Vanilla Roasted Strawberries Recipe

Name: Vanilla Roasted Strawberries
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients: 1 pound strawberries, rinsed; 3 tablespoons granulated sugar; 1 vanilla bean, optional

Strawberries are one of the more enticing treats of early summer. Instead of just macerating them in sugar, I love roasting strawberries with a split vanilla bean.

Roasting strawberries intensifies their flavor and creates a nice, gooey syrup—it’s almost like making a compote in the oven, and the berries maintain their shape while still getting jammy. It’s wonderful for spooning over ice cream, yogurt, panna cotta, or old-fashioned strawberry shortcake.

Roast Strawberries for Sweetness

Roasting strawberries concentrates their flavor, making them sweet and extra-fruity, without having to add much sugar. You also get an intense syrup. I think of this as an oven compote. The berries themselves stay more intact roasted in the oven than they would if you simmered them on the stove.

A bowl of hulled strawberries to make roasted strawberries with vanilla. — Alison Bickel

Use Fresh Strawberries, Not Frozen

Save your frozen berries for smoothies. There’s no reason to make this unless you have fresh strawberries. Strawberries that are thawed after freezing are already collapsed and weeping liquid, and they’ll just turn to mush if you roast them.

Use locally grown berries, if you can. The varieties trucked in from Mexico, California, and Florida are bred more for longevity than flavor, though they’ll still be tasty when prepared this way.

Make sure you hull the berries, removing just the green leaves and stems from the strawberry, rather than slicing off the white tops or tips—the tops are high in pectin, which helps give the finished berries a jammy texture.

I like to use this strawberry huller, but you can also use a paring knife. Just insert the tip near the leaves and cut them out in a shallow cone.

Fruit Loves Vanilla!

I love using whole vanilla beans with fruit. Yes, they’re expensive, but I think you really get your bang for the buck. The vanilla flavor mutes the acidity of the fruit and is so incredibly aromatic. Try it!

A bowl of strawberry topping for ice cream in a small white bowl. Behind it is a ceramic baking dish with more of the vanilla roasted strawberries inside. — Alison Bickel

Swaps and Substitutions

This is still worth making without the vanilla bean. Here are some other flavoring options, if you want to shake it up. Add any of the following to the baking dish, along with the berries and sugar, prior to roasting them.

Cardamom (3 pods, or 1/4 teaspoon ground)
A few whole star anise
One 1 inch x 3 inch strip of orange zest
Add a tablespoon of orange liqueur like Grand Marnier to the berries after you take them out of the oven
Add 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (once again, add after roasting the berries)

When Are the Strawberries Done Roasting?

The more room in your dish, the less time these will take to roast. The berries will be soft and slouchy. The juices pooled around them will be syrupy and have sticky little bubbles popping. As the berries cool, the syrup thickens, and the berries become even softer.

A mason jar filled with strawberry topping for ice cream. — Alison Bickel

How to Store Roasted Strawberries

Refrigerate the berries, covered, for up to a week.

You can also freeze them for up to a year. Either put them in an appropriately sized freezer-safe storage container, or in a small freezer bag and freeze it flat. It’s best to eat frozen berries within a year.

Roasted Strawberries Taste Great With:

Dairy! These are terrific with dairy products and dairy-based desserts.

Baked desserts are great, too: the more basic, the better.

Close up of strawberry topping for ice cream in its own syrup. — Alison Bickel

More Great Strawberry Recipes:

Vanilla Roasted Strawberries

Prep Time 5 mins

Total Time 5 mins

Yield 1 to 1 1/2 cups

If you don’t have a vanilla bean, you may omit it; if you like, add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the berries after you remove them from the oven.

1 pound strawberries, rinsed
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, optional

Preheat the oven:

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
Prep the berries:

Hull the strawberries (use a huller if you have one, or a paring knife if you don’t). To remove the stem and leaves from the berry using a paring knife, insert the tip of your paring knife as close to the stem as possible, and cut a narrow, shallow cone around it. Discard the stem.

If the strawberries are large, halve or quarter them. You can leave smaller berries whole.

Alison Bickel
Combine strawberries with other ingredients:

Put the strawberries in a 9x9-inch shallow, non-reactive baking dish (ceramic, enameled, or Pyrex are good choices). Add the sugar. Cut the vanilla bean in half vertically with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds; add the seeds and the scraped-out vanilla bean to the berries. Toss to combine.

Alison Bickel
Roast the berries:

Place the dish, uncovered, in the oven and bake for 30, stirring after 15 minutes, if you remember. The berries will collapse and lots of juice will rapidly bubble all around them.
Cool:

Cool to room temperature; everything will thicken and become jammy as it cools.

Alison Bickel
Store:

Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week. Leave the vanilla bean in there so the flavors both deepen and mellow as it all sits. Serve over cakes, ice cream, yogurt, or spoon into oatmeal.