Easter Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries Recipe

This delicious recipe is the perfect no-bake addition to your Easter table. The pastel colors on each chocolate-covered strawberry will remind your holiday guests of colorful Easter eggs. And you will love how quick and easy it is to make this impressive and fun little treat!

Equipment

While this Easter recipe delivers OMG results, it uses basic equipment you already have at home:

• Parchment Paper or Wax Paper: The strawberries need a clean, non-stick surface while hardening.
• Microwave-Safe Bowl: Instead of a double boiler, this recipe calls for easily melting the white chocolate chips in the microwave.
• 3 Small Bowls/Mugs: Choose microwave-safe bowls with a relatively small circumference, to create a deep enough layer of chocolate for submerging strawberries.
• 3 Plastic Sandwich Bags: Use simple Ziplock bags as piping bags to drizzle the chocolate strawberries with contrasting colors.

Ingredients

The recipe calls for simple ingredients, readily available at your local grocery store. However, I highly recommend picking up strawberries from a local farm or market stand for optimally juicy strawberries.

• White Chocolate Chips: Nestle White Chocolate Morsels are labeled gluten-free and can be easily found in most grocery or big box stores.
• Coconut Oil: This magic ingredient helps the chocolate to harden quicker and gives it a shiny finish.
• Fresh Strawberries: It's strawberry season! Look for bright red, fresh strawberries. For a more elegant appearance, choose medium to large strawberries. Or to stretch the strawberries for an Easter crowd, choose small to medium strawberries. Make sure the strawberries are washed and fully dried before dipping in chocolate, or the chocolate will seize and not stick to the strawberries. I pat dry and place on paper towels to dry about 30 minutes prior to making this recipe.
• Gel Food Color: Gel food color contains water that normally makes chocolate seize. We're going to first combine it with the coconut oil, rendering it easy to add to the white chocolate.

Gluten-Free Notes: This recipe is easily and naturally gluten-free. Make sure your white chocolate chips have no gluten ingredients. I use Nestle White Chocolate Morsels and Betty Crocker Gel Food Coloring, as both are labeled gluten-free. Note, that I have never come across gel food color that contains gluten, but when the option is available I typically buy products that are labeled gluten-free over those that are not.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper and set aside.

Choose three small (and deep) bowls or mugs. They should also be microwave-safe, as you will need to slightly reheat the colored-chocolate later.

Divide the coconut oil between the three bowls, one teaspoon per bowl. Add 4-6 drops of gel food coloring to each teaspoon of coconut oil, in the Easter colors of your choosing. I chose red (to make pink), yellow, and blue/green (with an approximately 2:1 ratio, to create aqua).

Use a fork to mix the coconut oil with the food coloring until fully combined. The color should be vibrant at this stage, as it will mute to a pastel shade when combined with the melted white chocolate. Leave the stirring forks in the bowls/mugs to use shortly.

Secret Coloring Tip! Chocolate will seize when it interacts with water. Using gel food color, which contains less water than liquid food color, and combining the gel food color with coconut oil first, prevents the chocolate from clumping.

Place the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe container. Melt in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Melt in additional 15-20 second intervals, stirring each time, until fully melted. It typically takes under two minutes to fully melt the chocolate.

Be patient, heating in short increments and stirring every time, as melted chocolate can quickly go from smooth to clumpy if overheated. When this happens, the chocolate cannot be salvaged.

Divide the melted white chocolate between the three bowls of colored coconut oil. Stir each color with a fork until well-blended. At this point, you should have three, beautiful, pastel-colored bowls of chocolate that make it feel like Easter with a nod to dying Easter eggs.

Working with one color at a time, dip approximately a third of the strawberries in each color. Let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl of melted white chocolate. Place the dipped strawberries on parchment paper to dry.

For the simplest and quickest process, I use the leaves as handles. This option also leaves the strawberries intact, so they can be left at room temperature for one day. Alternatively, you can use a toothpick inserted in the top of the strawberry.

Before switching to the next color, make sure that it is still fully melted. If it has dried a bit, re-warm the chocolate in 15-second increments and stir.

Make a tiny cut to remove the very tip of 3 plastic sandwich bags. You want a very small tip, about the size of a pencil lead.

Working with one color at a time, slightly remelt the remaining chocolate for approximately 15 seconds in the microwave and stir, just before filling the sandwich bag. 

Tip for mess-free filling! Place the plastic bag (cut-tip down) in a glass, folding the top of the bag over the top of the glass. Fill the "piping bag" with colored white chocolate.

Drizzle colored chocolate over half of the contrasting colored strawberries. Use a simple back-and-forth motion, or let your decorating skills shine with swirls and dots.

Repeat with all three colors until all of the strawberries are decorated with a different color. For example, I drizzled pink on half of the yellow and aqua strawberries, yellow on half of the pink and aqua strawberries, and aqua on half of the pink and aqua strawberries.

Let each strawberry harden completely on parchment paper before serving. Thanks to the coconut oil, this will only take about 10 minutes.

Storage

For the absolute best appearance, serve these adorable Easter Chocolate-Covered Strawberries within one day. They can be stored at room temperature for up to one day.

After one day, store them in the fridge for up to another 2-3 days. The chocolate will "sweat" a bit in the fridge, so place the strawberries on paper towels before storing them.

Note, if you used the toothpick method for dipping, enjoy these festive treats within two hours or store them in the fridge.

Easy Variations

• After allowing the excess chocolate to drip off the freshly dipped strawberries, dip them partially in a bowl of pastel sprinkles or white pearls.
• Satisfy the serious chocolate lovers in the group by using dark chocolate or milk chocolate to dip some of the strawberries. Incorporate Easter colors with pastel drizzle.
• Upgrade the piping artwork. Add swirls, flowers, and dot patterns, similar to those you would use when decorating Easter eggs.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries for Every Occasion

Once you discover just how simple these cute chocolate-dipped strawberries are, you will want to make them for every occasion. Try Pink Chocolate-Covered Strawberries as a fun treat for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day & Girl Baby Showers, and Red, White & Blue Strawberries for Patriotic Celebrations!

Related Easter Posts:

• 101 Non-Candy Easter Egg Fillers Kids Will Love
• 37 Delicious Gluten-Free Easter Dessert Recipes