This beautiful Strawberry Buttercream Frosting is naturally colored and filled with real strawberries. This easy frosting is loaded with flavor and it comes together in minutes. The perfect topping for cake, cupcakes, brownies, and more!

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting is what spring and summer dreams are made of. But, good news – you can make this frosting year round. You’ll want to put it on anything and everything.

Strawberry buttercream frosting swirled in a white bowl.

This Strawberry Buttercream became a regular in our dessert rotation six years ago when we used it on our Strawberry Cupcakes.

This is the perfect way to make a pretty pink frosting without any food coloring. Yep, you read that right – no food coloring. Real strawberries bring the beautiful pink color to our frosting. And every bite is bursting with the flavor of sweet fresh strawberries.

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Ingredients needed
Recipe overview
Ingredient spotlight: freeze dried strawberries
Can you use fresh strawberries?
What to put strawberry frosting on?
More frosting recipes
Recipe

Closeup of strawberry cupcake topped with strawberry frosting

Ingredients needed

Unsalted butter
Powdered sugar
Freeze dried strawberries
Vanilla
Strawberry jam
Milk OR fresh strawberry puree (more on this below)

Strawberries, powdered sugar, vanilla, butter, jam.

Recipe overview

Start by grinding the freeze dried strawberries into powder. Pour it through a fine mesh sieve and discard the seeds. You will be left with a fine pinkish/red powder that will add tons of strawberry flavor to the frosting.

Freeze dried strawberries in a white bowl.

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter until smooth, Add powdered sugar and beat until combined.

Butter and powdered sugar in a white bowl.

Add the freeze dried strawberry powder, jam, vanilla, and milk/strawberry puree.

Butter, powdered sugar, jam, and freeze dried strawberries in a white bowl.

Beat until smooth and combined.

Ingredient spotlight: freeze dried strawberries

Freeze dried strawberries are strawberries that have low water content and are dried out and crispy. They can be found on the dried fruit aisle (I get mine at Target or Whole Foods). Note: they are not dried strawberries which are soft and chewy (like a raisin).

Because they are dry they allow us to add a deep, more intense strawberry flavor without adding too much moisture which could make the frosting thin and runny.

Pulse the freeze dried strawberries in a food processor or blender until ground into a fine powder.

Can you use fresh strawberries?

Yes! I love making this recipe with fresh, pureed strawberries. Just pop 5-10 strawberries in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. You’ll need 2-3 tablespoons of strawberry puree and you’ll use it in place of the milk to thin out the frosting.

Make sure your strawberries are juicy and sweet otherwise they won’t add much flavor.

What to put strawberry frosting on?

Sugar cookies topped with pink strawberry frosting.

More frosting recipes

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Recipe

Strawberry Buttercream

4.74 from 19 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Dessert

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 0

Total Time: 15

Servings: cups (enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes or a single layer 8 or 9 inch cake)

Calories: 223kcal

Author: Allison Mattina

Ingredients

▢ ¾ cup freeze dried strawberries
▢ ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
▢ 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy, plus more if needed
▢ ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
▢ 1 generous tablespoon strawberry jam
▢ 2 tablespoons milk OR 5-8 fresh strawberries*, plus more if needed

Instructions

In a small food processor, blend freeze dried strawberries until they turn into powder. Pour the powder into a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids and seeds, keeping the fine powder that came through the sieve. Set the powder aside, you should have a scant ¼ cup.
With a hand mixer, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beater as necessary. Add the powdered sugar, ½ a cup at a time, beating until combined.
Add freeze dried strawberry powder, vanilla extract, jam, and either 2 tablespoons of milk OR 2 tablespoons strawberry puree. Beat on medium speed until fully combined, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater as needed. If necessary, adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken, or more milk or strawberry puree to thin it out.

Notes

*To use fresh strawberry puree instead of milk to thin out the frosting, add 5-8 strawberries to the food processor or blender (after using it for the freeze dried strawberries). Process the fresh strawberries until pureed. You’ll need 2-3 tablespoons of fresh strawberry puree.