Jam roasted strawberries are bursting with sweetness! Toasting them with a vanilla bean takes them to the next level. Serve over ice cream, yogurt or stir into oatmeal. Freezes great!
Strawberries are one of the most tempting treats of early summer. Rather than just macerating them in sugar, I love toasting 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 hold their shape while still jamming. It’s wonderful for spooning over ice cream, yogurt, panna cotta, or old-fashioned strawberry shortcake.
Roasting strawberries concentrates their flavor and makes them sweet and extra fruity without adding a lot of sugar. You also get an intense syrup. I imagine this as an oven compote. The berries themselves are better preserved roasted in the oven than if you simmered them on the stove.
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 will already have collapsed and oozed, and they just turn to mush when you toast them.
Use locally grown berries whenever possible. Strains brought in from Mexico, California, and Florida are bred more for longevity than flavor, though they’re still tasty that way.
Make sure you peel the berries and only remove the green leaves and stalks from the strawberry rather than snipping off the white tips or tops — the tops are high in pectin, which helps give the finished berries a jam-like texture.
I like to use this strawberry peeler, but you can also use a paring knife. Just stick the tip near the leaves and cut them out in a flat cone.
Fruit loves vanilla!
I love using whole vanilla beans with fruit. Yes they are expensive but I think you really get your bang for the buck. The vanilla flavor dulls the acidity of the fruit and is so incredibly aromatic. Try it!
Swaps and Substitutions
It’s still worth making this without the vanilla bean. Here are some other flavor options if you want to shake it up. Add one of the following ingredients to the casserole dish along with the berries and sugar before toasting.
- Cardamom (3 pods or 1/4 teaspoon ground)
- A few whole star anise
- A 1 inch x 3 inch strip of orange peel
- Add a tablespoon of orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier, to the berries after removing them from the oven
- Add 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (add again after roasting the berries)
When are the strawberries finished roasting?
The more space there is in your dish, the shorter it will take to roast. The berries will be soft and slouchy. The juices collected around them are syrupy and have sticky little sacs that burst. As the berries cool, the syrup will thicken and the berries will soften even more.
How to store roasted strawberries
Store the berries, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week.
You can also freeze them for up to a year. Place them in either an appropriately sized freezer-safe storage container or a small freezer bag and freeze flat. It is best to eat frozen berries within a year.
Roasted strawberries taste great with:
Dairy! These go great with dairy products and dairy-based desserts.
- Cheesecake
- Natural yoghurt
- Panna cotta
- Vanilla Ice Cream
Baked desserts are great too: the simpler, the better.
- sponge cake
- Angel Food Cake
- Shortcake
- almond cake
More great strawberry recipes:
- fresh strawberry cake
- Microwave strawberry jam
- Strawberry Nectarine Fruit Salad
- Strawberry ice cream
- Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Roasted vanilla strawberries
If you don’t have a vanilla bean, you can omit it; If you like, add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the berries after removing them from the oven.
ingredients
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1 pound strawberries, rinsed
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3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
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1 vanilla bean, optional
method
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Preheat the oven:
Position a wire rack in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 425°F.
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Prepare berries:
Peel the strawberries (use a peeler if you have one, or a paring knife if you don’t have one). To remove the stem and leaves from the berry with a paring knife, insert the tip of your paring knife as close to the stem as possible and cut a narrow, flat cone around it. Throw away the stalk.
If the strawberries are large, halve or quarter them. You can leave smaller berries whole.
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Combine strawberries with other ingredients:
Place the strawberries in a 9″ x 9″ shallow non-reactive casserole dish (ceramic, enamel, or Pyrex are good choices). Add the sugar. Halve the vanilla bean vertically with a sharp knife and scrape out the pulp; add the seeds and scraped vanilla bean to the berries. Throw to combine.
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Roast berries:
Place the dish uncovered in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Stir it after 15 minutes if you remember. The berries collapse and a lot of juice quickly bubbles around them.
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Cool:
Cool to room temperature; everything will thicken and go mushy as it cools.
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Save on computer:
Store covered in the fridge for up to a week. Leave the vanilla bean in to allow the flavors to deepen and soften as it sits. Serve over cake, ice cream, yogurt or spoon into oatmeal.
