Homemade Strawberry Sauce Recipe (or topping)

This 4-ingredient homemade, easy strawberry sauce beats anything you ever tasted that is store-bought! It's sweet but not cloying, has a deep berry flavor, and is a snap to prepare, ready in 20 minutes. It's also the perfect topping for cheesecake, french toast, pound cake, angel food cake, waffles, pancakes, and ice cream, so be ready to take them to the next level.

I highly suggest you take advantage of strawberry season, buy those perfectly red and juicy fresh strawberries and make this sauce, or topping, depending on how you're using it. It's the easy way to trump anything you buy at the grocery store.

Few recipes easier than homemade berry sauces and the results are exceptional. Truly. I usually make this basic blueberry sauce recipe, but for those of us that are strawberry fans, this is a recipe that you'll also want to make again and again.

Why this recipe works:

• Easy to make. And that is an understatement. This is a great recipe that comes together in 10-15 minutes and keeps well in the refrigerator for a week.
• Flavor. It has a great balance between sweetness, freshness, and strawberry flavor.
• Uses. My favorite way is as a topping for cheesecake and waffles, but it can double as a sauce for ice cream, or even toast or croissant if you're into that type of breakfast.

Ingredients

They are few, simple ingredients that are easily available.

• Strawberries - they're the star on this recipe, of course, and the more seasonal they are, the better the flavor. This is a fresh strawberry sauce and, though we always aim to get sweet strawberries, is especially good for using those berries that are not in their prime but it also works very well with frozen strawberries. The flavor will not be as deep in my opinion.
• Sugar - I love to use brown because it works really well with strawberries, something that is already documented in the Brown Sugar Strawberry Crisp recipe. But you can use white with amazing results.
• Lemon juice - it balances out the sweetness and adds freshness.
• Cornstarch - is needed to thicken the sauce and create that syrup that we want to eat with a spoon because it's so delicious!

Easy steps

This easy sauce is a snap to prepare! You simply put a few ingredients in a saucepan and cook it until it thickens and becomes syrupy, add more fresh strawberrries to, and then let it cool down.

Strawberries

• Wash, hull and slice or dice strawberries. You can also leave them whole or cut in half and mash them lightly with a potato masher (directly in the sauce pan) when they're soft. The texture will be different, more irregularly chunkier and some large pieces might remain.
• Put them in a medium saucepan and add sugar. Mix with a wooden spoon.

Liquids

Add lemon juice and half the amount of water, and cook on the stovetop over medium heat. After a few minutes, the strawberry juices (the natural liquid present in the strawberries) will start to be released.

Thickener

• Dissolve the cornstarch in the rest of the water. When the strawberry mixture foams, add it and stir all the time. Cook another minute so that it looses some of it's starchy flavor.

Final step

• The sauce will be thick. Add the rest of the chopped strawberries and mix lightly. Taste and check if you want to add more lemon juice or a few more tablespoons more water, depending on how much syrup you want.
• The result is shiny, and sweet, and bursting with flavor and oh so delicious!

My top tips

• Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!
• Strawberries: this is the recipe to use those overripe berries. You can cut them small or just in half, depending on what you'll be using it for. If using frozen, cook them all together, because you won't have fresh pieces to add at the end.
• Make ahead: this sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for a month, always in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
• Citrus: I love lemon for this recipe, but lime and orange go very well with strawberries. So choose your favorite. And also, you can use a few tablespoons of frozen lemonade or strawberry lemonade, directly from the container, and then add the water stated in the recipe.
• Sweetness: you can add up to ¼ cup more of sugar if you have a sweeter tooth.
• Syrup: if you like to go heavy on the syrup, double the amount of water and add a teaspoon more of cornstarch.
• Thicker topping: if using it as a strawberry topping and you want it to be firmer, consider adding 3-4 tablespoons of a good strawberry jam. I've done it several times, especially when using it for cheesecakes.
• Serving it: as a topping for cheesecake and waffles, or our buttermilk pancakes, as a sauce with ice cream and french toast. And with cake. I love a slice of angel food cake with this sauce on the side. Or, a favorite dessert around here, is a thick slice of lemon pound cake, strawberry sauce on top (at room temperature) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• Smooth sauce: if you're the type of person that doesn't like a chunky or thick sauce with pieces of fruit (beats me, but hey, who am I to judge, I love reheated pasta) you can process it or use an immersion blender or the regular blender and turn it into a puree more than a sauce.
• Variation: you can turn this strawberry sauce recipe into a raspberry sauce, simply substituting one berry for the other.

Other recipes you might like:

Let me know in the comments below if you made this recipe and loved it, and also if you had issues, so we can troubleshoot together. I love to hear what you think, always. Thanks for being here, it's much appreciated.
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Strawberry Sauce (or topping)

• Author: Paula Montenegro
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 10
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: About 2 ½ cups 1x
• Category: Desserts
• Method: Cooking
• Cuisine: International

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Description

This 4-ingredient homemade, easy strawberry sauce beats anything you ever tasted that is store-bought! It's sweet but not cloying, has a deep berry flavor, and is a snap to prepare, ready in 20 minutes. It's also the perfect topping for cheesecake, french toast, pound cake, angel food cake, waffles, pancakes, and ice cream, so be ready to take them to the next level.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 pound fresh strawberries (see Notes, below)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

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Instructions

1. Wash, hull, and cut the strawberries into pieces. 
2. Put half of them in a medium saucepan and add the sugar, lemon juice, and half the amount of water. 
3. Cook until it begins to boil and foam, stirring once in a while. 
4. Dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining water and add to the strawberries. 
5. Stir constantly and cook for 1 minute. 
6. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and add the remaining pieces of fresh strawberries. 
7. Mix well and let cool. 
8. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid or other type of airtight container. It can also be frozen for a month. Defrost at room temperature.

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Notes

Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!

Strawberries: this is the recipe to use those overripe berries. You can cut them small or just in half, depending on what you'll be using it for. If using frozen, cook them all together, because you won't have fresh pieces to add at the end.

Make ahead: this sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for a month, always in a container with a tight-fitting lid.

Citrus: I love lemon for this recipe, but lime and orange go very well with strawberries. So choose your favorite. And also, you can use a few tablespoons of frozen lemonade or strawberry lemonade, directly from the container, and then add the water stated in the recipe.

Sweetness: you can add up to ¼ cup more of sugar if you have a sweeter tooth.

Syrup: if you like to go heavy on the syrup, double the amount of water and add a teaspoon more of cornstarch.

Thicker topping: if using it as a strawberry topping and you want it to be firmer, consider adding 3-4 tablespoons of a good strawberry jam. I've done it several times, especially when using it for cheesecakes.

Serving it: as a topping for cheesecake and waffles, or our buttermilk pancakes, as a sauce with ice cream and french toast. And with cake. I love a slice of angel food cake with this sauce on the side. Or, a favorite dessert around here, is a thick slice of lemon pound cake, strawberry sauce on top (at room temperature) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Smooth sauce: if you're the type of person that doesn't like a chunky or thick sauce with pieces of fruit (beats me, but hey, who am I to judge, I love reheated pasta) you can process it or use an immersion blender or the regular blender and turn it into a puree more than a sauce.

Variation: you can turn this strawberry sauce recipe into a raspberry sauce, simply substituting one berry for the other.

Keywords: strawberry 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.