Vegan Strawberry mochi ice cream with a soft and chewy strawberry mochi exterior, and vanilla ice cream and strawberry jam ice cream filling. This mochi uses lots of fresh strawberries and is fun to make, just like my coconut peanut mochi!
Key ingredients you'll need
Notes about the ingredients
Sweet glutinous rice flour OR mochiko flour. This is available in many East Asian shops. Regular rice flour will not work for this recipe!
Sugar sweetens the strawberry mochi and keeps it soft in the freezer.
Strawberries add flavor, color and moistens the mochi dough. Alternatively, you can replace it with 1 cup of dairy-free milk, strawberry essence and extra pink food coloring.
Food coloring (optional). The strawberry mochi is an earthy pink color without the coloring.
Cornstarch prevents the mochi mixture from sticking to your hands, work surface and utensils. Alternatively, you can use potato starch. You can also replace some of the cornstarch with a neutral-flavored oil.
A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Preparing the ice cream
First, I recommend preparing the ice cream! Freshly scooped ice cream is soft and difficult to wrap in mochi dough. So, after scooping the ice cream, we need to refreeze it.
Each scoop of ice cream should be about 2 tablespoons. For this recipe, I recommend vegan vanilla ice cream or vegan strawberry ice cream!
Alternatively, for vegan ice cream that's swirled with strawberry jam, you can either:
- Dollop the jam directly into the ice cream tub and scoop it OR
- Place some ice cream into a bowl, dollop the jam on the ice cream and scoop.
Preparing the mochi dough
The mochi dough comes together in one bowl and is cooked in the microwave.
First, add all ingredients to a bowl and mix (Images 3 & 4). Cover the bowl with food-safe wrap or a plate and microwave for 2 minutes then mix.
Repeat that process with 1-minute increments in the microwave. Over time, the color of your mochi dough will change so feel free to mix in some pink food coloring if you like (Image 5)!
If you don't have a microwave, you can steam the mochi dough for 15-20 minutes, and stir the mixture 1-2 times in that time.
Evenly, a lot of the liquid will evaporate and your final mochi dough should be soft and stretchy (Image 6). It's ready when the surface is glossy and the dough comes together in a loose ball. The dough is extremely sticky, so I recommend dusting your spatula, utensils and hands with cornstarch or coating them in oil.
Assembling the mochi ice cream
My top tips for assembling the vegan strawberry mochi ice cream are:
- Use lots of cornstarch when rolling out the mochi. You can always dust off any excess cornstarch later.
- Work very quickly when wrapping the mochi! Ice cream melts and can make it difficult to wrap the mochi. I placed the mochi dough in a small dish/bowl so my hands don't melt the ice cream.
Otherwise, it can take a little practice to wrap the ice cream. Have fun with it and don't worry if it's not perfect!
Finally, freeze the vegan mochi ice cream for 1-2 hours then enjoy!
Additional Tips
Mochi dough is meant to be very sticky! In fact, the stickier it is, the softer your final mochi will be :).
If you're at the mixing stage, get a bowl scraper or spoon, cover it in oil and scrape the sides of the bowl. After this, you may find that your dough comes together! If not, microwave the dough until more of the water evaporates and your mochi isn't as runny.
When you eat the mochi straight from the freezer, it'll be frozen solid. Let it defrost for 10 minutes to soften the mochi skin.
If you defrost your strawberry ice cream mochi and it's still hard, it's likely that you overcooked your mochi dough or left the dough to dry out at room temperature while making it.
More vegan Asian desserts and strawberry desserts
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Strawberry Mochi Ice Cream
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 ½ - 2 cups (225g - 250g) vegan ice cream, of choice
- 3 tablespoons (60g) strawberry jam, optional
Mochi dough
- 1 ¼ cup (150g) sweet glutinous rice flour, or mochiko sweet rice flour
- 1 cup (240g) strawberry puree, from fresh or frozen strawberries (note 1)
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- Few drops of pink food coloring, optional
- ¼ cup (30g) corn starch / corn flour, or potato starch (or as needed)
Instructions
Prepare the ice cream:
- Line a small tray with parchment paper or place some cupcake liners in a muffin tin.
- Optional: Dollop the jam onto the ice cream.
- Use a small ice cream scoop or a spoon to scoop the ice cream into balls (about 2 tablespoons large). Try to make sure your ice cream scoops have no 'gaps'. Place the scoops on your baking tray or in your cupcake tin. Freeze the ice cream for 2 hours or until solid.
Prepare the mochi dough:
- Add the flour, strawberry puree and sugar to a medium mixing bowl. Mix until combined and there are no lumps.
- Cover the bowl with microwave-safe wrap (or a microwave-safe plate). Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Stir the mixture with a spatula or the dough hook of a hand mixer. (note 2 for steaming method)
- Microwave the mochi dough for 1 minute then mix again. You may want to coat your spatula with cornstarch or cover it with oil to prevent it from sticking. Repeat the process 2-4 more times or until your mochi dough is sticky and glossy, and comes together in a loose ball. The color of your mochi dough will change the more you cook it. If you'd like a more vibrant pink color, mix in some food coloring. The final mochi dough will be very sticky.
Assemble the mochi:
- Generously coat your work surface, hands and any utensils with cornstarch. Or you can coat your hands with oil. Divide the mochi dough into 12 parts.
- Use a rolling pin to flatten each mochi ball into a flat round circle around ¼ inch (6mm) thick. Each circle should be large enough for wrapping your ice cream. If the mochi dough sticks to anything, dust it with cornstarch.
- Pick up one mochi circle and dust off any excess cornstarch. If desired, place the mochi circle in a small dish to hold it while you assemble the mochi. Place one scoop of ice cream in the middle of the mochi dough and quickly wrap the mochi around the ice cream. After you wrap the ice cream, if there's any excess mochi dough, cut it with a pair of scissors. Invert the mochi, place it in a cupcake tin then freeze. Repeat with the remaining mochi. Make sure you're wrapping only one mochi at a time while leaving the rest in the freezer.
- Freeze the strawberry mochi ice cream for 1-2 hours.
Serving and storing the ice cream mochi:
- When you're ready to eat the mochi, let them sit at room temperature for around 5 minutes to let the mochi skin soften. If you eat them immediately, the mochi will be very hard.
- Store leftover ice cream mochi in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
- To puree the strawberries, can use a blender, food processor or stick blender. Make sure there are no lumps. If you prefer, you can use a sieve to remove the strawberry seeds but I don't they're noticeable in the mochi.
- If you don't want to microwave your mochi dough, steam it on low to medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir the mixture 1-2 times with an oiled spatula while it's steaming. The mochi dough is ready when it's glossy and sticky.
Nutrition
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