too much space in my freezer, and 2. It was using the pan I like to make ice cream in. So, I needed to deal with that before I could make this. But, THANK GOODNESS it’s FINALLY time!

This recipe is basically the ice cream version of strawberry pretzel salad…minus the jello. We’ve made this popular dessert into a pie version before, and it’s still one of my most popular recipes. So now, ice cream gets its turn.

Let’s start with the strawberry swirl. We’re going to dice up a pound of strawberries, toss them in a saucepan with some sugar and a splash of water, and let them cook low and slow until they become thick like jam. You can speed up this process by cooking the berries on a higher heat, but I liking giving the natural flavor a real chance to develop and concentrate by cooking out the water content slowly. Set the strawberry sauce aside to cool completely, and part one is done!

While the berries are simmering, we can work on the candied pretzels. We’ll start by crushing some pretzels until they’re not huge chunks but not quite crumbs either. I usually will put the pretzels in a zip top baggie with the air removed, and give them a nice pound with the bottom of a saucepan. Then, we’ll mix those crushed pretzels with some melted butter and brown sugar, and spread them out onto a parchment lined baking sheet. To the oven they go for only 10 minutes to give the sugar a chance to caramelize, and then we have to let these also cool completely. Part two is done!

Once everything is nice and cooled, we can work on the base of the no churn ice cream. So, we’ll add some room temperature cream cheese to a large mixing bowl along with a can of sweetened condensed milk and a little squeeze of vanilla bean paste. Beat these together with a hand mixer until everything is smooth and creamy. Then in a separate bowl, we’ll beat some heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Transfer a big ol’ scoop of the whipped cream to the cream cheese mix, and give it a nice stir to help lighten up the base. Then, we’ll fold in the remaining whipped cream gently until everything is just combined. And, we’re ready to assemble our ice cream!

We’re going to layer our ice cream into a 9x5 loaf pan. I like using a glass pan with a lid simply because that’s my preference. (I don’t like the sound of an ice cream scoop scraping across a metal pan ewwwwww.) We’ll start by spreading in a third of our ice cream base. Then, we’ll take a third of our strawberry sauce and drop little dollops all over the surface of the ice cream. Finally, we’ll sprinkle a third of the pretzel mix all over the ice cream. Then, we’ll take a butter knife, cut through the strawberry blobs, and swirl the strawberries and pretzels into the ice cream layer. We’ll repeat this process two more times until the loaf pan is full and there are no more spare ingredients. Then we can cover the ice cream, and stick it in the freezer for at least 6 hours.

When it’s time to serve, let the ice cream sit at room temp for 10-15 mins to help make it scoopable, and it’s time to enjoy. This ice cream is just…WOW. You can taste every single component individually and together from the cheesecake ice cream to the reduced fresh berries to the slightly caramelized pretzels. My taste testers raved over this one. And honestly, I think it’s some of my best work!

And side note…if you’re not someone that’s going to eat of whole tub of ice cream in a reasonable amount of time like me, here’s the solution. I ordered some paper pint containers from Amazon so that I could easily package up some ice cream to go for my friends and family; and it was the absolute perfect solution. I was able to save so much space in my freezer, and I was able to easily share this treat without having to take inventory of who I needed to track down to get my containers back. I have the kind I ordered listed on my Amazon storefront if you want some too!

Ok, everyone…we’re not done with summery dessert recipes. So, buckle up!

But don’t worry…I’ve got a salad recipe coming next, so balance!

I can’t wait to hear what you guys think of this one! I hope you enjoy! And, let’s eat!

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No Churn Strawberry Pretzel Ice Cream             

Serves: 12           Print

Ingredients:

For the Strawberry Swirl:

• 1 lb strawberries, diced

• ¼ cup sugar

• 1 ½ tbsp water

For the Candied Pretzels:

• 1 cup crushed pretzels

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

• 1 ½ tbsp brown sugar

For the Ice Cream:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened

• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

• 2 cups heavy cream

Directions:

1. Reduce the strawberries: Add strawberries, sugar, and water to a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 40-45 minutes until the strawberries have created a thickened sauce. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, make the candied pretzels: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, combine pretzels, melted butter, and brown sugar. Toss well to coat the pretzels. Spread the pretzels in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 mins. Remove from oven, and cool completely.

3. Make the ice cream base: Add cream cheese, condensed milk, and vanilla bean paste to a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip cream on medium high speed until stiff peaks have formed (about 2-3 minutes). Alternately, you can whip the cream in a chilled glass bowl with a hand mixer for about 6-7 minutes.

5. Mix about a cup of whipped cream into the ice cream base mix. Stir to combine and lighten up the mix. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until fully incorporated.

6. To a 9x5 loaf pan (I like a glass loaf pan with a lid), layer in 1/3 of the ice cream base. Using a third of the strawberry mix, spoon dollops all over the ice cream. Evenly sprinkle 1/3 of the pretzel mix over the ice cream. Use a butter knife to swirl the strawberries and pretzels into the ice cream base, cutting and swirling all the strawberry dollops until they’re no longer blobs. Repeat this process 2 more times until all ice cream base, strawberries, and pretzels have been used. Cover, and transfer to the freezer for at least 6 hours to set. 

7. To serve, remove ice cream from the freezer for 10-15 mins to soften slightly. Scoop, serve, and enjoy!
   

Recipe notes:

*To fold the whipped cream into the ice cream mix, use a rubber or silicone spatula. Start at the outside of the bowl. Run the spatula around the outside and the bottom of the bowl in a half circle. Then, flip your wrist to bring the bottom that you've scooped up to put it on top. Turn the bowl, and repeat until the whipped cream is fully incorporated. This helps us keep the air in the whipped cream so our ice cream stays smooth and fluffy.

*When crushing the pretzels, we don’t want fine crumbs, but we don’t want huge chunks either. I usually put the pretzels in a zip top baggie, let out the air and seal, and bang with a saucepan. See pics in the post for my recommended texture.

*This is the glass loaf pan with a lid that I like.

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