Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Recipe (Strawberry Pops)
Valentines Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Recipe – These juicy strawberry pops feature fresh berries dipped in FOUR layers of decadent chocolate before they’re covered in festive candy sprinkles. They are a sweet and pretty edible gift that everyone is sure to love!
Why We Love These Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Pops Recipe
It’s that time of year, and love is in the air! And you know what always has my heart, all year ’round… Chocolate! Chocolate covered strawberries are the quintessential Valentine’s Day dessert, so this year I thought we’d put our own spin on this classic. So – ta-da! – introducing our Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Pops!
These sweet goodies have all of the appeal of classic strawberries covered in chocolate, but with a handy stick that makes them equally fun and delicious. And while they look fancy and are a fabulous way to say “I love you,” dipped strawberries are ridiculously easy to make. Even the kids can make these decadent pops almost completely on their own.
Plus, there are SO many ways to customize the recipe! Change up the colors to match holidays and your celebrations. Sprinkle on whatever sweet or savory toppings you want. Then finish them off with a sweet little bow for an extra special gift or festive treat!
Ingredients You Need
- Strawberries – average size, rinsed and thoroughly dried
- Baking chocolate – your choice of semi-sweet, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate
- Candy melts – we use a combination of pink, white, and red candy melts
- Sprinkles – choose whatever shape and colored sprinkles you want, like these Valentine’s Day sprinkles
- Lollipop sticks – I recommend compost-friendly paper sticks
How To Make These Strawberry Pops
- Use a piece of styrofoam to create a drying rack, like what’s shown in the pictures here. (I even left the plastic wrapping on the styrofoam or place a paper towel underneath, in case we were especially messy.) Make sure the strawberries are as dry as possible, and stick a lollipop stick through the center and up of each berry. Don’t pierce all the way through the tip end of the strawberry!
- Next, melt high-quality chocolate candy melts (like Ghirardelli) in a bowl, using your preferred method of in the microwave or on the stovetop in a pot. We’ve got steps for both methods in the full recipe card below!
- Dip each strawberry into the chocolate, making sure they are thoroughly coated but don’t have excess chocolate dripping off. Place the lollipop stick into the styrofoam to hold the pop.
- After they dry a bit, which only takes a few minutes, melt a different color of candy melts, and take turns dipping the pops in red, pink, and white candy coating to create colorful chocolate layers.
- On the last layer, sprinkle the tops with festive candy sprinkles! Then back onto the drying rack to set firm.
Get the Complete (Printable!) Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Pops Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips and Variations
- If the strawberries are too ripe, they can be extra soft and could slide off the sticks. Therefore, try to pick strawberries that are almost-ripe too ripe, but not overly ripe.
- One way to offer a little extra security is to dip the end of the stick into the chocolate and then stick it in the strawberry. Allow for it to cool and harden before trying to dip the strawberries back into the chocolate.
- I used semi-sweet chocolate, but you can use any kind of chocolate you like… Milk, dark, semisweet, or even less-expensive almond bark.
- We made these sweet treats for Valentine’s Day, but dipped strawberries are a delicious gift any day of the year and for all celebrations! Change up the colors of your candy melts and sprinkles to match the festivities… Like pink or blue for baby showers, school colors for graduation, anniversaries, pastel colors for Easter, red white and blue for 4th of July, or red and green for Christmas.
- Drizzle leftover melted chocolate over the tops of the dried strawberry pops for an extra layer of yumminess and artsy look.
- Change things up and coat the chocolate-dipped strawberries with all kinds of goodies! Try sprinkling on finely chopped pistachios, pecans, peanuts or almonds, finely chopped candy canes, crushed graham cracker crumbs or Oreos, toasted coconut, toffee bits, etc!
