Homemade Toaster Strudels Recipe

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Want to make your own homemade Toaster Strudels? This recipe will show you how to make this easy grab-and-go breakfast! It also features dairy and gluten free alternatives so just about anyone can make them.

Want to make your own homemade Toaster Strudels? This recipe will show you how to make this easy grab-and-go breakfast! It also features dairy and gluten free alternatives so just about anyone can make them. #toasterstrudels #homemadetoasterstrudels

Homemade Toaster Strudels Recipe

Some mornings it’s nice to have breakfast to take on the go. Before I made these, I’d seen several recipes around the blogosphere for homemade pop tarts but personally the kids just like toaster strudels better.

When I was doing some experimenting this is the recipe that I came up with. It’s totally from scratch and uses ingredients that you can identify easily. Unlike most recipes, this one does not use puff pastry sheets. Instead we will make our own dough that I think tastes so much better!

Once I make these, I like to just stick them in the freezer so anyone can just grab one for breakfast!

Are you ready to make these delicious little pockets of goodness? Let’s get started!

cranberry jelly

Homemade Toaster Strudels Ingredients

  • Flour. All purpose flour is what you need for this recipe. You can also use gluten free flour if you add some kind of binder.
  • Baking Powder. We go through a lot of baking powder here so I like to buy it in bulk here.
  • Salt. I use pink salt in all of my recipes because that’s what I have on hand. You can buy it in bulk here.
  • Butter. Salted or unsalted butter will work fine, you can remove the added salt from the recipe if using salted.
  • Milk. You can use a milk alternative if you need to. We use coconut milk but almond milk, oat milk, etc will all work just fine.
  • Jam. You can use jam, jelly, pureed fruit, applesauce, or other fruit (or maybe even something like peanut butter or chocolate?) for the filling. I use whatever jams I have canned up.

toaster strudel to bake

FAQs About Toaster Strudels

What is toaster strudel icing made of?

Pillsbury lists these as the ingredients for toaster strudels and the icing:

Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, malted barley flour, ferrous sulfate, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Water, Palm and/or Soybean Oil, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Dextrose. Contains 2% or less of: Corn Starch, Modified Corn Starch, Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Salt, Dry Yeast, Modified Whey, Corn Syrup Solids, Wheat Starch, Lactic Acid, Whey Protein Concentrate, Mono and Diglycerides, Strawberry Juice Concentrate, Carboxymethylcellulose, Sodium Citrate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Baking Soda, Preservatives (sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, TBHQ, citric acid), Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 60, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Color (red 40, blue 1, artificial color).

You can make your own icing by mixing powdered sugar, a small bit of milk, and a little vanilla extract. Toaster Strudels from the store contain milk in their icing so if you are dairy free, it’s a good idea to make homemade.

How to make a toaster strudel without a toaster?

You can make a toaster strudel on the stovetop or on a griddle instead. We do not have a toaster and we just cook our homemade toaster strudels and pop tarts on my Lodge Griddle.

Instructions to Make Homemade Toaster Strudels

Milk together the dry ingredients. Crumble in the butter. I like to use a fork to do this since I don’t have a pastry cutter.

Slowly add in the milk. You may not need the whole 3/4 cup. You don’t want the dough to be sticky since you need to be able to roll it out.

Roll the dough into a ball.

Roll out the dough into something of a square shape.

Fold the dough in half.

And fold it in half again. And roll out into another square shape. Do this several more times. Don’t knead the dough, you are trying to make layers.

Pull the dough in half after you’ve folded and rolled it out at least 5 times. It should look like this. Nice and layery.

Roll out very thin. Then cut into rectangles about 5″x6″. Place half of the rectangles on your baking sheet that is covered with parchment paper.

Spoon a filling in the middle of half of the squares. For this batch, I used applesauce that I canned last fall. You could use jams, applesauce, pureed fruit, or more.

Fold the dough in half and crimp the edges with a fork. Make sure you seal the edges well or they will pop open and you will lose your filling.

Brush the strudels with butter. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. They won’t necessarily be golden brown when they are done but they will get nice and puffy.

If you really want them to have more of a golden brown color over the top like the ones from the store, you can mix together a simple egg mixture (egg mixed with water) and brush that over the tops before baking.

Yummy. They smell so good when you take them out of the oven! Set them on a wire rack to cool.

This recipe makes at least 10 pastries.

If you’d like to have a frosting over the top, you can make a simple drizzle by combining powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a small amount of milk (or dairy free milk). Do not put the drizzle on before storing or you will have a hard time re-heating the toaster strudels.

Store any extras in an airtight container on the countertop or in the fridge.

homemade toaster strudels

Gluten Free Toaster Strudels or Dairy Free Toaster Strudels

You can make variations to this recipe if you need it to be dairy free or gluten free. Here are some ideas.

