Deviled Strawberries Are Bite-Sized Treats Inspired By The Classic Egg Appetizer

Scooping out the inside of an ingredient, vamping it up, and placing it back into itself sounds like infinitely more work than just enjoying it in its natural state; and yet, we're still addicted to doing it. Deviled eggs are typically the food that undergoes this treatment, but it works well with strawberries, too. Deviled strawberries are delicious and bite-sized like their eggy equivalents, and they make the perfect sweet treat for any occasion.

Strawberries are juicy and incredibly versatile — is it any wonder that we keep finding ways to incorporate them into desserts? We enjoy simmering them down to make a bright berry sauce, and pureeing them into gelato, but deviled strawberries require the fruits to remain partially whole. To master the treat, slice the berries down the middle, cut off the small bump at the back and scoop a little bit out from the center.

With this, you'll have a sweet canvas to dress up. You can keep it simple by adding whipped cream or vanilla buttercream frosting, or spring for something decadent like toasted white chocolate mousse and flaky sea salt. If you're making the treats ahead of time, place them in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to a few hours for the freshest results. Line them up in the container and make sure they're not crowding one another before placing it in the fridge.

If you want to stay true to the deviled egg inspiration, utilize the pieces of fruit that you cut out from the strawberries to fill them back up. Using the excess pieces, make strawberry whipped cream from scratch or whip up some fluffy strawberry cream cheese to place inside the fruits. You can also freeze-dry some of the strawberries and blend them for a fine dusting of sweetness to go over the dessert.

For deviled strawberries with less sugar or calories, swap out the frosting and cream cheese for ricotta. Add the cheese into a blender along with chopped strawberries to create a whipped filling. Top it off with a drizzle of honey or squeeze of lemon.

You can also opt to take the deviled strawberries in a more savory direction. Strawberries and rhubarb are a match made in heaven and we'd be remiss to leave that suggestion out. Rhubarb mousse's tartness brings out strawberry's hidden sour side and the duo tastes like a bright summer's day. For a cooling, herbaceous effect on the treat, fold some minced basil or mint into the mousse before adding it to the strawberries.