I've posted fruit leather recipes before, but if I haven't convinced you yet, let me try again - Making your own fruit leather is super easy. Super easy.
And when you make it yourself, you're making it without food coloring, without sugar, and without artificial flavors. Just fruit, nothing else. This is a great fun and tasty summertime activity for kids too.
So are you convinced? Yes? Well, let's make some homemade Strawberry Banana Fruit Leather!
How to Make Fruit Leather
Start with high quality strawberries. Not those crunchy apple-sized ones that taste like a whole lotta nothing. You'll need about 2 cups of strawberries and 1 large banana.
Preheat your oven to 175ºF.
Cut the tops off the strawberries (be sure to wash them first!) and cut the banana into large chunks. Throw them in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
Taste the mixture to see if any sweetener is needed. If the fruit was ripe, you shouldn't have to add anything. But if the berries were a little tart, stir in honey or agave nectar to taste.
You can put the mixture through a fine mesh sieve if you want to remove the seeds, but it's really not necessary.
Pour the fruit mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet that's been coated in cooking spray.
Use a spatula to spread the strawberry banana puree so it covers the baking sheet evenly. This might take a little time, but it's an important step! Place baking sheet on the center rack of the oven.
Because fruit varies in water content and ovens vary in how they cook, I can't tell you exactly how long the fruit leather will need to bake. This particular batch took 2 ½ hours, which seems to be about the norm for my oven.
Note that my fruit leather is thinner than many other recipes, which is why it takes less time. I like it this way!
You want the leather to be pliable, but not wet; you should be able to touch the fruit leather without leaving an indentation.
You may notice the edges of the fruit leather are done before the center, particularly if the puree wasn't spread evenly on the baking sheet before going into the oven. That's okay! Just cut the edges off and return the fruit leather to the oven until the rest of it is done.
Once the fruit leather is done baking, cut it into strips or shapes using a pizza cutter, knife, or kitchen shears and when it's cooled completely, wrap or roll in plastic wrap or wax paper.
We usually eat ours within a day or two, but according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, it will last up to 1 month when wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature or 1 year in the freezer.
Now wasn't that easy? I told you it was!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups strawberries cleaned
- 1 banana
- agave syrup or honey optional for sweetening
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 175ºF.
- Cut the tops off the strawberries and cut the banana into large chunks. Throw them in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
- Taste the mixture to see if any sweetener is needed. If the berries were a little tart, stir in honey or agave nectar to taste.
- Note: You can put the mixture through a fine mesh sieve if you want to remove the seeds, but it’s really not necessary.
- Pour the fruit mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet that’s been coated in cooking spray.
- Use a spatula to spread the strawberry banana puree so it covers the baking sheet evenly. This might take a little time, but it’s an important step! Place baking sheet on the center rack of the oven.
- Because fruit varies in water content and ovens vary in how they cook, I can’t tell you exactly how long the fruit leather will need to bake. This particular batch took 2 ½ hours, which seems to be about the norm for my oven.
- You want the leather to be pliable, but not wet; you should be able to touch the fruit leather without leaving an indentation.
- You may notice the edges of the fruit leather are done before the center, particularly if the puree wasn’t spread evenly on the baking sheet before going into the oven. That’s okay! Just cut the edges off and return the fruit leather to the oven until the rest of it is done.
- Once the fruit leather is done baking, cut it into strips or shapes using a pizza cutter, knife, or kitchen shears and when it’s cooled completely, wrap or roll in plastic wrap or wax paper.
Stefani says
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I want to make these.
Brenda Williams says
Love this post. The animated fruit leather certainly got my attention.
Kiersten says
Yeah, I was pretty proud of myself for making that animated GIF! 🙂
Rachel says
I've tried this before in my dehydrator and it never did work out. I will definitely give this a try in the oven!
Kiersten says
People keep saying that! It makes me glad I never got around to buying a dehydrator...
Peggy says
Who knew this was so easy?! Love it and I can't wait to try it!
