Okay, do you ever find yourself in Costco [I can only dream] or Sam’s Club around this time of year and see those GIANT flats of strawberries for, like, $3? And you think to yourself, “Self, that is an awesome deal on strawberries, but after the novelty wears off with my kids and my husband and myself and I make strawberry shortcake and strawberry jam and some strawberry smoothies, what will I do with the remaining 14 pounds of berries?” Well, I have your answer. This strawberry sauce has about a million uses, is freezer-friendly, and is so much better than that jar of Smuckers strawberry sauce that you’ve had sitting in your fridge since that time you made banana splits 1 1/2 years ago.
Wash strawberries and remove stems. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can roughly chop the berries,
but I say you’re already feeling ambitious enough by making your own strawberry sauce. So don’t sweat it either way.
Combine berries, sugar,
and extract
in medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for five minutes, stirring/breaking strawberries up with a wooden spoon constantly.
After five minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly (if you have a glass blender jar) and a lot (if you have a plastic blender jar). Or use an immersion blender, which is a delightful tool to have in your arsenal. When cool enough, transfer mixture to blender and pulse until desired consistency is reached. (I adore my Blendtec.)
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of large chunks of mystery fruit, so I like it smooth, but you can do it however you want.
Wanna know what to do with it?
–Make banana splits with this and Sara’s hot fudge sauce
–Drizzle over plain cheesecake
–Spoon over these Light and Crispy Waffles (which are the best waffles you will EVER eat!)
–My proudest use of strawberry sauce: mix a couple of tablespoons (depending on the size of the glass and your own personal taste) with this fresh-squeezed lemonade for strawberry lemonade. So so so so good…
—Chocolate waffles, anyone? If that’s not your thing, you could put them on your favorite French toast, waffles, or pancakes. Speaking of French Toast- try this one!
–Drizzle over angel food cake and add a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.
Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- 1 pint strawberries
Instructions
- Wash strawberries and remove stems. If you're feeling ambitious, you can roughly chop the berries, but I say you're already feeling ambitious enough by making your own strawberry sauce. So don't sweat it.
- Combine berries, sugar, and extract in medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for five minutes, stirring/breaking strawberries up with a wooden spoon constantly.
- After five minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly (if you have a glass blender jar) and a lot (if you have a plastic blender jar). When cool enough, transfer mixture to blender and pulse until desired consistency is reached. You can also use an immersion blender, which makes things super easy!
Notes
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Questions & Reviews
I just realized I didn’t cook the strawberries– just blended them up. (didn’t think I needed to actually read the recipe…duh) Should I cook them to kill any bacteria or something, or was that step for flavor?
Nah, you’ll be fine 🙂
What timing for me to come across this recipe! My daughter has been asking for strawberry juice lately. I can mix this sauce with seltzer and she will love it!
Oh my goodness!! That sounds SUPER YUMMY!!! Thank you for sharing!! By the way, I also have a Blendtec and I LOVE IT!!!! It is the BEST blender!! I use it ALL the time!!! ( :
this is awsome! where did you get that adorale jar?
Walmart 🙂
Could the same thing be done with fresh peaches? I have a case of them I need to use up and I HATE canned peaches, but my family devours the strawberry sauce I made and have in the freezer. It’s a great base for the breakfast smoothies we make! Thanks!
Probably!
I’ve made this a few times over the summer to not only use up strawberries from our garden, but because it’s absolutely delicious when you add it to your lemonade!!! Now I have tons of raspberries and wondering if I could make a raspberry sauce the same way? What do you think? I know there would be lots of seeds, but I’m figuring they’d mostly go to the bottom when you are drinking? When my husband ate at Tucano’s in Utah over the summer, he had a raspberry brazilian lemonade drink that was great (but honestly, my passion fruit brazilian lemonade was THE BOMB!) and so I was thinking of trying the sauce in the brazilian lemonade?
Yep, it would probably work. You’d have to adjust the sugar to taste, and you might want to puree it and strain the seeds out when you’re done. You’ll have to experiment!
I was wondering if you can freeze this, and if you can, how long can it stay in the freezer? Thanks!!
Sure. I don’t have an exact time frame for how long it will stay fresh, but definitely a while.
