Oh man, is there anything better than that smell when strawberries are perfectly in season? Seriously, it just screams summer to me! When my garden is absolutely overflowing, I stop everything and make this loaf. Forget those fussy layer cakes; this Simple Strawberry Bread is my absolute go-to for showcasing real, fresh fruit. It’s probably the easiest moist quick bread you’ll ever whip up, and it never fails me. You get that perfect tender crumb studded with bright, sweet berries. Trust me, once you try this reliable recipe, it’ll become your family’s official signal that spring has truly sprung, or summer is here to stay. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s ridiculously delicious warm.

Why This Strawberry Bread Recipe Stands Out

When you’re working with beautiful fresh ingredients, you don’t want a complicated process ruining the magic! This strawberry bread recipe is my little secret weapon for guaranteed greatness. I know you’ll love it because:

It comes together fast—I mean, less than 15 minutes of actual mixing time!
It uses simple pantry staples you probably already have on hand.
The texture is perfectly moist every single time, no dry edges allowed.
It truly lets the flavor of fresh, peak-season strawberries shine through.

If you want to learn some other foundational skills for better quick breads in general, check out my guide on general baking tips here: baking tips to make you a better baker. It really helps!

Essential Ingredients for Perfect Strawberry Bread

You don’t need anything fancy here, which is part of why I love this basic strawberry bread so much! The real star, of course, is those fresh, bright red strawberries. Make sure they are ripe and sweet when you chop them up!

Here is exactly what you need to grab before you start mixing things together. Don’t stress about substitutions right away; this is best done using these precise amounts:

Flour: Two cups of all-purpose flour starts us off.
Leaveners: We use 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder along with half a teaspoon of baking soda to give it that gentle lift.
Salt: Just half a teaspoon to balance all that sweetness.
Sugar: Three-quarters of a cup of regular white granulated sugar.
Fat: Half a cup of unsalted butter that needs to be good and softened—you know, when you press it and your finger makes a gentle mark.
Binders: Two large eggs and a tiny splash of vanilla extract for warmth.
Liquid: Half a cup of milk. If you ever run out of buttermilk, I have a quick trick you can check out right here!
The Fruit! One whole cup of fresh strawberries, and make sure you chop them up nicely first.

Honestly, the quality of those berries makes or breaks this simple loaf. Don’t try it with meh strawberries!

Step-by-Step Instructions for Amazing Strawberry Bread

Okay, let’s get baking! This process is so straightforward, but attention to detail in the mixing is what sends this from merely good to seriously amazing strawberry bread. Remember, quick breads rely on gentle handling! If you need a refresher on foundational baking techniques before you start, grab those tips here: baking tips to make you a better baker.

Preparing the Oven and Dry Mix for Strawberry Bread

First things first, we need to get that oven hot! Preheat everything to 350 degrees Fahrenheit—no peeking before it hits temp! While it’s warming up, take a 9×5 inch loaf pan and make sure you grease it really well, then dust it lightly with flour. Then, grab a medium bowl. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until they look perfectly happy and combined. Set that dry team aside for a minute.

Creating the Wet Base for Your Strawberry Bread Batter

Now for the big bowl! You need your softened butter and the sugar. Cream these two together like you mean it. You want it fluffy and pale yellow, which means you’ve incorporated air—this is crucial for preventing a brick loaf! Once you hit that fluffy stage, beat in your eggs one at a time, making sure the first one is mixed in before adding the second. Finish this wet stage by stirring in that vanilla extract.

Combining and Folding in the Strawberries for Strawberry Bread

This is where you need to put your paddle down and slow your roll! You’re going to add the dry ingredients alternated with the milk. So, a little bit of the flour mix, then a little milk, back and forth, ending with the dry stuff. Mix ONLY until they are just combined. I mean it! If you see a single streak of flour left, stop stirring! Overmixing is the enemy of tender strawberry bread. Once it’s *just* mixed, gently fold in those lovely chopped strawberries. They look gorgeous, don’t they?

Baking and Cooling Your Finished Strawberry Bread

Pour that beautiful batter right into the pan you prepped earlier. Pop it into the preheated 350°F oven and let it bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Don’t trust the clock entirely! Insert a wooden skewer right into the dead center; if it comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it—not wet batter—it’s done! Let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes exactly before you turn it out onto a wire rack to cool all the way down. Patience here ensures your strawberry bread has the strength to hold itself together!

Tips for the Best Ever Strawberry Bread

Look, following the main steps gets you a good loaf, but these little tweaks? These are what take your strawberry bread from ‘good’ to ‘Oh my gosh, what’s your secret?’ My notes from recipe testing pile up, but these few things I swear by for every single loaf.

First, remember those notes I left you? If your strawberries seem extra, extra juicy—maybe they just came straight from a wet container—you absolutely must lightly dust them with about a teaspoon of flour before folding them in. This little trick is fantastic because it keeps the fruit from just sinking straight to the bottom of your beautiful loaf. It helps them suspend in the batter so you get berries in every bite!

Also, and this is the tip I learned the hard way: All those ingredients that aren’t the strawberries or the flour should be room temperature! Your butter, eggs, and milk. When ingredients are the same temperature, they emulsify so much better, giving you that creamy, unified batter we talked about earlier. If you want more deep dives on keeping your baking consistent, my general guide is always handy: baking tips to make you a better baker.

Finally, don’t forget the optional sugar topping! Sprinkling a tablespoon of coarse sugar over the top right before it goes into the heat gives you this incredibly pretty, crackly sparkle when it cools. It’s so worth the extra thirty seconds!

Variations on Classic Strawberry Bread

While I truly believe this base strawberry bread recipe is perfect as is, sometimes you just need to mix things up, right? Baking is about fun, not just following rules! If you want an extra layer of brightness to match those berries, try adding the zest of one whole lemon right into your wet ingredients when you mix the butter and sugar. It completely wakes up the flavor profile!