Kiersten says
Yup, much easier than people think it will be! 🙂
Henrietta says
Oh my gosh! This brings back such memories! When I was little my Gramma N. used to make all kinds of homemade fruit leather, she would make big batches of it in her dehydrator and then freeze them in waxed paper. When we wee good, she would let us pick out one. Waiting for it to thaw was torture and we would usually end up gnawing away on it! lol! My favorite was always blackberry! I am definitely going to have to give your recipe a try someday!
Kiersten says
I'm attempting to grow blackberries this year, so I'm going to have to try blackberry fruit leather if I get enough of them! We always eat it before we can freeze it, but one of these days I'm going to make a few batches at a time so I have some to save. 🙂
Cat Davis - Food Family Finds says
I have always wanted to try making this. I love those Stretch Island Fruit leather strips, do these taste similar?
Kiersten says
It's a little less sweet than those Stretch Island Ones, but the texture is similar.
BusyWorkingMama says
YUM! I bet Lily would love this! Looks so easy, too!
Kiersten says
Yup, it's very easy and without the added sugar, food coloring, etc, it's so healthy too!
Shirley says
This is so cool! Love the first photo and seeing how thin it is. And I always thought fruit leather must have gelatin or agar or something like it... amazed it's pure fruit!
Kiersten says
Nope! There are recipes that add other things to it (and those recipes are usually a lot sweeter too), but you can definitely do it with just fruit alone. 🙂
Katie says
I never realized how easy it was to make!
Paige says
So excited to make this! And to not have to buy it anymore. 🙂
Kiersten says
It's a little less sweet than the kind you buy because I don't add as much (or any!) sugar, but it's just as chewy and fun! 🙂
meatballs & milkshakes says
I love this idea and plan to try it out soon!
ATasteOfMadness says
What!!! This is the greatest thing I have seen all day! Yay! I'm so happy, this is awesome!
Kiersten says
Ha! Thank you! 😀
Ashahmal says
approximately what temp should we be baking this at?
Kiersten says
175 degrees. It's in the post. 🙂
Ashahmal says
thanks...i figured it was but after looking 5 or 6 times, i just couldnt find it...long day with the kids I guess
northierthanthou says
Hm, I wonder if this will be tastier than the store bought stuff. I don't like that anymore, but maybe this would do the trick.
Kiersten says
Well, it depends on the brand, but in general, the store bought kind is going to be much sweeter than this version because they add a lot more sugar. Most of the sweetness in this recipe is from the fruit and there's a little bit of tartness too from the strawberries. So if you don't like the store bought kind because it's too sweet, you might like this one!
Alicia says
I've never even heard of fruit leather - this looks absolutely delicious. I can't wait to try it!!
Kiersten says
Well, it's kind of the same thing as a fruit roll-up, only it's made with real fruit. 🙂 I hope you like it if you try it!
Kaitlin says
I've always been totally obsessed with fruit leather and have contemplated making my own but never have. You make it look so easy and delicious, I'm convinced to give it a try now. Thank you!!! 🙂
Kiersten says
It really is so easy! Well, you can make it by cooking the fruit first which makes it a little more complicated, but if you use uncooked fruit puree it's easy. 🙂
Amanda says
Fruit leather i s something I have always wanted to try making myself (I do a lot of hiking/camping/backpacking and this would be a perfect snack). My partner and I go berry picking often and come home with large quantities (our last strawberry pick we had over 100lbs) so a lot of them get frozen before they turn.
I am sure fresh fruit would be best but wondering if it is possible to use the berries we froze to try this?
Kiersten says
You picked 100 pounds of berries?! WOW! I am jealous. 🙂 If you're using frozen berries, you might want to use fewer strawberries and more banana puree. And if you don't want to do that, I think it might just require a little bit longer in the oven. Frozen strawberries tend to be a little more watery than the fresh ones...
