Basic Blueberry Sauce - only 4 ingredients!

Sweet and syrupy, this is a basic sauce recipe you will love because it's easy, takes 15 minutes to make, keeps well and can be added to cheesecakes, yogurt, ice cream, waffles. A sweet topping to make often and adapt if necessary. 

A simple berry sauce is always a good idea to have at hands reach, don't you think?

My favorite, or the one I use the most, is hands down the blueberry sauce. With yogurt, on top of a cheesecake, with my favorite weekend buttermilk pancakes, it's always there. 

You only need 4 ingredients (or 3!) and can have it ready in 15 minutes! 

Ingredients

1. Berries - fresh or frozen they all work wonderfully well. 
2. Sugar - white or brown sugars sweeten more, but you can use any type, muscovado, coconut, light, powdered. 
3. Liquid - water and/or lemon juice make the rest of this recipe. Citrus balances the berries really well and gives the sauce a fresh tone. 

How to thicken

This sauce will naturally thicken as it cooks. The sugar and water will create a syrup that will thicken. But, you might like your berry sauce with a thicker consistency.

Cornstarch: is my favorite thickener as it does a good job without altering the fresh fruity flavor. I don't usually add it, but maybe you need to top a cheesecake or a fruit tart with a more gelatin-like sauce. This is your answer.

Always add cornstarch that has been diluted in liquid. Whether you use water or juice, it's the way to avoid lumps in the sauce. 

Vintage Kitchen Tip

Any berry sauce

As you can imagine, this basic recipe can be adapted to any berry, even cherries, like the one we use in the Chocolate Velvet Ice Cream. 

• Some great pairings - blackberries with orange juice; strawberries with orange or lime, raspberries with lemon.

Storing

This sauce keeps well for a week, well covered, in the fridge. 

If you want to keep it long term sterilize the jars and proceed as you would when making jam. Here is a good post on options for how to sterilize glass jars.

Freezing: it can be frozen, especially if you don't add the cornstarch. I do that all the time and have a last-minute dessert if I need to. 

Other recipes you might like:

Easy Baked Cheesecake
Lemon Blueberry Polenta Cake
Old fashioned Apple Blackberry Crisp
Pear Cobbler

Let me know if you make this recipe! I’d love to hear what you think about it.
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Basic Blueberry Sauce - only 4 ingredients!

• Author: Paula Montenegro
• Prep Time: 5
• Cook Time: 10
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 2 cups 1x
• Category: Sauces - Fruit
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: International

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Description

Sweet and syrupy, this is a basic recipe you will love because it's easy, takes 15 minutes to make, keeps well and can be added to cheesecakes, yogurt, ice cream, waffles.

*This is a very adaptable recipe that you can easily make sweeter or thicker.

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

For regular sauce:

• 2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2-4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3-5 tablespoons sugar

For a thicker sauce:

• 1-2 teaspoons cornstarch OR
• 1-2 tablespoon good blueberry jam

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Instructions

For regular sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan put blueberries with lemon juice and sugar.
2. Mix and cook over low heat.
3. Frozen berries: they already have extra water from the freezer so I don’t recommend adding any from the beginning.
4. Fresh berries: I like to add a tablespoon of water from the start. But you can see how it goes and add some later.
5. Cook, mixing every now and then to avoid blueberries from sticking but try not to smash them.
6. In about 5 minutes, depending on your stove, the juice and sugar will start to become syrupy.
7. At this point, you can taste and add more sugar or liquid.
8. You can let the sauce thicken a few more minutes.
9. Take into account that it will thicken as it cools.

For a thicker sauce:

1. If you know you want a thick, gelatin-like sauce, add 1-2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in a tablespoon of water, from the beginning.
2. When it boils you will have a feeling of how much the sauce is thickening.
3. Let it boil a minute or two if it’s too watery.
4. Take into account that it will thicken as it cools.
5. Alternatively, you can add some store-bought blueberry sauce to it when you remove it from the stove.

 

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Notes

Customize - take into account that you can add more or less sugar, more or less citrus juice and adapt the sauce to your liking. Or even add a ground spice like cinnamon when you remove from heat.

Storing - this sauce keeps well for a week, well covered, in the fridge. Or up to a month frozen. If you want to keep it long term proceed as you would when making jam. Here is a good post on options for how to sterilize glass jars.

Other berries - use any other berry and change citrus juice if you want to. Blackberries with orange, strawberries with lime or orange, raspberries with lemon.

Keywords: blueberry sauce

Paula Montenegro

I'm Paula, a baker for more than 30 years and your designated recipe finder, sharing the best ones on this blog, with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.