These vegan strawberry sugar cookies are packed with 3 cups of fresh strawberries and use only common pantry ingredients. They are soft and chewy, rather than cakey because we skip the eggs and use a strawberry reduction.

Close up of pink strawberry cookies with crackly sugar sugar on marble serving board.

Why you’ll love these cookies

FLAVOR/TEXTURE: Real strawberry flavor with the buttery flavor, and soft chewy texture of classic sugar-coated cookies.

DIFFICULTY: The recipe uses only common accessible ingredients! To make the cookies, all you need is a small pot and a mixing bowl. No stand mixer is needed.

OCCASION: These are the perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day or any occasion. They work with fresh AND frozen strawberries so you can make them all year round, just like my double strawberry muffins!

Ingredients you’ll need

Flat-lay of ingredients for cookies.

The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Notes about the ingredients

Strawberries (fresh or frozen). Strawberries contain A LOT of water which will naturally make cakey cookies. However, we’re going to cook down the strawberries to remove excess moisture and intensify their flavor! We don’t need any expensive freeze-dried strawberries or strawberry flavoring.

All-purpose flour for the best results. King Arthur’s measure for measure gluten free flour also works well as a 1:1 replacement.

Pink food coloring, red food coloring or beetroot powder. All brands of colors/powders have different strengths so you may need to add more or less, as needed. With no coloring, these vegan strawberry cookies are a pale pink color.

Close up of pink strawberry cookies on crumpled parchment paper.

Reducing the strawberries

For cookies with absolutely no strawberry chunks, puree your strawberries with a stick blender or food processor. Alternatively, you can just add chopped strawberries straight to a saucepan for cookies with very small chunks of strawberries.

I started with 360 grams of strawberry puree and reduced it to around 120 grams (just over 1/3 cup). The reduced mixture should be very thick, with a consistency similar to tomato paste. If you’re in doubt, the more you reduce the strawberries, the better (excess moisture = cakey strawberry sugar cookies)!

Two image collage of strawberry puree in pot and final strawberry reduction.

Making the strawberry cookie dough

Once you’ve made the reduction, the rest is straightforward!

Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add the strawberry reduction and food coloring then mix until combined. If you’re not sure how much color you’ll need, start with less and add more later.

Then add all the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Feel free to add more food coloring if you’d like pinker cookies. The color will fade in the oven, so add more food coloring than how you’d like your cookies to look.

Your final cookie dough should be soft and tacky, but not too sticky just like regular cookie dough. If it’s a hot day or your cookie dough happens to be too sticky, chill your dough for 30-60 minutes.

Four image collage showing how to prepare the cookie dough in one bowl.

Sugar coating

The sugar coating is an easy and quick way to decorate these vegan strawberry cookies! Sugar extracts moisture from the surface of the cookie dough and encourages pretty cracks to form.

Two image collage of cookie dough ball rolled in sugar.

Baking tips

If all the ingredients are measured correctly and you don’t reduce the sugar, these cookies will spread by themselves in the oven.

If your cookies don’t fully spread, gently flatten them with a fork or spatula when they’re still hot from the oven.

Two image collage of strawberry cookies on baking sheet before and after baking.

Expert Tips

Can I prepare the cookies in advance?

Yes! It’s best to prepare the cookie dough and chill it as a whole in the fridge until needed. When you want to bake the cookies, remove the dough from the fridge, roll it into balls, and coat them in sugar. Alternatively, you can freeze the cookie dough balls (without the sugar coating) until needed.

The cookie dough balls can be baked while they’re still cold or defrosting. They’ll just need a few extra minutes in the oven.

Can I add anything else to these strawberry sugar cookies?

Yes, you can also add:
– white chocolate chips or regular chocolate chips to the cookie dough
– freeze-dried strawberry pieces to the cookie dough
– sprinkles (roll the cookie dough balls in the sprinkles)

You can also make strawberry cookie sandwiches using vegan ice cream, my dairy-free strawberry cream cheese frosting or strawberry buttercream.

My cookies turned purple. What can I do?

Strawberries contain a natural chemical called anthocyanins which give strawberries its bright red color. Anthocyanins break down in heat and can turn into a purple color. Normally, you can add a little acid (such as lemon juice) to prevent this from happening. I tested these cookies with lemon juice but there was no different with color and the cookies spread much less than the original recipe. Instead of adding an acid, I recommend using another variety of food coloring that will balance out any strong purple hues.

