Fresh and flavorful strawberry milk, made with real ingredients and nothing else: it’s possible! Prepare this recipe for breakfast and start your day in a delicious way.
Why Make This Recipe
Why is Korean strawberry milk so good?
Yes, you can blend strawberry, milk and sugar and get a fairly good result - but what’s the fun on that? Besides, this recipe gives you a different and, to be honest, much better strawberry milk.
Korean strawberry milk is made of real strawberries and no added conservant or artificial flavors. The drink seems to be a hit on summer, but I would drink it all year long to be honest. The best part: fresh strawberry chunks that give an amazing texture for this recipe.
Beware: after the first sip, this will pretty much become your favorite way to start your day. Better than Nesquik, I swear!
How To Make It
This recipe makes enough for 2 cups of strawberry milk. You can easily double or even triple the recipe.
Dice the strawberries. You’ll need fresh or frozen strawberries. Cut the ones you're not blending in smaller cubes, so they won't get stuck into the straw.
Blend ingredients. Blend 1 cup of strawberries with sugar, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of water. Reserve the remaining cubed strawberries.
Make the syrup. Cook the strawberry puree until it thickens. I let them boil, then cook for 2 minutes more on medium low. Add the remaining strawberries on the last minute. It should not be thick as jam, but the consistency of a syrup. Store it in your fridge for about 30 minutes to cool.
Add milk. After cool, divide the syrup equally in 2 tall glasses. Fill each one with one cup of milk. Serve it with a reusable straw.
Tips For The Best Result
- Don’t skip the chilling part. You want a cold drink, so you need a cold syrup.
- I’ve tried making a hot version of this milk, but it didn’t work for me. More about it below, but I would not recommend heating the milk for the recipe if you don’t pretend to drink right away.
- You can skip the vanilla extract, but I wouldn’t. This ingredient brings out even more all the strawberry flavor - trust me!
- If you don’t want your milk with strawberry pieces on it, just blend all strawberries instead of leaving some strawberry chunks to add on the syrup.
- You can use both fresh and frozen strawberries for this recipe. What matters here is using a good-tasting strawberry, as it will define how your milk will taste.
Quick note: from what I’ve tasted, frozen strawberries will give you a result more similar to store-bought syrup, while fresh will give you a more fresh fruit taste. Also, how ripe is the strawberry influences the taste: the riper, the better.
Why Strawberry Can Curdle Milk?
It is the acid in the strawberry that causes the milk to curdle. It won’t happen instantly, especially if using cold ingredients - and that’s why it’s important to cool your syrup.
Temperature is an important factor when we talk about curdling milk. For example, if you add lemon juice to hot milk, it will curdle almost immediately. But adding it to cold milk will not produce any reaction for some time.
When I tried making this recipe with hot milk, I ended up with a curdle strawberry milk. Maybe the strawberries used were too acidic, maybe I heated it up too much, but I would not try again.
That does not happen with cold milk, so don’t worry. Unless your milk is already going bad, it won’t curdle when adding strawberries, much less the strawberry syrup.
Can I Use Non-Dairy Milk?
Absolutely! Strawberry milk can be made with any plant-based milk.
I tried with oat and almond milk, and both are delicious dairy-free options!
Can I Substitute White Sugar?
Yes, you can! As we are not making jam here, and the strawberry syrup should be consumed in 4-5 days and stored inside your fridge if not finished, we can try different options.
I tried with honey and maple syrup, both good, but the last option leaves a too strong taste of maple for my liking. I used the same amount as I would use of sugar. Brown sugar should work as well.
If you are on a low-carb diet but want to try this recipe, erythritol works perfectly for this recipe.
Can I Make This Recipe With Jam?
I tried once, and no, it didn’t quite worked for me.
Jam has more sugar than this recipe asks for. If you try this strawberry milk with jam, you’ll be adding much more sugar that it asked for, and so the result will be a much sweeter drink.
Jam is thicker than syrup. You’ll have some trouble when trying to mix jam and milk because of than.
You’ll lose half of the strawberry flavor. I tried 3 different jams, from the cheapest to a very nice brand, and none gave me the strawberry freshness and taste I was aiming for.
More Breakfast Drinks To Start Your Day
Coffee Lemonade
Cold Brew Coffee
Iced Milk Tea
Starbucks Copycat Matcha Frappuccino
📖 Recipe
Strawberry Milk (Korean)
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup 200g strawberries, washed, cubed and stems removed
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon water
- ⅓ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cup milk cold
Instructions
- In a blender’s cup, add 1 cup of cubed strawberries, sugar, vanilla and water. Reserve the remaining cubed strawberries.
- Blend until you get a puree, about 1 minute.
- In a small saucepan, over medium heat, cook the strawberry puree until it boils. Cook for 2 minutes more on medium-low heat. Add the remaining strawberries, cubed, and cook for 1 minute more. It should not be thick as jam, but have the consistency of a syrup.
- Store it in your fridge for about 30 minutes or until cooled.
- Divide the syrup equally in 2 tall glasses. Fill each one with 1 cup of cold milk. If desired, swirl the syrup around the glass to make a pattern.
- Serve it cold with a reusable straw.
Riyaz
Hey thanks for sharing the recipe, it was too delicious. Can you please tell me the shelf life of strawberry milk. If we bottled the strawberry milk and keep in refrigerator how long will it stay?
Milk and Pop
Hi Riyaz,
I don't recommend storing it, as strawberry can easily curdle dairy milk. Best is to drink fresh!
But if you only want to make the 'jam' ahead, that's possible. It keeps well in the fridge for about 2 weeks.
Cheers!