Strawberry Lemon Bars — Imagine crossing lemon bars with a strawberry pie. These easy bars taste like strawberry lemonade! Sooo good!
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Best Ever Strawberry Lemon Bars
Strawberry lemonade is such a quintessential summer drink. Bars that taste like strawberry lemonade are even better than drinking it!
These strawberry lemonade bars are what you’d get if you crossed a crumble-topped strawberry pie with a lemon bar.
They’re sweet from the strawberries with some tart lemon flavor that peeks through. They’re soft, juicy, satisfying, and I love crumble-topped anything.
The bars are adapted from Blueberry Pie Bars, which was an instant reader favorite. There’s a soft yet crisp, buttery, shortbread-style crust.
The crust mixture does double duty as the crumble topping. I love it when that happens so there’s one less step and one less bowl to wash.
There’s a creamy, sweet, lemony filling that tops the crust, which gives the bars a soft but dense texture. I used Sunkist lemons and they add so much wonderful complementary flavor to sweets.
Strawberries and lemon zest top the filling layer. The berries soften and release their juices while baking and the juicy berries help the bars stay very moist. I used a combination of fresh and frozen strawberries.
Between the firm crust, soft filling, juicy strawberries, fragrant lemon zest, and sandy crumbles, there are so many wonderful textures and flavors in every thick bite.
They taste fancy enough to serve at a special event, luncheon, or brunch, yet are homey and comforting. A perfect summertime treat.
Ingredients for Strawberry Lemon Bars
To make these strawberry lemon blondies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Egg
- Greek yogurt
- Lemon juice and zest
- Vanilla extract
- Strawberries
- Cornstarch
How to Make Strawberry Lemon Bars
If you’re craving a strawberry lemon dessert, you’re going to adore these bars! Here’s an overview of how the recipe comes together:
- You’ll first need to mix together the crust mixture, which also doubles as the crumble topping.
- Set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture, then press the rest into the bottom of an 8-inch square pan.
- Next, whisk together the lemon filling. Pour the filling into the prepared crust.
- Lastly, mix together the strawberry layer and spread evenly over the lemon filling.
- Sprinkle the reserved crumble topping over the strawberry layer, then bake the strawberry lemon bars for about an hour.
- Once baked, these strawberry bars need to cool for at least 2 hours before cutting into them.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use either in these strawberry lemon bars! I generally bake with frozen fruit because it’s cheaper and available year-round, but it tends to be juicier. Therefore, I needed to add flour to firm up the strawberry layer. You may not if you’re baking exclusively with fresh berries.
Baking time will vary based on if your berries are fresh, frozen, and how juicy they are.
Nope! These strawberry lemon bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, in the fridge for up to 10 days (they’re good slightly chilled if you like chilled pie and I store them in the fridge), or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
You should be fine to use a gluten-free 1:1 flour substitute, but I wouldn’t recommend using a nut flour.
Yes, double all the ingredients and bake in a 9×13-inch pan. The baking time may increase by a few minutes at most, but that certainly will not double.
Tips for Making Strawberry Lemon Bars
I used a mixture of fresh and frozen berries, and you’re welcome to do the same.
If using fresh berries, you may not need to add any flour to the strawberry layer. If using frozen berries, you likely will need 2 tablespoons. Just use your best judgement and add some flour if the mixture looks at all watery.
You can cut into these strawberry bars after they’ve rested for 2 hours, but they’re best when they’ve been left overnight.
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Strawberry Lemonade Bars
Ingredients
Crust and Crumble Topping
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Filling
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt; or sour cream, lite is okay
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
Strawberry Layer
- 2 heaping cups diced strawberries, fresh or frozen; I used a combo
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar, or 1/2 cup if berries are sour
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest, or to taste
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- up to 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, if using fresh berries, you may not need any flour, and if using frozen berries you likely will need 2 tablespoons
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside. Lining the pan will really help with cleanup and is recommended.
