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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!
Hi Natasha, your recipes are incredibly delicious and well written, easy to follow. We have so many of your recipes in our regular rotation! Thank you! Question, do you think this might freeze well? Maybe you haven’t tested freezing. I know straberries freeze well, I’m just wondering if you think it world be worth trying or do you think it would definitely ruin it?
Hi Janna, I haven’t tested that but here is what one of our readers wrote citing it freezes well, “I freeze mine and it turns out great. I use for our nightly ice cream” I hope that helps.
Oh, thank you! I thought I had read through them all, guess I missed that one. Your readers are all so helpful giving good input.
I have made this recipe several times. It is as easy to make and tasty as it looks. I’ve used it for pancakes and waffles as well as for ice cream sundaes.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Christine!
I tried this recipe, and it is fabulous! No bother and no cornstarch needed. It’s perfect!!! I’ll definitely be using this recipe again. I needed a strawberry topping for some cheesecake I’m making. I stirred the three ingredients together, followed the recipe, and the result is astounding!!!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
I made this as a base for strawberry smoothies. OMG it’s so good. I did add extra lemon juice the second time I made it to give it more tartness.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review Lindsay.
Even my grandmother who proclaimed she hates strawberry sauce asks for this everytime we get cheese cake
That’s so awesome! Thank you for sharing that Lilly!
Made this today and your right..very dangerous..I love Strawberries and will be trying this on pancakes first..Now I want to make the Strawberry pretzel dessert..gotta get more berries
Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I hope you love the strawberry pretzel dessert!
How easy and delicious the strawberry sauce is. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
You’re welcome Lori! I’m happy you enjoyed that!
Natasha!
I am OBSESSED with this recipe! My mom always cute the strawberries and mashed them which, was good but.. then you just have tiny bits of berries and it was very watery. This morning, I tried your wonderful recipe! I was making this for pancakes and to use for my shortcakes later. I also made a half batch of blueberry sauce(made this from frozen blueberries, this exact recipe, cut in half -2 tbl + 2 tsp sugar- only cooked it for ten minutes though) and it was outstanding! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Christina!
Can the Strawberry recipe be stored in canning jars ?
Hi Judy, I haven’t tried canning these for shelf storage so I’m not sure. I think it could work though!
can I use this as a filling between layers of an angle food cake ? or would it be too heavy and sink into the cake ?
Hi Tim, I think this would taste great layered with angel food cake. It would probably be best eaten the same day it is made but I think that would be delicious.
I made it for a ice cream sundae potluck at work and it was a hit!! I made plenty and have leftovers, but unfortunately I’m going out of town for a week.. I don’t want it to go to waste.. I’m wondering if I could freeze the rest and how long do you think it would be good for in the freezer??
Hi Tammi! I haven’t tested that but here is what one of our readers wrote citing it freezes well, “I freeze mine and it turns out great. I use for our nightly ice cream”
Served the sauce alongside a vegan chocolate cake and then spooned some into homemade yogurt yesterday. It’s fantastic and so simple (plus it makes the house smell amazing while it’s cooking)!
Thank you so much for sharing that with us Chrystyna!
The sauce didn’t thicken for me, but it is probably because I used organic sugar, which isn’t as refined as regular sugar. The fix: after simmering for the allotted time, I mixed 1-2T cornstarch in some water & slowly added that to the strawberry mixture while stirring and boiled for a minute. The sauce thickened right up & turned translucent again. I was super-excited about this recipe because we are eating all organic now & used to make this type of sauce from a processed, powdery package … now I can make it using all organic ingredients. Thank you – it’s very delicious & even more scrumptious than the old boxed stuff we used to use!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, Amy. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi. Can I add some gelatine for using it as a topping for my cheesecake?
Hi Sharon, 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
I tried it with pineberries…yum!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
I just made your delicious sauce. I made sure to keep the temperature down…stayed nice and natural colored and tastes delish…I experimented with a jar in my hot water steamer. They are a nice color but the strawberries got a bit “puffy”. I will be anxious to try them to see how they taste and set up. I have lots more berries in my bed, fortunately to experiment with some more. I was wondering if you ever make larger batches? Thanks.
Hi Mary! I’m happy you enjoyed that. You can definitely double the recipe asneeded!
Is a half quart of strawberries equal to a pound? That’s how strawberries are sold where I live. Thanks.
Hi Rebecca, a quart weighs anywhere between 1 ½ lbs (if larger strawberries) to 2.3 pounds (if smaller strawberries). So half quart of medium sized strawberries will be about 1 lb.
Thank you. Making this tomorrow for shortcake.
You’re so welcome!
Is it possible to skip the fresh lemon juice. I’m don have any lemons at hand
Hi Sara, the lemon juice adds a nice layer of flavor and also preserves the color and flavor of the strawberries. It probably won’t keep as well without it.
How long can I store this for please?
Hi Michelle, 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.
Thanks so much!
Can u use frozen strawberries thawed out.
Hi Joy, 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.
Can I substitute brown sugar for the white sugar?
Hi Kris, I have not tried it with that. If you experiment, please let me know how you like that!
Being new to cooking sweets, I will say that I am so surprised that making a sauce like this was so plain and simple! As easy as it is, I am fascinated by this recipe. It tasted just like I imagined it would and was very pleased with how it complimented my cheesecake. Thank you, I have been looking on how to amor my own sauces, and this is what I will be using from now on.
I’m so happy to hear that Michael! Thank you for that awesome review!