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There is no rival for homemade strawberry sauce. It has just 3 ingredients and this is the easiest strawberry sauce recipe. Adding a few spoons of this glossy fresh strawberry topping will make any dessert feel fancier. This is a great recipe to have in your arsenal for entertaining or to make your family’s eyes light up as you spoon it over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
This strawberry topping is completely wonderful over pancakes, waffles, pie, cheesecake, this trifle, you name it! This is our favorite and easiest way to make strawberry sauce. The lemon juice balances the sweetness and makes the strawberry flavor more pronounced. Truth be told, it’s dangerously irresistible stuff – consider yourself warned ;).
We’re using this sauce in our next recipe post so I hope you are all kinds of excited!!
Make-Ahead Tip: You can make this strawberry topping 1 to 3 days in advance, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Easy Strawberry Sauce Ingredients:
1 lb Strawberries, rinsed, hulled and thickly sliced
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice (from 1/2 Lemon)
How to Make Easy Strawberry Sauce:
1. In a medium saucepan, combine sliced strawberries, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice. Place over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. The strawberries will release juice without any mashing required.
2. Reduce heat and simmer 20-23 minutes or until sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Keep in mind sauce will thicken up slightly as it cools and even more after refrigeration.
Pro Tip: Do not blend strawberries before cooking. I have tested coarsely blending strawberries in a food processor and even though they taste great, the color of the sauce was foggy and not glossy as shown in the photos above. We had best results with slicing strawberries by hand.
It really is as good as it looks – bursting with fresh strawberry flavor!
⬇Print-Friendly Strawberry Sauce Recipe:
Strawberry Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
Strawberry Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 lb Strawberries, rinsed, hulled and thickly sliced
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice, from 1/2 Lemon
Instructions
How to Make Strawberry Sauce:
- In a medium saucepan, combine sliced strawberries, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Strawberries will release juice without any mashing required.
- Reduce heat and simmer 20-23 min or until sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Keep in mind sauce will thicken up slightly as it cools and even more with refrigeration.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
I hope this becomes your new favorite strawberry topping. Let me know how you serve your strawberry sauce. Or maybe it’s just you with a spoon in your hand? Remember I called this dangerous for a reason!
I made this sauce and never got so many compliments! How many days after making it can I keep it in the fridge?
Thank-you I love your videos.
Hi Mary! I have stored it max 4 days and it was still great but I haven’t tested it beyond that.Freezing it should work just fine.
How do you reheat it?
Hi Greg, you can enjoy it cold or warm it up in a saucepan on the stove.
This is the yummiest sauce!!!! First time I made it was yesterday to put over a strawberry cake. My brother and his family demolished both … I had no leftovers! But everyone raved about the sauce and said they could eat it on its own! I’ve never seen so many people lick their plates at once! 😄 So I’ve made it again today for dessert at my aunt’s. No doubt I’ll get the same reaction. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s plate licking good!
Hi Devetta! Thank you so much for this amazing review!! You are the best! 🙂
I tried so many different recipies and this one was by far the best, it’s goes perfectly with pancakes! It’s also so easy; thank you so much for this great recipie!
Wow! Thank you! I’m so happy to hear that!! Thank you for this great review, Liam!
We’re having a party soon and are planning on having a self-serve ice cream bar where everyone can choose their toppings. This is the first recipe that I tried for making the strawberry sauce, and it is beyond fabulous!! Thank you so much for posting this … you are going to make me look good!!
I’m happy I could help! Thank you for sharing your great review with us!
Hi, just wondering how long this would last in the fridge or could I freeze it? I have a bunch of strawberries to use up!
I have stored it max 4 days and it was still great but I haven’t tested it beyond that.Freezing it should work just fine.
Would you do a hot water bath to store the extra sauce
Hi Kathy, I haven’t tried canning these for shelf storage so I’m not sure. I think it could work though!
In a word….superb!
I might be almost useless in the kitchen if not for you. 😀
I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes Helyn! Thanks for following and sharing your encouraging comments! 🙂
My honour and pleasure! However, one concern…. this recipe should automatically be tripled in my humble opinion.. 🙂 otherwise, just a teaser… it’s that good.