Gluten Free Toaster Strudels – Use an All Purpose Gluten Free Flour instead of regular flour. Since this recipe doesn’t have a binder, you will also want to make sure to add 1 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum to the mixture if your flour does not have it in it. The texture of the dough will be slightly different (drier and a bit crumblier) but you should still be able to continue with the rest of the recipe as is. If you have trouble rolling out the dough with gluten free flour, chill it in the fridge before you work on rolling it out.

Dairy Free Toaster Strudels – Replace the milk with a milk alternative and brush the tops of the strudels with an egg wash or a buttery spread alternative in place of the butter. We like to use this Earth Balance Buttery Spread to replace butter in some recipes. With the replacements, you can continue with the recipe as written or follow the gluten free instructions above.

Toaster Strudel Filling

Best Toaster Strudel Fillings

You can fill your homemade toaster strudel with just about anything, but here are a few things that are particularly good!

No matter how you decide to fill your homemade toaster strudel, the filling will taste so much better and less artificial than the ones from the freezer section of the grocery store!

Need the printable recipe for these Homemade Toaster Strudels for your Recipe Binder? Grab it below!

4.5 from 2 votes
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Homemade Toaster Strudels

Servings 5 people
Calories 192 kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoons salt
  • 6 tbsp butter softened
  • 3/4 cup milk or less

Instructions

  1. Milk together the dry ingredients. Crumble in the butter. I like to use a fork to do this since I don't have a pastry cutter.
  2. Slowly add in the milk. You may not need the whole 3/4 c. You don't want the dough to be sticky.
  3. Roll the dough into a ball.
  4. Roll out the dough into something of a square shape.
  5. Fold the dough in half.
  6. And fold it in half again. And roll out into another square shape. Do this several more times. Don't knead the dough, you are trying to make layers.
  7. Pull the dough in half after you've folded and rolled it out at least 5 times. It should look like this. Nice and layery.
  8. Roll out very thin. Then cut into rectangles about 5"x6".
  9. Place a filling in the middle of half of the squares. For this batch, I used applesauce that I canned last fall. You could use jams, applesauces, pureed fruit, or more.
  10. Fold the dough in half and crimp the edges with a fork.
  11. Brush the strudels with butter. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. They won't be brown when they are down but they will get nice and puffy.
  12. Yummy. They smell so good when you take them out of the oven! This recipe makes at least 10 pastries.
Nutrition Facts
Homemade Toaster Strudels
Amount Per Serving
Calories 192 Calories from Fat 9
% Daily Value*
Fat 1g2%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Trans Fat 0.04g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.3g
Cholesterol 3mg1%
Sodium 527mg23%
Potassium 54mg2%
Carbohydrates 39g13%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 0.1g0%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 30IU1%
Calcium 102mg10%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Have you ever made homemade Toaster Strudels?

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This recipe for Homemade Toaster Strudels was originally published on Little House Living in May 2011. It has been updated as of January 2023.

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68 Comments

  1. Love it! My son can’t egg store Toaster Strudels because of eggs in them. But I’d love to try this for him. I’ve got home made strawberry jam from last year that I need to use up soon. I’m trying this!

  2. I was just thinking of the other day I wanted to get a recipe for these. I can’t wait. Have sour cherry pie filling from last summer I’m going to try I made!

    1. Yes you can! Mine weren’t quite right this batch and they were leaking a little of the filling so I told the hubby not to with this batch but, yes they can go in the toaster!

  3. So excited to see this recipe, my girls aren’t big breakfast eaters but I hate to send them to school without eating something. They love toaster strudels but I don’t buy them often. These look like they would be the perfect thing plus on the mornings we are running late they could eat them on the way out the door to the bus!!! 🙂

  4. Thank you! I was just wondering if anyone had a recipe for homeamde toaster strudels. My kids love them, but we usually only buy them when on sale and have a coupon. Thank you again!

  5. These are awesome! I love that I can make a bunch on the weekends, with whatever flavors I have on hand, and use them all week for quick breakfasts for hubby and I to eat on the way to work. So far, I’ve filled them with strawberry jam and ham & cheese — yummy stuff! Thanks for the recipe!

  6. Pingback: Toaster Strudels —The Royal Familiy The Royal Family
  7. We made these this morning and LOVED them! I must say– I appreciate you posting your recipes! Because of dietary restrictions– we have to avoid many things and your generosity, time and effort helps us out tremendously! I love that you value whole foods! Thank you!!

    Now– these were fabulous! we put your apple pie filling in them and they went fast! LOVE your recipes! Thanks!

  8. I am new to your site, but enjoy it sooo much. I want to know about uses for kidney bean flour. It was said to be toxic?? I want to know all about bean flours and uses. I am a believer in this.

