Homemade Strawberry Syrup
Homemade Strawberry Simple Syrup is a great way to add sweet strawberry flavor to a variety of drinks. This fruity syrup is delicious in cocktails, mocktails, iced tea, matcha, lemonade, seltzer, and any other beverage you want to add a splash to.
What I love about this recipe is, it’s the perfect solution for strawberries at the crossroads of too soft to eat, but not yet ready to be tossed out. (I’ve been there many times, and I’m guessing you have too!)
What’s amazing about this recipe is just how simple it is to make.
Strawberry Simple Syrup Recipe
This recipe yields about 12-16 ounces of naturally flavored strawberry simple syrup.
Ingredients
Strawberries – You can use fresh or frozen strawberries for this recipe, but it’s quicker to make the syrup with fresh. It’s also a great way to extend the life of ripe strawberries slightly past their prime.
Granulated Sugar – Granulated cane sugar is my sweetener of choice for homemade simple syrup recipes. The white sugar allows the vibrant red of the strawberries to shine through. It also does not impart additional flavors like other sugars may.
Filtered Water – I always use filtered water for all my homemade syrup and drink recipes which is why I recommend using a Brita water filter pitcher. Nothing can kill the taste of a recipe like bad water.
Step-by-Step Instructions
It’s surprisingly easy to make a batch of flavored simple syrup right at home. All you have to do is make a quick strawberry juice concentrate, then sweeten and thicken it up with sugar.
Here are the steps I follow to make an intense strawberry flavored syrup that has the perfect consistency for pouring into drinks.
Detailed recipe and instructions are in recipe card at bottom of post.
1. Prep the strawberries.
Thoroughly wash a pint (8 ounces) of fresh strawberries, cut off the stems, and chop into quarters. If using frozen strawberries, thaw in the refrigerator overnight or in the microwave. There’s no need to chop the thawed berries since they are too mushy.
2. Make strawberry juice concentrate.
Combine strawberries and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer for up to 15 minutes, until the water is reduced by about a third. The cooked strawberries will be a pale pink color.
3. Strain the strawberry pulp and add sugar.
Remove the saucepan from heat. Strain the strawberries from the concentrated juice into a heatproof measuring cup, using a fine mesh strainer. I like this set of 3 sizes of Cuisinart mesh strainers.
Take a look at how many cups of juice concentrate were produced. That’s how much sugar you will add. For example, if you made 1 cup of juice, add 1 cup of sugar.
If you have a kitchen scale, weigh it, to be more precise. (Just be sure to tare the scale with the empty measuring cup first.)
Stir the sugar into the juice and return the syrup to the saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute.
4. Cool the strawberry syrup.
Remove the strawberry syrup from the heat and let it cool. I like to strain it once more to remove any remaining seeds or bits of pulp. Transfer the syrup to an airtight jar and store in the refrigerator. The syrup is good for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe Notes
Make the strawberry juice first, then add sugar to make it into syrup. Sure you can put all 3 ingredients in the saucepan at once and get a delicious syrup out of it. Confession–I’ve done it many times! But for the best flavored drink syrup with the ideal amount of sweetness I prefer this method.
Do not use a lid on the saucepan when making syrup. The strawberry and water mixture needs to reduce while boiling and a lid traps in moisture.
Boil the strawberries long enough to extract all the flavor. Be patient, it takes 10-15 minutes. When the strawberries are an almost sickly pinkish-white color and the liquid has reduced by about a third, you’ve boiled the juice concentrate long enough.
Don’t scrape any remaining sugar off sides of pan into the finished syrup. You don’t want the sugar in your bottle of homemade syrup to try and recrystallize, so just leave any sugar crystals stuck to the pan there.
To make a nice translucent syrup, use a fine mesh strainer to catch the pulp and seeds. Do not press on the pulp. Additionally, rinse the saucepan before returning the syrup back in for the final boil. I like to strain the syrup a second time when I pour it into a bottle.
Don’t press the strawberries while straining them out. If strawberry pulp gets mixed in the syrup, it may ferment over time. This also prevents cloudy syrup.
For thicker syrup, double the sugar. Thickened strawberry syrup is perfect for pancakes or as an ice cream topping.
The Quick Method of Making Strawberry Syrup
If you want to make strawberry syrup fast, combine equal parts strawberry, sugar and water in a saucepan all at once. Bring it to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain out the strawberries and that’s it.
My preference is to take a few extra minutes, and make the strawberry juice first and then add in the sugar.
In my opinion, it creates a stronger flavored syrup that isn’t cloudy. Since the strawberry pulp is strained from strawberry flavored water (before adding the sugar), there’s no need to press on the pulp to get all the gooey syrup out.
How to Use Strawberry Syrup in Drinks
- Mix it with milk for naturally flavored, homemade strawberry milk.
- For the most refreshing strawberry lemonade, add splash of the syrup to an ice cold glass of lemonade.
- Make an homemade strawberry iced tea. It a delicious sweetener for all types of tea, like black, green and herbal.
- Make an iced strawberry cream matcha latte with a creamy layer of strawberry cold foam on top.
More Strawberry Recipes
- Homemade Strawberry Iced Tea
- How to Make a Strawberry Matcha Latte
- Easy Strawberry Cream Matcha Latte
- How to Make Strawberry Puree for Drinks
- Starbucks Blended Strawberry Lemonade
- Starbucks Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Crème Frappuccino Copycat
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Strawberry Syrup for Drinks
This 3-ingredient strawberry simple syrup recipe only takes minutes to make and adds the perfect strawberry sweetness to your favorite drinks.
Ingredients
- 1 pint strawberries (8 ounces)
- 1 1/4 cup water, filtered (10 ounces)
- 1 - 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Wash fresh strawberries, cut off the stems, and chop into quarters.
- Combine strawberries and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, until the water is reduced by about a third and the strawberries are soft and pink.
- Remove the strawberry juice concentrate from heat and strain it into a heatproof measuring cup, using a fine mesh strainer. Do not press on pulp!
- Measure the amount of juice produced and use an equal amount of sugar. (For example, for 1 cup of juice, you will need 1 cup of sugar.)
- Stir the sugar into the juice, then return the syrup to the saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute.
- Remove the strawberry syrup from the heat and cool. I like to strain it once more to remove any remaining seeds or bits of pulp. Transfer the syrup to an airtight jar and store in the refrigerator. The syrup is good for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- To chill the syrup fast for drinks, cool it in an ice bath.
- Do not use a lid on the saucepan when making syrup. The strawberry and water mixture needs to reduce while boiling and a lid traps in moisture.
- Boil the strawberries long enough to extract all the flavor. Be patient, it takes 10-15 minutes.
- Don't scrape any remaining sugar off sides of pan into the finished syrup. You don't want the sugar in your bottle of homemade syrup to recrystallize, so just leave any sugar crystals stuck to the pan there.
- Don't press the strawberries while straining them out. If strawberry pulp gets mixed in the syrup, it may ferment over time. This also prevents cloudy syrup.
- For thicker syrup, double the sugar. Thickened strawberry syrup is perfect for pancakes or as an ice cream topping.
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