LOL! I’m glad you love it that much Helyn! 🙂
Is it necessary to halve the strawberries? I’m planning on putting this on a Victoria sponge cake, and I LOVE the way my strawberries look whole!!
Hi Taqwim, it should still work to use whole strawberries. 🙂
Hi Natasha, could I add some gelatine to it to work as a topping for a cheesecake?
Hi Ambika, you would need to change the method a little bit if using gelatin but gelatin isn’t necessary here since strawberries release enough natural pectin on their own as they simmer. I would suggest simmering an extra couple of minutes if you want it to thicken up more and it would be delicious over a cheesecake 🙂
Wow. What a reminder of many happy days in the home of my youth. When strawberries were in season, my mom always made strawberry shortcake. She bought whipped cream and those little sponge cake cups at the store, and used this sauce to make the dessert. I still do it for my family today. In my mind, this just cannot be beat. I would call it comfort food to the extreme.
Yes, I’m glad to hear the recipe brings back such fond memories! Thanks for sharing Thomas!
I’ve just discovered my new love for cooking and experimenting with new recipes. The first time I tried a “strawberry desert”, it was a strawberry crisp/cobbler that was cooked on the grill- in a cast iron skillet. The strawberrys turned a dark, dull maroonish color and they had an ‘off’ taste. I don’t know how to describe it, but I couldn’t eat them. Then I tried a second time with a simple strawberry syrup, similar to this recipe of yours. Same problem. Dull colored fruit with a not-so-sweet or scrumptious flavor. I want to give strawberries a go, one last time. I’ve tried to figure out what I’m doing wrong and read somewhere about fermenting maybe? Am I getting them too hot? Not hot enough? Please help!! I’ve finally nailed the whole art of cheesecake baking (lol), but I need the perfect strawberry sauce to top it off! Thank you for taking time out of your day to help us novices! 👩🏼🍳🥧🧨💥🤦🏼♀️
Hi Heather, I haven’t had that experience before – It may be due to using less sugar than what is called for and also cooking for too long at too high of heat. This often happens with fruit preserves if they are boiled too long at too high of heat. I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha,
Love your recipes, I am making an atomic cake someday and would like to use this strawberry recipe for one of the layers of the cake, how can I thicken this up a bit so it won’t run off?
Hi Louise, that sounds like a fun project! You could make this thicker, just cook it down few extra minutes, until it reaches desired thickness.
I want to use this recipe on scones with clotted cream, would this recipe be thick enough for that purpose.
Hi Margaret, yes, it could work, just cook it down few extra minutes, until it reaches desired thickness.
Can this be frozen after making?
Hi Sandy, I haven’t tried freezing it but I think it could work well.
Can I use raspberries instead? I really want to find a good raspberry sauce to pour over cream cheese Rangoons. Thanks!
Hi Anna, I think that would still work with raspberries. You may need a little less cooking time. This is our go-to raspberry sauce, but if you wanted a little more texture, I think raspberries are worth experimenting with! 🙂
Can this be made with frozen strawberries? I have a huge bag in my freezer….
Hi Leslie, that should work with frozen strawberries, just cook the sauce to the desired consistency. Sometimes frozen can give off more juice so it may take slightly longer to cook.
It looks amazing, do u know how long it can be stored ?
Hi Liya, I have stored it max 4 days and it was still great but I haven’t tested it beyond that.
Awww, I’m swooning over this! I still think the best recipes are the simplest ones that I can actually do with my limiting cooking and baking skills. Strawberries are my weight loss secret, when I have a huge desire to eat a whole chocolate cake, I substitute a strawberry based recipe and it usually satisfies!!!
I hope you love it Laura! Please let me know what you think!
Wow Natasha, you read my mind! I open up your page (my daily routine for great recipes) to see if you had a recipe for a strawberry topping for pancakes tomorrow, and that’s the first thing I see! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing recipes with us. May God bless you and your sweet family. Can’t wait to try this.
My pleasure Vicky! Now that’s what I call perfect timing, lol. Thanks for following and please let me know what you think of the recipe!
I make the same way wild blueberries or mixed berries or strawberries…just without lemon juice😍so delicious. We use these with buttermilk pancakes or crepes😋 and wipping cream…
Yum, that sounds delicious Olga! Thanks for sharing!
Mmmm. So good #