Quick & Easy Strawberry Curd

This Quick & Easy Strawberry Curd recipe is a simple and fun way to use fresh or frozen strawberries. There are endless ways to enjoy fruit curds – spread on toast or pancakes, add a layer to a trifle or swirl into yogurt, fill layer cakes or make tarts. What will you choose first?

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In my ongoing mission to make a fruit curd using every possible fruit under the sun, I’ve reached strawberries on my list.

Like many of us, I go crazy buying locally grown strawberries each summer and I love their flavour. But I do get bored of the old strawberries and cream so this is a fab way to make the most of them.

Unlike many of my fruit curds, I don’t cook the strawberries down as the first step of this recipe. I’ve tried to preserve their freshness and flavour as much as possible. The recipe also doesn’t use too much sugar so it isn’t overly sweet either.

What I have retained from my other fruit curd recipes is the process of melting the butter and sugar before blitzing them with fruit and eggs. This gives the most delicious smooth curd. Straining the uncooked curd mix ensures that there are no pips left in the mix and if there are any stringy bits of egg, they’re removed.

So the process of heating and thickening the curd can then be finished relatively quickly. None of this stirring over a candle sized flame for 40 minutes which so many curd recipes prescribe.

I didn’t call this recipe quick and easy for no reason!

How to Serve Strawberry Fruit Curd

Like any curd, jam or chutney that I make or eat, serving it at room temperature is always preferable. The trick is to take it out of the fridge at least 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

When foods are served fridge cold, the flavour is dulled. And I’m all about flavour.

Ways To Use Strawberry Curd

All fruit curd have a tonne of uses. Here are just a few ideas:

• Serve with traditional Scones with cream and fresh strawberries.
• Make strawberry curd tarts. (Follow the method for Plum Curd Tarts)
• Make a strawberry curd cake by using it as a filling for Victoria Sandwich Cake.
• Serve with a simple cake like Pound Cake.
• Serve with whipped cream in meringue nests.
• Top an ice cream sundae.

Ingredients for Strawberry Curd

Strawberries

I mentioned in the intro that you can use fresh or frozen strawberries in this recipe. And that is true.

The only stipulation that I have is that the strawberries need to be good and ripe. Unripe strawberries have no flavour. Using strawberries with no flavour will result in curd with no flavour.

If you are using frozen strawberries, please defrost them first. Frozen strawberries give off a lot of juice which can make the finished curd far too thin. So this needs to be drained off. But do drink it, don’t waste it!

More Ways to Use Strawberries

Sugar

You must use a white sugar for this recipe. Using a brown or dark sugar will totally kill the taste of the strawberries. You should also avoid using icing/powdered sugar as the measurements will be totally different.

It doesn’t matter if you use caster/superfine sugar or regular/granulated sugar as you will be melting it down anyway.

Please also don’t try to use a sugar substitute. Real sugar provides more than sweetness to a recipe. It also adds texture and body.

Butter

I use salted butter in all my baking and this recipe is no different. If you insist on breaking my heart and buying unsalted butter, you must add some salt to the butter/sugar when it is melting.

Eggs

I don’t often specify egg sizes in my recipe as they can largely be flexible. But it is best to use UK large eggs for this recipe. The texture is quite dependent on the ratio of ingredients being correct when making curds.

Be Flexible

This recipe is going to work for many berries that you would usually eat without cooking. So you could make raspberry curd or loganberry curd or blackberry curd.

For other berries that benefit and hold up to heat like blueberries and blackcurrant will require a different recipe more like the recipes for stone fruits. Peach curd and plum curd recipes are very similar for example.

I generally find that for each fruit, the recipe needs a little tweaking. Fresh fig curd has fairly different ratios of ingredients. And then juice only curds like clementine curd are totally different again.

Other fruits generally need a little experimentation. So feel free to play around using the basic method for the most similar fruit but I can’t promise instant results. It is trial and error.

As for adding extra flavours etc to this straight Strawberry Curd recipe, you could add a few drops of vanilla extract (never essence). Or you could add some lemon zest to make a strawberry lemon curd, etc etc.

Is This Strawberry Curd Vegetarian?

Why yes it is. Eggs are used to help set the curd – there are no gelatine or animal products involved.

Can You Make This Strawberry Curd Vegan?

Unfortunately not. The eggs are really a vital part of this recipe. As well as the butter although that could more easily be substituted.

I would recommend looking for a dedicated vegan strawberry curd recipe if needed. These usually use different ratios of ingredients and cornflour to thicken the “curd”.

Make it Allergy Friendly

This recipe is free from gluten and nuts.

Dairy Free Strawberry Curd: Swap the butter in the recipe for a dairy free alternative. It is important to use a hard block butter sub and not a soft margarine type.

