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This homemade Strawberry Fruit Leather is made with 3 simple ingredients and is much healthier than any store-bought fruit roll-ups! You can make this recipe directly in your oven or in a dehydrator.
Homemade fruit leather
One of my favourite snacks growing up was fruit roll-ups. I’m still a huge fan of fruity treats, but prefer to enjoy homemade fruit leather that is made with fresh and natural ingredients and isn’t loaded with corn syrup and sugar.
This recipe for homemade Strawberry Fruit Leather is like a healthier version of the store-bought snack without any artificial flavours or colours and makes for a fun activity you can do with your family or kids. And it’s a great way to use up those Summer strawberries in your fridge! (If you have more strawberries to use try using them in these Strawberry Overnight Oats, Strawberry Chia pudding or Strawberry Chia Jam.
If you own a dehydrator, you can go ahead and make these fruit roll ups in there, though if you’re like me and you don’t have a dehydrator, you’ll be making these in the oven. Luckily, you can actually dehydrate recipes in the oven by setting the oven temperature very low, (in this case 170 degrees F) and letting the recipe dry out for a few hours.
Why you’ll love these fruit roll ups
- Easy to make. This recipe is made with 3 simple ingredients and is actually really simple and easy to make. It’s a fun recipe to make with your kids too.
- Made with real fruit. grab some fresh strawberries from the market (or any other berries you love) to make this homemade fruit leather!b
- Refined-sugar free. This recipe is lightly sweetened with a hint of maple syrup. if your fruit is already very sweet, you may not need any maple syrup in the recipe at all!
Homemade fruit roll ups ingredients
- Strawberries: this recipe is made with fresh strawberries, but you can also substitute with any other type of berries you love or use a mix of different berries. I recommend using fresh fruit for this recipe, not frozen fruit. If you have extra strawberries use them to make a batch of this Strawberry Chia Pudding.
- Lemon: just a small squeeze of lemon juice to help brighten up the flavour. This will also help keep the fruit from oxidizing.
- Maple syrup: you can substitute with honey, agave syrup, sugar or just leave this ingredient out.
How to make fruit leather/fruit roll ups
Step 1
Add the strawberries, lemon and maple syrup to a blender and blend until smooth. You can also use a food processor if you don’t have a blender.
Step 2
Add the strawberry pureé to a saucepan and cook on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes until the pureé beings to thicken like in the image below.
Step 3
Poure the pureé onto a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat. (if you don’t have a silicon mat it can also work with parchment paper, however a silicon mat works best.) Then bake in the oven at 170 degrees F for about 4 hours, or until the fruit leather isn’t sticky to touch.
Step 4
Gently peel the fruit roll ups off the silicon mat and use a knife to cut it into slices. Then roll up each slice up into a roll.
How to store
Store the fruit roll ups in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 weeks. Make sure to keep out of sunlight and store in a cool dry place.
Expert tips for making fruit leather
- Use fresh fruit, not frozen. Frozen fruit tends to have more liquid in it than fresh fruit and also tends to be blander. Make sure to use fresh fruit in this recipe.
- Use sweet ripe fruit. The sweeter the fruit the better the fruit leather will turn out!
- Spread the fruit pureé as evenly as possible. Make sure to spread out the fruit pureé on the baking sheet as evenly as you can. If the fruit pureé isn’t even, it won’t cook evenly and may end up being soft in the center. If anything it’s better to make it slightly thicker around the edges ad thinner in the center as the edges tend to cook more quickly.
- Check on the fruit roll while baking. Depending on your oven, the cooking time of the fruit roll-ups can vary. Check on the fruit roll-ups in the oven every hour or so to make sure it’s not overcooked.
Fruit Roll Ups FAQ
Store-bought fruit roll-ups aren’t the healthiest snack since they’re loaded with corn syrup and sugar. But these homemade fruit roll-ups are healthy and made with fresh fruit!
When it’s spread thin and dried out the fruit becomes firm when you touch it but still bendable, making it similar to the texture of leather.
Yes! Fruit leather is just dehydrated fruit.
You can use raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, mango, peaches, pineapple and many other fruits. It’s just important to remember if using a very watery fruit to cook the fruit pureé down so it thickens slightly.
Yes! This recipe is naturally vegan and gluten-free.
More strawberry recipes to try
- Strawberry Watermelon Popsicles
- Strawberry Chia Seed Smoothie
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Strawberry Rhubarb Chia Pudding
If you tried these Strawberry Fruit Roll Up/Fruit Leather or any other recipe on the blog let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment/rating below! Be sure to follow along on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook for even more deliciousness!
Strawberry Fruit Leather (homemade fruit roll-ups)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 1/4 hours
- Yield: 10 servings
- Category: Snack
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
All you need is three ingredients to make these delicious and healthy homemade fruit roll-ups!
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh strawberries, stems removed
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (can omit if your strawberries are very sweet)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees F and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- Pureé the strawberries, lemon juice and maple syrup in a high-speed blender or food processor until smooth.
- Add the strawberry pureé to a saucepan and cook on medium-high heat for about 10-15 minutes until the pureé begins to thicken.
- Pour the strawberry pureé onto the baking sheet and spread evenly to coat the silicon mat. Try to spread the mixture as evenly as possible.
- Bake for 3-4 hours, turning the pan halfway.
- You’ll know they are done when you touch them and it’s no longer sticky. If it’s still sticky put the fruit leather back in the oven for another 30-60 minutes.
Notes
Cook time may vary depending on your oven. Check on the fruit leather every hour or so.
Store in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.
Does it need to be four cups of whole strawberries or chopped? Also, if it is four cups whole, about how many pounds is that?
thanks!
whole strawberries, It would be about 1.5-2 pounds!