Easy Strawberry Scones Recipe

Strawberry scones with buttermilk are soft and flaky, with a tender crumb and juicy fresh berries in every bite. They are also surprisingly easy to make!

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Scones are often compared to biscuits—and like biscuits, they can be hit or miss. If you’ve tried scones before and you decided you didn’t like them, odds are that you didn’t have a good scone. These strawberry scones are flavorful, soft, and tender, not bland, crumbly, and dry.

Across the pond in the United Kingdom and Ireland, scones are usually served with clotted cream, butter, or jam. This strawberry scone recipe includes a sweet glaze, so there’s no need to serve it with anything else, although if you want to go the more traditional route, you can omit the glaze and serve your scones with jam, lemon curd, or orange marmalade instead.

While strawberry scones are a traditional accompaniment to afternoon tea, I like whipping up a batch for a weekend brunch or breakfast. Everyone in my family loves them!

Easy Strawberry Scone Recipe

Another thing that both biscuits and scones have in common is that they have a reputation for being a chore to make. In my humble opinion, the only part that’s a bit of a hassle is cutting in the butter—you always have to be careful to strike the right balance between too crumbly and too doughy, but it’s best to err on the side of crumbly because that’s what will give your scones a light, flaky texture.

Once you’ve mixed all of the ingredients together, you’ll turn the dough out onto a marble slab or cutting board and shape it into a disc, then cut the disc into wedges. Since there’s no excess dough like there is when you use a biscuit cutter, this part of the process is pretty unfussy.

strawberry scone ingredients on a white background

Ingredients for Strawberry Scones

See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.

All-purpose flour – I haven’t tested this recipe with other types of flour, so if you try a different variety, let me know how it turns out in the comments!
Granulated sugar – You only need 1/3 cup of sugar in the scone dough because the sweetness comes from the strawberries and the glaze.
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Unsalted butter – The butter should be cold; if it’s warm, it will melt into the dry ingredients when you cut it in, and your scones will be dense. Some bakers suggest freezing the butter and grating it with a cheese grater.
Buttermilk – You can make a buttermilk substitute with a scant cup of 2% or whole milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar.
Fresh strawberries – If strawberries are no longer in season, you can substitute blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or a combination of berries.
Powdered sugar – Powdered sugar makes an easy peasy glaze.
Heavy whipping cream – Milk will work too, but your glaze will be thinner.
Almond extract – This is optional, but it’s so good! You can omit it, though, or use vanilla extract instead.

Variations

This strawberry scone recipe is perfect exactly as written but here are a few variations you may want to try:

Use a different type of fresh berry to make a whole new kind of scone. Blueberries, blackberries and raspberries all work well in place of strawberries.
Replace the buttermilk with half and half to make rich, creamy scones.
Bake the scones in a greased muffin tin, filling each muffin cup to the top with scone dough. This will give you perfect, uniform scones.

How to Make Strawberry Scones

Prepare: Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Mix the dry ingredients: Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
Cut in the butter: Add the butter to the flour mixture in tablespoon-size pieces. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients.
Add buttermilk and strawberries: Make a well in the center of the dough mixture and pour the buttermilk into it. Stir briefly, until just combined, then fold in the strawberries.
Form strawberry scones: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide it in half, then form each half into a disc that’s about 3/4-inch thick. Place the rounds on an ungreased cookie sheet, with about 2 inches between them. Score each round into wedges by cutting halfway through the dough.
Bake: Bake the scones for about 14 minutes, or until they are baked through and golden brown on the top. Let the scones cool before glazing.
Glaze: While waiting for the scones to cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, cream, and almond extract. Drizzle the glaze over the scones.

strawberry scones stacked on a cutting board

Quick Tip

Double the recipe for the scone glaze and then dip the top of each scone completely into the glaze. This will make your scones extra sweet. You can really never have enough glaze!

FAQs

What is the secret to making good strawberry scones?

In my opinion, there are two secrets to making good scones. The first is to use very cold (or frozen) butter. If your butter is the least bit warm, it will soften too much when you’re cutting it in and the result is dense, unappetizing scones. The second secret is to mix the dough less than you think it should be mixed—it really needs to be just combined. It’s okay if you leave behind some flour behind in the bowl when you transfer the dough to your work surface.

Why are my strawberry scones not light and fluffy?

If your scones aren’t light and fluffy, the butter was probably too warm or the dough was over-mixed.

Can strawberry scones be frozen?

Yes, strawberry scones can be frozen either before or after baking. If you’re freezing the dough, you can bake it directly from the freezer—just add a little extra baking time to account for the fact that the dough is frozen.