This glazed strawberry bread tastes like summer in a loaf pan! It’s tender, moist, and chock-full of juicy berries. The cake-like crumb and creamy, dreamy vanilla icing make for a treat that’s sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. The recipe is quick and easy, and there’s no mixer required!
If you find yourself with an overabundance of fresh strawberries (one of my very favorite problems to have!), and you’re not sure how to use them all before they go bad… you could make this reader-favorite strawberry cake, but… maybe you don’t feel like putting in the effort to make a layer cake. Trust me, I get that!
Enter this recipe for glazed strawberry bread: a quick bread with a tender, cake-like crumb that’s bursting with fresh strawberry and vanilla flavors. I originally published this recipe in 2014, and have made a couple adjustments based on reader feedback. The bread slices hold shape better by using less buttermilk, and the bread rises taller using a slightly smaller loaf pan and a combination of baking powder AND soda. The recipe in the recipe card below reflects these small tweaks.
Here’s What You’ll Love About This Glazed Strawberry Bread
- Quick and easy to make—no mixer required
- Excellent way to use up leftover fresh strawberries that didn’t make it into your strawberry shortcake
- Cake-like texture stays moist for days
- Extra dessert-like with a topping of creamy vanilla icing
- Make-ahead friendly: this strawberry bread tastes even better on day 2
- Freezes well, so make it when berries are in season and stock your freezer, so you can enjoy that peak strawberry flavor long after their short season ends!
Ingredients You Need & Why
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of today’s quick bread.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: My team and I tested this recipe several times with varying ratios of these two leaveners, and the hands-down winner was the carefully measured mix of both you’ll see in the recipe below.
- Salt: Flavor enhancer/sweetness balancer—a baking recipe superhero!
- Egg: An egg provides structure and binds all the ingredients together.
- Sugar: Use a mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar to sweeten this cake-like bread.
- Buttermilk: This power ingredient is what makes my chocolate cake so darn moist, and it serves the same purpose in this strawberry bread. The lactic acid in buttermilk allows the baking soda to produce carbon dioxide. Don’t have buttermilk? Save yourself a trip to the store and see my recipe Note below for a DIY option.
- Oil: I prefer to use oil in my quick breads, like in lemon poppy seed bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and cinnamon swirl quick bread, because of the unparalleled moisture it provides. Lately I’ve been making this strawberry bread with melted coconut oil, and it doesn’t make the bread taste like coconut. But if you dislike coconut and can easily detect it in baked goods, play it safe and use a neutral vegetable oil.
- Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste: I love the combo of strawberries + vanilla, like in this strawberry vanilla crisp. Pure vanilla extract works wonderfully, but I like to use vanilla bean paste here. You can find it next to the vanilla extract in the grocery store baking aisle, or you can order it online.
- Fresh Strawberries: Chop the berries and gently toss them with a little flour, to prevent them from sinking to the bottom. I don’t recommend using frozen strawberries in this recipe, because they can leak a lot of moisture and turn the bread into mush with an unappetizing purplish hue! Save the frozen berries for smoothies and strawberry sauce.
A Quick Comparison
I want to show you a side-by-side comparison. When retesting this recipe, my team and I tried it using only baking powder. The crumb looked plush and light, but the bread tasted very gummy and the flavor fell flat. Then we used a combination of baking powder AND baking soda. The bread doesn’t rise quite as much, but it develops a beautiful color and almost caramelized-like flavor. It was also moist and tender, without tasting gummy. In terms of taste, the baking powder + soda combo was a clear winner!
How to Make Strawberry Bread
The steps to put all the ingredients together are as easy as 1, 2, 3:
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Combine the wet with the dry, and gently fold in the chopped strawberries.
I recommend baking this strawberry bread in a 1-lb. (8×4-inch) loaf pan like this one or this one. If all you have is a 9×5-inch loaf pan, which is what you use for banana bread and pumpkin bread, you can use it, but expect the bread to be a little shorter.
Coating the chopped strawberries in flour helps prevent them from sinking in the bread:
Expect a creamy and thick quick bread batter with LOTS of strawberries:
The bread takes at least an hour to bake. Begin checking at 55 minutes, though, just in case your oven works extra hard!
