Strawberry season is so fleeting and I’m always tempted to buy a ton of strawberries when they’re on sale at the height of the season. So I like to make a quick batch of this strawberry syrup to enjoy that fresh strawberry flavor a little longer. You can use it in all sorts of things from strawberry lemonade, to homemade ice cream (recipe coming soon), or just as a topper for your yogurt, ice cream, waffles, and pancakes. Bonus: if you cook it down a little longer it will thicken up even more and make a delicious homemade strawberry jam!
What’s in Strawberry Syrup?
Strawberry syrup, at its most basic, is just fresh strawberries and sugar cooked down until they form a delicious and vibrant syrup. I’ve added a little bit of vanilla extract and salt for depth, which really gives the strawberry syrup more dimension. It’s so good that you’ll want to just eat it by the spoonful!
Make it Chunky or Smooth
I like my strawberry syrup to be a little bit chunky with bits of strawberry still in the syrup, but if you prefer a smooth and clear syrup, simply strain the mixture through a fine wire mesh strainer to remove the remaining strawberry flesh. The total volume of the syrup will be slightly reduced after straining.
How to Use Strawberry Syrup
I love spooning strawberry syrup over pancakes, waffles, French toast, ice cream sundaes, no-bake cheesecake, flan, or yogurt parfaits. But you can also use it to make lemonade, mix it into cocktails and homemade popsicles, drizzle it over cakes, or blend it into smoothies.
Make Strawberry Syrup or Strawberry Jam
With this one simple recipe you can make either strawberry syrup or strawberry jam! The only difference is how long you simmer the strawberries. A shorter simmer time will have less evaporation and a more syrupy consistency. Simmer longer to evaporate more water and create a thicker, jam-like consistency. And if you accidentally simmer too long and make the syrup thicker than you’d like, you can simply stir in a bit of water to thin it out again.
How Long Does Strawberry Syrup Last?
You can keep this homemade strawberry syrup in the refrigerator for about three weeks, or freeze it for longer storage.
Strawberry Syrup
Servings 6 ¼ cup eachIngredients
- 1 lb. fresh strawberries ($1.99)
- 3/4 cup sugar ($0.12)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract ($0.25)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.01)
Instructions
- Wash and chop the strawberries into ¼-inch pieces.
- Add the chopped strawberries and sugar to a saucepot. Stir and cook over medium heat until the strawberries release their liquid and form a syrup in the saucepot.
- Let the strawberries simmer in the syrup, stirring occasionally, until they break down and lose their shape and the syrup has thickened to your desired consistency (5-10 minutes). Keep in mind the syrup will thicken more after cooling.
- Remove the syrup from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and salt. Let the syrup cool. Use the syrup as-is, or strain through a wire mesh strainer for a clear, smooth syrup.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Strawberry Syrup – Step by Step Photos
Begin by washing and chopping one pound of fresh strawberries into ¼-inch pieces.
Add the chopped strawberries to a medium saucepot along with ¾ cup of sugar.
Begin to stir and cook the strawberries over medium heat. The sugar will immediately start to draw the water out of the strawberries, creating a syrup.
Let the strawberries simmer over medium to medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes, or until the strawberries have broken down and lost their shape, and the syrup has thickened to your desired consistency. Keep in mind that the syrup will thicken further as it cools.
Remove the syrup from the heat and stir in 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and 1/8 tsp salt. You can either use your syrup as-is with the strawberry chunks in it or strain it through a fine wire mesh strainer to make a clear, smooth syrup. I like the bits of strawberry in mine. ;)
Keep your strawberry syrup in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. Spoon it over all of your favorite summer foods!
This tastes like summertime, pure and simple! I found that 3/4 c. sugar per pound of strawberries was a little too sweet unless the strawberries are early-season and not that sweet yet. For the really sweet ones, 1/2 c. sugar was plenty.
Now I want to make waffles, just so I have something worthy of eating with this awesome sauce!
I love this whith icecream!
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I made this with frozen berries (to use up an excess!) and it’s soooo good. I am not usually a jam/syrup person, but loved this stuff. Since I used frozen berries, it may have taken longer to cook, and I did add a little scoop of cornstarch to thicken it up more like jam. I will be making this again. :)
Would it possible to make this with frozen strawberries? Or would that have too much water? Looking forward to trying this!
They probably will have a little more water, but that won’t be an issue because you can just let it simmer a little longer to reduce the mixture. :) That being said, I do find that frozen strawberries sometimes do not have as strong of a flavor as fresh strawberries, so you’ll want to take that into consideration.
We went strawberry picking today and ended up with 10 pounds so perfect timing!Â
Can this recipe be processed in jam jars in a hot water bath, like making jelly?
This time of year, make it with a mix of rhubarb and strawberries and call it rhubarb compote! That’s one of my favorite things to do with fresh rhubarb. It’s absolutely amazing -so simple and fresh and yummy. I like to put it in yogurt, or oatmeal, or on pancakes, or as an upgraded PB&J sandwich. You can also freeze any leftovers in an ice cube tray and then have little cubes of rhubarb compote to thaw and use any time of year :)
We make freezer jam instead of cooked jam and use it on toast, angel cake, or even stirred into vanilla ice cream with fresh lemon juice and zest, then layered with the ice cream in a loaf pan and refrozen to make an ice cream “cake”. The lemon really enhances the strawberry ice cream! I also remember the “Strawberry Misty Cooler” from DQ in the 90s, which was strawberry sundae topping stirred into crushed ice to make a slush drink, and I might try a homemade version.
I’d love to make this and drizzle it over peanut ice cream! If I find good strawberries I’ll make this.