Homemade Strawberry Syrup For Milk
This strawberry milk recipe uses real strawberries for all-natural color and flavor. It tastes amazing and is so easy to make! Just simmer fresh or frozen strawberries to make homemade strawberry syrup.
Add this to a cold glass of milk, and you’ll have delicious strawberry milk without artificial flavorings.
The flavor is fruity, natural, and such a treat on a hot summer’s day. The milk is tinged with a pretty rose pink that comes purely from the natural color of the strawberries. This post will show how to make strawberry milk with only natural ingredients. It beats store-bought strawberry syrup by a mile!
Ingredients
There are only 3 ingredients needed for this easy homemade strawberry syrup, not including the milk for serving.
- Strawberries – Use either fresh or frozen strawberries for the strawberry syrup recipe. Real strawberries bring the delicious fresh strawberry flavor.
- Sugar – Added sugar brings sweetness to the milk. Supermarket strawberry milk is usually quite sweet, whether fresh or made from powder. The good thing about making this from scratch is that you can increase or decrease the sugar for your own taste!
- Water – Add water to create the syrup.
- Milk – Fresh, cold milk. I love to use whole milk, but you can use your favorite milk of your choice (oat milk, soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk, or other nut milk would work too.)
The strawberries
The best strawberries to use are at their most ripe and flavorful. This doesn’t mean they must be the biggest or look the prettiest. This recipe is great for using up the uglier strawberries or bird-pecked ones you don’t want to eat fresh.
In-season strawberries can be at their best, juicy and sweet, but frozen strawberries will trump the fresh ones when it’s not the strawberry season. Frozen strawberries are usually frozen at their peak ripeness and sweetness.
Equipment
You’ll need a saucepan to cook down the strawberries and a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to strain out the pulp and seeds at the end.
Strain out the strawberry pulp and seeds to create smooth strawberry milk. Use the leftover pulp and seeds of the strawberries in the recipes listed below.
Alternatively, if you’d rather not cook or strain the strawberries, you can make Korean strawberry milk instead which uses freshly mashed or pureed strawberries.
Korean Strawberry Milk
Another version of homemade strawberry milk is the popular korean drink, which uses fresh strawberries that are pureed or mashed along with sugar. This fresh strawberry puree is stirred into cold milk.
This strawberry milk is great if you like strawberry milk with a bit more texture or prefer not to cook or strain your strawberries. Korean strawberry milk can also be made with frozen strawberries that have been defrosted.
Method
Chop the fresh or frozen strawberries into rough chunks. Add the strawberry pieces to a saucepan over medium heat, sugar, and water.
Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Use a wooden spoon or similar to press on and break down the strawberries a bit as they heat up.
Simmer the strawberries over low-medium heat for around 20 minutes to slightly reduce and thicken the water.
After cooking, pour the mixture through a fine sieve or cheesecloth to remove the seeds and strawberry pulp from the syrup. Use the back of a spoon to press the pulp to ensure you get all the syrup you can.
Save the pulp to use in the recipes listed below. Let the syrup cool down completely.
Once cold, add 3-4 Tablespoons of the strawberry syrup (more or less, according to taste) to a cup of cold milk and stir well. Enjoy your glass of strawberry milk!
Storing
Leftover syrup can be stored in an airtight container or mason jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months. If you freeze it in ice cube trays, you’ll have individual servings!
Uses for leftover strawberry pulp
The strawberry pulp strained from the syrup does not need to be wasted! It’s still full of flavor and can be used in various ways. Such as:
- Use it alongside more fresh strawberries to make homemade strawberry jam.
- Strawberry rolls – Add the leftover strawberry pulp and fresh strawberries to recipes like these berry rolls that use a strawberry jam filling.
- Swirl the strawberry pulp in yogurt.
- Dollop over pancakes or waffles.
- Add it to a no-churn ice cream base to make strawberry ice cream.
Substitutions and variations
- For healthy strawberry milk, use unrefined sugar for the sweetener, such as honey, monk fruit sweetener or maple syrup.
- Add some fresh lemon or lime zest to the strawberries as they cook to add extra flavor.
- Add a little vanilla extract to the syrup for extra flavor.
- Use a different but strongly flavored berry like raspberry to make other berry milk varieties.
Homemade Strawberry Milk Syrup
This strawberry milk recipe uses real strawberries for all-natural color and flavor.
Ingredients
- 300g (10oz) fresh or frozen strawberries
- 500ml (2 cups) water
- 50-70g (1/4 - 1/3 cup) sugar, according to taste
- Tiny pinch of salt
- Milk to serve
Instructions
- Add the strawberry pieces to a saucepan over medium heat, sugar, and water.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Use a wooden spoon or similar to press on and break down the strawberries a bit as they heat up.
- Simmer the strawberries over low-medium heat for around 20 minutes to slightly reduce and thicken the water.
- After cooking, pour the mixture through a fine sieve or cheesecloth to remove the seeds and strawberry pulp. Use the back of a spoon to press the pulp to ensure you get all the syrup you can. What's left is strawberry syrup.
- Let the syrup cool down completely. Once cold, add 3-4 Tbsp of strawberry syrup (more or less, according to taste) to a cup of cold milk and stir well.
- Leftover syrup can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 48Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 11gProtein: 0g
This is for the syrup only, not the milk to serve it with.
