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.
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!
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 🙂
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
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.
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
Judy says
Do you add the puree directly on the cake? If so does it soak into the cake? Should I add a layer of my buttercream and then the puree?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you add it directly to the cake and it soaks in, that's a good thing 🙂
senthil says
Hi in the below mentioned recipe, its asks to add an extract. what extract is that please?
HOW TO MAKE A STRAWBERRY REDUCTION IN 5 EASY STEPS
Step 3 - Add in sugar, lemon zest, extract and salt and bring to a simmer on medium-high heat
Elizabeth Marek says
lemon extract
Vams says
Can I use this recipe for oranges instead of strawberries?
Elizabeth Marek says
I haven't tried that 🙂
Judy Lynn says
One more question, the recipe says to add the lemon zest and salt before cooking and then later in the recipe it says add the lemon zest and salt after reducing. Can you clarify that? I can't wait to try this recipe! Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
Oops! Sorry about that discrepancy. It doesn't really matter when you add it 🙂
Judy Lynn says
Can you use Stevia in place of sugar? I am diabetic
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you sure can
Jaime says
I want to make this for a cake on Saturday. I need to make the cake on Friday and then on Saturday it will probably be out for 3 or 4 hours before eating. I don't want to refrigerate it because I'll be covering it in fondant and an edible icing strip.
So does this mean I'll need to skip the strawberry puree completely or does it last longer at room temperature if it's made from frozen berries? Thanks and thanks so much for your awesome videos. They've been a massive help.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Fondant and edible images can go in the fridge. If you use fruit it will definitely have to be in the fridge or the strawberry will mold
Stephanie Hendrex says
Can you do this same recipe for other berries and or fruits?
The Sugar Geek Show says
absolutely
Rebecca says
When you freeze and defrost, do you have to reduce on stove a little bit before use?
Carolyn says
Hi Liz I'm a bit confused.. Your recipe says 36oz but the directions say to use 1lb.. Please help
The Sugar Geek Show says
I increased the amount of the recipe to make more puree so it's twice as big as the original.
Lorie says
Is it possible to reduce this recipe too much. I kept reducing mine bc it did t seem thick enough and basically I think I ended up making strawberry jam but it’s that consistency of nearly jelly like and thinking I may have lost some flavor that way because it doesn’t seem as strong . Is this possible and if it is can you say how long you let yours boil first and what the ending consistency should be. Thanks.
The Sugar Geek Show says
You could reduce it more, it's not going to hurt it 🙂
Lorie says
Thanks so much. I am so excited because I remade this for my second time and didn’t reduce as much and my reduction looks identical to yours and berries full of flavor and extra ripe. I never liked fruit hot but I’m telling you I could have eaten that entire container of purée right off the stove.