This delicious strawberry syrup recipe is my favorite thing to make at the peak of strawberry season! Plus, you’ll have the added benefit of knowing what went into your syrup– just three ingredients, all natural, nothing artificial. Sugar acts as a natural preservative, so all you need to do is refrigerate. The syrup will last for weeks (but it’s so addicting, it never lasts that long in my kitchen!).
Homemade strawberry syrup can be used for a number of purposes. It is most commonly added to beverages and cocktails like my strawberry basil martini to give them a strong, sweet strawberry flavor.
Try adding it to lemonade to make strawberry lemonade or seltzer to make a strawberry spritzer. It makes a lovely addition to cocktails and mocktails. Add it to your favorite ice cream float or sundae. You can also drizzle it on pancakes or waffles as an alternative to maple syrup. So many possibilities!
Recipe Ingredients and Notes
Please be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the complete details!
- Fresh Strawberries – I don’t recommend using frozen strawberries for homemade simple syrup. They’re likely to be too watery and may make the syrup bland.
- Water – This is used to boil the berries and forms the base of the syrup.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar enhances the natural sweetness of the berries and provides the proper texture for the syrup. I don’t recommend using any other types of sugar for this strawberry syrup. However, you could try natural sweeteners such as maple syrup, coconut sugar, or agave.
How to Make Strawberry Syrup
- Prep the berries. Rinse the strawberries, and hull them with a paring knife. Then, slice them into bite-sized pieces.
- Cook. Transfer the berries to a medium saucepan, cover them with water, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook to break down the berries.
- Strain. Pour the strawberries into a fine mesh strainer or sieve, straining the liquid into a clean pot. Discard the berries.
- Boil. Add sugar to the strawberry liquid, and bring the mixture back to a boil, allowing the sugar to dissolve.
- Serve. Skim any foam from the top, allow the syrup to cool completely, and enjoy!
Tori’s Tips for the Best Taste and Texture
- Skim the foam. Make sure to skim the foam from the top of the syrup throughout the cooking process for a clear syrup.
- Don’t press the strawberries. It’s tempting to try to smash the strawberries to obtain more juice, but this will make the syrup cloudy!
- Adjust the thickness. For a thicker syrup ideal for pancakes and waffles, let the mixture simmer a bit longer after the sugar dissolves.
Homemade Strawberry Syrup
Ingredients
- 2 pounds strawberries
- 1 quart water (4 cups)
- 2 cups sugar
NOTES
Instructions
- Rinse the berries clean, then hull them with a paring knife by slicing around and pulling out the stem.
- Slice the strawberries into smaller pieces.
- Place the strawberry slices in a medium saucepan.
- Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a medium simmer and let the strawberries cook for about 20 minutes. Skim any foam that rises to the top.
- After about 20 minutes, the strawberries will have lost most of their color and the water should be deep pink/red in color. Remove from heat.
- Strain the strawberry liquid through a fine mesh strainer into another clean pot, separating the solid berries from the liquid. DO NOT press down on the solids to extract more juice; it’s tempting, but doing this will make your strawberry syrup cloudy.
- Once the strawberry liquid has been strained, discard the solid berries. Add 2 cups of sugar to the strawberry liquid. Bring back to a boil, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar into the syrup. Let the syrup simmer for 5 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved, skimming any additional foam that rises to the top.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Pour into a glass container, seal, and refrigerate. The syrup should last for several weeks.
- Note: if you prefer a thicker syrup for use on pancakes or waffles, you can simmer it for several minutes longer until the liquid reduces and thickens more. The consistency as written is perfect for mixing into beverages.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
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FAQs
Yes, this method works with other berries. Try my homemade raspberry syrup. Or, use blackberries or blueberries instead.
If you’re looking for even more ideas, this simple syrup recipe makes for a great addition to certain salad dressings – like to make a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette. Or, use it as an alternative to store-bought syrups with ice cream, challah French toast, yogurt bowls, or cake, cheesecake.
Dear Tory, Do you have an email address where I can reach you. Today I read about Momo. We lost our Louie dashund October 5 2017. He was twelve and the joy of our lives. I wanted to tell you about him when we took him for his last ride to The University of Pennsylvania ER.
I wish we were yet young enough to love another little soul, but we are not.
Let me say that you are an amazing woman.
Helen Laman Philadelphia
I received your sweet email. So sorry for your loss of Louie! It is so difficult. They love us purely and unconditionally. Louie looks like the sweetest soul, you can see it in his eyes. I take comfort in the thought that Louie and Momo are playing together somewhere in a place where there is only Light. Sending a big hug!
Just made this for a glaze on a strawberry cheese cake. I let mine simmer for a while so that I could get a nice thick consistency and it turned out really well! Super simple and tasty.
I’m looking to make a strawberry and fennel liquid, would I boil them down separately or together?
What type of sugar do you use?
White granulated sugar.
Could you use this in milk to make strawberry milk?