Egg Free Strawberry Curd: Please see my notes above about vegan strawberry curd. It simply isn’t possible as an adaptation of this specific recipe.

Please note that this recipe may contain other allergens not referred to above and any variations suggested have not been tested unless otherwise stated. For more information regarding any dietary information provided on this website, please refer to my Nutritional Disclaimer.

Equipment Notes for Smooth Strawberry Curd

There are a couple of items of equipment that you need to make this smooth strawberry curd.

You will need some kind of blender. My preferred type for curds and most soups is a stick blender. It creates minimal waste, minimal washing up and you can really see what you are blending.

If you don’t have a stick blender, you can use any electric blender. Just make sure to use a silicone spatula to scrape it out really well. You don’t want to waste good ingredients.

The other required piece of basic kit is a nice fine sieve. It doesn’t matter if it is metal or nylon. This is essential to both remove any of the strawberry seeds and make sure the mixture is super smooth before it is thickened.

You can store the finished curd in any airtight container you prefer. You do not need to use jars. But if you do have jar envy, these are like the quilted jam jars I use!

A comprehensive list of the equipment used to make this recipe is included in the main recipe card below. Click on any item to see an example. There are no hard and fast rules so many items can be sensibly substituted to achieve the same results.

Get Ahead

Strawberry curd will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. But it is best made fresh. So I wouldn’t plan to make it more than a day or two before you are planning to use it. If at all possible.

I don’t usually freeze curd and it isn’t something that I’ve tested. I would imagine that it would split when its defrosted. This probably isn’t actually an issue as it would likely come back together with a quick blitz with the blender. Let me know how you get on if you try it.

Easy Strawberry Curd Tips

You can hull the strawberries one by one if you prefer. But my way of dealing with the green tops and enough of the hull is to simply slice off the top. Any hulls left will get sieved out so don’t worry about texture.

Once you add the eggs, crack on with the blending sharpish. I’ve never found that the eggs are terribly stressed about joining the warm butter and sugar. But I wouldn’t chance it for too long.

If you do find that the mixture breaks or splits during the final heating and thickening stage, simply give it another blitz with the blender. It should come back together perfectly.

Fruit Curds – Hints, Tips & FAQs

For more help and information about making any flavour fruit curd, head over to my fruit curds FAQs post.

Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you try making this recipe – I want to know what you think and if you made any substitutions, how did it turn out?

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The Recipe

Quick & Easy Strawberry Curd Recipe

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This Quick & Easy Strawberry Curd recipe is a simple and fun way to use fresh or frozen strawberries. There are endless ways to enjoy fruit curds – spread on toast or pancakes, add a layer to a trifle or swirl into yogurt, fill layer cakes or make tarts. What will you choose first?

5 from 16 votes

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KEEP SCREEN ON

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Servings 400 ml (approx)

Author Chloe

Equipment

• Measuring Scales
• Sharp Knife – Large
• Chopping Board – Plastic
• Saucepan – Medium
• Silicone Spatula
• Measuring Jug – Large
• Stick Blender
• Sieve
• Jam Jars

Ingredients

 

MetricUSA Measurements

 

0.5x1x2x4x

• 350 g Strawberries
• 80 g Salted Butter
• 60 g Sugar
• 2 Eggs - large

Instructions

 

• Measure 60g Sugar and 80g Salted Butter into a medium saucepan.
  
• Put the pan on a medium heat and stir until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. This will only take a couple of minutes. Set aside.
  
• Slice the green tops off 350g Strawberries. This will remove a chunk of the hull too. If they're large strawberries halve or quarter them too.
  
• Place the strawberries in a large jug or blender jug.
  
• Use a stick blender or the blender function to blitz the strawberries until smooth.
  
• Add the butter/sugar mix to the strawberries along with 2 Eggs.
  
• Blitz again until everything is fully combined. The mix will go a pale pink colour.
  
• Strain the contents of the jug back into the pan. This will remove any bits of seed etc.
  
• Stir the mix over the heat until it has thickened. You can raise the heat a little at the beginning to get the heat up. And you can continue to adjust the heat so that the mixture is no hotter than a very light simmer.

  If you are underconfident, keep the heat low – it will just take longer to thicken.

  Keep stirring and make sure to keep scraping along the bottom of the pan. Do not walk away or take your eyes of the pan.
• The curd is ready once it coats the back of a spoon or spatula. This should take no more than 5 to 8 minutes. You will know it is ready when it stops getting any thicker.
  
• Take the curd off the heat and pour into jars or storage containers.
  

Notes

If for some annoying reason your curd decides to break/split during the thickening process, you can simply blend it again before storing and it will come back together as a smooth curd. 

Nutrition (Approx)

Serving: 1tbsp | Calories: 40kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 27mg | Potassium: 26mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 97IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 1mg

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