How to Make Starbucks Strawberry Puree

Learn how to make Starbucks’ Strawberry Puree at home with my easy recipe! This is perfect for making strawberry sweet cream (AKA cold foam).

What is the Starbucks Strawberry Puree Made of?

You weren’t foolish enough to think that the Starbucks strawberry puree is made from just pureed strawberries, were you?

*Looks sheepish*

Well, I was silly enough to think that, but of course I was wrong.

Starbucks actually refers to their strawberry puree as a strawberry puree sauce. 

Here’s the full list of ingredients:

Strawberry Puree, White Grape Juice Concentrate, Water, Fruit and Vegetable Juice for Color, Natural Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid

Now that you know what Starbucks puts in their version, let’s go over the ingredients for my homemade version:

Video Tutorial:

Here’s a quick video demo in case you like to learn by watching a tutorial. The full written instructions and printable recipe are below!

 

Ingredients:

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You only need 3 simple ingredients:

• Fresh Strawberries: This recipe will work best with fresh strawberries, so make sure to make it lots during strawberry season! But I’m sure you could thaw frozen strawberries and use those. The flavor won’t be quite as good, though.
• Sugar: Feel free to leave out the sweetener if you prefer to make this without any added sugar. However, I find that a bit of sugar helps to enhance the strawberry flavor. I’m pretty sure this is less sugar than Starbucks uses, so you can increase to your taste preferences. 
• Strawberry Flavoring: This is also optional, but to get that strong strawberry flavor like the Starbucks version, you can add some strawberry flavor. I use this one from Frontier Co-op, but there are other ones on the market. I don’t like a strong artificial strawberry flavor, so I use just 1/4 teaspoon. 

Now, Starbucks uses white grape juice concentrate to sweeten their strawberry puree sauce. 

I couldn’t find any frozen white grape juice concentrate at the grocery stores near me, so I tried using apple juice concentrate instead.

However, I found that the apple flavor interfered with the strawberry flavor too much. So I would just skip it and use cane sugar instead.

How to Make Starbucks Strawberry Puree:

Of course you’re going to start by washing your strawberries.

I know I don’t have to tell you to wash your fruits and veggies first, but I love a good strawberry washing photo so…

Next, remove the leafy part on top.

Cut each strawberry in half into a 2 cup measuring cup until you have 2 cups.

I recommend cutting the strawberries in half to measure them because it will be a little more accurate than measuring whole strawberries.

Finally, add the sugar and strawberry flavoring (if using) to the measuring cup on top of the strawberry halves. 

 

Stick Blender Method:

Now it’s time to puree the strawberries!

My personal favorite tool for the job is a stick blender, also known as a hand blender, wand blender, or immersion blender. 

I love that you can puree the strawberries in the same container that you measured them in. 

Anything to save on dishes.

But I have made strawberry puree in a regular blender in the past, and I’m sure you could use a food processor as well.

This is totally optional, but you can run the puree through a fine mesh sieve if you want to remove the seeds.

I’m personally unbothered by the seeds, but that’s always an option!

 

Storing:

Store the strawberry puree in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Now, after making many batches of strawberry puree while recipe testing, I understand why Starbucks adds additional ingredients.

You see, strawberry puree tends to go bad rather quickly. So adding extra ingredients probably helps to slow down the decomposition (or molding) process.

You could cook the strawberries to help preserve the puree longer. But I prefer a fresh strawberry flavor, and I’d rather skip the cooking step.

To circumvent the short shelf life, you can pour half of the strawberry puree into ice cube trays. Once frozen, transfer the strawberry ice cubes to a zippered plastic baggie or another freezer safe container.

Then you can just pop a puree cube into an airtight container in the refrigerator the night before you plan on using it. It will be melted and ready to go in the morning.

Ways to Use Strawberry Puree:

Starbucks uses their strawberry puree sauce in their strawberry cream Frappuccino, strawberry sweet cream (AKA cold foam), blended strawberry lemonade, frozen pineapple passionfruit lemonade, and frozen strawberry açaí lemonade.

My favorite way to use this strawberry puree is to make homemade strawberry sweet cream and pour it on top of an iced matcha green tea latte. Here’s my Homemade Starbucks Iced Matcha Latte with Strawberry Cold Foam!

I’d also like to recreate the strawberry Frappuccino. 

You could also use it to make my strawberry matcha latte, and just leave out the sweetener in the strawberries.

Here are some other ideas for how to use it:

• Use it to sweeten whipped cream for a yummy strawberry whipped cream!
• Pour on top of angel food cake for a lovely spring/summer dessert.
• Make a strawberry milkshake by blending the puree with vanilla ice cream and a bit of milk.
• Stir into Greek yogurt.

Is the Strawberry Puree at Starbucks Sweetened?

Yes, the strawberry puree sauce at Starbucks is sweetened with white grape juice concentrate. 

Is Strawberry Puree the Same as Strawberry Syrup?

No, strawberry puree tends to be thicker, like a sauce. Strawberry syrup, on the other hand, is much thinner. 

What’s the Difference Between the Starbucks Strawberry Puree and Strawberry Acai Base?

The strawberry puree is more of a sauce, whereas the strawberry açaí base more like a juice. The pureed strawberry sauce contains real strawberries, whereas the strawberry base doesn’t contain strawberries.

The signature flavor comes from “natural flavors” instead of actual acai and strawberries.

However, many of the drinks that are made with the strawberry acai refresher base (such as the pink drink) contain freeze-dried strawberries, so the drinks themselves do have real strawberries. 

So that’s my Starbucks strawberry puree copycat recipe! If you make this and enjoy it, please come back and give the recipe a 5 star rating – it really helps the blog out!

More Copycat Starbucks Drinks:

• Iced Matcha Latte Recipe
• Matcha Frappuccino Recipe
• Sweet Cream Cold Foam
• Homemade Vanilla Syrup for Coffee
• Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte
• Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino

More Strawberry Recipes:

• How to Make a Strawberry Milkshake without Ice Cream
• How to Make Strawberry Syrup for Drinks
• Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake
• Strawberry Protein Smoothie

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