How to make classic Jello with strawberries suspended inside. Easy no bake dessert that’s perfect for summer picnics and potlucks. My mom used to make this retro strawberry jello dessert for every family get-together!
My family loves Jello; in fact, one of the first things my kids learned how to make is Jello from the box. This gelatin dessert recipe is an attempt to recreate my mom’s famous Jello with strawberries. Since she never wrote the recipe down, I’ve never been able to make it quite like she did– that is, until recently.
After so many attempts, I finally figured out my mom’s secret ingredient: She always used frozen strawberries, and then she macerated them! If you don’t know what maceration is, it’s an old time trick where you mix the fruit with a little sugar and let it set for a few minutes before adding to the Jello. Through this process, the sugar will pull the natural juices out and concentrate the flavor for the best Jello with strawberries you’ll ever have!
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
This recipe uses only 3 simple ingredients, so you may already have everything you need on hand…
- Strawberry Jello Mix – You’ll need a 3oz. packet of strawberry Jello mix for this recipe. If sugar is a concern, you can make this recipe sugar free by using sugar free strawberry Jello! You can also macerate the berries with sugar-free sweeteners, like Stevia or Monk Fruit. With natural sweeteners, it helps to add a splash of lemon juice to help coax the juices out.
- Strawberries – I prefer frozen strawberries because they naturally produce more juice after being thawed out. They also arguably produce the sweetest, most concentrated flavor when macerated. Because they let out more juice, they also weigh less after being macerated, which means that they won’t sink to the bottom like fresh strawberries sometimes do. All that said, I’ll give you some tips for making this recipe with fresh strawberries in the FAQ section below.
- Sugar – The secret to making the best Jello with strawberries is by “macerating” the strawberries, by mixing them with a little bit of cane sugar before suspending them in the Jello. This will draw out the natural juices, enhancing the strawberry flavor.
How to Make Jello with Strawberries
If you’re using frozen strawberries, be sure to get them out of the freezer ahead of time so that they can thaw out. Once mostly thawed, you’ll want to slice them up with a paring knife. If using fresh berries, go ahead and cut the tops off, and then slice them up just the same.
Macerating the Strawberries
Before making Jello with strawberries, I highly recommend macerating the strawberries. Start by mixing them with the sugar in a large mixing bowl; then cover them, and let them set on the counter for at least 20 minutes, although you should put them in the refrigerator if they’re going to set out any longer.
After 20 minutes, the sugar will have pulled a lot of juice out of the strawberries. Go ahead and dump them into a mesh strainer over a large bowl, so that you can collect the juice. Use a rubber spatula to sort of swish them around in the bowl, making sure to squeeze out as much juice as possible, and then let them drip out while you move on to the next step.
How to Make Jello With Strawberries Inside
- Meanwhile, add the boiling water to the Jello mix in another mixing bowl, whisking ’til the Jello powder is totally dissolved after about 2-3 minutes. Then add your strained strawberry juice to a 2-cup measuring cup; most of the time, you won’t have enough juice to make it quite to the 2-cup mark, so go ahead and top it off with cold water, all the way up to that 2-cup mark. Add this mixture to the Jello mixture, whisking together.
- Now, dump your strawberries into the Jello solution that you just mixed up in the first step. Mix everything together ’til the berries are well distributed throughout the mixture.
That’s it! Cover your strawberry Jello dessert with plastic wrap, and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight so that the Jello has time to set. It’s ready to eat when the Jello is slightly soft set but still a little firm.
Serve with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. Jello with strawberries is a classic dessert that all the grandkids practically begged my mom to bring to every family gathering. Take this old time recipe to any potluck, family get-together or holiday dinner, and it’ll be a hit every time!
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
No, you don’t have to macerate the strawberries. In fact, I never used to, but I highly recommend doing so because it will make your strawberry Jello dessert naturally sweeter and so much more flavorful. Macerating the strawberries is such a quick and simple step that I can’t really see any reason to skip it.
