Strawberry Simple Syrup Recipe

Strawberry simple syrup is a quintessential spring and summer drink ingredient and the best way to make homemade Strawberry Lemonade or Strawberry Iced Tea.

It's also pretty great on pancakes, french toast, ice cream, in milkshakes, and in just about anything you might use plain simple syrup! This sweet and tangy syrup is bursting with strawberry flavor and comes together in about ten minutes.

What you need to make it

• 2 parts fresh or frozen strawberries
• 1 part sugar
• 1 part water

I'm not sure why it's taken me seven years of cocktail blogging to finally share a strawberry simple syrup recipe, but here we are! I've focused a lot over the years on the less common ingredients and drinks, so we're getting back to basics.

Strawberry simple syrup is very easy to make and uses just the three ingredients listed above. The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for it to cool down enough to shake up some Strawberry Margaritas!

While the recipe below is for a cooked strawberry syrup, you can also make fresh strawberry simple syrup with no cooking and no time spent waiting for it to cool.

Fresh strawberry simple syrup

To make a strawberry syrup that tastes like fresh summer berries instead of like jam, you'll first need to extract the fresh juices. You can be fancy and use a juicer, you can use a blender and then strain the liquid from the solids, or even simply muddle the berries thoroughly and then press the mush into a fine mesh strainer to separate the liquid.

Once you've extracted the juice from the berries, combine it with an equal measure of sugar and stir (or combine in a mason jar with a lid and shake) until all of the sugar dissolves. If you find you've got an odd measure of strawberry juice, you can add water to bring the measure up to a rounder number (like a half cup or one cup).

Cooked strawberry simple syrup

I like to make a cooked strawberry syrup when I want a deeper flavor and a gorgeous red color. Fresh strawberry syrup is a bit more orange-y in color.

For the cooked syrup, combine 2 parts fresh or frozen strawberries with 1 part sugar and 1 part water. Whereas our fresh syrup doesn't need water (and as a result is a little more concentrated) this version is essentially making a basic simple syrup, and then adding plenty of strawberries to break down in the pan and flavor it.

Add your ingredients to a small sauce pan and place it over medium heat. Stir periodically, helping the sugar to dissolve. Next, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the syrup is dark red and the berries begin to break down.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool for at least 20 minutes before straining out the solids. Store your finished strawberry syrup in a glass bottle or jar in the fridge for up to two weeks. That's it! Uncomplicated and quite delicious. Now that you have your syrup, try some of these great strawberry syrup cocktails over at Difford's Guide.

More easy fruit syrups to make:

• Watermelon Syrup
• Blackberry Simple Syrup
• Fresh Raspberry Simple Syrup
• Fresh Peach Syrup
• Pineapple Simple Syrup

Make a simple Strawberry Soda

Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in 1 ounce of strawberry simple syrup. Top with chilled club soda or seltzer and finish with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon. This sweet, fruity, tangy soda is delicious and refreshing on a hot summer day. Best of all, you can serve this easy highball to groups of all ages.

Make it a cocktail by adding 1.5-2 ounces of your favorite spirit. Vodka, gin, rum, whiskey, or tequila are all great options. I prefer to make it more like a Strawberry Tom Collins when adding alcohol (2 ounces alcohol, 1 ounce syrup, 1 ounce lemon, top with club soda).

Try more strawberry recipes:

• Strawberry Margarita
• Strawberry Paloma
• Strawberry Rhubarb Simple Syrup
• Strawberry Vanilla Daiquiri