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Use the last of the sweet summer berries to make Fresh Strawberry Bread. This moist, flavorful bread is a dream for breakfast when lightly toasted and smeared with a bit of cream cheese.
If you’re looking for a way to use up that last stash of summer strawberries, I’ve got you covered with this Fresh Strawberry Bread.
Although Ohio strawberries were kind of disappointing this year due the weather, we were able to get our hands on some beautiful, sweet berries from a you-pick farm that had really great irrigation. Apparently this makes all the difference when Mother Nature decides it’s going to rain almost every single day for the entire month of June.
THE BEST STRAWBERRY BREAD RECIPE
Believe it or not, I have not always been a blogger.
Before I started My Baking Addiction and for several years after, I was a middle school teacher.
Having a teachers’ lounge to deposit leftover baked goods was convenient and had the unintended side effect of making it widely known that I had started a baking blog.
Once MBA became common knowledge among my fellow teachers, they frequently sought me out to make their cakes, cupcakes and even search for recipe ideas.
This is how Fresh Strawberry Bread was born. A coworker wondered if I had recommendations for a strawberry quick bread recipe she could serve to guests coming into town for her son’s wedding.
At the time I had never made strawberry bread. But of course I was compelled to get into the kitchen and start experimenting.
After a little tinkering and a bit of trial and error, I had a fantastic Fresh Strawberry Bread recipe on my hands.
This quick bread is super moist, dense in just the right away, and bursting with sweet strawberry flavor.
TIPS FOR MAKING STRAWBERRY BREAD
- Use a mixture of butter and cream cheese plus buttermilk for tang
- Use smaller, sweeter strawberries
- Gently fold in the berries
- Enjoy toasted with cream cheese!
Strawberries and cream cheese are paired together so often for a reason: their flavors mesh perfectly! Just try Strawberry Cheesecake Fluff or Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart if you don’t believe me.
To get that same perfect combo of sweet and tangy in this Fresh Strawberry Bread recipe, I like to use a combination of butter and cream cheese. I also use buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute) for the liquid in the recipe.
When shopping for strawberries for this bread, look for smaller berries if you can. These smaller strawberries are usually sweeter and more flavorful than super large strawberries. They’ll make your bread even better!
When it comes time to add the strawberries to the batter, set aside your electric mixer and reach for a spatula to gently fold them in by hand. This will keep them from turning to mush; we want to see chunks of strawberries in the baked bread!
Feel free to enjoy Fresh Strawberry Bread in any way you like, but I recommend one way in particular:
Lightly toasted and smeared with whipped cream cheese.
Trust me, it’s summery heaven in a single bite!
Fresh Strawberry Bread
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 ½ cups fresh strawberries rinsed, dried and chopped
Instructions
- Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- With electric mixer cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and only stir until just combined; do not over mix.
- Carefully fold in strawberries. Dough mixture will be thick.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this and hubby loves it! All my strawberries have been frozen, can they be substituted?
Hi Lori – You should be able to use frozen strawberries if they are already chopped, but I would not thaw them before adding them to the batter. I don’t know that thawed strawberries would work very well, but if you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Happy baking!
Jamie
I plan to use this recipe but substitute chopped peaches. I hope it works. I have 25 lbs of beautiful fresh peaches to use up!
Let me know how to turns out! I have a bunch of peaches on hand too!
-Jamie
Strawberry season is over in Florida, but it is blueberry season. The California berries that we get are hard! Have you ever tried blueberries?
Hello! I haven’t attempted this recipe with this substitution, so I am not sure of the result. If you happen to give it a try, I’d love to know how it turned out. Thanks so much for stopping by.
-Jamie
What flour is used in this recipe please? I would like to make it, sounds delicious!
Hello! You will want to use all purpose flour in this recipe. Hope this helps! Happy baking.
Jamie
can i use apple as well?
Hello! I haven’t attempted this recipe with apples instead, so I am not sure of the result. If you happen to give it a try, I’d love to know how it turned out. I also have an apple bread recipe you might like:https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/apple-pie-bread/
Thanks so much for stopping by.
-Jamie
This look very delicious. But we dont usually have buttermilk, what is the good alternative for the buttermilk? Is it the same measurement? Thanks in advance for the response.
Hello! You can easily use my buttermilk substitute instead: https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/buttermilk-substitute/
Hope this helps! Happy baking.
Jamie
Sounds luscious! Could this recipe be adapted for scones?
Hello! I haven’t attempted making this recipe into scones, so I am not sure of the best method or result. If you happen to give it a try, I’d love to know how they turned out. Thanks so much for stopping by.
-Jamie
Looks so delicious! I love strawberry in pastries! Perfect for weekend brunch!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Natalie! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Happy Baking!
-Jamie
This was moist. I made one loaf as the recipe stated and made the other loaf with puréed strawberries folded into the batter. Both were good. The loaf with strawberry purée had a more intense strawberry flavour. I would make this recipe again.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the bread, Sunshine! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback!
-Jamie