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    Home » Recipes » American

    Updated: Sep 1, 2023 by Marc Matsumoto · 47 Comments

    Strawberry Lemon Bars

    These Strawberry Lemon Bars are made with sweet, red strawberries and Meyer lemons with a rolled oat crust. Beautiful, delicious and almost healthy!
    Recipe Pin

    Aside from marking the end of the bitter cold winter and the sprouting of green stuff, there's another reason why I love spring. It's a transitional season where one season's produce is winding down, and the produce from the next season first comes to market.

    Meyer lemon season, for example, runs from November through April, while strawberry season starts in April and runs through the summer. I love Meyer lemons because they're one of the few bright flavors you can taste during winter. To stick your nose in a bag full of these golden yellow beauties and take a deep breath is like inhaling a lungful of pure happiness. Strawberries, on the other hand, start showing up just as the weather starts turning really hot, and the sweet red berries stream juicy bliss into your mouth with each bite.

    After a neighbor's Meyer lemon tree was blown over by an overabundance of fruit and some heavy winds, we found ourselves the lucky recipients of a bag full of fruit. I also found two pints of glorious organic berries at the market, and it wasn't long before thoughts of strawberry Meyer lemonade started coursing through my mind. In the end, I decided to have a bit more fun with the flavors and made these Strawberry Lemon Bars.

    One of the biggest gripes I have with lemon bars is that they are way too sweet. When you're using regular lemons, it's necessary to add a ton of sugar to offset their acidity. The beauty of using Meyer lemons and strawberries is that they are both sweet and only mildly acidic, so I was able to reduce the amount of sugar in the filling by almost half. I also added some rolled oats to the crust for some texture and fiber. While I don't think you could ever call a lemon bar healthy, these are certainly "healthier" than your run-of-the-mill lemon bars.

    With a buttery, crunchy crust underneath, the sweet fruity flavor of the strawberries pairs perfectly with the tart taste and floral aroma of the Meyer lemon juice. As the days grow longer, I'm looking forward to trying this out with other fruits like peaches and wild blueberries!

    More Delicious Desserts

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    📖 Recipe

    Strawberry Lemon Bars

    Not enough ratings yet
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    Prep Time 25 minutes mins
    Cook Time 45 minutes mins
    Total Time 2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins
    Yield 12 bars

    Units

    Ingredients 

    for crust

    • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
    • ½ cup rolled oats
    • ½ cup powdered sugar
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1 pod vanilla bean (just the seeds scraped out)
    • 12 tablespoons cultured unsalted butter very cold (cut into ¼" cubes)

    for filling

    • ¾ cup strawberries (hulled, halved and sliced)
    • ¼ cup granulated sugar
    • 4 large eggs (lightly beaten)
    • 1 cup granulated sugar
    • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    • 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest
    • ⅔ cup Meyer lemon juice strained
    • powdered sugar for dusting

    Instructions

    • Line a 9" x 13" pan with enough parchment paper to go about 1" up on all sides. In the work bowl of a food processor, add the flour, rolled oats, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla seeds. Pulse a few times to combine, then add the butter and pulse until the dough looks like pea-sized gravel (about 10 1-second bursts). Sprinkle the dough evenly over the parchment-lined pan and use your fingers to press the dough into a uniform sheet that goes about ½" up all sides. Put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, place the oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
    • In a small bowl, combine the strawberries and ¼ cup of sugar and toss to coat. This will release excess moisture and sweeten the strawberries. To prepare the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, flour and lemon zest. Add the lemon juice and whisk to combine.
    • Remove the crust from the freezer and put in oven and bake for around 25 minutes, or until it is golden brown and fragrant. When the crust is done, take it out of the oven, then immediately scatter the strawberries around the crust, pour any accumulated juices into the lemon mixture and whisk to combine. Pour the lemon mixture over the strawberries.
    • Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F, then put the pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the center of the lemon bars doesn't jiggle anymore. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely. Slice, then dust with powdered sugar and serve. 
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    Nutrition

    Calories 307kcalCarbohydrates 44gProtein 5gFat 13gSaturated Fat 8gPolyunsaturated Fat 1gMonounsaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0.5gCholesterol 92mgSodium 123mgPotassium 86mgFiber 1gSugar 27gVitamin A 442IUVitamin C 11mgCalcium 20mgIron 1mg

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Tina says

      March 05, 2012 at 5:52 pm

      I made this over the weekend. It was prefect!

      Reply
    2. Masha says

      January 04, 2013 at 6:38 pm

      Hi Mark, I have found your blog through Saveur, I believe, and I am absolutely smitten with your approach towards cooking, your versatility with different ingredients, and your love of meyer lemon! I have been looking at so many food blogs in the past few weeks, and none has urged me to leave a 'wow' message right away. The Matzo brei idea is nothing short of brilliant, coming from a person whose mother was making some mean mushroom matzo brei for as long as I can remember that's no small prize.