  9. I am thinking of making these and freezing them for my grandchildren. Do you think they will not get soggy if you freeze them? By the way, I just found your site yesterday and I think it is WONDERFUL!!!!!! At least what I have seen thus far.

  10. This is an awesome recipe! Thank you. What is the best way to freeze them so they stay fresh? I have the foodsaver bags and was wondering if you thought that would be good?

  11. well im 12 and i dont bake much and there were pretty easy to make besides the exeption of flipping the dough ball ; ) but good recipe

  12. Was wondering if these could be made with a sausage/scrambled egg mixture or maybe a little bit of sausage gravy. My kids like a little more savory breakfast.

  13. do you bake them first, then cool them, then freeze them? or do you freeze them raw?

    how long to defrost, or toaster defrosts or cooks fine?

  14. Wow what a great idea! So many possibilities for fillings! I can’t wait to give this a try! I would love to make a pumpkin filling for these. If you ever experiment with that idea, please let me know! Thanks for the great recipe!

  15. we are in New Jersey and at the shore, which has been ravaged. we just got power back on and moved back home after being displaced. this is the first recipe I see. I will make these tomorrow when i get to the store as all we have is gone….look amazing@

  16. Could these be warmed up in the microwave after defrosting them? We don’t have a toaster that works very well….Would love to hear different ideas for fillings…..
    Thank you for sharing with us!

  17. I found a quicker way to do these.Take a tube of those flaky biscuits and roll each one out into a large square, or as close to it you can.Or you can make them rounded, like a pierogie, your choice. Make sure you flour the surface and rolling pin, as the dough is a bit sticky. Roll them out as thinly as possible. Then take a bit of preserves( your choice of flavor), or hazelnut spread, about a tablespoon and smooth it out, but leave the edges of the dough bare for crimping. Fold the dough over the filling and flatten a bit to make sure the filling is even. Crimp closed with a fork or if you have a pierogie press, use that. Take a little bit of melted butter or oil and brush each one, sprinkle with a little sugar(or not, your choice). Put them on a cookie sheet. Bake at the directions on the tube(set timer for the lesser time and check them), but keep an eye on them, you don’t want them to burn. Pull out when just golden brown. My son is picky and they went quick!

    1. Oh, I forgot to add, if you are not eating these right away, bake them not so golden so they can get toasted later.

  18. I’ve been making these with puff pastry. I find it hard to work with. These sound promising. Thx for the idea

  19. Oh my goodness, these look great! I think these will be a big hit in my house:) Thanks so much for sharing!

  20. I LOVE this and can’t wait to try it for my kids! They are huge fans of toaster strudels but we only have them once in a blue moon because they are so bad for you. I am totally digging the idea of homemade:) Thanks for the recipe!

  21. I made these today with apple butter I made last fall. These are so yummy!! We are taking these camping. Quick and easy and everyone will love them!!

  22. I just made these this morning. Oh, my!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. These are excellent. I made ours with homemade strawberry jam and some of the others with the jam and a dollop of cream cheese. These are much better than the expensive toaster strudels!! Thank you!!!

  23. I will be spending a few hours before school starts and doing the following for easy healthy lunches,
    Ham cheddar cheese, turkey and mozzarella/Havarti cheese, pepperoni pizza
    Hopefully they will turn out all yummy.
    (Adding a little bit of sugar to the dough recipe makes a hint of sweetness to the pastry when working with meats)

  24. I can’t wait to try this. I absolutely love the cheese danish recipe! I’m sure this is just as amazing! Thank you! 🙂

  25. Wow this is perfect
    My 6yo is soooo picky and i have been striving to clean up what he eats
    Soo making these!
    We happen to have home made fig jam that he loves so that is going in!
    Adore yor site btw! Just found you via Pintetest
    I had to simplify my life drastically few years ago and now that i am bouncing back i am hoping to further simplify my life moving foward!

  26. 4 stars
    I made these, and I had lot’s of fun making them! It is a super quick, easy, and fun recipe! Their i the oven now, but I can’t wait to try them! I am sure they’ll taste good. I did’t have apple sauce, so I blended up 2 apples with water, lemon juice, and sugar. the apple mixture tasted good!

  27. I was reading the recipe and was super excited when I got to the gluten free part. Yay! I was wondering if it would work to swap out the flour to a gf and you answered my question. 🙂

    1. It depends on how big you make them but it should be a fairly small amount so that it doesn’t spill out the sides. About 1-2 tablespoons of filling.

  28. 5 stars
    Hi there, I made this recipe for my first ever baking recipe, and they taste great. For an oven warm up versus a toaster, about how long and at what temperature? Thank you for the wonderful recipe!

  29. After you put the filling on the pastry, do you put another pastry on top or do you fold the one with the filling in half and crimp?