Hi Lara– yes, I think you probably could. I’ve never tried it, but this is a simple strawberry syrup recipe and should be good for stirring into a number of beverages.
Can you use splenda instead of regular sugar?
Jacob, it will not thicken into a syrup if you use Splenda, it will just remain watery.
That was my concern. Thank you.
Made it and love it. Tried some that I did not strain and poured it over vanilla ice cream. Happened to have a banana, so you know where this lead to. It was wonderful and addicting.
To add more fresh strawberry flavor to this recipe here’s a great trick – especially if you’ve found cheap strawberries and want to use then all!
I finely slice about half my strawberries before cooking, add about 4:1 ratio of sugar (4 berries to 1 sugar) in a bowl, add a tablespoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of lemon zest.
I just let it sit, stirring occasionally for about 30-60 minutes while the juice leaves the berries.
I strain this “fresh” juice and add the berries to the pot with all the other berries and then follow the recipe as stated – adjusting for more or less berries.
Then, once done with the cooked and strained berry syrup, I let that cool and add in the “fresh” juice. It makes for a fresher, more “real strawberry” flavor that the cooked syrup alone is missing.
Hope that helps!
Can you eat the syrup right after making it ornis it a set time it has to be in the fridge for xx
You may eat the syrup as soon as it is cool enough– don’t burn yourself! 🙂
Used this strawberry syrup for an iced strawberry mint green tea for bridal shower party. It was a huge hit.
I must note that the recipe calls for too much sugar. My recommendation is to pour in half the requested sugar, then taste to your preference and go from there.
Strawberry cake 1stick of butter 1cup of sugar 4 large eggs 1 cup of self risesing flour one cup and half strawberry syrup one tsp vanilla ,beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy add eggs beat until fluffy add strawberry syrup and vanilla add flower mix on slow just until flower is mixed ,don’t over mix cake will be dry bake in preheated oven at 350 for 35 minutes bake cake in 9×13 pan cool cake ice with cream cheese frosting ,
If you like chocolate cake use chocolate syrup instead of strawberr syrup it is the best, for chocolate frosting 1 cup of sugar 1can of 12 Fl oz evaporated milk 1stick of butter 2cups of chocolate chips heat milk and sugar and butter until hot stir in chocolate chips cook until chips melt stirring until mixed pour over hot cake .
Thank you. so much for sharing .i made it and taking with us to travel and for my mother to used whenever she make her ensure milk she can mix in with her drink. It s so good and easy. So .thank you. Respectfully yours .alma patterson✈
Can this syrup be frozen for use later? Thinking of strawberry tea love that stuff and other foods later in year and summer.
Hi, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. You can freeze this syrup in freezer bags or a plastic container. If using a container, be sure to leave some space for expansion.
Yes. For up to two years
Maybe could be canned Anna then put in water bath.. Longer life?
This is a weird question but is there an alternate to sugar? I realize sugar changes its form but I want a healthy alternative such as honey etc.
Hi Ms Avery,
Have you tried this recipe with frozen berries that have been thawed? I have a 5
Lb bag I would like to use for the syrup.
Thanks….Rocco
Hi, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! This recipe is best suited to fresh strawberries, as frozen strawberries tend to become softer, I would be afraid they wouldn’t hold up well.
I say try it, you have nothing to loose aside from a bag of berries
I used the frozen strawberries and it worked great!
Sounds like this is a great recipe. I am a single senior and am wondering how long this lasts before spoiling?
Hi Wendy, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! Since this recipe does not have preservatives, I wouldn’t keep it in the refrigerator for longer than 2 days to avoid spoiling.
It says that it keeps for weeks, although it won’t last that long in the paragraphs before the recipe.
I made this recipe delicious and it kept well for almost two weeks.
I also took half of the syrup and boiled it down longer was the best pancake syrup I ever had!
I make jams without pectin (prervative) and it last 30 days in fridge no longer
We are making this to make snow cones. Healthy and free of chemicals. I will let you know how it goes over with the little ones. ?
This was exactly what I was dreaming of – a strawberry syrup that wasn’t a puree. It’s so pretty! I made it for my blog where I test out recipes and it worked out perfectly.
Thanks for a great recipe! I live in rural Alaska and enjoy fresh produce when we get it, but produce, fruit in particular, tend to go bad before I can get to it all. This is a great way to make sure nothing goes to waste! Thanks!!!
I am just curious , about how much juice is it for the 2 cups of sugar? I had made two whole flats into juice because I wanted to make jelly. I have some leftover but not sure how much i need for this recipe. Thanks for your time!
I’m just guesstimating here Amber, but I think starting with 2 1/2 to 3 cups of juice would work. I never measured the leftover juice after the berries were removed, but my guess is that the water reduced by 1 to 1 1/2 cups by the time the sugar was added. At any rate, you can start with more liquid and simply simmer it down longer until the proper texture is achieved, it’s not an exact science. Good luck!