Chocolate-Covered Strawberries – Everything You Need To Know

It’s rare to find a person who doesn’t love chocolates and strawberries. These two compliments each other so nicely that the combination makes a very fancy concept together. 

Chocolate-covered strawberries are one of the simplest yet considered the most beautiful and desirable dishes. It is a symbol of love and happiness. Also, Chocolate covered strawberries are one of the easiest and my most favorite desserts.

If you want to make it for breakfast or give it to someone special, you are already making a great choice. And let me help you learn this super easy recipe and make a magical dish that everyone will fall in love with for sure!  

What Are the Ingredients Used to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries

First of all, we need to prepare all of the ingredients and equipment while making the chocolate-covered strawberries. Let’s find out the ingredients first:

• Medium-large dry strawberries with leaves (15-20pieces)
• Vegetable or shortening oil(1 teaspoon)
• ½ cup of milk chocolate chips/white chocolate chips/dark chocolate chips
• Toppings
• Plastic baggies for decoration
• Scissors

Besides these ingredients, there are some types of equipment that we need for the cooking process. They are:

• Baking sheet
• Wax paper or parchment
• Teaspoon shortening
• Saucepan
• Paper towels
• Heatproof bowl 
• Skewer and toothpicks 

We are ready to go for our next step ‘cooking’ part if you are available with all these things. 

How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries

After gathering all the ingredients together then comes the second step. It’s a very easy process to make chocolate-covered strawberries, and it takes very little time to prepare everything. If you want to make white chocolate-covered strawberries, then proceed with the white chocolate chips following these simple steps:

White Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Step 1: Firstly, wash the strawberries and dry them with towel paper. Then place them on a plate. Then with the help of a microwave or double boiler, melt the chocolate completely. If you prefer to use the microwave, it will take around 30 seconds to melt completely, and also, don’t forget to keep stirring between the intervals.

Step 2: When the white chocolate melts completely, line up the layers of the strawberries, keep the bowl of melted chocolate aside, and then a baking sheet.

Step 3: Hold the strawberry by the green stem, dip, and start dipping the strawberries into the melted chocolate one by one. Hold by the green branches; it will help to give a clean finish without involving the finger into it.

Step 4: When you are done with dipping, place the strawberries carefully so that each of them has enough space and does not touch each other.

Step 5: Drizzle the dipped white chocolate-covered strawberry with the remaining melted white chocolate.

Step 6: Wait up to 10 minutes until the chocolate hardens completely. And then you are done! You can enjoy your chocolate-covered strawberries right away or save them in a proper space for later.

Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I have a slight weakness towards dark chocolates; that is why I prefer to have dark chocolate-covered strawberries more. However, the process is exactly the same as the white chocolate process. 

We just need dark chocolate chips instead of the white ones in this case. And the rest of the procedure is the same as the white chocolate-covered strawberries.

Mixed Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Many people love to mix lots of food colors and play with them. I personally like to make fancy art on foods, especially when it comes to gifts. You can mix white and dark chocolates using toothpicks to make art with them on the strawberries. Let’s dive into the procedure:

Marbled Decoration:

• Firstly melt the chocolate chips as above. 
• Then drop 2 or 3 spoons of melted white chocolates on the dark chocolate surface
• Using a toothpick, swirl the chocolate mixture and make a marbled design with it carefully

Web Decoration:

• First of all, dip the strawberry into melted dark chocolate as above. Or if you want a white surface, then do it as a vice-versa.
• Secondly, wait until the chocolate is set.  Then fill a plastic or pastry bag with it. Then draw the lines with the pipelines coming out of the corner from the pack. 
• Make a web design upwards and downwards using a toothpick or skewer. 

Try not to over-mix. This way, you will make some beautiful pieces of chocolate-covered strawberries. But, the thing is, as much as I love gifting chocolate-covered strawberries, I love eating them even more! I hope you will feel the same way. 

How to Melt Chocolate for Dipping?

For chocolate-covered strawberries, dipping into chocolate is a significant part of the recipe. In this dipping part, we have to be careful about two things.