Close up of one strawbery cookie with bite taken out revealing chewy texture.

More eggless strawberry recipes

Vegan strawberry cupcakes with pink base and pink vegan buttercream. Cupcakes are decorated with freeze dried raspberries and fresh strawberries

Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
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Small-batch Vegan Strawberry Cake
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Vegan Double Strawberry Muffins
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Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake

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Close up of pink strawberry cookies with crackly sugar sugar on marble serving board.
4.97 from 28 reviews

Strawberry Sugar Cookies (vegan)

Yield: 20 cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 14 minutes
Total Time: 44 minutes
Author: Anthea
These vegan strawberry cookies are packed with 3 cups of fresh strawberries and use only common pantry ingredients. They are soft and chewy, rather than cakey because we skipped the eggs and use a strawberry reduction.
Print Leave a Review Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Strawberry Cookies

Sugar coating (optional)

Instructions 

Make the strawberry reduction:

  • Optional: Blend or puree the strawberries with a stick blender or food processor. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of pure strawberry puree. If you don't blend the puree, you'll just have very small chunks of strawberries in your cookies.
  • Add the strawberry puree (or whole strawberries with a dash of water) to a large pot or saucepan over medium heat. Cook the strawberries while stirring occasionally. Or turn the heat to high and stir constantly. This can take 15-30 minutes, depending on your stovetop and pot/saucepan. Your puree is ready when it weighs 120g (heaped 1/3 cup) and is thick like tomato paste. If you're in doubt, it's better to have less puree rather than more. Allow the strawberry puree to cool.

Make the strawberry cookie dough:

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Add the sugar and butter to a large bowl and beat until well combined. Add the strawberry puree, vanilla extract, and food coloring and beat until combined.
  • Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat until just combined. Mix in more food coloring if desired, keeping in mind that the color will fade in the oven. My dough was almost hot pink but the cookies baked into a medium-pink color. The cookie dough should be soft and tacky but not too sticky. If your cookie dough is too sticky, cover the dough and refrigerate for 10-20 minutes.
  • Use a small cookie scoop or spoon to divide the dough into about 20 balls (around 2 tablespoons or 38g of dough each).
  • Add the remaining 1/4 cup (50g) of granulated sugar to a small bowl. Toss and roll each ball of cookie dough in the sugar.
  • Arrange the cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches (5 cm) apart as they will spread in the oven. If you'd like thinner chewier cookies, slightly flatten each cookie dough ball.

Bake the strawberry sugar cookies:

  • Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes or until the edges appear cooked then remove from the oven. Allow them to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack (note 4).
  • Enjoy the strawberry sugar cookies warm or at room temperature. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Notes

  1. For the best results, I recommend weighing the strawberries and flour. The volume of strawberries varies a lot and adding too much flour to the dough will prevent the cookies from spreading. Plus, using a scale means you can wash less utensils!
  2. For a medium-pink color, I used 3/4 teaspoon of liquid pink food coloring (preferred) or a heaped 1/4 teaspoon of pink gel food coloring. Red food coloring is stronger than pink so you’ll need less. Keep in mind that the color will fade in the oven so add more than you think you will need. You can also use beetroot powder but the color doesn’t always ‘stick’ during baking and it can dull the strawberry flavor. With my old beetroot powder, I added around 3 tablespoons to get a pale pink color and flattened the cookies before baking.
  3. For chewier cookies with slightly more strawberry flavor, you can reduce the flour to 2 cups (250g). The cookies will crack more and the dough will be stickier. You don’t need to chill your dough, unless it’s very sticky.
    For gluten-free cookies, this recipe also works well with King Arthur’s measure for measure flour. The dough will be a little softer than the original, but will bake beautifully.
  4. If the ingredients are measured accurately, these cookies will spread in the oven. If they don’t spread, flatten the cookies with a fork or bottom of a glass when they come out of the oven.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1 cookie with sugar coating, Calories: 162kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 6g, Sodium: 115mg, Potassium: 48mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 15g, Vitamin A: 321IU, Vitamin C: 12mg, Calcium: 5mg, Iron: 1mg
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