I prefer frozen berries just because they produce more juice after being thawed, but fresh strawberries will also work. If you use fresh strawberries, you might let them macerate longer than with frozen strawberries, maybe even overnight. This is optional, but it would help to get more juice out of the berries. Not only will this improve the flavor, but it will also remove some water weight from the berries. This keeps them from sinking to the bottom.
This is most common when using fresh berries. I like to use frozen, because they will naturally extract a lot of their juice after being thawed. Then I can pull even more out through maceration. Fresh berries usually retain more of the juice, which makes them heavier and more prone to sinking to the bottom. The easiest solution is to use thawed from frozen and then macerated strawberries. Alternatively, you can also let the Jello solution set up for an hour or 2 in the refrigerator being adding the berries, so that it will be thick enough to hold them up instead of letting them all sink.
Yes. In fact, this no bake dessert needs a few hours to chill before it’s ready to eat anyways. Stored in an airtight container, Jello with strawberries will usually last up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Unfortunately, Jello with fruit doesn’t freeze well. This dish is so quick and easy to whip up in a jiffy, that I really can’t see why you’d want to anyways.
Optional Add-Ins & Variations
Looking for some ways to switch things up? Here are a few creative options that come to mind…
- If you don’t like strawberry-flavored Jello, there are so many other kinds of fruit-flavored Jello that you can make, like orange Jello with Mandarin oranges, peach Jello with sliced peaches, raspberry Jello with frozen raspberries, watermelon Jello with chunked watermelon, or even berry blue Jello with frozen blueberries and raspberries.
- For extra flavor and sweetness, swap out the cold water at the end of the recipe with strawberry soda….Yum!
- Instead of just sliced strawberries, try adding canned fruit cocktail to make your own Jello with fruit cocktail. Then, swap out the cold water at the end with a fruit juice like Hawaiian punch or even a white soda like Sprite!
- Instead of a fruit-flavored gelatin mix, try making Jello banana cream pudding mix or this vanilla pudding mix, and then layer it with sliced bananas and vanilla wafers. It’s kind of like no bake banana pudding!
More Easy Jello Desserts
- How to Make Jello Jigglers
- Blueberry Jello Salad
- Strawberry Marshmallow Fluff
- Strawberry Jello Cottage Cheese Salad
- Mandarin Orange Jello Salad
- Orange Jello Poke Cake
- Strawberry Jello Cake
- Lemon Poke Cake with Jello
- Raspberry Gelatin Cake
Jello with Strawberries
Ingredients
- 16 ounces Frozen Strawberries thawed, then drained and sliced
- 3 1/2 tablespoons Cane Sugar
- 6 ounces Strawberry Jello Mix
- 2 cups Boiling Water
- 1 cup Cold Water
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, mix together the sliced strawberries and sugar. Then cover and set aside for 20 minutes on the counter. Alternatively, you can store them this way in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- Once the strawberries have set for at least 20 minutes or longer, they should have produced a lot of juice; this process is called "maceration." Go ahead and dump them into a mesh strainer over another bowl so that you can save these juices for a later step. Then use a rubber spatula to stir the strawberries around in the strainer, squeezing out any juice you can from the strawberries. Let them set over the bowl to drip out some more while you move on to the next step.
- In another large mixing bowl, whisk together the Jello mix and boiling water, whisking for 2-3 minutes, or 'til the Jello mix is completely dissolved.
- Next, pour the strawberry juice into a 2-cup measuring cup, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl out into the juice. Then finish filling it up the rest of the way with cold water until it reaches the 2-cup mark.
- Stir this strawberry juice mixture into the Jello, whisking everything together until blended together.
- Finally, dump your strawberries into the Jello solution, and mix everything together 'til the berries are well distributed throughout the mixture.
- Cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Once your Jello is slightly soft but still firm, this means that it's fully set and ready to serve. Enjoy this easy and delicious no bake dessert at any potluck, family get-together or holiday dinner!