For texture lovers, chopped pecans or walnuts fit in beautifully. They add that nice little crunch against the soft crumb. Just toss a half cup of nuts with the flour mixture first—that keeps them from immediately sinking. And later on, don’t forget you can check out my recipe for a bright lemon loaf cake for even more zesty inspiration!

Storing and Keeping Your Strawberry Bread Fresh

This strawberry bread is so moist it usually disappears fast, but if you manage to have leftovers, sealing it up correctly is key! Keep the loaf tightly wrapped first in plastic wrap, and then tuck it inside an airtight container at room temperature. It stays perfectly good for about three days that way. I’d avoid the fridge unless your kitchen is super humid, as the cold air can sometimes dry out quick breads a bit fast.

If it starts feeling a little less tender the next day, don’t worry! Just wrap a slice loosely in a paper towel and microwave it for about 10 or 15 seconds. That little burst of heat brings back all the softness and makes it taste like it just came out of the oven!

Frequently Asked Questions About Strawberry Bread

Can I use frozen strawberries instead of fresh ones?

Oh, this is a common question when strawberry season ends! You absolutely *can* use frozen strawberries for your bread, but you have to be extra careful about moisture. If you use them straight from the freezer, they are going to leak pink juice everywhere and mess up your batter structure, plus they’ll sink. The best way is to thaw them slightly on a paper towel first, then gently blot them dry with a paper towel. And remember that tip about dusting them with flour? That’s even more important when using frozen ones!

What do I do if the strawberries keep sinking to the bottom?

Trust me, nobody wants a loaf that looks like a white brick with a strawberry puddle at the bottom! The absolute best defense against sinking when making strawberry bread is tossing your chopped strawberries with a little bit of flour before you fold them in. I usually take out about a teaspoon or two from the total flour amount listed in the recipe and use that to coat the fruit. This light coating gives the batter something to grab onto so the berries stay suspended while baking. It really works wonders for keeping the fruit distributed throughout the loaf!

I don’t have regular milk. Can I use something else in this quick bread?

You can definitely pivot if you’re missing regular milk! Since this recipe uses standard milk and not much liquid overall, substitutions work beautifully. You can swap it out 1:1 with buttermilk, plain yogurt thinned down with a little water, or even heavy cream cut with water. If you’re looking for the easiest way to make a milk substitute on the fly when you’re missing gallons, I put together a quick guide on buttermilk substitutions that covers a few other options too, just in case!

Why did my loaf bake unevenly or rise too much in the middle?

If you see a big dome in the middle, it usually means two things are happening, and it often relates back to the temperature. Make sure your oven is truly at 350°F before the bread goes in—most home ovens run a little hot or cold! Also, ensure you are not over-creaming the butter and sugar; if you whip way too much air in initially, the center rises too fast and then collapses a bit. A gentle hand when creaming and precise oven temp are your best friends for a flat, even top on your strawberry bread!

Serving Suggestions for Strawberry Bread

Okay, your strawberry bread is cool, perfectly golden, and smelling like heaven. Now, how do you eat it? Honestly, it’s wonderful all by itself, fresh out of the cooling rack! But if you want to turn it up a notch for breakfast or brunch, I have a few favorite ways to serve it.

If you are still feeling sweet, a thin layer of slightly softened, good-quality butter melts into the crumb beautifully. For something richer, a smear of lightly sweetened cream cheese is divine. And if you want to go all out, you can add a drizzle of my simple vanilla frosting—you can find the recipe for that right here! It makes this quick bread feel extra special with your morning coffee.

Estimated Nutrition for This Strawberry Bread

I always try to give you the most honest look at what you’re eating, but remember, since these numbers are calculated based on standard ingredient databases, they are just estimates, okay? Things change based on the exact strawberries you pick or the brand of butter you use!

For one slice of this lovely strawberry bread, here’s the general breakdown:

Calories: Around 220
Sugar: About 15 grams
Fat: Roughly 10 grams total
Protein: Around 4 grams
Carbohydrates: About 32 grams

It’s a lovely breakfast treat, but it gives you some great energy to start the day!

Share Your Strawberry Bread Creations

Alright, my friend, you’ve baked the loaf, and I’m dying to know what happened! Did it turn out moist as promised? Did you use those coarse sugar sprinkles on top? Please, please, please let me know how your Simple Strawberry Bread turned out!

Your feedback is the most important part of me sharing these recipes with you. Head down to the comments section right now and give this one a star rating. Tell me what you loved most about the texture or the flavor of those fresh berries.

If you snapped a photo while it was cooling on the rack—and you absolutely should have—tag me on social media! Seeing your bakes makes my whole week. And if you are already dreaming about your next strawberry adventure, you should totally check out my recipe for a full homemade strawberry cake next time!

Simple Strawberry Bread

Author: freddyrecipes.com
Total Time: 70 min
Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Diet: Vegetarian

Print Recipe

Description

A straightforward recipe for moist quick bread featuring fresh strawberries.

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with the milk, mixing just until combined. Do not overmix.
Gently fold in the chopped strawberries.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

For a sweeter top, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of coarse sugar over the batter before baking.
If your strawberries are very juicy, lightly dust them with a teaspoon of flour before folding them into the batter to prevent sinking.

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 55 min
Category: Breakfast
Method: Baking
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 slice
Calories: 220
Sugar: 15
Sodium: 250
Fat: 10
Saturated Fat: 6
Unsaturated Fat: 4
Trans Fat: 0
Carbohydrates: 32
Fiber: 1
Protein: 4
Cholesterol: 50

Keywords: strawberry bread, quick bread, sweet bread, fresh strawberry recipe, loaf cake