Vanilla Icing
Back in 2014 when I first published this recipe, the vanilla icing was an afterthought and yet now I can’t imagine the strawberry bread without it! It soaks down into each slice, making the bread even more moist and tender… and it makes the top of the bread melt in your mouth.
We’re using my classic vanilla icing recipe, only halved to make just enough for the bread (like this cinnamon swirl banana bread!). It’s super simple. Grab some confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream or milk, and a little vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste, and whisk it all together.
Drizzle over the bread before serving.
Summer Berry Recipes
Easy Strawberry Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is super moist and tender strawberry bread, filled to the brim with fresh summer berries. I usually make the quick bread with melted coconut oil, but a neutral oil like vegetable oil works too. Drizzle the cooled bread with creamy vanilla icing.
Ingredients
Bread
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*
- 1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 and 1/2 cups (230g) chopped fresh strawberries, tossed in 1 Tablespoon of flour
Vanilla Icing
- 1/2 cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) heavy cream or milk
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease an 8×4-inch loaf pan like this one or this one with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Make the bread: In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and buttermilk together until combined. Make sure there are no brown sugar lumps remaining. Whisk in the oil and vanilla.
- Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk until there are no more lumps. Avoid over-mixing. Gently fold in the strawberries. Pour/spoon batter into prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 55–70 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. All ovens vary, so begin checking every 5 minutes around the 55-minute mark.
- Remove bread from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 1 hour. Remove bread from the pan and place the loaf directly on the wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together. (I usually use heavy cream, which promises a thick icing.) Drizzle over bread before slicing.
- Cover and store bread at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Icing seeps into the top of the strawberry bread over time, so expect the tops of the slices to become a little moist.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: It’s best to freeze this bread without the icing, and ice the bread after thawing and before serving. Freeze baked & cooled loaf for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. If desired, bring to room temperature before serving. To learn more details about how to freeze quick breads, see my post called Make-Ahead Baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 8×4-inch Loaf Pan (like this one or this one) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Vanilla Bean Paste | Cooling Rack
- Update in 2023: This recipe was originally published in 2014. Over the years, I made some subtle improvements to improve the taste and texture. The recipe used to call for 1 teaspoon of baking soda, but the baking powder + baking soda combination above produces a better-tasting crumb. The recipe also used to call for 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk, but the bread was often too wet.
- Can I use a 9×5-inch loaf pan? I recommend baking this strawberry bread in a 1-lb. (8×4-inch) loaf pan like this one or this one. If all you have is a 9×5-inch loaf pan, you can use it, but expect the bread to be a little shorter/flatter. The bake time is about the same.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is required for this recipe. You can make your own DIY version of buttermilk if needed. Add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 3/4 cup. (In a pinch, lower-fat or nondairy milks work for this soured milk, but the bread won’t taste as rich and moist.) Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe.
- Vanilla: I love using vanilla bean paste in the bread and icing because it combines both extract AND vanilla bean seeds. You can, of course, use pure vanilla extract instead. If you want that extra vanilla bean flavor, feel free to add the seeds scraped from 1/4 of a vanilla bean in the bread batter, and use the seeds from another 1/4 of the vanilla bean in the icing. (This is in addition to the liquid vanilla extract.)
- Can I Use Frozen Strawberries? I strongly recommend using fresh, as frozen or thawed berries produce a mushy bread. If you need to use frozen, thaw and pat as dry as possible before tossing in flour.
- Glazed Strawberry Muffins: Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C) and spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray, or line with cupcake liners. Prepare batter as directed above. Fill each cupcake liner to the top with batter and bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C). Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for an additional 14–15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Top with glaze. Makes about 12 muffins. You may also enjoy these chocolate-covered strawberry muffins or strawberry cheesecake muffins.
Keywords: strawberry bread
I made this and brought it to work. Everyone loved it!!! I was wondering if this bread can be frozen?????
Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!!!
Absolutely! Up to 2 months.
