Strawberry Syrup Made With Fresh Strawberries

This simple Homemade Strawberry Syrup is perfect to have on hand for milkshakes, strawberry milk, Italian sodas, etc. It’s also delicious drizzled over ice cream, pancakes, waffles or French toast. It’s easy to make tastes better than anything you can find at the grocery store. Fresh is always best, and in this case, it’s just as easy!

Ingredients in Homemade Strawberry Syrup

Strawberry syrup has just a few easy ingredients: strawberries, sugar, water, and lemon juice. You can get fancy and add vanilla extract, but in my honest opinion, it just doesn’t complement the taste of the strawberries. I really don’t think it is needed.

Strawberries – one pound fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled and sliced. Sugar – one cup. You can also switch out sugar for your favorite low-calorie sweetener, if you like. Water – ¼ cup to dissolve the sugar. Lemon juice – two teaspoons of bottled lemon juice or the juice of one fresh lemon.

Preparing the Strawberries

First of all you want to make sure you have good strawberries. The better the berries, the better the syrup. Wash them well and wipe them down with a paper towel. This will get any excess dirt or little hairs off. Remove the stems (see “pro tip” below for an easy way to do this) and hull if desired. Now your strawberries are ready to make into syrup!

Getting the Right Consistency

What are you going to use the syrup for? Or better yet, how do you like the syrup? Do you like it with fresh strawberry bits or do you prefer a more clear, seedless syrup? Here are the three different ways to make this strawberry syrup recipe: Easily hull your strawberries by sticking a straw through the bottom of the strawberry. The stem will pop right off!

1. Chunky Syrup (Strawberry Topping)

This is the easiest way to make your strawberry syrup. No straining or blending required. For this method you simply cook the berries down, mash them a little bit, then cool and serve. You keep the berries in the sauce so it has more texture from the strawberry pieces. It also has seeds, so if you don’t like seeds in your syrup, you may want to opt for one of the other methods. I like this kind of syrup best as an ice cream topping or stirred into muffin batter.

2. Smooth/Blended Syrup

This method is extracts more of the juices from the berries and you don’t get big chunks of strawberries. It looks more cloudy than the simple syrup because it is blended but tastes very similar. You can leave the seeds in, or strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve or strainer to separate the seeds. I think of this as almost more of a strawberry sauce. This type of syrup goes well over French toast, waffles, pancakes, etc… or you can stir it into cake batter to create strawberry cake.

3. Simple Syrup

Simple syrup (full recipe below), just takes a step or two more than the methods above. Once the strawberries are done cooking, you strain the syrup directly into a jar or liquid measuring cup. This separates both the strawberry pulp and the seeds from the syrup. After the syrup is separated, you can thicken to your desired thickness using one of the methods below. This kind of syrup is the prettiest (in my opinion) because it is the most clear. It can be used over pancakes, ice cream, and it is gorgeous over a fresh slice of cheesecake. It is also the best syrup to stir into drinks because there are no seeds or pulp. Use it to make Italian sodas, strawberry lemonade, or even strawberry milk!

How To Make Strawberry Syrup Thicker

There are a couple different ways you can make your fresh strawberry syrup thicker:

Try it With Different Berries

Want to mix it up a little? Or try a different flavor? Toss in some different berries! You can add blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries… whatever you like! Simply add the berries to the strawberries as they are cooking, adding more sugar if needed. Cook the berries down with the strawberries and continue with the recipe as written.

Can I Use Frozen Strawberries?

Yes! If you can’t find fresh strawberries, you can always use frozen. If you decide to do frozen, the only adjustment you need to make is to reduce (or even eliminate) the water.

What to Serve Strawberry Syrup With

There are probably a million different ways you could serve this strawberry syrup. Here are just a few different ideas that you can serve your syrup with:

Pancakes Waffles French Toast Ice Cream Drinks/Cocktails Cheesecake Cakes Strawberry Lemonade Italian Soda

How to Store Strawberry Syrup

If you aren’t able to enjoy your fresh syrup right away, there are some easy options for storing and enjoying later:

Refrigerate – Refrigerate the fresh syrup for up to a week in the fridge. Keep the syrup in a jar or liquid measuring cup with a lid. Freeze – Place syrup into a freezer-safe container with a lid or a freezer-safe plastic bag and freeze for up to 3-4 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before using. Can & Process – *NOTE – Syrup thickened with cornstarch CAN NOT be safely canned. Strawberry syrup is easiest to can when the syrup is still piping hot from being on the stove. Prepare and sanitize pint-sized canning jars and add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to the bottom of the jars (if using 8 oz. jars, just use ½ teaspoon lemon juice). Add hot syrup and place lids over the top. Process in a water bath canner for 10-12 minutes, remove from canner and allow to cool until lids seal. Store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.