Strawberry reduction is super easy to make. In a nutshell, you puree strawberries, add a little lemon, salt, and maybe some sugar, and reduce by half over low heat. I typically use it for my strawberry cake recipe, strawberry buttercream, or as a cake filling so I like mine to be a bit thicker.
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Whats The Difference Between A Puree and A Reduction?
Strawberry reduction and strawberry puree are not the same thing. A puree is just blended strawberries and is mostly water. For baking we typically need the strawberry flavor to be more intense.
To make your strawberry puree thicker, you're going to want to simmer it for a few minutes. Simmering the mixture reduces the amount of moisture that is in the puree allowing for a stronger strawberry flavor with less liquid.
The best thing about making a reduced strawberry puree is that it keeps all the flavor of the strawberries without adding extra moisture.
Strawberry Reduction Ingredients
I prefer to use frozen strawberries because frozen fruit is generally picked at the peak of freshness and then frozen. You get the most flavor in frozen strawberries.
If strawberries are in season though and you need to use them up, making puree is a great option. You can freeze leftover puree and defrost as you need it. If you're super talented and know how to can, you can make canned puree. This is definitely on my to-learn list.
When buying fresh strawberries, choose brightly colored, shiny berries that are dry, firm, and plump. They should still have fresh-looking green caps attached. Avoid soft, dull-looking, or shriveled berries. Since strawberries do not ripen after being picked, avoid berries that are partly white as that means they are unripe
How to make a strawberry reduction in 5 easy steps
- Defrost your strawberries or chop up your fresh strawberries.
- Blend your strawberries in a blender or give them a quick blend using an immersion blender.
- Add the blended strawberries, sugar, lemon zest, and salt and bring it all to a simmer on medium heat.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low so it's just barely bubbling and allow the mixture to reduce (40-60 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent burning. The reduction should look like tomato sauce, not watery.
- Let the strawberry reduction cool before using.
How to store the leftover strawberry reduction
You can store leftover strawberry reduction in the fridge for two days or you can freeze it up to 6 months. Fresh strawberries are very prone to mold so be sure to only leave cakes with fresh fruit fillings at room temperature for no more than 2 hours. Cakes with fresh fruit filling can be refrigerated for two days before consumption.
Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- 32 oz fresh or frozen strawberries
- 2 oz sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Defrost strawberries if frozen or cut up strawberries if whole.
- Blend your strawberries.
- Place strawberries, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and sugar into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over med heat.
- Once bubbling, reduce the heat to medium-low and let slowly reduce until berries begin to break up and the liquid is almost gone. This can take between 40-60 minutes depending on how much liquid you have.
- Occasionally stir the mixture to prevent burning. Transfer to another container and let cool before use.
Issa Barr says
Hey, I followed your directions and I used fresh strawberries, they weren’t frozen. My strawberry purée doesn’t like look yours it’s a little runny, what should I do ?
Elizabeth Marek says
Just needs to be reduced a little bit more, you might need to turn up the heat a little if it seems like its taking too long
Jan A. says
Wow!!! This stuff is amazing and totally addictive!! Not too sweet, just right. I used 32oz of fresh California strawberries. Took about 30ish minutes to reduce. Came out with 2 cups. Which is perfect because after using it n your strawberry cake it leaves me a 1/4 cup to enjoy on pancakes. Thank you for sharing and for including a video, it helped me know what the consistency should be.
Christina says
Hi! I don’t have the zest or anything like that. Just strawberries and sugar and salt. Will that be ok??
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes, its ok
J. Archuleta says
This is one of the best tasting strawberry purée I’ve ever made!! Thank you, thank you!!
I Was just going to use store bought but I thought “hey, why not try making it” I’m absolutely glad I made it! Now, attempting to make your strawberry cake recipe 🙂
Faith Schlatter says
Loved this. I made this strawberry reduction to flavor the white cake mix (made using your recipe to amp it up) for my son's wedding in May. Delicious! My brother-in-law made a strawberry filling to put between the layers and we iced the cake with buttercream frosting. (It ended up being a very small wedding due to COVID-19 and that's why I was making the cake.) We got loads of compliments. People saying it was the best wedding cake they had ever had. Thank you for the recipe!
Yeranig says
Hi Liz
i was wandering if I can add gelatin to the puree to prevent leaking since I want to use it as a roll cake filing ?? If yes , when I can add the gelatin for best result .
thank you
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you defitely can, you will have to bloom the gelatin in cold water first then add it to your warm puree at the end
Angela says
This recipe worked perfectly! Thank you so much.
Aimee says
I have already made my puree without sugar or lemon or salt can I add it afterwards?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can