Celebrate spring with this easy Strawberry Cobbler recipe. The buttermilk biscuit topping is just as delicious as grandma used to make!
Fruit desserts are one of my favorites – apple cobbler, cherry cobbler, peach cobbler, you name it. We love it all!
My husband likes his cobbler best with a thick, duvet-like layer of cake on top (like in my reader-favorite Blueberry Cobbler). My kids love a biscuit topping… And I don’t really mind, I’ll gladly eat either for every meal of the day ?
This Strawberry Cobbler comes with a jammy filling and a fluffy, old-fashioned biscuit topping. It’s kind of like a deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake, if you will. Super simple to make, rustic (no fussing about!) and simply delicious.
Ingredients you’ll need
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!
Ingredient notes
- Strawberries: I prefer using fresh strawberries for this recipe, but frozen can work. Allow them to partially thaw (enough so you can cut them up), then drain them well and pat dry. I recommend adding an extra 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the filling, as frozen strawberries tend to release more juices during baking.
- Buttermilk: Feel free to use regular milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar stirred into for a quick and easy buttermilk substitute.
- Butter: Stick margarine is an acceptable substitute if you need to avoid butter for any kind of reason. Do not use a margarine spread or buttery spread, they do not work in this type of biscuit topping.
- Strawberry jam: If you don’t have any on hand or don’t want to buy an entire jar just for this recipe, feel free to leave it out. Add 3 extra strawberries, 1 extra teaspoon of cornstarch and 2 extra tablespoons of sugar to the filling instead.
- Cornstarch: This is my preferred thickener for a fruit cobbler, but if you don’t keep this on hand you can use all-purpose flour. The taste and texture of the filling does come out a little differently when using flour, but it does work just fine.
How to make a Strawberry Cobbler from scratch
add diced butter to dry ingredients cut butter into dry ingredients stir in buttermilk make the strawberry filling
1. Make the biscuit dough by combining the dry ingredients well (I use a whisk to evenly distribute the baking powder). Add the cold, diced butter and cut it into the dry flour mixture until the mixture looks crumbly – a bit like wet sand.
2. Add the buttermilk and stir just until combined – you mustn’t overmix it, or the biscuits will turn out gummy and tough.
The dough looks very lumpy, scraggly and messy. And it’s very sticky. That’s fine, it will thicken and fluff up as it sits in the fridge for 15 minutes while you make the strawberry filling.
3. Make the strawberry filling by combining the cornstarch with the jam, lemon juice and sugar until a thick, smooth paste forms. Add the strawberries and stir to evenly coat them in the paste.
4. Spread the filling in a 2 quart casserole dish. Remove the biscuit dough from the fridge – it’s still sticky, but it should be thick and fluffy now. Using two tablespoons, drop large blobs on top of the filling – I do about 8. Sprinkle with some granulated sugar for a pretty, sparkly look.
5. Bake the cobbler at 400°F for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F and finish baking for another 30-40 minutes, until the filling is jammy and the biscuits are fully baked. Cool on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.
drop biscuits on filling cool baked cobbler on cooling rack
Recipe tips
- Do not overmix the batter for the biscuit topping. The dough really is fine looking very sticky and scraggly. That’s how the biscuits come out light and fluffy!
- Do not flatten the biscuit dough after dropping it on the filling, as this will destroy the air bubbles in the dough. You want all of the air bubbles intact for a fluffy topping!
- Make sure to bake the cobbler long enough. The filling and the top of the biscuits can appear cooked through after about 30 minutes of total baking time, but there may still be liquid batter underneath the baked biscuits tops. It really does need quite a long baking time. If the tops appear to get too dark after 40 minutes or so, lower the cobbler to the lower middle rack of your oven.
- Allow the cobbler to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving, as the juices in the filling will thicken as they cool.
- Leftovers keep covered on the counter for a day, or covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Recipe FAQs
To be honest, I’m not quite sure what the original cobbler dessert was meant to be.
A biscuit topping? A cake batter topping? Fruit on the bottom? Fruit on top? Does it even have to have fruit? I say this because I’ve seen (and tried) all of these kinds of cobblers.
