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
Thanks for sharing this! I was looking for a quick, easy way to preserve some strawberries I had in the fridge before I left on vacation. Now I have strawberry sauce to look forward to when I get home! 🙂
Since I'm new to this blog I've just found this recipe which will be a simple solution to a recent challenge. I've been trying to think of something that my family will use instead of syrup on our otherwise healthy pancakes in the morning. I plan on trying this recipe but substituting agave nectar for the syrup in order to make it diabetic friendly. I'm very excited to have found this today!
I couldn't make the scrambled egg pockets in the shape of hearts, so instead I made them rectangular, and painted a heart on with food coloring. Turned out really well!
Another dynamite way to have strawberries is in a sauce with chopped kiwi. Yummy & the kiwi are full of antioxidants. I think the strawberries are good sources of Vit C & potassium. Can anyone verify that or correct it?
Just wanted to say that this is absolutely my favourite cooking blog, and all the recipes are great, but this recipe is my favourite without a doubt. The sauce is delicious and so versatile. I put it on waffles, ice cream, in lemonade, atop bananas (and just eat them like that) and, when no one's looking, I might just eat it by the spoonful.
My favourite thing to do with it so far though, is to flavour yogurt. Instead of buying aspartame-filled fruit yogurt, I just buy plain yogurt and throw in a dollop of this sauce, and bingo, strawberry yogurt that I could eat by the gallon! I also used it to make all fruit popsicles. Yum.
Thank you! And FYI, it was divine with blueberries but I did blend them up a bit before bringing them to a simmer since they retain their juice more than strawberries.
Laura, I bet it would be really yummy with blueberries, and either extract.
And if you need some other ideas, try this ice cream:
https://fit-over50.news/2008/06/blueberry-cheesecake-ice-cream.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
or the blueberry pudding pops in this post:
https://fit-over50.news/2009/07/kids-week-frozen-pudding-pops.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Ever tried this with blueberries? Which extract would be better? I came home with a flat of each from Costco only to have my husband inform me that he "doesn't really like blueberries that much." Um, hmmm . . . so I need to get rid of them fast. 🙂
I get strawberries, blueberrie, tomatoes and bell peppers, each week from Costco. Dreamy.
I then concoct recipes to use them with.
I want to try your sauce. Just printed it.
Oh, believe or not, that pitcher is from Walmart! Both Kate and I have it and love it! It only cost a few bucks too 🙂