Healthy & Easy Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake Recipe without Sugar

This easy sourdough strawberry shortcake recipe is delicious, and it also uses sourdough discard, making these fluffy desserts healthier than the alternatives.

Growing up, we always had one of two types of “cake” to celebrate birthdays.

It was either ice cream cake or strawberry shortcake.

We used to buy the ice cream cake from an ice cream shop, and we made strawberry shortcake from Bisquik.

While those are delicious options, they don’t offer us some of the healthier ingredients that we like to use for our family.

So when I started using sourdough for all of the things I possibly could, strawberry shortcake was high on my list.

This easy sourdough strawberry shortcake recipe meets all the boxes.

No granulated sugar.

No ultra-processed ingredients.

And the added benefit of sourdough!

You can watch me make this easy sourdough strawberry shortcake recipe HERE

Health Benefits of Sourdough

My favorite thing about cooking from scratch for my family is the ability to provide healthier options while not sacrificing flavor.

That is the awesome thing about sourdough.

It adds such a great flavor to all the recipes.

And it is so much easier for your body to digest.

That is the main benefit of sourdough.

It makes the grain easier for your body to digest vs non-fermented alternatives.

I used to have some relatively intense gut struggles.

I was on the verge of needing to talk to someone to figure out what was wrong with me and why I couldn’t live a normal life.

Then, in a last-ditch effort to solve the problem without a doctor, I decided to try to switch all my bread consumption to sourdough.

Be it a long fermented sandwich loaf or a simple discard recipe.

That one decision introduced us to the world of homemade fermented foods.

Before we knew it, we were making homemade sauerkraut, pickles, yogurt, and kefir.

And my stomach issues are solved.

I’m no longer in pain every day.

It’s one thing to read about the benefits that eating fermented food has on your gut; it’s a totally different thing altogether to experience it first-hand.

In my real day-to-day life, my friends and acquaintances know us as a fermented family, haha.

The other day, my husband ran to a local Amish store to buy me flour, and before he left, the girl at the checkout counter asked him to see if I’d bring her some of my sourdough starter next time I was in haha!

Nothing brings me more joy and happiness than to help someone else on their food journey and especially with sourdough.

Can I make strawberry shortcake the night before?

Yes, you can!

I usually make this recipe ahead of time.

It’s an easy recipe to make the night before because it doesn’t need to be warm to enjoy.

In fact, these strawberry shortcake biscuits do better if you can wait until they cool completely before you cut into them.

That isn’t to say that we have never eaten them warm.

But they will crumble less if you can wait.

Equipment for Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake

• 2 medium bowls
• pastry cutter or fork
• sheet pan
• parchment paper

How To Make Easy Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake

Easy Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake: Mix the Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Then, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl. Mix until well combined. Set it aside.

Next, mix the sourdough discard, heavy cream, maple syrup, vanilla, and egg in a medium-sized bowl. Make sure to mix these ingredients until they are well combined.

Grab the cold butter from the fridge and cut it into cubes, and add it to the flour mixture. Cut it into the flour mixture until it has a coarse texture.

Once the butter is cut into the flour, mix the sourdough mixture into the flour mixture until it forms a shaggy dough. I typically end up using my hand at the end of this step, but try to limit the amount of time my hand is touching the dough since it is warm and I want to butter to stay cold.

Easy Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake: Shaping for Baking

Next, prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Then I grab a 1/3 or 1/2 measuring cup and begin scooping out a measuring cup of dough and tapping (sometimes shaking) it out of the measuring cup onto the baking sheet.

Once I have 8 equally sized strawberry shortcake biscuits on the baking sheet, I put it in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Don’t get hung up on them being perfectly shaped or sized. It adds to the homemade appeal for these drop-biscuit style shortcakes to be unique.

Easy Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake: Homemade Whipped Cream

This is the simple ratio I use for homemade whipped cream.

1:1:1

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

You can adjust it as needed based on the quantity you need.

For the Easter celebration on my husband’s side of the family, I will double this and do a 2:2:2 (sometimes I just leave the vanilla at 1 tsp, but this ratio is just a simple and easy way to remember).

I’ve also omitted the vanilla altogether when we’ve been low on vanilla, and I didn’t want to use it for the whipped cream.

Mix all of these ingredients into the mixer and mix on high speed until the cream begins to form peaks.

At that point, I transfer the whipped cream to an airtight container and put it in the fridge to chill while we wait for the strawberry shortcake biscuits.

Easy Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake: Cut Strawberries

Oftentimes, we just slice strawberries into bite-sized pieces to serve with the whipped cream.

But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t make a strawberry sauce to serve with it.

To me, it’s just another step in the process that isn’t necessary.

Equally delicious?

Yes.

But more work and more dishes.

Now, I may feel this way because I grew up eating this dessert in a bowl, pilled high with fresh strawberries soaking up a little bit of milk poured into the bowl.

No strawberry sauce whatsoever.

I have been known to let the girls grab a jar of homemade strawberry preserves that I made from our homegrown strawberries last year.

But again, something inside of me says that loading it with fresh strawberries and milk or whipped cream is the proper way to enjoy this easy strawberry shortcake recipe haha!

Easy Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake: Cool & Rest

After the timer goes off and the biscuits are done baking, I transfer them to a cooling rack where I let them cool completely (assuming my family doesn’t sneak past me and grab one!)

Does anyone else feel like they have to be a ninja while they are playing pastry chef in their kitchen?

Chocolate chip cookie dough AND cookies will disappear before my very eyes if I’m not careful haha!

Yes, sometimes it’s me sneaking a steaming cookie off the cooking rack, but that will be our little secret!

Cut & Enjoy!

After the strawberries and whipped cream are chilled and the delicious sourdough strawberry shortcake is cooled, it’s time to cut them in half and add the toppings.

My oldest daughter likes to make a pit in the center of her homemade strawberry shortcake and fill it with strawberries and whipped cream.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you present this easy sourdough strawberry shortcake recipe because it will be eaten quickly!

Here are a few of our healthier go-to desserts/snacks:

Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread

Homemade Vanilla & Coconut Granola

Homemade Unsweetened Applesauce

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Have a great week! XoXo

Open Your Doors,
Aliya

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