Easy-to-make Deviled Strawberries are like strawberry cheesecake in bite-size form! Hollowed out strawberries are filled with a sweet cream cheese filling and then topped with chocolate drizzle, cookie crumbs, and sprinkles for a perfect party dessert.
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How much do you think strawberry sales go up around the Valentine's Day holiday? Considering they're wildly out of season in the middle of winter, it almost feels like Valentine's Day should be in May.
Then again, February is the perfect time for a holiday that's all about love and hearts. And we'll splurge on a container of strawberries or two to celebrate.
Deviled strawberries may sound like an odd choice of a treat. It's usually eggs that are deviled and these strawberries aren't technically "deviled" in the true sense of the word.
But they follow a somewhat similar technique to making deviled eggs and they're really just a super fun take on the traditional party food.
They're sweet and delicious and perfect for Valentine's Day or any time you want an easy and tasty treat.
🍓 What are deviled strawberries?
In traditional deviled eggs, you hard boil the eggs, peel them, cut them in half, and scoop out the yolk. Then you mix the yolk with other delicious ingredients and pipe them back into the egg halves, adding whatever toppings you desire.
With deviled strawberries, you cut the strawberries in half, scoop out the center, pipe a delicious cream cheese mixture into them, and add whatever toppings you desire.
The term deviled, in reference to eggs, actually means "spicy, zesty, or highly seasoned," so really, there's nothing "deviled" about these strawberries. But since they follow a similar technique, we're going with it.
Rather than deviled eggs, deviled strawberries taste like strawberry cheesecake!
🗒 Ingredients
You don't need too many ingredients to make a big batch of deviled strawberries and you can easily customize them to your own tastes in many ways.
Here's everything you need (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Medium or large strawberries
- Cream cheese
- Confectioners' sugar
- Heavy cream
- Vanilla extract
- Toppings of your choice: melted chocolate, crushed chocolate cookies (like Oreo), graham crackers, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, etc.
👩🍳 How to make
These little strawberry desserts are so easy to assemble!
Start by cutting each strawberry in half lengthwise and using a small spoon, melon baller, or paring knife to hollow out the center of each berry half.
You can either cut the stems off or leave them on. I left them on for visual appeal, but you could also cut them off for ease of consuming.
Now make the filling.
In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix the softened cream cheese with powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla until smooth.
And pipe the filling into the hollowed out strawberries.
I recommend using a piping bag with a 1M or 2D Wilton star tip, but you can use any tip you want.
And if you prefer, you can simply use a spoon to scoop the filling into the strawberries.
Now all you have to do is add on any toppings you want!
Just with how you can top deviled eggs with a whole variety of ingredients, there are so many options for what you can use to top deviled eggs.
I used a melted chocolate drizzle, crushed Oreo cookies, Valentine's Day sprinkles, and crushed graham crackers. I have lots more topping ideas for you below.
These are such easy-to-eat and yummy party desserts. They're little bite-sized treats packed with sweet creamy flavor.
Make them for your Valentine's Day gathering, Galentine's Day party, or just for you and your Valentine to enjoy together.
⏲️ How to store
These deviled strawberries really are best served fresh, so I recommend assembling them right before serving.
However, you can certainly hollow out the strawberries and make the filling in advance and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to assemble.
If you do make and assemble them ahead of time or have leftovers, be sure to store them in a container in the fridge. I recommend lining the container with parchment paper or wax paper and putting the strawberry halves in a single layer.
Use a piece of plastic wrap to loosely cover the container. Don't seal it completely or else the container will develop condensation and make the strawberries soggy.
If you're storing them for more than 24 hours, adding a paper towel to the container can help absorb excess moisture.
💁♀️ Topping ideas
The options are endless for how you can top your deviled strawberries. Here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Melted chocolate: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate
- Crushed chocolate cookies, like Oreo cookies or chocolate wafer cookies
- Crushed graham crackers
- Mini chocolate chips
- Sprinkles: I love using Valentine's Day sprinkles, but you can use your favorites
- Crushed pretzels
- Crushed nuts, like pistachios or pecans
- Toasted coconut flakes
- Toffee bits
- Chocolate curls
- Caramel sauce
- Espresso powder
- Ground cinnamon
🎉 Variations on filling
The cream cheese filling for these deviled strawberries is pretty basic, but you can jazz it up in so many different ways!
Here are some ideas for what you can add to cream cheese mixture:
- Add cocoa powder or melted chocolate to cream cheese mixture for a chocolate cheesecake like filling
- Mix peanut butter or Nutella into cream cheese filling
- Mix caramel sauce into filling
- Fold crushed cookies or graham cracker crumbs into filling
- Instead of just cream cheese, use half mascarpone in filling
- Blend berries or citrus into the filling
- Mix in espresso powder
And here are some ideas for what you can use if you don't like cream cheese (note that all fillings might not be the right consistency for piping):
- Whipped cream
- Whipped cream and mascarpone mixture
- Whipped cream and peanut butter or Nutella mixture
- Marshmallow fluff and heavy cream mixture
- Coconut cream whipped cream
- Greek yogurt and honey mixture
- Pudding or pastry cream
- Chocolate ganache
- Biscoff or cookie butter
❤️ More strawberry desserts
There's just something about strawberries for Valentine's Day and luckily, I have lots of strawberry dessert recipes perfect for February 14 or any time!
Here are some of my favorites:
Of course, strawberry truffles also make the most perfect Valentine's treat.
Whether you're entertaining or just enjoying time with your loved ones, I hope these deviled strawberries make it onto your menu!
📖 Recipe
Deviled Strawberries
Ingredients
- 1 lb medium-large strawberries
- 6 oz cream cheese softened
- 3 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Toppings: melted chocolate, crushed chocolate cookies (like Oreo), graham crackers, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, etc.
Instructions
- Cut each strawberry in half lengthwise and use a small spoon, melon baller, or paring knife to hollow out the center of each berry half.
- In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix the softened cream cheese with powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla until smooth.
- Use a piping bag with a star tip (I use a Wilton 1M or 2D tip)to pipe the cream cheese filling into the hollowed-out strawberries. If you prefer, you can use a spoon to scoop the filling into the strawberries.
- Add toppings of your choice. I like to drizzle melted chocolate over the strawberries, add chocolate cookie crumbs and graham cracker crumbs, and sprinkle on festive sprinkles. See post body for more topping ideas.
Notes
- These deviled strawberries are best when assembled right before enjoying. If you do make and assemble them ahead of time or have leftovers, be sure to store them in a single layer in a parchment paper-lined container in the fridge loosely covered with plastic wrap. Don't seal it completely or else the container will develop condensation and make the strawberries soggy.
Renee Terry -Newman says
I make these for every event where food will be served., and they are always a huge hit. The one thing that I do differently is I top the strawberries with homemade scooter crunch topping. It really makes all the difference and it is a little more work than crushing up Graham crackers but believe me it is totally worth it