      Reply
    3. Marc Matsumoto says

      January 04, 2013 at 11:38 pm

      Hi Masha, thanks for the nice comment:-) Mushroom matzo brei sounds awesome! I'm gonna have to try that next time.

      Reply
    4. Robin says

      January 24, 2013 at 5:03 pm

      My 8 year old son called these scrumptious and ordered 3 more! So easy to make and so delicious.

      Reply
    5. TrishKicks says

      May 05, 2013 at 10:25 pm

      I made this, sooo delicious!! I didn't have meyer lemons so I mixed in some juices from 1 orange... worked great!
      Thank you for the recipe!!

      Reply
    6. no name says

      May 06, 2013 at 6:40 pm

      I made this and it was great!!! did not change one thing. the recipe worked out great, had a bag of meyer lemons and was looking for something good to use them on I sure am glad I found your recipe. Thank you so much you made me look so good at the bbq.. thank you, this is my all time fav........

      Reply
    7. Rachel says

      July 09, 2013 at 3:16 pm

      Sooooo good. I didn't have any vanilla beans so I just added a little (1tsp) vanilla extract into the mix. I did end up using at least 1 cup or even 1 1/4 cup strawberries since the top looked pretty bare when I spread out all my slices. Everyone was so impressed with "my" abilities. Thanks Marc!

      Reply
    8. Mahda says

      December 12, 2013 at 8:01 pm

      Dear Marc,

      Thanks fo all great recipes! I love making them.
      I have a question about the crust: should I slightly press the crust with my fingers to form a rectangle (without worrying about how homogenous the mixture is) or making a dough out of the mixed ingredient with my fingers ( completely mixed) and then form it to a rectangle?

      Thanks

      Reply
    9. Marc Matsumoto says

      December 13, 2013 at 12:50 am

      Hi Mahda, you need to process the butter and other ingredients until they form pea-size gravel. You still want small pieces of butter, but no big chunks. Then you press the gravel together in the pan. It's not going to be 100% homogenous, but that's what give the crust its flakiness.

      Reply
    10. marina says

      September 18, 2014 at 8:15 pm

      Hello,
      do you think I could make them in advance and freeze them for a party a couple of weeks later?

      Reply
    11. Marc Matsumoto says

      September 19, 2014 at 12:35 am

      Hi Marina, I’ve never tried it so I can’t say for sure, it’s possible the higher moisture content of these bars (due to the strawberries), could make the crusty soggy when you defrost it. Also, you’ll want to wait to sprinkle on the powdered sugar until after the bars have defrosted and come to room temperature. If you do try freezing them, it would be great if you could leave a followup comment to let us know how it goes.

      —
      Sent from Mailbox

      Reply
    12. Colleen Pedrazzini says

      March 24, 2015 at 3:09 pm

      Spring is finally here in New England and my Mom sent me the last of her Meyer Lemons from Auburn, California. This is exactly the kind of recipe I was searching for to use some of them up! Making them now, I just copied your no recipe to my book of keepers and pinned it to my Pinterest board. My daughter already liked the pin, imagine how suprised she'll be when I bring these into her work later!!! Thanks 🙂

      Reply
    13. Marc Matsumoto says

      March 25, 2015 at 1:37 am

      Thanks for the nice note, I hope your daughter enjoyed them!

      Reply
    14. shonya.atmos says

      June 15, 2015 at 11:09 am

      My god, can not wait for Summer to roll round in the southern hemisphere, so I can make these...

      Reply
    15. Nazla Reagin says

      December 30, 2015 at 7:13 pm

      I made these last year for the first time and we all loved them. I'm fortunate enough to have found a local source of Meyer lemons that are bigger and juicier than the grocery store variety and cannot wait to enjoy these bars again. Thank you for the wonderful recipe and foolproof directions.

      Reply
    16. Marc Matsumoto says

      December 31, 2015 at 1:23 am

      Hi Nazla, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed them! Also great to hear you found a local source as they can be tricky to find otherwise:-)

      Reply
    17. Kim says

      May 07, 2016 at 9:17 pm

      These are very good. I was looking for a recipe for strawberry lemon bars and this is exactly what I wanted. It is not too sweet. My tree is a regular lemon tree but the flavor is wonderful. My friend's Meyer Lemon tree did not produce this year in Arizona, but the others had great crops. Thanks for the recipe.

      Reply
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    Hi, I'm Marc Matsumoto, a retired chef living in Tokyo, and I founded No Recipes to empower home cooks of all levels by sharing essential techniques and my kitchen secrets.

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