Strawberry Simple Syrup

Sweeten your sips with homemade Strawberry Simple Syrup. Made with real strawberries, you can also pour it on pancakes or drizzle it over desserts.

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Strawberry Simple Syrup recipe

Strawberry-picking in the summertime is one of the best pastimes. But what do you do with those ruby red beauties?

After making chocolate-covered strawberries and strawberry shortcake and putting them in yogurt parfaits and mixing them into smoothies and snacking on them, and and and…

Well, that sounds like hard work. It’s time to make a cocktail.

Strawberry Simple Syrup is the easiest way to infuse the rich, sweet flavor of berries right into your favorite drink recipes.

Why you’ll love this recipe

This strawberry syrup recipe is simply the best, and here’s why:

• You can make it with fresh or frozen strawberries, which is great for when these berries are out of season.
• With just three ingredients, it comes together in less than 20 minutes.
• Homemade syrups are an inexpensive and healthier alternative to store-bought cocktail syrups.

And, you can use it in drinks, desserts, on breakfast foods… the options are endless!

What is simple syrup?

Have you ever tried to stir pure sugar into a cold drink? Good luck — you’ll be stirring a while.

Simple syrup is the answer to this problem. It’s a liquid sweetener made by combining sugar and water.

You can use simple syrup to sweeten drinks, which is its primary use. But you can also drizzle it over pancakes or ice cream. Bakers even use it to moisten cakes before decorating.

Most simple syrups are made with granulated white sugar, but other types of sugar can be used, including honey and brown sugar.

Once you’ve mastered classic simple syrup, there’s a whole world of flavor to explore. Try infusing herbs like rosemary, basil or mint or spices like cinnamon or vanilla.

You can even make syrups with fresh fruit like blackberries, peaches or pumpkin.

Ingredients

You only need to pick up three basic ingredients at the grocery store to make this fresh strawberry syrup. If you’d like to mix things up, check out the section below titled Variations & Substitutions.

Strawberries

Bright red, juicy, ripe, sweet strawberries are the best for this simple syrup. In fact, fruit that is a little bruised or is just about to go bad will make a very rich syrup with tons of sweet strawberry flavor.

Fresh strawberries will provide the most succulent, sweet flavor. Strawberry season will vary depending on where you live, but if you can get your hands on berries from a local grower, do it. It’s always nice to support local.

However, you can use frozen strawberries in this recipe, ideally sliced ones. Use them like you would fresh ones. If they are whole berries, let them thaw first then slice them and use them in this recipe.

Make sure you wash and pat dry your berries before you begin. Then, use a strawberry huller to remove the green tops of the berries and use a knife to slice the berries.

Sugar

Granulated sugar and cane sugar are my recommendations for this simple recipe, since it will allow for the best rosy red color.

However, can use brown sugar or honey instead, though both will affect the color of the syrup.

For a thicker syrup, you can use a greater ratio of sugar to water. Typically this recipe calls for an equal amount of sugar and water (the water, in this case, is a cooked strawberry juice). You should end up with about ½ cup of juice, so you’d add ½ cup sugar. You can use a 1.5:1 or 2:1 ratio instead if you’d like your own strawberry syrup to be richer.

Water

Filtered water or distilled water will give you the best, purest results, but tap water is totally fine.

For simple syrup, you typically need as much sugar as you do water, but this recipe is a little different.

We will first boil water and strawberries together to get a reduced strawberry juice, then strain out the solids. Then we will stir in the sugar to make the syrup.

How to make strawberry simple syrup

Though you can buy strawberry simple syrup, this recipe is so very easy and inexpensive to make. It is just not worth buying in my opinion, and it tastes so much better with fresh berries!

First, wash and dry the berries. Hull and quarter the berries.

In a medium saucepan, bring water and chopped strawberries to a boil. Lower the heat and bring to a simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Use a fine mesh sieve to remove the solids and fruit pulp as you strain the hot liquid into a bowl or jar. (You can save the strawberries to muddle in cocktails or enjoy over yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast.)

While still warm, stir in sugar until dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.

Store your batch of this strawberry syrup in an airtight container, such as a mason jar, for up to two weeks.

Note: Straining out the berries is what makes strawberry syrup different from strawberry sauce: because the solids are strained out. However, if you’d like, blend the syrup with the berries and sugar in a food processor or with an immersion blender until you get a smooth syrup.

Variations and substitutions

If you’d like to, you can mix up this simple strawberry syrup recipe a few ways. Hope you discover some great new flavor combinations!

• Strawberry Mint Syrup: Add mint sprigs to the syrup while it cools to infuse mint flavor.
• Mixed Berry Syrup: Use a mixture of berries, such as raspberries, blackberries and blackberries, in addition to the strawberries.
• Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup: Reduce the strawberries by half and add as much diced rhubarb. Cook until the rhubarb is soft, then strain out the fruit and add sugar.
• Strawberry Maple Syrup: Use maple syrup instead of sugar to create a strawberry-flavored maple syrup.
• Sugar-free Strawberry Syrup: Use your favorite sugar substitute instead of sugar to make a sugar-free syrup.

Uses for Strawberry Simple Syrup

There are so many ways to use this delectable fruit syrup! Here are a few ideas:

• Stir it into lemonade (for strawberry lemonade) or iced tea.
• Pour it over vanilla ice cream or other desserts like angel food cake.
• Drizzle it over pancakes, waffles or French toast.
• Add a splash to a fancy dessert like Fraisier Cake or strawberry pots de creme.

Cocktails using Strawberry Syrup

The opportunities for this homemade strawberry syrup recipe are endless! Here are a few of my favorite ways to use it:

A classic old-fashioned cocktail with bourbon is a great way to enjoy the flavor of strawberries.

Use it to make a champagne cocktail like this Strawberry Rhubarb Champagne Cocktail.

Mix it into Strawberry Rosé Sangria to sweeten it, or use it in a Strawberry Martini.

Try it in a beer cocktail, like the Strawberry French Monaco.

Muddle it with mint in a Berry Mojito or a Strawberry Mint Julep.

Make a strawberry Moscow mule. Add ½ to 1 ounce to the classic mule recipe.

Or try a Strawberry Chiller with coconut milk and whipped cream vodka.

For a mocktail, make an Italian soda with strawberry syrup and club soda.

More simple syrup recipes

If you loved this sweet syrup, here are some more to try!

• Peach simple syrup
• Blackberry simple syrup
• Rosemary simple syrup
• Brown sugar simple syrup
• Caramel simple syrup
• Demerara simple syrup