- The sticks obviously make them handy, but you can skip the stick and make these traditional chocolate covered strawberries, if you prefer! Either cut off the tops and skewer them, then slide off of the stick before serving; or, leave the tops on to use as a handle for dipping and eating the strawberries.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, I don’t recommend using chocolate chips here. They usually include fillers and a ratio of ingredients that doesn’t make them ideal for melting. Stick with “official” candy melts wafers for the smoothest chocolate coating.
The berries should be chilled, but still dry. If they are at room temperature or slightly warm, or at all wet, the chocolate will not stick on properly.
The issue here could be that your strawberries are not dry enough for the chocolate to be able to grab onto them. Make sure that you dry the berries off really well so that the chocolate can stick to the outside.
Yes, these should be fine to make a day before serving, but I would not suggest leaving them in the fridge for longer than 48 hours.
If you kept them in the refrigerator too long, the strawberries might end up releasing their juice overtime making them soggy. If you wrap the strawberries in wax paper then place them inside a plastic container, they should stay fresh in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Looking for More Valentine’s Day Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
- Nutella Chocolate Fondue Recipe
- Homemade Strawberry Cake Recipe From Scratch
- Strawberry Shortcake Smores Recipe
- French Silk Chocolate Brownies Recipe
- Gluten-Free Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart Recipe
- Italian Shrimp and Grits Recipe
Get the Complete (Printable!) Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Pops Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Recipe (Strawberry Pops)
Ingredients
- 24 average-size strawberries dry
- 12 ounces baking chocolate
- 6 ounces pink candy melts
- 6 ounces white candy melts
- 6 ounces red candy melts
- Valentine sprinkles
- 24 lollipop sticks
Instructions
- Pinch the stem and leaves off the top of each strawberry and gently insert a lollipop stick in the center. Prepare a piece of styrofoam to hold the pops, by punching 24 holes in it with one of the sticks.
- Using a double boiler, slowly melt the chocolate over low heat. (Or use the microwave method – Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted.)
- Dip the strawberries in the chocolate, coating down to the stick. Make sure there are no gaps/bubbles anywhere or the strawberry juices will seep out. Gently shake off the excess and place in the Styrofoam holder to dry.
- Once the chocolate is dry, repeat this process with the colored candy melts, alternating colors, and dipping less deep into the melted chocolate to create colored layers. (You may have to reheat/melt your colored chocolate a few times during this process.)
- After the final dip on each pop, quickly sprinkle the top with Valentine colored sprinkles and place back in the holder to dry. Wrap and distribute immediately.
These are beautiful!!! Where did you get your tiny heart sprinkles?
Hi Heather,
This is an older recipe, so I can’t remember where the sprinkle came from. However, I think it was one of those multi-pack shakers with several sprinkle shapes in one jar… The kind they sell around the holidays. Hope you find them!
This is such a fun idea!!! My kids really enjoyed making and eating this!
These look so delicious and festive! I can’t wait to make these with my daughter! Looks fun and I’m so excited!
I did a test run of these today for Valentine’s day and it worked perfectly. Thanks for your tip about making sure the strawberries were dry so the chocolate stuck. They’re perfect!
Hi, how did you get the pops to stay on the stick while dipping? Mine kept comming off into the chocolate!
Hi Jackie,
Uh-oh! Hmmm… Were your strawberries very soft and ripe? It sounds like they might have been a little too ripe.
Can you make these a day ahead and store in the refrigerator? How would you wrap them?
Hi Rhonda,
Yes, one day ahead should be fine. :)
I made several hundred and they came out great! Pics on my Fb and IG. @Berycharm1
Making these with my girls as soon as possible!!
I tried to make these earlier today and it was an epic fail :(
I’m so sad cause they were just the most cutest thing. I washed off my strawberry sand will try again tomorrow. I really need these pops!
Sorry Michelle,
Yes, the strawberries need to be very dry or the chocolate won’t stick. Hope your next round are successful!
Hi, I want to make these for a Valentines Day theme baby shower but, i was wondering if i could skip the first layer and start with white melting candy. Will it still work? Thank You!