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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!
This is my husband’s absolute favorite topping. He even makes it now for our cheesecakes. He likes it because it has so few ingredients. We frequently use frozen strawberries. It turns out great.
This is delicious. Can I put it in jars and can using a hot water bath?
Hi Ruth! I have not tried canning this:
I’ve made this with fresh strawberries and it turned out amazing. I was wondering if it’s possible to make the sauce using frozen strawberries?
Hi Meena! Some of my viewers reported good results making this with frozen strawberries too.
I made this for a layer dessert and it turned out wonderful. I made two lage bowls and both were gone before I could get some. So that tells me it was really good. Love your recipes and your cookbook. 👍
I’m so glad it was a hit! Thank you.
I recently Bought a Ninja Belgian waffle maker. And have been craving Waffles with Strawberry Sauce, Maple Syrup and Whipped Cream. My Grandma who was French Canadian always would make these for me a boy because she knew it was my favorite. Fast forward 40 years and still my favorite Lol. Excited to try this sauce. Thanks for sharing it!
I hope you love it, Scott! Thank you for your wonderful review!
Hi there, was wondering if I could substitute lime for lemon?
Hi Paula! That would be fine.
How long can I store this sauce in a fridge? Freezer?
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.
My local produce stand had 1 pound organic strawberries for one dollar each. Very delicious! So needing to use them up I used your recipe. Absolutely wonderful over my Blue Bell vanilla ice cream. So easy. I will be making this often.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
I’ve made strawberry sauce a handful of times but never followed a recipe. Thus, my results always varied from too tart, too overcooked, too thin, etc. This recipe was spot on! I made a half of batch from the leftover, less desirable organic strawberries that I didn’t want to go to waste. Turned out perfect. Just the right amount of sweetness. Thank you Natasha! This will be my go-to recipe. 😋🍓
I’m so glad you found a new favorite on my blog, Al! thank you so much for your awesome review.
Hi Natasha
This is my first time leaving a comment. Your strawberry sauce is wonderful, especially over your mini cheesecakes. As a matter of fact, all the many recipes I have tried from your site have been a success. So thank you.
I do want to ask you a question. I often have difficulty moving around on your site (for example when skipping to the recipe) and I was wondering if it is because I am using my Ipad and not my computer. Thank you again for all you do for us.
Hello Sharon! Thank you for sharing that with us. When you go to the recipe link, you can click on Jump to recipe immediately to go to the recipe card. Have you tried using another device? Does it jump around or just shows the ads?
I do use the Jump to Recipe feature. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t and I often see a blank screen. Sometimes I cannot move forward or backwards. I am going to try it on my computer and let you know.
HI Sharon, thank you for that feedback. Can you share what device you are using? That will help us troubleshoot.
Hi Natasha
I am using an Ipad. I rarely used my computer.
You can try on your computer or phone next time just to isolate if it’s from your ipad’s browser settings that needs to be checked.
No cook cheese cake is really tasty so creamy. I changed strawberries for raspberries (as husband does not like them!! Still gorgeous.
I’m amazed at how well this came out. I used strawberries that I previously frozen so I figured the texture and taste would be compromised. Not so. It was surprisingly delicious.
Reduced sugar to 1/4 cup, (tartness perfect) no shortcake so I used on cornbread, will always use cornbread from now on.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Jeff!
I used honey instead of sugar. I also sprinkled in a good pinch of nutmeg. Although I use nutmeg in anything. It has a deeper and richer flavor. Thanks, Natasha!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Wow, so easy and delicious! Can’t wait to try it on some pound cake tonight!
Hi.
Love your recipes
Tried quite a few
Always comes out perfectly
Thanks for sharing 💓
Zuleikha,🥀
I’m so glad you’re enjoying them!
So easy and so delicious! Perfect over pound cake.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Can this sauce be frozen and maintain consistency?
Hi Meredith, 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.
Can I put the whole recipe directly on the cheesecake or will it be to runny and will 1 recipe be enough to cover the entire cake?
Yes, this recipe can be used for 1 cheesecake recipe.
I love strawberries and making this sauce really let’s me eat it with all my favorite foods, pancakes, pound cakes, by its self 😋
Minimal ingredients, easy to follow, and tasted great with the Belgium waffles we made. Will definitely keep this as our to go recipe.