Homemade Strawberry Marshmallows

Making Homemade Strawberry Marshmallows requires no artificial flavors or colors, only real strawberries to make these fun pink marshmallows.

I’m no stranger to making marshmallows. I’ve made homemade marshmallows countless times, as well as a version made with sweetened condensed milk. But all those times, the marshmallows were plain, vanilla-flavored marshmallows. It’s never occurred to me to make marshmallows in another flavor.

However, I was recently pondering what festive Valentine’s Day recipe to post, if any. Of course, pink versions of sweets come to mind when I think of these kinds of recipes. Around this time, I came across a recipe for Strawberry Marshmallows, and was immediately interested.

I browsed through several strawberry marshmallow recipes that are already out there, and immediately skipped past the ones that use freeze-dried strawberries. I already had fresh strawberries in my fridge, and wanted to find a recipe that could use those.

Several of the other recipes just used “strawberry puree”. But no details were given. Is this just pureed fresh strawberries? Puree purchased from somewhere? I liked the idea of using smooth puree so that no chunks of fruit or seeds were present in the marshmallows, so I decided to make my own puree and include the details in the recipe on how to do so.

So if you’ve ever had the desire to make your own marshmallows (which is a big job, but highly worth it if you like marshmallows), and you’d like to make a pretty pink version for Valentine’s Day (or just because you like pink, or because you like strawberries), keep reading to learn how to do it.

How to Make Strawberry Marshmallows

To make these unbelievably soft and fruity Strawberry Marshmallows, the first step is making the homemade strawberry puree. Add fresh or frozen strawberries to a small saucepan with some sugar. Cover the pot and turn the heat on to medium. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn the heat off and let the strawberries sit in the pot for about 5 minutes (or longer).

Use an immersion blender to puree the strawberries. Pour the strawberry puree through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds, stirring and pressing the mixture through the strainer to get all of the liquid out. Discard the seeds and solids that are left in the strainer and transfer the strawberry puree to the fridge to chill. Note that if you don’t mind seeds and/or bits of strawberry in your marshmallows, the blending/straining step is optional. Alternatively, simply mash the strawberries with a fork.

While you’re waiting for the strawberries to cool, prepare your pan. Whisk together equal parts cornstarch and powdered sugar. Lightly grease a 9×13″ pan, then sprinkle some of the powdered sugar mixture into the pan. Tilt the pan to ensure that the entire bottom and sides of the pan are covered. Tap out any excess.

When the strawberry puree is cooled to at least room temperature, pour it into the bowl of your stand mixer with half of the water and the salt. Sprinkle the gelatin over the strawberry mixture and let it sit while you prepare the sugar syrup.

Pour the remaining granulated sugar into the center of a medium saucepan. Add the corn syrup and the rest of the water. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot, or get your instant-read thermometer out (you can even attach it to your pot with a clip). Turn the heat on to medium-high and cook until the mixture reaches 240°F.

Turn off the heat and start your mixer on low speed. With the mixer running, slowly and carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the mixer bowl (pour close to the bowl edge to avoid getting the hot syrup on the whisk). Once you’ve poured in all of the hot syrup, slowly increase the mixer speed to medium-high.

Continue mixing until the marshmallow mixture becomes fluffy-looking and pale pink, with the bottom of the bowl feeling only slightly warm. Quickly spread the marshmallow into the prepared pan, smoothing the top evenly. Sprinkle some of the powdered sugar mixture over the top of the marshmallow, and lightly cover with a clean dish towel. Set the pan aside to set for at least 4 hours.

Gently remove the slab of marshmallow from the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Use a large knife to cut the marshmallows into squares, tossing the cut squares into the remaining powdered sugar-cornstarch mixture. If desired, you can dip or drizzle the marshmallows with melted chocolate, then transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet to set.

Store the marshmallows in an airtight container or zipper bag at room temperature.

Strawberry Marshmallows Ingredients

• Strawberries – they can either be fresh or frozen. Use darker red strawberries for more vibrant marshmallows.
• Granulated sugar – You will need this both for making the strawberry puree and for making the marshmallows themselves.
• Cornstarch – You will be mixing the cornstarch with powdered sugar to make a coating for the marshmallows so that they don’t stick to each other. Using half cornstarch helps to reduce the sweetness of the marshmallows (they’re already plenty sweet on their own).
• Powdered sugar – You will be mixing powdered sugar with cornstarch to coat the marshmallows.
• Neutral-flavored cooking oil – You will only need a little bit to grease the pan before adding the cornstarch-powdered sugar marshmallow coating. This helps to get the coating to stick to the pan evenly.
• Cold water – Use whatever water you normally drink. Cold tap water is fine. You will be using this for blooming the gelatin and for making the sugar syrup that will go into the marshmallows.
• Table salt – adding a pinch of salt to the marshmallows helps to cut the sweetness and adds depth of flavor.
• Plain gelatin – Plain gelatin can be packaged in packets (in which case you will need 3) or cartons/bags. You should be able to find it in the baking aisle or near the packaged Jell-o products.
• Light corn syrup – You will be using corn syrup to make the sugar syrup mixture that goes into the marshmallows. Don’t substitute golden syrup here.
• Vanilla extract – I chose to add just a tiny bit of vanilla here. I didn’t want to overpower the strawberry flavor. You could skip it if you don’t have any.

Strawberry Marshmallows Nutrition Notes