Perfect for a rainy day. Just pulled these from the oven (as muffins) and they are so yummy! Subbed whole wheat pastry flour which gave them an extra delicate texture. Probably a substitution that is best for muffins, as the structure may “cave” in a loaf of bread. The little and the bigs in the house give them thumbs up. Thanks and enjoy the vacay. We love Mexico too. 🙂
Hi Sally, Made this recipe last weekend and have posted about it as well. Like you have mentioned, it is very moist and very delicious. I enjoy your site and so does my daughter. Thanks for the great recipes.
If making this as muffins, can the sky high trick be used? Would the initial temp be 400 reduced to 350 after 5 mins?
I would begin at 425 for 5 minutes then reduce to 350.
Made this last weekend and it turned out amazing! It’s especially good the next day when a the flavours of the bread soak in. I stayed 100% true to the recipe and I honestly wouldn’t change one thing. The strawberries took about 3 hours to completely dehydrate in the oven, but the wait was worth it!
Thanks so much for sharing this! 5 stars! 🙂
Hi Sally! I love your blog! I had a question. Do you think this would hold up well as a 1/4 sheet cake? It does seem similar to a cake recipe and I have a friend who loves this bread so much that she wants me to make a cake with it. What temp do you suggest baking at for a 9×13 inch pan?
Hi Jennifer, there may not be enough batter for a 9×13 pan. Maybe try an 11×7? Same oven temp, but I’m unsure about the bake time for any size pan other than the loaf pan – sorry!
Hi Sally,
Thanks for sharing this beautiful recipe! I have only had a little bit (saving it for dessert!) and it is delicious – though next time I will remember the foil!
oh..my…gosh.. Sally!!! Every day when my urge to bake kicks in, it is your website I come to. And it never lets me down 🙂 Made this loaf yesterday in a hurry before work because I saw my whole container of strawberry’s going bad. This bread is so moist and flavorful, and the glaze makes it heaven. Added 1 cup slivered almonds too! My friends and I sucked it down last night. Thanks again for this amazing recipe which im sure will become a staple in my house 🙂 (just like your blueberry muffins!)
This looks really good. Wondering if you could substitute blueberries for the strawberries.
Definitely.
I made this bread last night, my husband and I agree that it is delish! I can’t wait to give a piece to my kiddos today when they get home from grandmas. Thanks for sharing.
Does the glaze harden after it’s dried? I like to slice my bread and wrap them in individual pieces after it’s cooled and just want to make sure the glaze won’t stick to the syran wrap. Thank you!
Hi Rebecca – it only slightly sets up. I find it does slightly stick to wrapping. I always glaze before serving. Or just send off to friends without glaze.
Made it this morning. It’s amazing. Thank you for this recipe and greetings from the Netherlands.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I was wondering if I could possibly substitute soy (or almond) milk in the glaze? I’m lactose intolerant and try to sub it when I can.
Either would be fine for the glaze.
I made 2 batches last week. I baked one as a loaf and the other as cupcakes. As with all of your recipes I have tried, it was delicious! My husband took the loaf to work and it was a big hit. We kept the cupcakes at home for us and some guests. Everyone loved them.
My husband and I have lost a lot of weight over the past year so I was afraid to buy your cookbook. I couldn’t resist though and bought it anyway. I calculate Weight Watchers Points Plus values for each of the recipes I bake. It truly is about portion control! We’re enjoying many of your recipes AND maintaining our goal weight.
Thanks for so many great recipes in one place!
Cindy, did you prefer the loaf or cupcakes?
Followed the recipe exactly and used coconut oil. It turned out beautifully, boyfriend loved it and so did others in our household. The glaze was nice but the bread was just as delicious without it. This was a great way to take advantage of the $1.50 strawberry sales here in Texas! Thanks for a wonderful recipe, will make again.
Hi Sally,
I finally got around to making this strawberry bread yesterday. It turned out beautifully!! The smell alone was soooo delicious! The bread came out super moist & super tasty!! I didn’t even bother with the glaze, it doesn’t need it. Definitely a new favorite of mine!! Sadly, it went to my mother-in-law’s, so i’m going to get more strawberries and make another loaf today. My coworkers will love it tomorrow! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this bread! made it with all the fresh picked strawberries this week, and cant stop eating it! I did a double batch, and an out of oil, so I substituted 1/2 the oil with applesauce. so moist! definitely a keeper. I have 3 loaves in the freezer already! thank you!