So, to me, a cobbler is kind of like pie filling baked with biscuits or cake so we can skip the fuss of making an entire pie. (At least a fruit cobbler, there’s also delicious things like chocolate cobbler, if you want to go down that rabbit hole…)
If you have very watery fruit (or are using frozen), they might release a little more liquid and make a more runny filling.
It will thicken as it cools, so leaving the cobbler to stand for 30-45 minutes after baking can help with a runny filling.
If your biscuits aren’t baked after an hour, chances are your dish was too small or you added too much liquid to the biscuit batter.
To avoid this, make sure to use a large enough dish to bake the cobbler, so the biscuits have ample space to expand. Also, your dish should be large enough so the biscuits don’t completely cover the entire filling – just like baking a pie, you’ll want some air vents in between the topping so the filling can cook and the biscuits can bake through.
PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.
Printable recipe
Strawberry Cobbler with Buttermilk Biscuits
Recipe details
Ingredients
For the topping:
- ¼ cup sugar plus more for sprinkling
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour spooned and levelled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter cold from fridge
- ½ cup buttermilk
For the filling:
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ⅓ cup strawberry jam
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 pounds strawberries cut into 1-inch chunks
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F and lightly grease a 2-quart casserole dish.
- Make topping: Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in butter (just crumble it together with the flour until you have a bowl with crumbly bits), then stir in buttermilk JUST until combined – do not overmix. Dough will look scraggly and messy and sticky, that’s fine. Refrigerate for 15 minutes while assembling filling.
- Make filling: Combine sugar, cornstarch, strawberry jam and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl until a thick paste forms. Add strawberries and stir well to evenly coat. Spread in prepared casserole dish.
- Assemble: Remove biscuit batter from fridge. Using two tablespoons, drop about 8 biscuits on top of the strawberry filling, making sure to space them about 1 inch apart to allow space for biscuits to expand during baking. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar over biscuits.
- Bake: Place casserole dish on a lined baking sheet to catch the occasional overspill. Bake for 15 minutes at 400°F, then reduce temperature to 350°F (do NOT open oven at this point!) and finish baking for 30-40 minutes, until filling is bubbly and biscuits are fully baked through. Cool on a cooling rack on the counter for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Strawberries: I prefer using fresh strawberries for this recipe, but frozen can work. Allow them to partially thaw (enough so you can cut them up), then drain them well and pat dry. I recommend adding an extra 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the filling, as frozen strawberries tend to release more juices during baking.
- Buttermilk: Feel free to use regular milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar stirred into for a quick and easy buttermilk substitute.
- Butter: Stick margarine is an acceptable substitute if you need to avoid butter for any kind of reason. Do not use a margarine spread or buttery spread, they do not work in this type of biscuit topping.
- Strawberry jam: If you don’t have any on hand or don’t want to buy an entire jar just for this recipe, feel free to leave it out. Add 3 extra strawberries, 1 extra teaspoon of cornstarch and 2 extra tablespoons of sugar to the filling instead.
- Cornstarch: This is my preferred thickener for a fruit cobbler, but if you don’t keep this on hand you can use all-purpose flour. The taste and texture of the filling does come out a little differently when using flour, but it does work just fine.
Recipe tips
- Do not overmix the batter for the biscuit topping. The dough really is fine looking very sticky and scraggly. That’s how the biscuits come out light and fluffy!
- Do not flatten the biscuit dough after dropping it on the filling, as this will destroy the air bubbles in the dough. You want all of the air bubbles intact for a fluffy topping!
- Make sure to bake the cobbler long enough. The filling and the top of the biscuits can appear cooked through after about 30 minutes of total baking time, but there may still be liquid batter underneath the baked biscuits tops. It really does need quite a long baking time. If the tops appear to get too dark after 40 minutes or so, lower the cobbler to the lower middle rack of your oven.
- Allow the cobbler to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving, as the juices in the filling will thicken as they cool.
- Leftovers keep covered on the counter for a day, or covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
More recipe information
I first shared this recipe on 04/15/2019. I updated it with new photos, better text and improvements to the recipe on 05/19/2021.
Carrie says
Sooo good. I picked up fresh strawberries from the store so I was searching for a dessert recipe that used strawberries. I must say so easy to make and delicious. I served it with vanilla bean ice cream. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Brenda says
Love it, was so good.
Nora Rusev says
I’m so glad!