• Making sure the strawberries are dry before dipping into chocolate
• Correctly melting the chocolate

There are several ways we can follow to melt the chocolate. But I always follow these two ways, which help melt chocolate correctly and super easy and quick processes. Let’s have a look at them:

In the microwave

Using a microwave is one of the easiest and best methods to melt chocolate. I usually follow these steps when I use a microwave; let’s have a look at them:

• Cutting the chocolate into small pieces
• Placing the chocolate pieces into a wide shallow bowl
• Then put the bowl in the microwave and heat it for around 30 seconds
• I put it back, stir it with a rubber spatula then again place it back in the microwave for 15 seconds
• I keep doing like this until the chocolate is fully melted

On the stove

If someone doesn’t have a microwave, they can use the stove and quickly melt their chocolate on it. Let’s check out the procedure of how to melt chocolate on a stove:

• Arrange a double-boiler for the chocolate
• Fill the bowl in the bottom with a bit of water
• Boil the water and place the chocolate filled bowl on top of it
• Make sure that the water in the bottom pot doesn’t touch the chocolate
• The only source of heat should be the steam of the water
• To maintain a low simmer, maintain the heat of the stove by reducing it
• Keep stirring the chocolate constantly

Once the chocolate is melted completely, then take it off from the stove. And the melted hot chocolate is ready to cover the strawberries. 

What Is the Best Chocolate for Dipping Strawberries?

The chocolates we use for melting purposes are sold in small chips or wafers. This helps melt quickly. There are different types of chocolates that work best for different kinds of melting or baking purposes.  I have a list of my top favorite chocolates that I use for melting purposes. Here is the list:

Best White Chocolates: Ghirardelli White Chocolate Baking Chips

Milk Chocolates: Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, Nestle Toll House Milk Chocolate Morsels

These are some of my most favorite chocolates that work best for melting. You can try these to make your chocolate-covered strawberries. 

Is It Okay to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries The Night Before?

Yes! The best thing about chocolate-covered strawberries is, you can make it a day before. It’s good and safe to make it ahead of time. Well, I recommend preparing this dish a couple of hours before serving so that the chocolate gets enough time to harden.

However, putting the dish into a freezer for hardening the chocolate is not a good idea due to the short time. Make chocolate-covered strawberries a day before or in the morning; on the day of serving the dish.

How To Decorate Chocolate Covered Strawberries?

Once dipping chocolate is done around the strawberries, it’s time to show some artistry side of food-art! Decorated chocolate-covered strawberries can look so wonderful that anyone will be confused about whether to eat them or watch them. The dish becomes a magical piece of perfection by adding toppings around it and customizing it with colorful chocolate sauce. 

There are so many ingredients I love to use decorating the chocolate covered strawberries; here are some of them:

• Sprinkles
• Chopped nuts
• Graham cracker crumbs
• Oreo crumbs
• Shredded coconut or coconut flakes
• Chocolate sauce
• Melted chocolate drizzles
• Silver or gold food sheets
• Paper Cone

I recommend adding most of the toppings before the chocolate dries. But for the chocolate drizzles, it’s better to wait and let the chocolate dry first and then add to it. To be more accurate and perfect with your food art, you can use a zip-lock bag or a piping bag for frizzling decoration. I prefer doing it with a piping bag since it helps to have a little more control. 

How To Stick Chocolate To The strawberries?

While making chocolate at home, many people face a common problem; their chocolate doesn’t stick to strawberries. Well, the main reason behind this might be the strawberries are not dry enough. If there is any drop of water left on the strawberries, the chocolate coating will not stick to the strawberries. 

However, to avoid this problem, all you need to do is, be careful while choosing the strawberries for your recipe. Also, after washing, dry them with a paper or towel. Chocolate never sticks to the surface when there is even a slight drop of water.  It makes the chocolate grainy and seized up. 

So, it is very important to remove the water from the strawberries if you want to coat the strawberries with melted chocolate in a perfect shape. 

How To Store Chocolate Covered Strawberries?

Chocolate-covered strawberries are so delicious that whoever makes them wants to preserve them for days! It is easily possible if you store them correctly. For that, there is an old trick. Leave them on the same baking sheet used for hardening and keep the strawberries uncovered in the fridge. 

I preserve my chocolate-covered strawberries this way and enjoy them for a long time. To avoid sticking to the baking sheet, leave them on a single layer of a baking sheet. I don’t recommend using aluminum foil as it easily sticks to the strawberries, and there is a chance you might eat them with the food, so it’s better to use either a baking sheet or wax sheet.

