Homemade Twizzlers

These homemade Twizzlers have the stretch, flavor, and chew of the store-bought version, except they're made with real fruit! There are surprisingly only a few ingredients needed to make these, like strawberries, flour and sugar, and you don't need any corn syrup. These are such a fun weekend project as part of our Better Than Store-Bought series!

Turn Fresh Strawberries into Twizzlers

We have a list of hundreds (maybe thousands) of recipe ideas for our website and social media, but this one always seemed impossible.

Store-bought twizzlers have such a "processed" texture - they're tough and chewy and contain ingredients we'd rather not eat often, like corn syrup, palm oil and quite a bit of red 40.

We were totally skeptical that these would turn out anything like store-bought, and we were genuinely shocked when they did (after quite a few tests, of course!).

The key to these homemade Twizzlers is the flour, which sounds odd, but it's what gives them their chewy, firm texture.

We add cake flour, water, and strawberry powder mixture to pureed strawberries and sugar and cook until a glossy dough forms. At this point, the flour has cooked completely (160-165˚F) so it's safe to eat. We then shape our twizzlers (we recommend just rolling them like play-doh - you don't get that characteristic twizzler look, but it's WAY easier than piping), and dehydrate them.

Every time we made these for testing, they didn't last longer than a few hours. Seriously. They're just that good, and one of my recent favorites in our Better Than Store-Bought Series.

Next up: try our homemade fruit snacks (gummies) or peach rings!

Jump to:

• Turn Fresh Strawberries into Twizzlers
• Key Ingredients Needed for Homemade Twizzlers
• How to Make These Homemade Twizzlers
• Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!
• More Homemade Snacks You'll Love
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

Key Ingredients Needed for Homemade Twizzlers

• Cake flour: We used cake flour instead of all-purpose flour because it has less protein and thus forms less gluten and a less "bready" texture. If you don't have cake flour, sub the cake flour out for 1.5 cups of all purpose flour and ½ cup of cornstarch.
• Freeze-dried strawberries: These can be a bit tough to get ahold of depending on what grocery stores you have near you, but they really add a ton of concentrated strawberry flavor to the twizzlers. It's not completely necessary to use this, but we think it adds a lot. You can always order some online!
• Food coloring: This is totally optional, but if you don't add any, these will be more of a light pink than a vibrant red. We use this natural food coloring and it works great – you just need to add a bit more than you would with regular gel.

How to Make These Homemade Twizzlers

1. To a blender, add the strawberries, lemon juice, and a splash of water and blend until smooth, then use a fine mesh sieve to strain out the strawberry seeds.

2. To a wide-bottomed saucepan over medium low heat, add the strawberry pureé and granulated sugar. Bring to a simmer and let cook for roughly 10 minutes, until the color intensifies and the syrup thickens.
3. While the syrup cooks, to a large mixing bowl add the cake flour, 1.5 cups cold water, and the freeze-dried strawberry powder. Whisk thoroughly, until there are no clumps (even small ones) remaining.

4. Once the syrup has thickened, turn the heat to low, add the flour and water mixture in small (¼ cup) batches, whisking with each addition, until all of the flour and water mixture has been added. If you're using food coloring, add it in now.
5. Turn the heat back to medium low and continue cooking, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom to prevent scorching. After a few minutes, you'll see some clumps start to form. Continue cooking and stirring. The mixture will become very clumpy (and honestly, it will look like you've messed up).

6. Once the twizzler doesn't have any visibly wet sections remaining (it should resemble a glossy play-doh), move it to a nonstick work surface and let it cool for a few minutes.
7. Once the dough is cooled, shape your twizzlers by rolling out two 1-tablespoon portions of dough into ¼ inch thick strands, then wrap them around each other into a roughly 8-inch long twist. You can also try using a piping bag (not recommended – you need some SERIOUS muscle for this) or a spritz cookie press to pipe the dough out. (Spritz also not recommended – it can be finicky.)

8. If you have a dehydrator, dehydrate for roughly 5 hours at 140˚F. They're done when they're chewy, but not tough, and the center is no longer wet. The best way to test this is by taking a bite!
9. If you don't have a dehydrator, move the formed twizzlers to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake on the oven's lowest setting with the oven door slightly cracked open for 3-4 hours.

Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!

• Strain the strawberry puree and the freeze dried strawberries. Though it's not completely necessary, you'll be surprised at how many strawberry seeds you'll strain out. If a little bit of crunch doesn't bother you, you can skip this step.
• Don't have cake flour? Sub it out for a ¾ all-purpose flour and ¼ cornstarch ratio instead.
• The most important tip: Add the water and flour slurry to the strawberry and sugar mixture in small batches, or it will clump up almost immediately and make it difficult to evenly incorporate into the syrup.
• It will look wrong before it looks right: This is a recipe where you have to trust the process. The flour will start clumping up, and will get even clumpier as it keeps cooking, until you're left with what's basically one big clump of dough.
• Make sure to stir constantly through the cooking process to prevent the dough from scorching on the bottom of the pan. Medium low heat is your friend as well.
• Two shaping methods:
  • The harder but better looking one: Add the dough to a piping bag or a spritz cookie gun. Just be aware, they're extremely difficult and finicky to pipe.
  • The easier one (recommended): Scoop out a tablespoon at at time, roll it into a strand like play-doh, make a second strand, and twist them together tightly. Roll again to make sure they're stuck together, and chop off the ends.
• We've dehydrated these at 140˚F for 4 ½ - 5 hours in this dehydrator. You're looking for them to be chewy, but not tough, and the inside should not be wet. Take a bite after about 4 hours to test them out.
• We haven't tested them in the oven, but 175˚F for 3-4 hours should do the trick.

More Homemade Snacks You'll Love

We can't wait for you to make these homemade twizzlers in your own home! If you do, be sure to let us know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram. We can't wait to see what you're cooking!

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