Make this strawberry sauce recipe with fresh or frozen strawberries. Pour it on waffles and ice cream, or use it as a glaze for cheesecake!
This fruity dessert sauce can be the ‘strawberry on top’ for all your summer treats and breakfast items!
We love plump, juicy summer strawberries at our house, and one of our favorite things to make with them is this sublime strawberry compote!
What You’ll Find In This Post
Ingredients Needed and Substitutions
If you’ve been craving a syrupy-sweet strawberry sauce to garnish your desserts, then you’re in luck! This recipe uses simple ingredients that you might already have on hand.
- Strawberries: The strawberries are going to be a key component in this recipe. We used fresh strawberries this time, but feel free to use frozen if you like!
- Sugar: We used granulated sugar to add sweetness to this fruity sauce.
- Water: The water combines with the sugar to create a syrupy consistency.
- Lemon Juice: We wanted a bit of citrus tang to our strawberry sauce, so we added lemon juice. You can also add a little lemon zest for extra citrus flavor.
- Vanilla: A bit of vanilla extract adds depth of flavor to this strawberry glaze recipe.
- Salt: If you’d like to multiply the flavor of your dishes, then you can start by adding a dash of salt. Salt is a known flavor enhancer, which means it will draw out even more flavor from your ingredients!
How To Make Strawberry Sauce
Soften the Strawberries
- Put the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and water in a saucepan.
- Cook them over medium heat until the strawberries begin to soften, stirring occasionally.
- If you use frozen strawberries, they will take much longer to get hot.
Mash the Strawberries
- Mash the strawberries with a wooden spoon to further break them down.
- Continue boiling the sauce, stirring often, until it has thickened.
Add Flavoring To Strawberry Sauce
- Remove from heat, and add a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt
- Then, pour the strawberry sauce into a small pitcher for serving.
Strawberry Sauce Variations
Want to switch up your sauce? Here are some fun variations of this recipe to try!
Triple Berry Sauce
If you want a mixture of fruity flavors for your compote, try using 1 cup strawberries, 3/4 cup blueberries, and 3/4 cup raspberries for a triple-berry blend!
Citrus Options
You can also try switching out the lemon juice for lime, orange, or pineapple! If you want even more citrus punch, try adding some zest of lemon, lime, or orange.
Thickened Strawberry Sauce
Thinner strawberry sauce is perfect for use as a glaze, but a thicker sauce is great when you want to be able to spread it over things like cake or toast. Boiling the sauce for a longer duration helps thicken it because the liquid evaporates. Or, you can add a mixture of cornstarch and water to the boiling sauce to thicken it quickly.
Make Ahead and Storage
Let the strawberry sauce cool completely, and then transfer it into an airtight container such as a mason jar.
- Make Ahead: This is a great recipe to make ahead of time! You can even double or triple the recipe so that you have extra to store in the freezer.
- Refrigerator: Store it in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freezer: Store in the freezer in freezer-safe containers for up to 6 months. Let thaw in the fridge.
- Reheating: If you want to serve the strawberry sauce warm, reheat it over low heat in a saucepan on the stovetop or use the microwave.
Ways To Use Strawberry Glaze
- Make waffles with bisquick and serve them with maple syrup and strawberry sauce!
- Use our Bisquick pancake recipe to make light, airy pancakes and enjoy them with homemade strawberry compote.
- It can be drizzled on top of crepes with some sweetened whipped cream.
- You can also use it as a strawberry glaze for cheesecake!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, however, keep in mind that they’ll take a little longer to break down.
Use this sauce for your fruit and yogurt parfaits, waffles, crepes, cakes, cheesecake, ice cream, and more!
A compote is a chunky fruit sauce made by cooking fruit and sugar on the stovetop until the fruit breaks down into a delicious sauce.
More Fruit Sauces
- Homemade applesauce is a popular choice year-round!
- Cranberry sauce is a must during the holidays.
- Blueberry sauce is delicious in blueberry pretzel salad.
- This raspberry sauce goes well with chocolate!
Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups strawberries washed and hulled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Cook strawberries, sugar, 1/4 cup water, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, for 12-15 minutes (frozen strawberries may take longer) until the strawberries start to break down.
- Use a wooden spoon to mash up the strawberries even more. Continue boiling until the sauce has thickened. See Note 1 to make an even thicker consistency.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt.
Maura Cohen says
Ruined a whole batch of great fruit. The cornstarch/water mix robs the fresh fruit flavor and makes the sauce glue-like. If you cook down the fruit and sugar, you can arrive at the consistency you like…sans cornstarch.
Katerina Merino says
Thanks for the recipe I will use it again! It was DELICIOUS.
Asya says
I made this sauce this morning to top a cheesecake pie. It’s delicious! Easy to do and so much better than the canned stuff. Thanks for sharing!
Asya says
I made this sauce this morning to top a cheesecake pie. It’s delicious! Easy to do and so much better than the canned stuff. Thanks for sharing!
Edna Blankley says
This is the best and easiest sauce to make. I love the vanilla added to it. 😊
Tonia says
Wonderful! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
AMBER C PRICE says
How do you store this after it is made. I made it and it is very good. How long can it be kept in the refrigerator and can it be frozen?
Tonia says
Store it in the fridge for up to a week and yes you can store it in the freezer! Enjoy! ~Tonia
ColleenB.~Texas says
I just made up several jars (20) of Strawberry Sauce to put in freezer for later use and to give to family members.
I do add 1 box of Sugar Free Strawberry Gelatin and roughly 1 T. of strawberry Kool-Aide per batch.
Besides using it on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, etc. It’s also wonderful to use in making a poke cake using a French Vanilla cake mix or could use just plain white mix. Either mix you decide to use it’s still YUMMY.
Di says
Do u also add all stuff for Gunny sack recipe too?
ColleenB.~Texas says
I do make larger batches, but I Do Not use the cornstarch/water mixture