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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 love this recipe it’s delicious 😋
We love it on ice cream and waffles and French toast and just by it self.
It’s compliments so many different dishes. I’m so glad you love it.
SO GOOD + SUPER EASY!
I didn’t have a fresh lemon, so I used organic lemon juice from a bottle (not from concentrate). I otherwise followed the instructions and everything went exactly as described. The strawberries yield so much juice even when barely heated.
It’s so simple (both ingredients and instructions) and DELICIOUS! Thank you so much to Natasha for sharing this recipe.
I’ve always made strawberry “shortcake” (actually angel food cake, cubed) my mother’s way: fresh strawberries with a store-bought glaze, topped with store-bought whipped cream. Never again (sorry Mom). I searched for a homemade glaze recipe and found this one (highly rated). Lucky me!
I had 2 pounds of strawberries, so I washed, hulled and sliced them all, sorting the best half and leaving them in bigger pieces, with the less and more ripe ones cut smaller and used for the sauce. The mushy ones cooked down while the less ripe pieces absorbed the sugar and lemon juice to help soften and sweeten those. I mixed in the remaining fresh strawberries after the sauce chilled, served over the cake and topped with freshly whipped cream.
This will be my go-to summer dessert from now on. Thank you, again. 🙂
Thank you for sharing that with us, Shannon.
Really easy and very yummy. I used fresh organic strawberries and it turned out so good. Thank you!
I am looking for a recipe for a hot water bath can for later use. Have you done this, and do you think it would work with this recipe?
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tried canning this for a longer shelf life.
Great recipe, thanks for sharing! It’s super easy and pretty fool-proof. I made this for my strawberry matcha lattes.
Thank you for for this great feedback!
I’ve been eating Dutch Baby for years at a wonderful breakfast restaurant in Buffalo NY. So I’m really thrilled to be able to enjoy them at home. Thank you so much for the recipe 😘
You’re so welcome, Linda! I hope you love it just as much if not more!
I make your overnight oatmeal and instead of 1 Tbsp maple syrup I substitute 1 Tbsp strawberry sauce or sometimes I use both or sometimes I put the sauce on top of overnight oatmeal. So yummy. I made the grandkids buy me your book this Christmas. I take it with me everywhere.
Diane from Niagara Area, On. Canada
That sounds delicious and I’m so glad you have my book.
just made your strawberry cheese cake hope its has good has yours
Would this be suitable as a filling in chocolate cupcakes? It looks delicious!
Hi Sandra! That would be fine. Some of my viewers have reported using this in cupcakes with good results.
This recipe is perfect. I added a pinch of butter to reduce foaming. It’s silky smooth. Best I’ve ever had. Thank you
Can you freeze this sauce? If so how long will it keep and how would one defrost it before using?
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.
I’ve been following Natasha’s Kitchen for along time. She is my go to for recipes and never disappoints. Thanks Natasha
Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Kathy! I’m so happy you’re loving my recipes.
Hi Natasha, I’m making a no bake cheese cake and I was wondering, should I put it on after it’s done or should I put the sauce on and refrigerate again? Thank you!
Hi Ashely! I like to add this on when I serve the cheesecake, but you can add it on and refrigerate it too.
Hi I was wondering can I preserve this sauce into sterilised jars to keep.
Hi Kim, you can make this strawberry topping 1 to 3 days in advance, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. I havem’t tried preserving it in jars.
Delish. I made strawberry and blueberry both are very good. Also made your vanilla. I’ll never buy it again!!
Hi Natasha. can i freeze this strawberry sauce? I love all your recipes.
Hi Cynthia! 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.
Pretty amazing. Love that it’s so easy and only 3 ingredients. It was wonderfully delicious. Thank you for this
You’re very welcome, Nelya!
The strawberry sauce was amazing! I made it to top a cheesecake and now I want to try something similar for a raspberry sauce! Do you have any recommendations?
Hi Jennifer! I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe. I think that would still work with raspberries. You may need a little less cooking time. This is our go-to raspberry maple syrup recipe but if you want a little more texture, I think raspberries are worth experimenting with!
Thanks for sharing so many yummy recipes. Quick question – do you blend strawberry sauce at the very end, or no need to? Just wondering how you get it like syrup without blending it at end. Thank you! Love from Canada
Hi Teresa! I do not, as you see in the image above, it’s a little chunky. But you can if you’d like to make it thinner.
Can I make this sauce and add it to whipped cream or use it as a layer then top with whipped cream. This is for a layer cake.
Hi Diane! I’m not sure how well it would hold up in whipped cream. You can experiment with it.
Can this be made with frozen strawberries too? Love your recipes Natasha. Regards from Switzerland xoxo
Hi Marina, great to hear from you and I’m glad you’re enjoying them. One of my readers reported good results making this with frozen strawberries.
Glad to hear that . I was planning on using frozen berries.
Natasha, your kitchen must be something else. I make many recipes off your site, this sauce, broccoli cheese soup in the bread bowls, loaded potato soup, garlic bread, air fried pork chops and the list goes on. Everything is absolutely fantastic! Just wanted you to know that every single recipe Ive tried of yours is 5 stars. Not 4.8, 5. Thank you so much for all the simple, easy to follow and understand directions and delicious recipes!
Hi Steve! That’s amazing! Those are some good ones. Thank you so much for the wonderful review.