Strawberry Filling - An Easy Homemade Recipe

This strawberry filling recipe is super easy and simple. With only 5 common ingredients, you can cook a fresh jar of strawberry filling in less than 20 minutes.

This recipe works well with both fresh strawberries and frozen ones, so you can have your homemade strawberry filling anytime you want.

Way before I started making my own fruit filings (like this easy homemade strawberry filling), I used to find it very convenient to buy ready made ones from the stores. But now, since I make my own, I will never go back to the store bought ones.

When making your own, you get to not only adjust the taste to suit your liking, you can also make them to the consistency you want. I like my fruit filling to be packed with fruits rather than the sauce, and I can only achieve this by making my own. Plus, it is so easy to make them, I have gotten hooked to making my own fillings and jams ever since I tried for the first time.

The other point I wish to make about this easy homemade strawberry filling is its versatility. Not only can you use it as a simple strawberry pie filling, you can also pair it with so many other desserts and food – as a strawberry cake filling between layers of plain white cake or vanilla cake, chocolate cakes, or even strawberry cake layers. You can also use it as cupcake filling, toppings for cheesecakes, as a donut filling or puff pastry filling. This fruit filling pairs well with buttercream frosting and cream cheese frosting. See how I used this strawberry filling to make a yummy almond strawberry cake here.

It’s a perfect way to use up those extra fruits you have around during strawberry season and a great and easy way to enjoy them even when they are offseason. 

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How to Make - Video

Check out my full video on how to make this easy strawberry filling:

Ingredients

There are only 5 simple ingredients that are necessary to make this filling.

• Strawberries
• Sugar
• Cornstarch
• Water
• Lemon juice

Making the filling

• Start by preparing the strawberries. Wash, hull and cut them. If you like chunks of strawberries in your filling, halve or quarter the strawberries. If you like smaller pieces, chopped them to smaller pieces.

• Add them to a small saucepan or pot.
• In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with water and add this solution to the fruits. Mixing with a little water helps prevent the cornstarch from becoming lumpy when added to the fruits.
• Also, add the sugar and lemon juice. Cook the fruits on low heat until they turn soft and the sugar-lemon juice mixture has thickened. As the sugar melts, the filling will look very watery. Continue to cook over low heat until it thickens. Stir often to ensure the fruits don’t get burnt.
• Once thickened, remove it from fire and let it cool completely to room temperature before using or storing.  

Storing

• This strawberry filling is very similar to strawberry jam. The only difference is that cornstarch is added here to thicken the filling, while there is none in the jam.
• The filling, if not used immediate, should be refrigerated. Similar to the jam, you can store it in a jar or even a container.
• This strawberry filling can last in the fridge for a good 1 week. If you wish to keep it longer, freeze it. Let it thaw in the fridge before using. The filling should last in the freezer for at least one month.

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Notes

Basically, most fruit filling recipes start with fruits and sugar as the main ingredients. Cornstarch is added to thicken the fillings and in some recipes, including my blueberry filling and this strawberry filling recipe, I also added some lemon juice. 

Strawberries

• It is important to use ripe strawberries, not too ripe nor unripe. Hull them and cut them into smaller pieces if you wish for smaller chunks of strawberries in your filling.
• For a smooth filling (i.e. strawberry sauce or strawberry coulis), blend the strawberries before cooking them. Cut the strawberries as indicated in the recipe card below, and then add them to a food processor or immersion blender and process to a strawberry puree before cooking the ingredients into a smooth filling.

Sugar

• I use plain white sugar. It is not necessary for castor/granulated sugar or powdered sugar as it is going to be cooked over heat and will get melted anyway, so either is fine. 

Cornstarch

• The main purpose of cornstarch in this recipe is to thicken the filling mixture. Once the fruits and sugar are put on heat, there will be quite a bit of liquid released in the pan. To cook the mixture until the liquid dries out would result in overcooked fruits and overly thick filling.
• The best option is, therefore, to add some cornstarch to the mixture and let it thicken up in a soft consistency. That way, the fruits do not get overcooked and become overly soft too.

Lemon Juice

• Unlike jams without pectin where lemon juice is essential (especially fruits low in pectin) to help the gelling process of the jam, the use of lemon juice in this homemade strawberry filling and my blueberry filling recipe here is purely for taste. The lemon juice, though added in small quantity, really help is bringing out the flavor of fruits in the fillings. 
• If you do not have lemon juice, replace with lime juice.

Water

• The use of water in this recipe is very minimal and its sole purpose is to dilute cornstarch before adding it into the fruits.
• Sometimes, cornstarch lumps up when added into wet ingredients and to avoid that, I mix it with water first and then pour it to the fruits. 

Additional Flavoring

• You can add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract into the homemade filling right before removing it off the heat for a vanilla flavored delicious strawberry filling.

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Like this easy recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out

• Light Fruit Cake Recipe
• Almond Strawberry Cake
• 75th Birthday Cake Idea for Dad
• Blueberry Filling Recipe
• Oreo Strawberry Cheesecake
• Small Batch Strawberry Jam - Homemade Recipe without Pectin
• Strawberry Rolls with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze
• Strawberry Jam Cookies (Sandwich Cookies)

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my easy homemade strawberry filling recipe.

And that is pretty much how I make my easy homemade strawberry filling. 

Enjoy 🙂