Looking for an easy strawberry syrup recipe to make for your drinks at home? This recipe is one I use over and over again for all my cafe-style homecafe drinks and it gives me that delicious strawberry flavor without the artificialness.

With just 3 ingredients, you can make a great strawberry syrup that is not too sweet and packs a lot of fresh, fruity flavor. You can make your favorite strawberry drinks, like strawberry milk, strawberry matcha latte, and strawberry milk tea with this syrup!

So, here’s how to make fresh strawberry syrup at home!

What is Strawberry Simple Syrup?

Simple syrup is a popular liquid sweetener made by dissolving sugar into water. Strawberry simple syrup is strawberry-flavored simple syrup used to flavor drinks, cocktails, mocktails, and more!

It’s super simple to make and takes only 3 ingredients. Once you make this, you can use it in drinks, desserts, yogurt, on pancakes, and more! The possibilities are endless and incredible.

You can also make it smooth or chunky, depending on your preferences.

Strawberry Sauce vs. Syrup

Strawberry sauce and syrup are slightly different but have similar ingredients.

Strawberry syrup is usually runny and liquid and used to flavor things like milk, cream, yogurt, etc. It’s easily made with sugar, water, and strawberry flavor, fresh strawberry, or strawberry juice.

Strawberry sauce, on the other hand, is thicker, chunkier, and more viscous than syrup and used as dessert fillings or toppings. Think: pancakes, waffles, cakes, etc. There’s usually a thickener, like pectin, used to make the strawberry sauce thick enough so it doesn’t run off the cake or dessert.

The main difference is the texture.

Is Strawberry Syrup the Same as Grenadine?

While they may share the same color, strawberry syrup is not the same as grenadine.

Grenadine is a pomegranate liquid sweetener used in all sorts of drinks from cocktails, mocktails, iced cafe drinks, and more. It’s super popular because of its sweet and tart flavor and its bright red color.

Strawberry syrup, as the name suggests, is a strawberry liquid sweetener, which you can use for all sorts of drinks, too.

You might be wondering why pomegranate syrup is more popular than strawberry since pomegranates are hard to grow in certain climates.

Fun Fact: Grenadine skyrocketed in popularity with bartenders in the early 1900s and appeared in many cocktail recipes, perhaps because of its color. But I suspect it got mixed up with other fruits and now it’s just the default.

How to Use Strawberry Syrup

You can use strawberry syrup in so many drinks, including your childhood favorites, such as:

• Ice cream
• Strawberry milk
• Strawberry lemonade
• Cream sodas
• Strawberry smoothies
• Yogurt
• Milk tea
• Strawberry matcha lattes
• Cafe lattes

How to Make Strawberry Syrup

Here’s what you’ll need to make strawberry syrup at home:

• 1 pound fresh or frozen strawberries (this is one box)
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup agave (or use ½ cup of sugar)

Note: My recipe is less sweet by default, and many other recipes will call for 1 cup of water and sugar, but I find that 1/2 cup of sugar is enough sweetness including the strawberries’ sugar.

If you’d like it sweeter, add more sugar!

Strawberry Syrup Recipe

1. Dissolve Sugar: In a small pot, add sugar strawberries, water, and heat on low. Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves completely.
2. Mash Strawberries: Once the sugar dissolves, increase to medium heat and simmer the syrup for 5 minutes or until the strawberries release juice. Use a potato masher or fork and mash the strawberries well. Alternatively, blend the strawberries in a blender before adding them to the pot. Note that if you blend it too smoothly, you’ll have an opaque syrup.
3. Reduce: Let the syrup reduce to your desired consistency. The more it reduces, the thicker it will be.
4. Strain and Store: Let cool, then strain the syrup and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

How to Store Homemade Syrup

Once you make your syrup, you’ll want to store it in an airtight container, preferably one that is transparent so you can see if mold starts to grow in it. A mason jar or syrup bottle works perfectly.

Depending on how much sugar you add to your syrup, you can leave it on the counter with no problem. However, I always recommend storing it in the fridge to extend its shelf life (and just ease of mind).

How Long Will Strawberry Syrup Last?

The syrup should last at least 2 weeks in the fridge. If you leave chunks in your syrup, it may last less since there’s organic material in it that may grow mold faster.

If you make syrup with at least double the amount of sugar in water, it is much more shelf stable due to the high concentration of sugar in it. While regular simple syrup is a breeding ground for mold, the higher sugar acts as a natural preservative and inhibits mold growth, funnily enough.

Food Science Break: High sugar concentration creates a high osmotic pressure environment, so water moves from lower to higher concentration to achieve equilibrium. AKA, water moves out of microorganisms so it cannot reproduce.

Do You Have to Refrigerate Strawberry Syrup?

You absolutely should refrigerate this strawberry syrup, especially since it has less sugar than most other syrup recipes. It will go bad if you leave it on the counter, and the fridge’s cold temperatures help make the syrup last much longer.

If you’re unsure, just put it in the fridge. Always better safe than sorry!

You can tell that your syrup has gone bad if it starts to look more opaque or has white or gray floaties in it. Once it’s gone bad, toss it.

Different Ways to Make Strawberry Simple Syrup

Want an easier way to make this syrup? Here are quicker methods that make a great strawberry syrup:

• Use Strawberry Juice: This is my favorite hack for making any fruit syrup. You can skip the sugar and water and just boil strawberry juice until it reduces to your desired consistency. You have a super easy, fast syrup!
• Blend: You can blend fresh or frozen strawberries in water and sugar, then strain for an instant syrup. This method will be more watery and thin, but it’s perfect for adding to sweetened drinks or cocktails.
• Powder: Mix strawberry powder with water and sugar for a fast strawberry syrup. The flavor will be concentrated because of the powder, so make sure to use less water, otherwise it will be super runny.
• Macerate Strawberries: If I want a chunkier syrup but don’t want to cook anything, I’ll macerate strawberries! You just cut up strawberries add sugar and let them sit for a couple of hours, and you’ll have juicy syrup!

Tips:

Here are some tips for making great strawberry syrup at home!

• Add a Little Lemon: If you’re adding more sugar to your syrup, then add a few drops of lemon to balance the sweetness. This is especially helpful if you’re following a traditional simple syrup recipe, which is usually 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar.
• Add More Water For Runny Syrup: If you want more liquid syrup, add more water to your mixture. It’s easier to reduce your syrups for the perfect consistency instead of adding water.
• Pre-Boil Water: Boil your water in a kettle before using it on the stove. You’ll get hot water much faster and spend less time waiting for it to boil on the stove.
• Pre-Blend Strawberries: You can blend your strawberries before adding them to your pot, that way you don’t have to mash them later. Frozen strawberries may be harder to get out of your blender than fresh, though.