Strawberry Topping Recipe

Adding a few spoonfuls of this delicious strawberry topping will help any dessert feel fancier! Perfect to add to a bowl of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, or use it in a recipe like strawberry shortcake ice cream.

This is a great recipe to have stashed in your fridge. It is so much better than what you can buy at the store.

Loaded with great strawberry flavor, this simple sauce is irresistible and delicious! A perfect topping for just about anything (think waffles, cakes, ice cream, or more!). 

What is so great about this is you can make it with fresh or frozen strawberries! When in season, fresh strawberries are a great choice! But you can make this strawberry topping recipe all year long, too! Frozen strawberries are frozen at the peak of season, so they have great flavor, too. Just thaw them out before using them.

What you need:

This recipe is so awesome because there are so few ingredients:

• Strawberries – fresh, in season berries or frozen and thawed. Either works fine!
• Cornstarch – helps to thicken the sauce quicker (so you don’t have to simmer it for hours)
• Lemon juice – keeps the flavor bright. There isn’t enough to really taste the lemon, it just helps bring out the best strawberry flavor.
• Water – helps to break down the strawberries without burning the natural sugars
• Sugar – sweetens the sauce without it being overpoweringly sweet.

How to make strawberry sauce:

This recipe is very simple to make! Here is a brief overview of the recipe to give you an idea of how it works. For the full set of directions and measurements, please make sure you scroll down to the recipe card below!

1. Wash and hull the strawberries. 
2. Cut the strawberries into quarters and divide in half. 
3. Take one half of the berries and dice them into smaller pieces. Reserve these for adding back to the sauce after cooking.
4. Place half of the strawberries into a medium sized saucepan.
5. Add the sugar and use a potato masher to smash the berries a bit to help break them down.
6. Add the water, lemon juice, and cornstarch and stir.
7. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, for 5-8 minutes. The sauce will thicken.
8. Remove from heat, stir in the remaining strawberries and the salt, and allow to cool.
9. When cool, place in a glass jar with an airtight lid.

Store the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.

How do you use this sauce?

This sauce is amazing to add to so many recipes! Try it on:

• Drizzled on ice cream
• with cheesecake
• A topping for angel food cake or pound cake
• A filling for homemade crepes
• Add it to yogurt or oatmeal
• Top your waffles, pancakes or french toast

The possibilities are endless!

Can you freeze this sauce?

Yes! Allow the sauce to cool completely, and then you can place it in a freezer friendly container. It will keep for 3-6 months. 

Can I change the texture of strawberry sauce?

Yeah! How chunky the sauce is depends on you. If you want the sauce to be more chunky, don’t mash the berries as much. If you want the sauce to have less chunks, you can mash all the berries the beginning of the recipe (instead of reserving half for later).

Recipe Variations

You can totally change up this recipe in small ways to make a big impact:

• Try adding more lemon juice and the zest of 1 lemon
• You could add ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• Add the seeds from 1 vanilla pod

Try these other easy sauce recipes:

• Wojapi Sauce
• Apple Cranberry Sauce
• Old Fashioned Hot Fudge Sauce
• Salted Caramel Sauce