Strawberry Bars

These Strawberry Bars feature a buttery shortbread crust, a creamy strawberry filling, and a crunchy crumble topping, and are the ultimate strawberry dessert.

Inspired by my recipe for Blueberry Bars, this recipe replaces blueberries, with juicy, ripe strawberries to create an irresistible spring dessert.

If you are looking for an easy spring dessert recipe, these Strawberry Bars are the perfect option.

From the creamy filling made with fresh, sweet strawberries to the flaky shortbread crust to the buttery streusel topping, these Strawberry Bars are sweet, bright, and absolutely delicious.

And lucky for you (and me!), these strawberry crumble bars are super easy to make and transport well, making them a go-to dessert recipe.

Notes on Ingredients

• Strawberries: This recipe must be made with fresh, ripe strawberries. When defrosted, frozen strawberries will be too soft and give off too much liquid, which will prevent the bars from setting up correctly.
• Sour Cream: You can opt to use full-fat or reduced-fat sour cream. I do not recommend using fat-free sour cream, as there are added ingredients that change the consistency and taste of the sour cream. You can also swap out the sour cream for plain Greek yogurt if desired.
• Lemon: Adding the zest and juice of a fresh lemon to the filling really helps to brighten up flavors and make everything pop.
• Butter: It is best to use cold, cubed, unsalted butter for this recipe.

How to Make Strawberry Bars

These strawberry bars are made with only two components: buttery shortbread and a creamy strawberry filling. The shortbread, which is inspired by my recipe for Homemade Shortbread, is used for both the base of the bars AND the crumble topping, which makes the preparation of the strawberry bars that much easier.

• In a food processor fitted with a pastry blade, combine flour, ¼ cup of sugar, and a dash of salt in a food processor fitted with a pastry blade.
• Add in the cold, cubed butter and pulse together until the pastry dough is crumbly and the butter is evenly distributed.

No food processor? Use 2 forks or a pastry mixer to cut the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly.

• Remove ½ cup of the mixture from the food processor and reserve to use as the streusel topping.
• Press the remaining shortbread mixture evenly into the prepared dish.
• Bake for 15 minutes. I find that prebaking the crust keeps it flaky and tender. If you skip the prebaking, the strawberry filling can soak into the crust, making it soggy and dense.
• While the strawberry bar base is baking, prepare the filling by mixing together the sour cream, remaining sugar, vanilla, egg, lemon juice, and lemon zest together. Gently fold in the strawberries.

• When the crust comes out of the oven, pour the strawberry batter over the crust.
• Sprinkle the reserved ½ cup crust batter over the berry mixture evenly.
• Return bars to the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until pie bars are set and crumble over top is slightly browned.
• Allow to cool for at least an hour before slicing--I found the bars tasted even better the next day if you can wait that long!

More Strawberry Recipes

• Strawberry Spinach Salad
• Easy Strawberry Chia Jam
• Strawberry & Grape Fruit Salad
• Fresh Strawberry Cake from Once Upon a Kitchen

If you enjoyed these Strawberry Bars, I would love for you to leave a comment and review below. I love hearing from you!