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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!
Don’t cover the pot while simmering! Ours bubbled over unexpected. Otherwise yummy!!
I had to cover mine while cooking because of flies (oh, the joys of living in the country). What I did to adjust, however, is a gapped the cover to allow the mixture to vent. Voila! No overbubbling.
Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
This is SO EXCELLENT!!! BEST ever!!
My question is, can you substitute honey for the sugar? Will it cook down the same?
Thank you!
Hi Valerie! I’m so glad you loved this recipe. I have not tested it with honey.
Looks amazing!
Can I use honey or dates syrup instead of sugar?
Thanks!
I have not tested it with a substitute. If you experiment, let us know how it turns out.
Super simple and delicious! I did double the recipe, and added 2 tsp of vanilla and the zest of one key lime. So good!
Thank you for sharing, Ren.
Can I waterbath can this and can I do multiple batches at one time?
Hi Lisa, I have not tried that to advise.
This has been my go-to strawberry sauce recipe for a few years. I love to put it on Belgian waffles with homemade whipped cream! I recently experimented with adding the zest of 1 lemon to the recipe and OMG, game changer! Thank you for such a simple and wonderful recipe
Sounds delicious! It’s my pleasure sharing this recipe and we’re glad that you love it with your belgian waffles. YUM!
Easy and delicious. I have made the sauce numerous times. It’s the best.
That’s wonderful, Fran! Thank you for the feedback.
I made this with fresh picked strawberries. This was super simple and absolutely delish!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I love this recipe, been making it for a few years now! Im wondering have you ever canned it?
Hi Christina! I’m glad you loved the sauce. I have not tried canning this.
Could I use this recipe for canning strawberry sauce? When the strawberries are fresh, this would be a great way to use some of them!
Hi Cheryl! I have not tried canning this strawberry sauce. You can make this 1 to 3 days in advance, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve. I have not tested freezing it, but one of our readers wrote in saying it freezes well, they said, “I freeze mine, and it turns out great.” I hope that helps
Do you know if this recipe would also work for other fruits like blueberries?
I have not tested blueberries but it would be worth experimenting with. You may also enjoy the easy cherry sauce.
I have since used this recipe to make a mixed berry sauce. It was about half strawberries with the rest a mix of blueberries and blackberries. It turned out quite well. Thank you for the inspiration and jumping off point.
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you liked that mix!
Hi Natasha
I’ve realized over the last couple or so years that I’ve been using quite a few recipes from your kitchen. Mostly chicken recipes. This strawberry will be my first sweet one. (I want to make my own milkshakes at home.)
Thank you for your trusted recipes and sharing them!
Alex
they/them/theirs
Hi Alex! Thank you! I’m so glad you are enjoying them. I hope you love this one too.
Amazing and so simple! I’d made some pancakes and realized we were out of syrup a little too late! What a blessing because I had some strawberries and figured why not make strawberry syrup. This was simple and amazing! I didn’t let it simmer as long as I should’ve but like I said pancakes were waiting! A few days later I’m eating it topped on yogurt with some granola! It’s like a sundae!
Hi Kimmy! That’s awesome. I love how versatile this strawberry sauce is. It’s delicious and goes well with so many things.
Hi! Always enjoy watching your videos! Love how you always make everything look sooo delicious. I have a small request regarding your food values charts that you include with your recipes. It would be helpful for me to see the measured amount for each individual serving. Thank you! ~Judy..A dedicated viewer. 🍓 🍓🍓 P.S. Is your Strawberry Sauce cooked as the recipe included with other ones listed?
Thanks for your feedback and suggestion, Judi. Yes it was cooked according to this recipe. Not sure if that was your question?
Judy. The recipe is designed to create 1 1/2 cups of sauce, and is set for 8 servings. If you divide 8 by 1-1/2 you get a serving size of 0.1875 cups, which comes out to three tablespoons. I hope this is helpful to me (I know doing the math was helpful to me).
How long will this keep in the refrigerator? Can I freeze it?
Hi Patti- You can make this strawberry topping 1 to 3 days in advance, cover and refrigerate it until ready to serve. I have not tested it in the freezer.
This was so good and so easy. I used it on individual no bake cheesecakes. Yummy – not too sweet.
I’m glad you loved it, Judy! Thank you for sharing.
My husband went on and on about how good this was. It was a huge hit at Mothers Day brunch. Thank you!
It’s me pleasure. It makes me smile to see good comments, so glad you enjoyed our recipe!
Can you put it on cheesecake and put the whole cheesecake in the fridge or will it effect the texture of either the cake or the sauce?
Hi Fran! We use this topping on our mini strawberry cheesecake and it’s great.
I have 8lbs of fresh strawberries. Can this be frozen for later use?
Hi Barbara! You can make this strawberry topping 1 to 3 days in advance, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve. I have not tested freezing it, but one of our readers wrote in saying it freezes well, they said, “I freeze mine, and it turns out great.” I hope that helps
This is really delicious. Made it today and will make strawberry shortcake with it. Thank you for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Barbara! So glad you loved it.
Made this to top slices of cream cheese pound cake. It got rave reviews from everyone at the party. Easy to make. I did have to let mine simmer longer than the recipe called for.
I’m so happy to hear it was a hit, Lea! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!