CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries look so elegant, but couldn’t be easier to make! These sweet treats are rich and chocolatey with a bright, sweet strawberry center. Decorate the strawberries with an extra chocolate drizzle for an even fancier-looking dessert.

Love chocolate-dipped desserts? Try our Chocolate- Covered Oreos, Chocolate-Covered Raspberries, or Oreo Balls next!

Homemade Chocolate-Covered Strawberries Are The Best!

Skip asking Siri to “find chocolate-covered strawberries near me,” because I guarantee, homemade chocolate-covered strawberries are always going to be tastier! Plus, they’re fairly easy to make, especially with all the tips we’re sharing today!

Why homemade? For one, you can pick the exact strawberries you use, meaning you’ll get fresher, riper berries. Another reason is you pick the type of chocolate(s) that go on your strawberries. And third — it’s fun! Decorating Chocolate-Covered Strawberries is such a great project and especially if you have some kiddos that want in on the process (mine love decorating their own!).

Not to mention, it’s far more economical — chocolate-covered strawberries delivery can be extremely costly and you’ll end up paying a premium for someone else to make ’em.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Ingredients

Strawberries. Use the freshest, best strawberries you can find. Look for plump and firm berries that are red all over and avoid any berries with soft spots or discolorations.
Melting wafers or high-quality baking bars. We recommend chocolate made for melting like good quality baking bars (such as Baker’s, Lindt, or Ghiradelli) or good quality melting wafers (such as Ghiradelli) for best results. (Both bars and melts are found in the baking aisle of the store.) Melting wafers are much easier to work with and won't seize up like chocolate chips might.
Oil. A little coconut or vegetable oil helps thin the chocolate to make dipping easier and for the chocolate to go on smoother.

QUICK TIP

Chocolate chips and baking morsels have stabilizers that keep them from melting completely smooth (which is good when you want them to stay in a chip shape for cookies, but not so much when you want a pretty coating on strawberries). Chocolate chips will likely create a more grainy and matte coating instead of a smooth and shiny coating like chocolate bars/melting wafers will deliver.

How To Prepare Strawberries For Dipping In Chocolate

Start with ripe and fresh strawberries without any soft spots
Wash very gently in cool water and carefully dry with paper towels
Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes to ensure the strawberries are completely dry and the berries aren’t cold from being in the fridge.

How To Make Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Once the strawberries are prepped, it's time to melt the chocolate and dip. Below are our top chocolate melting tips.

Microwave the chocolate in sturdy, heat-safe bowls instead of using plastic or melamine.
To avoid scorched chocolate, microwave for 15 seconds at a time, and stir for at least 15 seconds between each microwave burst. Remember, the chocolate is still melting from residual heat even after it has been removed from the microwave. To avoid streaky Chocolate-Covered Strawberries, it’s important the chocolate never gets too hot!
Manage the temperature of the chocolate: Once most of the chocolate in the bowl is melted, add in some unmelted chocolate. The heat from the melted chocolate will then melt this added chocolate while also lowering the heat of the chocolate all together. Why is this important? It helps to ensure the chocolate is stabilized–and it also gives it a smooth and glossy finish. (For more info, check out the “quick tip” below.)

QUICK TIP

Melting the chocolate slowly while stirring often promotes the formation of the most desirable type of crystals. It ensures that the chocolate cools and hardens before the cocoa butter (the natural white fat) can rise to the surface and make the strawberries look streaky. Adding unmelted chocolate to the bowl near the end of mixing not only cools down the overall chocolate temperature but “seeds the batch,” which encourages the chocolate to set with the right crystals that make it smooth and hard at room temperature.

How To Decorate Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Salty-sweet: Add a sprinkle of Maldon Sea Salt flakes.
Topped with more sweets: Add Oreo® cookie crumbs, graham cracker crumbs, sweetened coconut flakes, coarsely chopped candied nuts, crushed toffee, sprinkles, etc.

Add any of these toppings to the strawberries immediately after dipping them. The chocolate needs to still be wet so the sprinkles or toppings will stick as they dry. Either dip in the topping or sprinkle the topping atop the wet chocolate.

Add a chocolate drizzle: We love adding a contrasting flavor of chocolate to the dipped strawberries — white chocolate is especially pretty and tasty! Add melted chocolate to a plastic bag and snip off the tip to drizzle!

QUICK TIP

Gift Chocolate-Covered Strawberries! Once the chocolate coating the strawberries has hardened, select a few and place them in a small gift bag or box tied with a festive ribbon. This makes a great holiday gift for friends, teachers, colleagues, neighbors, etc.

STORAGE

Can I Make Chocolate-Covered Strawberries The Night Before?

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries are best eaten the same day they’re made. They last about 8-10 hours in a cool, dry place before they’ll begin to break down and start to leak/become sticky. (Strawberries ripen very quickly outside of the fridge!)

We don’t recommend refrigerating the strawberries. That will create condensation on the outside of the chocolate and make it so the chocolate breaks apart when you bite into the strawberry.

Use Leftover Strawberries In One Of These Recipes:

Jamba Juice Strawberry Wild with vanilla frozen yogurt
Strawberry Pretzel Salad with a sweet creamy center
Strawberry Scones with Greek yogurt and fresh strawberries
Nutella Crepes with fresh strawberries
Strawberry Milkshake with only four ingredients

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