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
We were invited over to some friends’ house today for crepes and I made this as our topping contribution. I had frozen strawberries and blackberries, so I did some of each and it was delicious! Everybody raved about the amazing berry sauce, so thanks for the recipe!
(BTW… strawberry sauce + nutella = perfection!)
This sounds great! If there’s one thing I can’t pass up at the store, it’s strawberries! I’m definitely going to use some of this for lemonade. Maybe I’ll freeze them into ice cubes and use that to cool the lemonade down…
awesome. i want to go to costco tomorrow.
hilarious description at the beginning by the way kate.
I keep reading suggestions for what you could do with pesto. I would like to know what your pesto recipe is like.
Wow! What a colorful post! Cute!
Yey! just in time, I just bought a flat of strawberries yesterday! strawberry lemonade sounds soooo good right now. i also plan on adding some to homemade yogurt so i can have strawberry flavored! You could probably make some awesome virgin strawberry daquiris with it too – Put 2 C strawberry syrup,4 C ice, and 1/4 C lime juice (Fresh squeezed of course!) in the blender and blend away!
Yum! Where was this last week when I accidentally bought a whole flat of strawberries from the little spanish-speaking man on the corner and they were moldering on the counter? LOL.
This is a great recipe to have as it is easily adaptable for use with other berries.
Btw, almond extract rocks! 🙂
~ingrid
Yum, this is the kind of thing I could just drink! By the way, I made your chili-lime steak salad for dinner last night and it was the best salad ever!!! What an awesome recipe. My family devoured it and even wanted seconds! I have a feeling I’m going to be making this baby just about every week now! Thanks for the wonderful creation.
Look how pretty! I love all things strawberries.