I’ve made this a few times already and can’t even tell you how many ways we use this sauce! Waffles, pancakes, crepes, oatmeal, french toast, cold cereal, strawberry lemonade, strawberry shakes, drizzled over cheesecake, ice cream, yogurt… etc. Can’t wait to learn how to make horchata and mix it in there! Oh, and it has waaaaay less sugar, less prep, and more flavorful than freezer strawberry jam. Thank you SO much for this recipe which I’ll use ALL the time now. I think I’m in love with strawberries…
Made this tonight and it tastes amazing! I plan on using it over angel food cake and fresh strawberries (and maybe some whipped cream 🙂
I love it! so yummy! Would it work with cherries? I have cherry tree, so I have a ton of cherries and I don’t think I have time to can all of them. so I’m looking for others things to do with them. If you have any other ideas, please share!
I bet that would be delish- make sure to use almond extract! I’m jealous you have a cherry tree! Check out our recipe for a Galette, one of my faves for cherries.
Can you freeze this for later use? I just bought waaaaay too many berries, and this is a family favorite at our home. :0) I was just wondering if I could freeze it now, and pull some out to use later?
Oh, absolutely! It freezes beautifully. 🙂
What a great recipe, and it’s so simple. I love the almond extract. Most of the recipes similar to this one call for lemon juice. I added a little lime juice and it was a great addition. I can’t wait to try it over cheesecake.
Don’t mean to sound like an idiot…..but how much is two pints of strawberries? 4 cups, I know. But do you measure them when they’re whole, or sliced?
It doesn’t really need to be exact Emily. If the strawberries are small, I measure them whole, if they’re huge, I just slice them in half. (And not a idiotic question at all, girl!)
Thanks, Sara!!! 🙂
Just made this for my mom’s strawberry shortcake bday cake…so excited to use it. WAS sooo sooo simple to make and yummy on my taste test. 😉
Have you ever tried canning or freezing this? I’m not sure I would actually use it all up before it goes bad—between living alone and eating refined-sugar-free (so the banana split suggestion is not likely to happen any time soon). Thoughts?
I’ve never canned it (though I’m sure you could!) It freezes great, though. 🙂
This is super yummy but just a warning, if you don’t eat it right away, it will explode in your fridge without a twist-able lid on it. It happened to mine only after about two weeks. So sad. 🙁 You’ll just have to eat it faster than I was able to!
Oh and mine lasted more than a month in the fridge with no problems- I kept meaning to freeze, but never did. I had it in a airtight container with a twist-able lid.
I just finished eating my first triple batch of this and need to get more strawberries:) This is a pregnant girl’s dream sauce. At least one who hasn’t been able to have chocolate due to heartburn. I eat it with ice cream, make milkshakes, lemonade, and pancakes, french toast…
tried this with fresh peaches and it was awesome!!! ( can’t spell if you notice previous post..lol )
tired this with fresh peaches too and it was awesome!
I received a gallon ziplock bag full of strawberries and blueberries from a ward breakfast. I used some to make this and it is AMAZING! It’s not too sugary, and it is just divine on ice cream, pancakes, limeades, and even mixed in greek yogurt! Yum! I am featuring this recipe on my blog this week. Thanks for all of your wonderful recipes ladies!
just wondering how long the sauce lasts in the fridge?? and in the freezer too.
I just made a couple batches, thanks so much its taste yummy!!
Strawberry season is just beginning here and I never think until it’s over to make sauce to put in the freezer. Thanks for the reminder.
The best word to describe this is YUM! I just made it for the puffed french toast and it was amazing! I am going to make this sauce all the time now. It’s super simple and a million times better than the store bought stuff. I can’t wait to try it on a sundae!
I made this yesterday and it’s delicious. My question though is, how long will it remain fresh in the fridge and should I freeze it?
Thanks!!
Rosann
Rosann- I don’t know exactly how long it will last because it’s never lasted long enough to go bad at my house! Just keep it in an airtight container and it should be fine for a week or maybe even two. You could definitely freeze it as well.
This is wonderful stuff! I actually leave mine chunky — I like how it looks on ice cream, strawberry shortcake, and waffles that way.
Do you think I could seal this in a jar to send overseas? And thank you, your blog and then cookbook have changed the way I think about food!
So when I was growing up, my nanny always put a strawberry sauce on my waffles and pancakes. Since I stopped going, I have been searching everywhere for something like it. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! Thank you so much. I just got your cookbook in the mail and have marked so many to be cooked in the summer.
Boy, do I love a good fruit sauce. You inspired me to make this last weekend for my French toast. Even blogged about it today. Very yummy indeed.
So I bought a jumbo container of strawberries @ Costco and made a strawberry cake and a strawberry spinach salad. I still had 2/3 of a container left. I made this strawberry sauce to go on waffles Sunday morning. Everyone loved it. I will probably just make up the rest of the strawberries into this sauce and freeze it for future use. Thanks!