One of my favorite ways to eat fruit is in sorbet. It is so unbelievably refreshing. And with berry picking season just ramping up here in Oregon, I love starting the Summer with some strawberry sorbet!

Making sorbet at home is particularly cool because you get to tailor it to your own tastes. You pick the fruit, control the amount of extra sugar, if any, and any extras like herbs or sprinkles. But for extra special fruit, like Oregon’s Hood strawberries, I like to keep it simple.

This strawberry sorbet recipe uses only super fresh strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, water and optional vodka. The vodka is supposed to help with making the texture great for scooping. I’m not totally convinced it does though. I need to do a side-by-side test 😉

While this recipe is very simple and delicious, it does require a couple of pieces of hardware.

The blender makes sure the fruit is nice and smooth. After all, making sorbet (or ice cream) is all about the texture.

The ice cream maker also helps with texture. It helps create perfect little ice crystals as the fruit puree freezes. I’m sure you could find other methods for making it without a dedicated machine. I bet that making frozen pops with the blended strawberries would also be quite delicious and refreshing!

Fresh Strawberry Sorbet
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Strawberry Sorbet

A simple frozen dessert using a couple of fancy machines.

You'll need a small saucepan, spatula, blender (fancy machine #1) and ice cream maker (fancy machine #2). 

Course Dessert
Cuisine Simple
Keyword sorbet, strawberry
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cooling time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 30 minutes
Servings 6 servings, 1 cup each

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 pounds strawberries washed and hulled
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice fresh squeezed if you have it
  • 1 tablespoon vodka optional

Instructions

  1. Put the water and sugar in a small saucepan and turn heat to medium. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to low.

  2. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from heat and let sit.

  3. Put berries, lemon juice, and vodka (if using), into a blender.

  4. Blend strawberries on high until very smooth (about 30-45 seconds).

  5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until fully chilled. The mix can also be chilled overnight.

  6. Put strawberries mix into an ice cream maker per manufacturer's instructions. This is likely around 20 minutes of mixing.

  7. Freeze in a container for at least 6 hours before enjoying.

I can imagine how yummy this would taste with some added basil or mint. But you cannot go wrong with the simple deliciousness of strawberry sorbet made with fresh picked berries.

Happy eating!
Sandy

Welcome to 5 Ingredient Friday! Here you'll find a recipe with 5 ingredients or less (shhh... water, oil, salt, pepper don't count). Recipes don't need a lot of ingredients to be yummy. Fewer ingredients means simpler prep. It also means you'll have them memorized in no time. 5 Ingredient recipes are the backbone of my everyday cooking. I hope you find a place for this recipe in your kitchen.

Recipe Hardware + Recommendations

* Affiliate links below *

Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

This is a simple machine that gets the job done. You can keep the canister in your freezer all the time so it’s ready when you need it.

Vitamix Blender

This blender is a beast. It purees anything in less than a minute. It also washes up quickly by simply blending warm water and soap. While it’s on the spendy side, you likely won’t need to replace it for decades.