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.
I have made this recipe at least 10 times , it is the greatest.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this is a favorite of yours!
I like this recipe but found it a tad bit too sweet for me. If I were to cut down the amount of sugar this calls for, what other modifications would I have to make to ensure the texture is still consistent? Would you advise reduce the amount of sugar in the crumb layer, the filling layer, or the strawberry layer? Thanks in advance!
I have only made it as written so cannot speak from experience but you can probably cut down a tbsp of sugar here and there in the different steps and it will be okay, just guessing though.
I made both the Strawberry Lemonade Bars and the Pink Lemonade Freezer Bars for our family dinner yesterday (Memorial Day). Both were a hit. My family chose the Pink Lemonade Freezer Bars as their favorite, but I loved both. In fact, I’m enjoying a Strawberry Lemonade Bar for my breakfast as I type this! I told my neighbor about both recipes and made copies for her as well. Love your blog and your recipes and have shared them with many family members and friends. Thank you!
Thanks for trying both recipes and I’m glad they were both hits! Glad my recipes are popular with your family and friends, too!
I just made these strawberry lemonade bars and wow! What an explosion of flavors! I used fresh berries, fresh lemon juice and zest, vanilla yogurt, and added a touch of cinnamon. I baked mine in a 9×9″ pan (vs. 8×8″) and increased the sliced strawberries to 2 1/4 cups. I could have easily added more to duplicate the pictures posted above. I’m sure this dessert will disappear quickly tonight! I’m definitely making this again!
I’m preparing to bake this and your blueberry oatmeal crumble bars (and perhaps some of your other goodies!). Do both recipes freeze well? I’ve read your directions on freezing however I would like to know if there will be a significant difference in flavor vs eaten next day…..
Thanks!
If you’re planning to consume within a week, I wouldn’t freeze. If for some reason you’re cooking it in advance just to freeze, then it will freeze fine. I think fresh is always going to taste better than frozen but the frozen is still just fine.
These sound great for the Summer!! Perfect for packing for a picnic too!
I just came across your recipe on Pinterest and gave it a-go for Memorial Day-they’re even more delicious then I could have imagined!!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Hi can anyone tell me is corn starch please. Thankyou
You may want to check Google out since I notice you have a non-US email address.
This recipe calls for corn starch in the ingredient list but then refers to the use of flour in the narrative and in the recipe description (used to thicken the strawberry mixture). I assume either would work but I used corn starch.
Step 10 is where the corn starch is used and comes into play.
Your printer friendly version is broken or something…printed out every single photo on the page
It worked for me just fine. Click on the gray PRINT button within the recipe card section of the blog post and you should be fine.
Have you tried the strawberry crisp recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor? It reminds me of these (well the look anyway) but it’s super easy. Strawberries in a 9×13 covered in dry yellow cake mix and cut up butter. That’s it. And it tastes wonderful with vanilla ice cream.
These were delicious! I doubled the recipe and I’m going to stick half in the freezer for a later date.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
anxious to give these a try. family is fond of bars like this. any thoughts of using cream cheese instead of yogurt to get a more pronounced layer? I have seen many using cream cheese, but am impressed with your combination of berries and lemon. I am sure you have much more experience than I. thank you……… sue
I used yogurt rather than cream cheese because I didn’t want it to set up anything resembling a cheesecake-like filling (my family doesn’t love cheesecake) but with some experimentation, I’m sure you could do different things with the filling based on your liking, but it’ll require some trial and error. Good luck!
Yes. These are happening. How do they fare the next day, or is it better to make them day of?
They tasted great for many days – you can easily make them a day in advance. They need a long time to cool anyway so that’s fine!
I made these bars for a work potluck last week and got so many compliments! They were fantastic, as is every recipe I’ve tried so far. Love your blog :)
So glad to hear they were a hit and that the other recipes you’ve also tried have been a big success! Thanks for telling me and trying the recipes!
Just made these and they are absolutely divine! I forgot to add the cornstarch into the strawberry mixture (whoops), so I ended up mixing the strawberry layer, lemon layer, and cornstarch together. Not the prettiest but that was totally my fault and they still taste amazing!
Glad to hear you loved them and even with a little slip-up, they still turned out great for you!
These are the bomb dot com, girly girl! :) THEE perfect summer dessert! Pinned and definitely going to make!
Thanks, Jocelyn, you made me smile with this comment :)