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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!
Kindly advise whether you can freeze your strawberry sauce.
Thank you .
Hi Mandy, I haven’t tried freezing this yet, but one of our readers wrote in saying it freezes well, “I freeze mine, and it turns out great. I use it for our nightly ice cream” I hope that helps.
I love your recipes & I enjoy watching you prepare them! You are so delightful!
Thank you, Ellen. We appreciate it!
My mother used to make this same recipe but she use powdered sugar instead. How much would you think I would need if I substituted it?
Hi Cathy, I have not tested this to advise.
Thank you for your recipe for your strawberry sauce it was for my cream scones it was delicious
Sounds delicious on scones! I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe.
I just made this, didn’t have lemon, but had some lime juice and it’s delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Isori!
I didn’t have lemon juice so I took a chance and used 1-1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar instead. Oh my…. that was SOOOO good!! I used the sauce as filling for a cake. Thank you!!!
Hi Laura, great to hear that it worked out fine! Thanks for sharing that with us, we appreciate the good feedback.
This strawberry sauce is perfect over blintzes. I served it with my blintz souffle for my 80th birthday brunch.
Aww, That’s the best! Thank you for sharing that with me! & Happy Birthday Rita! This is the perfect treat for a birthday celebration!
Hi, do you think I could blend the finished sauce and strain it to make a smooth sauce? Not a huge fan of the chunks and seeds in a topping for my cheesecake. Thank you!
Hi Stacy, I have not tested that but it may work. You may also be able to put it through a fine-mesh sieve and stir the puree for a minute or two until you get it to the consistency you want it.
the words of my 8 year old nephew: It’s better than the pancake box! We loved it with homemade strawberry sauce! (Strawberries, sugar, lemon juice)
Awesome, thank you so much for sharing!
Do you have cook books to sale? Watch you everyday. Love everything you cook. Love your Family. Children are beautiful.
Hello Evelyn, not at the moment but I am already working on a cookbook so stay tuned!
Spooned it over a dip of vanilla ice cream, just wonderful! Really good!
Oh yum! Great idea! I’m so glad you loved this, Roger!
Hi Natasha! I’ve made this so many times for cakes and mini cheesecakes and it comes out sooo good every time! I was curious if you can use other fruits like raspberries or blackberries?
Hi Ashley, 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!
DONT add lemon juice!!!! Makes it toooo tangy and your mouth will pucker, tongue feels awful!!!
Hi Becky, using winter strawberries can make the sauce much sourer if the strawberries are not sweet to begin with and in that case, you would use the lemon juice if needed and to taste. The lemon juice does help to keep the color more vibrant as well.
Do you think this would work in the place of strawberry puree in a buttercream recipe? I don’t have a food processor and was looking for an easy way to make a good strawberry puree and stumbled upon this post.
Hi Cassy, I haven’t really tried that yet to advise. I think it’s worth experimenting with. If you try that version, please share with us how it goes.
I’m going to make your lovely Strawberry Sauce for a cake Natasha. While I I have time to make it tomorrow I won’t need if for a few days. Will it keep in a jar in the fridge for 4 days?
Thanks.
Margaret
Hi Margaret, 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.
Hi Natasha
I have made many of your recipes and love this cheese cake no bake strawberry cheese cake I made one this morning and accidentally forgot to put the lemon juice in.
Will the cheese cake set if I forgot to put the lemon juice in .thanks for all the beautiful recipes ❤️
Hi Irene, it will still work out great!
I have a question…is it 1 lb before the strawberries are prepped, or 1 lb prepped? I know it’s kind of random, but my strawberries didn’t look so good once I got home. So after I hulled and trimmed them I ended up with 9 oz of strawberries. I’m assuming I should put about half the sugar and lemon?
yes- 1 lb Strawberries prepped. You could try half the sugar and lemon and adjust the recipe as needed until you get the desired sweetness.
Hi Natasha,
How do I get the sauce back to desired consistency after refridgeration? Is it ok to microwave in bursts of few seconds until warm?
Hi Busaina, you can enjoy it cold or warm it up in a saucepan on the stove.
Hello,
Looking for a strawberry filling for a cake I am going to be making. Will this work inside a cake?
Have tried other recipes that you have and have not been disappointed! Yum
Hi Brenda, I bet if you thickened this sauce, it would work great as a cake filling! I hope you love it!
hi! how would you advise thickening the sauce? i read elsewhere that suggested 3 tbsp cornstarch + 1/4 cup of water? thank you!
This recipe thickens naturally as it cooks down and doesn’t need it. The sauce will also thicken up slightly as it cools and even more after refrigeration. If it doesn’t meet your desired thickness, you can cook it down more or add corn starch.
Hi Natasha, I enjoy your recipes. With this strawberry sauce can I can them and store in cabinet or does need to be refridgerated
Hi Mary, this should be refrigerated.
I am also looking for a cake filling. I think corn starch would thicken it.
Hi Natasha! Would I be able to use frozen strawberries? If so, would they taste any different? Or would you recommend using fresh strawberries?
Hi Dani, yes, this should work with frozen strawberries; be sure to cook the sauce to the desired consistency. Sometimes frozen can give off more juice, so it may take slightly longer to cook.