- Crust and Crumble Topping
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Add the sugars and whisk to combine.
- And the flour, optional salt, and stir to combine. Mixture will be very dry and sandy with some larger, well-formed crumble pieces.
- Set a heaping 3/4 cup crumble mixture aside.
- Transfer remaining mixture to prepared pan, and using a spatula or your fingers, hard-pack the mixture to create an even, smooth, flat crust; set aside.
- Filling
- In a medium bowl, add the egg, Greek yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and whisk to combine or beat with a handheld electric mixer until smooth.
- Add the flour and whisk to combine or beat with a handheld electric mixer until smooth.
- Evenly pour filling over the crust and jiggle pan to help distribute it or smooth it with a spatula; set aside.
- Strawberry Layer
- In a separate medium bowl, add all filling ingredients except flour and toss to combine.
- Evaluate mixture and if it’s very thin, runny, soupy, or liquidy, add up to 2 tablespoons flour to help thicken it. If using fresh berries, you may not need any flour. Because I used half fresh and half frozen berries, I needed 2 tablespoons flour because my mixture was thin and soupy.
- Evenly distribute strawberry mixture over the filling, smoothing it lightly with a spatula.
- Evenly sprinkle with the reserved heaping 3/4 cup crust mixture. Before sprinkling, I squeeze the mixture in my palm to encourage bigger crumble pieces to form.
- Bake for about 60 to 75 minutes (place pan on a cookie sheet for insurance against overflow if your pan is quite full), or until edges are bubbling quite vigorously and there’s some bubbling in the center. Crumble topping should appear set and very pale golden.*
- Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool for at least 2 hours (overnight is even better) before slicing and serving. After cooling overnight, I placed pan in the fridge 2 hours before slicing to ensure clean, neat cuts. If you try to slice bars before they’ve cooled completely, they’ll be extremely messy and could fall apart.
Notes
- *Note: I used some frozen berries and the pan was very cold going into the oven and the strawberry layer was quite runny; I baked for 72 minutes. If using fresh berries, baking time will be reduced, likely right at the 60 minute mark, but start checking at 50 minutes. Watch your bars, not the clock, when evaluating doneness.
- Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, in the fridge for up to 10 days (they’re good slightly chilled if you like chilled pie and I store them in the fridge), or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Adapted from Blueberry Pie Bars.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Strawberry Dessert Recipes:
Strawberry White Chocolate Gooey Bars — The strawberry base is soft and chewy, there are white chocolate chips for extra texture, and sweetened condensed milk peeks through the top.
Strawberries and Cream Poke Cake — This Strawberry Poke Cake uses just four ingredients and is a hit at parties and potlucks! It’s a moist, refreshing dessert you’ll definitely want seconds of!
Crustless Fresh Strawberry Pie — FAST, super EASY, no-mixer dessert that’s perfect for summer entertaining, picnics, or potlucks!! Somewhere in between pie, cake, and blondies is what you get with this FABULOUS recipe!
The Best Strawberry Banana Bread — This strawberry bread is packed with fresh, juicy strawberries in every bite! This is an easy, no-mixer quick bread recipe you’re going to love!
Strawberry Layer Cake with Strawberry Frosting — Soft, tender cake loaded with FRESH strawberries and a sweet strawberry frosting!! An EASY strawberry layer cake that’s perfect for parties! Strawberry fans will LOVE IT!!
Strawberry Custard Bars — These easy, one bowl, no mixer custard bars are perfect for your fresh strawberries. There’s a shortbread crust, topped with diced strawberries, before a custard filling is poured over the the top.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Shortbread Bars — The easy bars consist of a buttery shortbread crust that’s topped with a cream cheese and an almond extract flavored filling before frosting the bars and topping with strawberries.
This post is brought to you by Sunkist. Recipe, photography, and opinions expressed are my own.
Originally published July 15, 2014 and republished May 29, 2020 with updated text.
