Healthy Strawberry Shortcake

Healthy Strawberry Shortcake made with almond flour biscuits, fresh strawberries, and homemade whipped cream is a classic dessert that is guaranteed to impress! Grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free, this recipe comes with plenty of options for all types of eaters. 

One of those family favorites that always brings about nostalgic memories, strawberry shortcake is always a win for virtually everyone!

Serve it up at your summer bbqs and enjoy it for the 4th of July for an American classic patriotic dessert!

This super easy recipe comes together quickly and can be modified in numerous ways to cater to your dietary needs.

One of the reasons I love this Healthy Strawberry Shortcake recipe is it doesn’t incorporate a great deal of added sugar. 

For instance, the biscuits are only lightly sweetened with a small amount of honey, the strawberries are sweetened with a touch of pure maple syrup as an option, and the homemade whipped cream can go completely unsweetened, which is my personal preference.

In this sense, you’re getting a delicious treat that quenches the craving for something sweet but you’re tricking your taste buds due to the small amount of sugar.

The best part is because we’re making easy grain-free drop biscuits, no fancy tools such as a pastry blender are needed. We’re simply stirring everything up and baking, making this one of the easiest desserts celebrating sweet strawberries. A simple recipe for perfect strawberry shortcake!

Let’s discuss the simple ingredients needed to make this easy strawberry shortcake recipe.

Strawberry Shortcake Ingredients:

Almond Flour & Tapioca Flour: The grain-free biscuits are made primarily with almond flour and some tapioca flour for a fluffy, flaky biscuit with amazing texture. If you don’t have tapioca flour on hand, you can replace it with more almond flour, but I like the softness the tapioca flour brings.

For those of you with nut allergies, you can use a different shortcake recipe calling for gluten-free all-purpose flour or coconut flour.

Avocado Oil: A small amount of avocado oil brings liquid and fat content to the biscuits for that delectable moist texture. You can replace the avocado oil with melted coconut oil or unsalted butter if you prefer.

Eggs: Tasked with keeping the gluten-free shortcakes held together nicely, eggs help fluff up the biscuits for optimal texture.  I haven’t tested the recipe using an egg replacer but because these biscuits need a lot of rise since they are grain-free, I don’t think flax eggs, chia eggs or other vegan egg replacers will work with the same success.

Pure Maple Syrup or Honey: A little bit of pure maple syrup or honey is used to sweeten the biscuits to give it that dessert appeal without being overly sugary. You can easily swap it out for 2 to 4 tablespoons of your favorite sugar-free sweetener, maple sugar, or cane sugar.

Baking Soda: A little baking soda is used as the leavening agent in the shortcakes, as it helps achieve an even rise and ensures they stay together rather than spreading out.

Sea Salt: A pinch of sea salt enhances the flavors of the biscuits and makes them taste sweeter without the need for added sugar.

Fresh Strawberries: Sweet juicy strawberries are chopped and tossed with a small amount of pure maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt for a delightful strawberry shortcake experience. Incorporate other fresh berries such as blueberries, blackberries or raspberries if you’d like.

Pure Maple Syrup: Adding pure maple syrup to the strawberries is entirely optional and dependent on how sweet you like your treats. I sometimes enjoy sweetened strawberries, whereas sometimes I leave them unsweetened. 

For a sugar-free strawberry shortcake, use 2 tablespoons of your favorite sugar-free granulated sweetener.

Whipped Cream:

Heavy Cream or Coconut Cream: For the whipped cream portion of the recipe, you will either need 1 pinch of heavy whipping cream or 1 (15-oz) can of coconut cream. Similar to the rest of the recipe, you can choose to leave the whipped cream unsweetened or add some powdered sugar or pure maple syrup to your personal taste.

For a more decadent experience, serve the strawberry shortcake with vanilla ice cream.

If you love citrus, you can add 2 teaspoons of lemon zest and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to your shortcake recipes.

Let’s make this fresh and delicious creamy strawberry shortcake recipe!

How to Make Healthy Strawberry Shortcake:

Toss the strawberries, pure maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt together in a large bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. If you like your strawberries mashed and liquidy, you can use a potato masher to mash them.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the eggs, avocado oil, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and almond extract together in a medium bowl until well-combined. Add the almond flour, baking soda, and sea salt to the mixing bowl and mix until well-combined and a thick biscuit dough forms. Stir in the honey until everything is well-incorporated. Note: if you’re using a different sweetener than honey, it can be mixed in at the same time as the dry ingredients.

Form 4 to 6 biscuits out of the dough and place them on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown and test clean. I find 12 minutes to be just right.