How Long Would They Last?

Chocolate-covered strawberries typically last for two to three days in a refrigerator. If you use dry strawberries, it might last even longer, though. As long as the strawberries don’t release the water or get mushy and the chocolate doesn’t fall off, they are delicate and edible.

However, I would recommend finishing them within 48 hours before they start to get moldy. For a more extended period, contain them in a dry and cold place and leave them uncovered. And don’t keep them in a freezer as they will be stiff and frozen there. So, the refrigerator is a better option for preservation.

Are Chocolate Covered Strawberries Healthy?

Yes! Chocolate-covered strawberries are very healthy. It has so many antioxidants that help fight against cancer, improve the risk of infection, and protect against many different diseases. Also, a lot of vitamin C helps to improve our skin and strengthen our immune function. 

Let’s have a look at the table to know more about the nutritional facts of chocolate covered strawberries:

Nutrition	Milk Chocolate	Dark Chocolate	White Chocolate
Calories	100-125	130-135	75-110
Fat	50-55cal	60-65cal	50-60cal
Cholesterol	1-4mg	0mg	0mg
Carbohydrates	12-14g	15-20g	13-15g
Vitamin C	40%	40%	40%
Sugar	10-12g	10-12g	10-12g

Although we have to be careful about the diet plan and health issues, if anybody has diabetes or high cholesterol, they should control these kinds of food habits.  

What to Serve with Chocolate-Covered Strawberries?

Chocolate-covered strawberries are the best dessert to serve on any special occasion. There is no need to keep any side dish if someone wants to keep it simple and light. It alone can change the whole mood and steal the light of the show. As for drink, it’s better to pair it up with champagne or a bottle of sparkling wine. 

Chocolate-covered strawberries are the prettiest and cheapest dish that anyone can easily make. If you would like to take the taste of it to a whole new level, I suggest adding chopped nuts, toasted coconuts, or sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, crushed candy canes, etc., with it. It will make the whole environment sweet and romantic.

Is It A Good Idea to Gift Someone Chocolate-Covered Strawberries?

Chocolate and strawberries always make a great combination. If anyone wants to give something special to someone, chocolate-covered strawberries are a great choice. Strawberries are the symbol of passion and purity. And chocolate is always the best thing to share with your loved ones. 

There is a myth that if anyone breaks a double strawberry into half and shares it, they fall in love. And dipping the symbol of love into the chocolate makes the whole concept more special and fairy. So it is a perfect valentine’s gift to give someone or a perfect dish to serve on a lovely occasion.

Things You Should Keep in Mind 

There are few things we should be careful about while making chocolate-covered strawberries. Otherwise, it can ruin the whole dish. Let’s find out the things you should keep in mind while making chocolate-covered strawberries.

• Strawberries Should Be Super Dry

While making chocolate-covered strawberries, make sure that the strawberries are dry. Water is no friend to strawberries. It can turn the strawberry soggy. Before starting cooking, I recommend washing them and then pat dry them individually with a paper or towel.

Leave the green parts of the strawberries for dipping. It’s easier to hold while covered with chocolate.

• Strawberries Shouldn’t Be Frozen

If anyone uses frozen strawberries, it gets mushy and releases all water while cooking. And chocolate doesn’t combine with water. So the strawberries have to harden in the fridge, not in the freezer. Frozen strawberries are not edible with covered chocolate.

• Keep Stirring While Melting the Chocolate

Constantly keep stirring the chocolate. Stirring is essential to avoid the chocolate from getting too hot, whether on the stove or a microwave. 

If the chocolate turns too hot while melting, it will burn, and you will not be able to make your dish with it. So don’t overheat and try not to divert your attention from the melted chocolate. 

• Chocolate Covered Strawberries Leaking

It’s important to use dry strawberries of average temperature. A significant temperature change of chocolate or strawberries, like freezing conditions to room temperature, brings out the moisture. Thus, leaking can occur. 

The sweat is the condensation of the strawberries. To avoid this problem, make the dish on the same day you are planning to serve them. And leave them in a cool and dry place. If you are careful about these, then it’s safe to say that you will have a great outcome.