Make homemade strawberry topping sauce for your desserts or breakfast using fresh strawberries with this simple 10 minute recipe. When strawberries aren’t in season, use frozen strawberries instead.
After publishing no bake cheesecake jars, I figured a completely separate post for the strawberry topping sauce would be appreciated! I actually made a triple batch of it last week when strawberries were on mega sale and froze the sauce in freezer tupperwares. (Freezes and thaws like a dream!)
But this strawberry dessert topping has actually been an essential for years, pairing with everything like pound cake, cheesecake, ice cream, and strawberry french toast casserole. I have plenty more suggestions below and yes, this stuff is totally acceptable at breakfast!
Why You’ll Love This Homemade Strawberry Topping
- 5 simple ingredients
- 10 minutes
- Nothing artificial
- No preservatives
- Made from real strawberries
- Supremely versatile
Isn’t this jar cute?!
What You Need
- Fresh or frozen strawberries: Hulled & halved.
- Cornstarch + water: Mix the two to create a slurry. Without mixing with water, the cornstarch will leave white chunks in your strawberry sauce.
- Lemon juice + zest: Keeps the flavor bright. The sauce won’t taste like lemon, I promise!
- Sugar: Just enough to sweeten the sauce without taking away from the strawberry’s natural flavor.
I include a strawberry compote recipe with my brown butter pound cake. This strawberry topping sauce is almost identical, but I use a little less cornstarch here. Today’s strawberry sauce is on the thicker side, but it’s not quite as thick as the compote. The compote is closer to a jam consistency.
Video Tutorial
How to Make Strawberry Sauce
This strawberry sauce cooks on the stove in about 10 minutes.
- Mix the cornstarch and water together.
- Place everything, including the cornstarch mixture, into a medium saucepan. Mash the strawberries a bit with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. This helps the release the juices and cooks down the strawberries.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. The sauce will begin to thicken.
- Remove from heat and allow strawberry sauce to cool.
This is a chunkier style strawberry sauce, providing wonderful texture to no bake cheesecake, waffles, biscuits, and so much more. But the amount of strawberry chunks is up to you. For less chunks, mash up the strawberries a little more as the sauce cooks.
Prefer a chunk-free sauce? For no strawberry chunks, blend the finished sauce in a blender until you reach your desired consistency.
Endless Uses for Strawberry Topping!
- Cheesecake and no-bake cheesecake
- Mini cheesecakes and no-bake cheesecake jars
- Use as a topping for angel food cake and pavlova
- Serve with pound cake and whipped cream
- Filling for homemade crepes
- Topping for yogurt, oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, and biscuits
- Layer in a trifle or parfait
- Use with strawberry shortcake
- Serve with strawberry cake
What will you use it for?!
Print
Homemade Strawberry Sauce (Topping)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 and 1/2 cups
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You can use fresh or frozen strawberries in this versatile strawberry topping sauce. This topping is fresh, quick, & easy and gives desserts that little something extra!
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) warm water
- 1 lb strawberries, hulled and sliced in half (you can use frozen; don’t thaw)
- zest and juice from 1/2 small lemon (see note)*
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
Instructions
- Whisk the cornstarch and water together until all the cornstarch has dissolved. (I just use a fork to mix– very easy.)
- Place the cornstarch mixture, along with the rest of the ingredients, into a small saucepan over medium heat. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir the mixture as it cooks. Break up some of the strawberries as you stir.
- Bring it to a simmer and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. After 5 minutes, remove pan from the heat and allow to cool. The mixture will thicken as it cools.
- You can serve the sauce warm before it cools completely if desired, or store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Strawberry topping will be thick after refrigeration, so microwave for 15 seconds or warm on the stove to thin out, if desired.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: After the strawberry sauce cools completely, freeze in a freezer-friendly container for up to 3-6 months. Thaw on the counter or in the refrigerator. Warm up in the microwave or on the stove, if desired.
- Strawberries: You need a 1 pound carton of strawberries, which is 16 oz, 3-4 cups, or 450g.
- Other berries: You can substitute other berries such as blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries for the strawberries with no other changes to the recipe. Cherries work too– pit and halve them first. If the berries are extra sweet, feel free to reduce down to 3 Tablespoons of sugar.
- Lemon: Lemon brightens the flavor of the strawberry topping. You need about 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Feel free to skip the lemon zest if needed.
- Chunks: The amount of strawberry chunks is up to you. For less chunks, mash up the strawberries a little more as the sauce cooks. For no strawberry chunks, blend the finished sauce in a blender until you reach your desired consistency.
Keywords: strawberries
I always buy the frozen sweetened Strawberries to put on top of my homemade cheesecakes but my local grocery store was out so I looked online and found this recipe and it’s perfect! Super easy and delish! Saved the day and the cheesecake
★★★★★
I love this recipe!! I’m doing this for my mom for Mother’s Day. I’m 12 years old!
Love this recipe! Quick, easy and amazing
★★★★★
Hi. If the strawberry sauce is too thick, can i add more water to have a smoother consistency?