Allow the biscuits to cool completely before slicing (note if you slice them when they are still hot, they will crumble quite a bit). Use a sharp knife to slice them through the center (a serrated knife works best)

Place the shortcakes on separate plates to make individual strawberry shortcakes and load them up with homemade or store-bought whipped cream and fresh strawberries. For a dairy-free option, make my Coconut Whipped Cream. Serve and enjoy!

Store any leftover strawberry shortcake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

How to Make Whipped Cream:

Transfer one pint of heavy whipping cream (or coconut cream) to the bowl of a stand mixer, along with your desired amount of powdered sugar (I use no added sweetener, but you can add between 1 tablespoon and ¼ cup of powdered sugar), and 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.

Use the whisk attachment to beat on medium speed until the cream begins to thicken up, then move to high speed until the whipped cream reaches your preferred texture. This takes about 2 to 8 minutes depending on how thick you like your cream.

The whipped cream will be thick but still runny at 2 to 4 minutes, have soft peaks around 4 to 5 minutes, and stiff peaks will form around 7 to 8 minutes. Just be sure you don’t over mix the whipped cream or else it will harden to the consistency of butter. 

Note: if you don’t have a stand mixer, use a large mixing bowl and an electric mixer or a regular whisk.

As an alternative, you can use a different base such as sponge cakes or pound cake such as my Coconut Flour Paleo Pound Cake recipe or my Keto Lemon Pound Cake.

If you love fresh strawberry desserts, also try my Paleo Strawberry Crumble and my Strawberry Oatmeal Bars!

And that’s it! An easy, fresh strawberry dessert for the summer months that the whole family will love! 

More Low-Sugar Healthy Dessert Recipes:

• Healthy Paleo Apple Cake
• 4-Ingredient Flourless Healthy Brownies
• Paleo Blueberry Cake
• 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies
• Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

I hope your family enjoys this simple strawberry shortcake recipe as much as mine does!

Healthy Strawberry Shortcake

A healthier strawberry shortcake recipe with grain-free almond flour biscuits. Low sugar, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free for a delicious classic dessert!

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

4 Servings

Ingredients

Almond Flour Biscuits:

• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 2 Tbsp avocado oil
• ▢ 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ tsp almond extract, optional
• ▢ 2 cups almond flour
• ▢ ½ cup tapioca flour
• ▢ ½ tsp baking soda
• ▢ ¼ tsp sea salt
• ▢ 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup or honey

Strawberries:

• ▢ 4 cups ripe strawberries
• ▢ 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup, optional
• ▢ Pinch sea salt

Whipped Cream

• ▢ 1 15-oz can coconut cream*
• ▢ 1 to 4 Tbsp sweetener of choice, see note**
• ▢ ½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• Toss the strawberries, pure maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt together in a large bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. If you like your strawberries mashed and liquidy, you can mash them with a potato masher.
  
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Whisk the eggs, avocado oil, pure maple syrup, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and almond extract together in a medium bowl until well-combined.
  
• Add the almond flour, baking soda, and sea salt to the mixing bowl and mix until well-combined and a thick biscuit dough forms. It's perfectly normal if the dough is very sticky!
  
• Form 4 to 6 biscuits out of the dough and place them on the baking sheet.
  
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown and test clean. I find 10 minutes to be just right.
  
• Allow the biscuits to cool completely before slicing (note if you slice them when they are still hot, they will crumble quite a bit). Use a sharp knife to slice them through the center (a serrated knife works best)
• Place the shortcakes on separate plates to make individual strawberry shortcakes and load them up with homemade or store-bought whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Serve and enjoy!
  

Notes

*If you can’t find canned coconut cream, buy 1 can of regular coconut milk and refrigerate it overnight. When you open the can, scoop out only the white cream (or “flesh”). Or use 1 pint heavy whipping cream if you aren’t dairy-free. 

**Add powdered sugar or pure maple syrup to your personal taste to the whipped cream if you’d like. I would recommend using 1 to 4 tablespoons of a granulated sweetener or 1 tablespoon of a liquid sweetener.

Store any leftover strawberry shortcake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. For the best result, store the biscuits, strawberries, and whipped cream in separate containers.

Nutrition facts calculated excluding the whipped cream, as whipped cream varies greatly depending on the ingredients and the amount used.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Shortcake (of 4) - Calories: 535kcal - Carbohydrates: 42g - Protein: 16g - Fat: 38g - Fiber: 8g - Sugar: 8g

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: American

Keyword: almond flour strawberry shortcake, fresh strawberry dessert, gluten free strawberry shortcake, healthy dessert, healthy strawberry short cake, paleo strawberry shortcake, strawberry shortcake recipe

Servings: 4 Servings

Calories: 535kcal

Author: Julia