Oh my gosh, Averie these look so delicious! That crumb topping and that strawberry lemonade layer…they look wonderful :)
I love strawberry lemonade but never make it since all the recipes I can find make a pitcher.
This looks like the perfect way to get my “fix”!
And you don’t even have to make any lemonade for these. Some strawberry-lemonade recipes start out with powdered juice mix which is fine, but not what I was going for here :)
MMM nothing says summer like these strawberry lemonade bars! I am gonna make these for my parents this weekend!
Really? If you do, please LMK!
I love the multiple flavors in this–and I just bought a 6 lb bag of frozen strawberries from Costco. Not sure if I should be embarrassed to admit that or not as Jon isn’t a big berry fan so I’ll be eating nearly all of them myself in some form! A crumble top and lemon zest is the perfect finish for these.
A 6 lb bag of berries is awesome :) Now you can put some to use! I can’t believe he’s not a big berry fan. Well, more for you that way :)
These look perfect!!! Not too gooey for travel!! Thank you!
WOW this looks delish! I will have to make these ASAP!
These look phenomenal! Love the crumb topping.
My grandma’s peach pie recipe uses a shortbread-style pie crust (SO much easier because we just pat it into the pie plate instead of rolling it out!) that also doubles as the crumb topping. Her recipe is seriously my favorite thing about summer, and my mom and I would make it at least once a week while I was in high school. So I’m 200% positive I’d love your bars based on the crust and crumble alone, but then creating a strawberry lemonade filling? Averie, you’re a genius! Pinning!
Thanks for pinning! :) Your grandma’s peach pie patted into a pie plate sounds like the way to go!
You’re welcome Averie! I end up pinning just about every single recipe of yours because everything sounds so tempting. And your gorgeous photography doesn’t help those temptations at all! ;)
Baking with a combo of fresh and frozen fruit is such a good idea! You get the juiciness/cheaper price of frozen fruit but still some texture from the fresh fruit. Very cool.
The bars look amazing too, as always :)
You get the juiciness/cheaper price of frozen fruit but still some texture from the fresh fruit = EXACTLY, well said :)
I like drinking strawberry lemonade but combing those two flavors into a bar just sounds amazing!
Thanks, Polly!
I’m also a crumble-top/lemony/fruit dessert lover so I’m sure these are right up my alley.
I’ve noticed you go light on your salt usage in your recipes–I find that I need to cut the salt amount by half or more in a lot of older recipes that I use–I like a tiny bit to keep a recipe from tasting flat but too much salt and I’m not interested. Yet another reason that your recipes rock.
Thanks for noticing the salt situation. I am EXTREMELY sensitive to sodium. Doesn’t matter how much water I drink, etc. I will blow up if I eat very much salt at all. Even the salt on chips is enough to do it. I’ve always been that way so adding salt to things, I go extremely light-handed, if any at all. And also because of that, my tastebuds are very sensitive to it, so I don’t need much to really notice it, either!
Mouthwatering! These are so perfect for summer!
WOOOOW! Omgosh, these look completely incredible! I can’t believe how good they sound and delicious they look. Can’t wait to try them.
Strawberry Lemonade is one of my favorite summer drinks! I’m so glad you made these bars, I can’t wait to make them myself! Pinned!
Thanks for the pin, Shawn!
The last time I made a bar like this was when I first moved here, but with raspberries instead of the strawberries. They were DELICIOUS. I have tons fo strawberries from picking them last week. Frozen, but should work.
Oh that’s right, your strawberry adventures. Wow, they would be amazing in here! I used a combo of fresh and frozen here (thought I had more fresh on hand than I did, but pulled out my trusty frozen stash and it was all good). My mom makes bars along these lines but with raspberries and not as well-defined of a base/crust but similar!
These look over-the-top amazing!! I love how there are chunks of strawberries in the bar for a satisfying bite :D
I love the texture of those chunks, too!