Hi Valerie, Is it too thick after you have refrigerated it? If so, you can simply microwave for 15 seconds or warm on the stove to thin out.
Hi. After i put the corn starch with water mixture and cook it, it is still quite thick. How do i ensure a smooth consistency? Please advise. Thanks.
You can add more water if you desire a thinner sauce overall. For a smooth sauce with no chunks you can blend the finished sauce in a blender until you reach your desired consistency.
I will give it a try. Thank you for your advice. If i want to make smaller batch of strawberry puree for 2 pax, around how many strawberries do i need to use?
Skip the cornstarch all together, and simply cook the strawberries and sugar until your desired consistency…you will taste the fruit, without the texture of glue!!!
Thank you for your advice. I will try it again.
Can I use this as a filling on a cake?
Hello! We don’t recommend using this strawberry sauce as a cake filling. It’s a little too thin and could spill out the sides. It would, however, be a great filling for cupcakes. See other suggestions above the recipe, too!
You are amazing I don’t know why I never made this before. I have ended up putting it on anything i can make an excuse to put it on. Food is just a delivery system for it now.
note: put some on warm biscuits . mmmmm
★★★★★
Do the cooking times change if using frozen strawberries? Also, if I have frozen whole strawberries, how should I cut them in half?
Hi Piper, it may take a minute or two longer to reach a boil. After that, timing should be about the same. We’d recommend slicing the frozen strawberries in half. Enjoy!
What would you recommend for strawberry filling for a cake?
Hi Corine, I’m sure you could fold some of this strawberry topping into whipped cream to make a cake filling.
You are the best. Thanks!
★★★★★
dont blend it if you dont wanrt the chunks it will turn foamy just continue boiling or simmering your mixture the strawberries will disintegrate and then you can sieve it — great recipe
★★★★★
This is really outstanding!!!
★★★★★
Easy, few ingredients, and great results!
★★★★★
Just made this to put on the loaf pan cheesecake recipe this came with for tomorrow’s dessert! Absolutely cannot wait to try both! A big thank you!
★★★★★
can you freeze the sauce?
Absolutely — see recipe notes for details.
Can the same recepie be followed with a mango?? If not, how could to make a mango sauce for a cheesecake??
Hi Sheena, we haven’t personally tried it, but we can’t see why not. If your mango is particularly sweet, you might choose to reduce the sugar slightly as we mention in the recipe notes. Let us know if you give it a try!
Hey, just tried it…turned out fine, i have a feeling it could have been better so i’ll keep waiting for a recipe on the website! sending Love from INDIA, thank you❤️
Accidentally put in two tablespoons of lemon juice. Can I fix this?
I make mini open faced tarts, and I like the idea of using this recipe for the filling after I blind bake the tarts, because it is less soggy and less likely to water the crust. How long should I bake it in the oven if the crust is already fully baked?
Hi Susan, If you are simply topping fully baked crusts, there is no need to bake this topping after it’s spooned onto your crusts. Enjoy!
Delicious
When I tell you that this was the best thing to ever grace my tongue i’m not kidding. Heavenly. Never had anything better than this sauce. It has no right to be that delicious. If I could marry a sauce this would be the one. Absolutely amazing.
★★★★★
What if I don‘t have cornstarch? Can I use flour instead? Thank you!
Hi Andrea, We haven’t tested it to say for sure exactly how much you would need, but you would need to use more flour than cornstarch to thicken this as much. Let us know if you try it!
This recipe is so simple and tastes amazing! How long does it last in the fridge??
★★★★★
Hi Kristine, you can store this sauce in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. For longer, see recipe notes for freezing instructions.
I’m actually making the no bake cheesecake and the suggested toppings linked me to this recipe. Can I make the sauce and spread it all out on my cheesecake after it’s made if I’ll be refrigerating the leftovers?
Definitely!
Hi Sally,
Can this recipe be used in a layered cake as filling? Will it be too runny if I don’t use gelatin? Thanks!
Hi Keren, We don’t recommend using this strawberry sauce as a cake filling. It’s a little too thin and could spill out the sides. It would, however, be a great filling for cupcakes.
Can I use a water bath canner to store this in mason jars?
Hi Karen! I’m sure you could, but we haven’t tried it yet. Let us know if you do and how it goes.
Hey Sally I was wondering if this topping is supposed to be sour and if not then I messed up. How do I fix it?
Hi Kaitlynne, the sauce shouldn’t be sour — were your strawberries particularly sour? That could be why! Starting with a batch of sweet strawberries will result in a sweeter sauce.
This ended up being way too lemon-y for me. I was going for intense strawberry flavor but it tastes more like strawberry lemonade. Not bad but just not what I was hoping for. I didn’t even use the full amount of lemon juice or zest but they still overpowered the strawberries. I ended up making a second batch without any lemon and I like that one much better. I might try it again some day but add the lemon juice/zest in small bits and tasting along the way.
Hi Sally! What measurement would you suggest to replace strawberries with blueberries?
Hi Ashley, same amount (1 pound)!