I want to make mini bread loaves of the glazed strawberry bread. Would like to use as teacher gifts. What do you recommend for adapting cook time and temp? Thanks! Kim
I’m unsure; I’ve never baked this bread as mini loaves. The bake time will be significantly less. Great present for the teachers, hope they enjoy. Thanks Kim!
This looks delicious! I’m thinking of making it and serving with homemade ricotta for breakfast. Do you think it’d need any extra vanilla or sugar if I am not going to serve with glaze?
No it will still be plenty sweet. Enjoy!
I made this last night and loved it, It was so moist! I threw in a handful of chopped pecans because I had some in my freezer! I added this recipe to my blog.
Thanks!
FIVE STAR RECIPE! TOTALLY RECOMMEND TO EVERYBODY!! I made this today and it was delicious! NICE and MOIST. I couldn’t wait to eat it so I ate it warm and it was delicious. I did no modifications!! I baked it in a 9×5 glass pan and the edges did get brown and nice and crunchy. I also mixed it by hand to ensure a smooth bread. I did what you recommended and covered it for the first 30 minutes of baking and then leave uncovered. but like after my timer rang when the 30 minutes was up, I didn’t set it again so this bread took more than an hour to cook because the toothpick inserted in the middle (in some areas, the top) did not come out clean. But this bread ROSE A LOT! It was like a hill. This recipe is going to stay in my favorites list for a long time. What I love most about this recipe is that even without the strawberries folded into the mix, I know this would come out great! I just wonder what makes it super moist?! Thank you very much 🙂
OMG!! I made this two days ago. I baked it in two small pans one for a neighbor whos’ husband just passed and the other for my friends and I to taste test. My friends all loved it we ate the entire pan! My neighbor’s grandson emailed me to say thanks for the breakfast and could we have the recipe too! I am making it again today. Thanks for sharing your ideas
Another winner! I made this today and it came out so moist and delicious. Congrats on your cookbook! In addition to my own copy, I have added it to my list of go to items for bridal shower gifts!
I’m baking this bread now and I’m not sure what’s going on. I have a feeling it has something to do with my oven. Its baking at the correct temperature for the right time but 40 minutes in my bread looks like its about to burn yet its still very wet on the inside.
Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to possibly even out the baking for the bread? I’ve made other things on your site (Awesome I might add), but for some reason, this doesn’t appear to be turning out like it should.
Hi Luis! Try lowering the oven temperature to 325, loosely covering with aluminum foil, and baking for up to 1 hour. That should definitely help.
made this last night and its already half gone= YUM!!!!!!!!!!
Made this yesterday – and I love it!!! It’s super moist and fruity and delicious! <3 Thank you again for a wonderful recipe! I made 6 of your creations so far and never got disapointed!
Today I made a loaf of your strawberry bread. It is DELICIOUS!! I did not glaze it, but, instead, served it with fresh sliced strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Wow! It was a huge hit!! I am going to make another loaf or two tomorrow to put in the freezer that is if I can keep everyone away from it!! Great recipe — definitely a keeper! Thanks, Sally, for creating it!!!
Saw this and actually left work early so I could get home and make it ! Can I use half and half for the glaze?
Hey Lori! Half-and-half in the glaze would be just fine. Enjoy!
Sally I just finished making this strawberry bread and the only problem I had was waiting for it to cool completely. It was still warm when my son and I ate it and it was delicious. It smelled so good while it was baking and when it came out of the oven we just couldn’t wait. Thanks for such a wonderful new recipe. I love your new cookbook and your blog. You are inspiring me to start a food blog of my own someday. Thanks for the inspiration and the yummy food.
This bread looks awesome!! A question, if I were to make this bread ahead or freeze it … Would I wait to glaze it? Baking for a friends luncheon this Friday … This will definitely be on the list!! Looking forward to your book signing in nyc
Hey Lis! Definitely wait to glaze it. I always glaze breads immediately before serving.