Amanda says
Best strawberry crop in decades here in BC - in a couple weeks we are going back for blueberries 😉
Kiersten says
Ah, that reminds me, I need to find out when we can go blueberry picking here in North Carolina. 🙂
Kalith says
175 degrees.. is that F or C?
no one ever specifies which one they mean. It drives me nuts @_@;;
Kiersten says
It's fahrenheit. I'm in the US and 92% of my readers are in the US (with most of the rest being in Canada!), so I use US measurements and temperatures. 🙂
Kalith says
Thankies! I hope I didn't sound rude. I'd been to 7 other websites trying to make things and absolutely no one specified >.<; I was a little frustrated lol.
Kiersten says
Don't worry about it--I understand!
Sasiwan says
In Thailand we use fruits puree stir on the stove until quite thick then spade on a tray and we let it dry in the sun or you can bake them.(sorry for my English)
Kiersten says
We make fruit leather by cooking the fruit puree on the stove first in the US too. Some fruits, like apples, really do need to be cooked like that first, but some work without being cooked. I love the idea of baking it in the sun--it's definitely been hot enough here lately to do that!
Alyssa says
Thanks for the recipe! I haven't made my own fruit leather before because all the recipes I've come across call for a thousand pounds of fruit and take an entire day to dry. This one calls for a reasonable amount of fruit and I won't have to have the oven on heating up the house for a whole day. I'm excited to try it!
Kiersten says
Oh yes, so many fruit leather recipes are all day affairs! Those fruit leathers tend to be a bit gummier in texture and a LOT sweeter (because they have tons of sugar in them!), while making fruit leather with an uncooked puree & no sugar results in a fruit leather that's chewier and a little less sweet. I hope you like it if you make it! 🙂
Alyssa says
I was so excited to make this that I tried it yesterday even though I only had frozen strawberries and some kiwi's. I used 2 cups of thawed berries, 2 kiwi's and a tbsp of honey. It still only took about 4 hours and turned out awesome! I thought it was perfectly sweet and had a good texture. I will definitely be making it again.
Kiersten says
I've never tried kiwi in fruit leather--I'm going to have to experiment with that next time! Strawberry and kiwi is always such a good combination. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Jessica says
This looks great! Do you know if it'd be possible to just do the banana? Or maybe just more banana than strawberries? Also, have you done it with any other fruits? I'd be interested to know what else is yummy 🙂
Kiersten says
Well, it just so happens that I have a banana fruit leather recipe too! 😀 And with bananas, they're so sweet to begin with that you don't even need to add any additional sweetener. Here's the recipe: How to Make Banana Fruit Leather. I've also done raspberry peach and mango. Basically, any fruit that purees nicely without getting too thin will work. Something like apples or pears won't work; they need to be cooked first, then pureed.
Chloe says
Hey just tried to make a batch, and it looked good for a while....but then i forgot about it and it got burned. 🙁 so i tried to scrape it off the pan and that did not work. any advise as to how to get it off the pan easiest?
Kiersten says
Oh no! My tried-and-true method for getting baked-on things off of rimmed baking sheets is to fill the sheet with hot hot water and let it sit. Sometimes you'll even have to let it sit overnight. But eventually it will soften and you'll be able to scrub it off with the scrubby side of a sponge.
Good luck! And I'm sorry you didn't get to eat any of the fruit leather! 🙁
Cat Davis - Food Family Finds says
Trying to keep my mind and body occupied today ... I've got this recipe in my oven right now and it smells delicious.
Kiersten says
Big hugs--I hope you're doing okay. If there's anything I can do, let me know...
christina says
hello! can you use frozen fruit (thawed) to make this recipe? or would it be too wet?
Kiersten says
I had someone tell me she used frozen & thawed strawberries and it worked for her. I think you may have to bake the fruit leather a little bit longer, though.
Kim Thirion says
Oh my! This looks so good!
I just tried fruit leather for the first time today, and I swear I'm officially hooked. So I came searching for recipes and that's how I found you. I'm definitely going to try this (and I'm definitely going to be coming back to this site!).
Kiersten says
It's addicting, right? And you can do it with so many different kinds of fruits! My favorite lately is to puree a whole pineapple core & bake that. Sometimes it turns out more crispy than leathery (which is why I can't posted the recipe here), but it's really tasty. 🙂