Homemade Strawberry Topping
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Fresh, sweet strawberries are simmered to make this sweet Homemade Strawberry Topping with a hint of lemon and vanilla that beats store-bought syrup any day. Serve on shortcake, pancakes, pound cake, ice cream….the possibilities are endless!
Do you have a strawberry patch in your garden? We planted a small patch of strawberries at our old house and ate them as soon as they were ready.
Eating strawberries fresh is my favorite way to eat them. Ok…that is a slight lie. If I had my choice, this shortcake recipe would be calorie free and fat free and I’d eat that with strawberries every day.
Today I’m going to share with you a recipe for homemade strawberry topping.
Why you’ll love this strawberry sauce:
- made with fresh strawberries
- a light syrup
- ready in 20 minutes
- perfect topping for cakes and ice creams
A Secret Ingredient
What makes our strawberry sauce the best? Butter. After the sauce is done cooking you’ll add a tablespoon of butter to the sauce. This makes a deliciously rich strawberry sauce. Don’t skip it…trust me!
How to Make Strawberry Topping
- In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the strawberries, sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved. Heat the mixture to boiling, stirring often. Reduce heat and add the vanilla and lemon juice.
- In a small cup, combine the cornstarch and two tablespoons of water. Mix well.
- Pour this into the boiling strawberry mixture. Stir and boil over medium-low heat for 4 minutes or until the mixture has thickened a bit.
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon of butter and mix until the butter has completely melted. Again…this is the secret! Don’t skip it.
- If you’d like your strawberry syrup to have a nice red color, add a few drops of red food coloring. This is completely optional.
- Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes, then add the last cup of quartered, fresh strawberries. This allows you to have nice chunks of strawberries instead of small strawberry pieces.
What to Serve with Homemade Strawberry Topping
The possibilities are endless, really. Serve on waffles, pancakes, Jell-O cake, shortcake, blend them with ice cream for a milkshake.
Whatever your desire, this simple homemade strawberry syrup recipe with a touch of lemon juice and a hint of vanilla is going to be one you want to save and share with your family and friends this summer.
Can I blend this to make a smooth strawberry sauce?
Yes! If you don’t want chunks of strawberries in your strawberry sauce, blend the sauce with an immersion blender (or regular blender) after cooking to the smoothness that you’d like.
How do you store homemade strawberry topping?
Store the strawberry sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Can you freeze strawberry sauce?
Yes! You can freeze this recipe in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Q: What’s your favorite strawberry dessert?
Homemade Strawberry Topping with Secret Ingredient
Fresh, sweet strawberries are simmered to make a sweet Homemade Strawberry Topping with a hint of vanilla and lemon that beats store-bought syrup any day.
Servings 8
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups quartered strawberries
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 1 additional cup of quartered strawberries
- red food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the strawberries, sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved. Heat the mixture to boiling, stirring often. Reduce heat and add the vanilla and lemon juice.
- In a small cup, combine the cornstarch and two tablespoons of water. Mix well.
- Pour this into the boiling strawberry mixture. Stir and boil over medium-low heat for 4 minutes or until the mixture has thickened a bit.
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon of butter and mix until the butter has completely melted.
- If you’d like your strawberry syrup to have a nice red color, add a few drops of red food coloring. This is completely optional.
- Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes, then add the last cup of quartered, fresh strawberries.
- Serve over whatever dessert you’d like!
- Refrigerate the leftovers.
Video
Notes
The calories shown are based on the recipe serving 8, with one serving being ⅛ of the recipe. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**
Nutrition
Calories: 106kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 79mg | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 120IU | Vitamin C: 28.2mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Do I use granulated or powder sugar?? Thanks!
Can I use flour instead of cornstarch? Just realised I don’t have any
Absolutely delicious! We just picked fresh strawberries today at a local strawberry patch. I just made this and it is AMAZING! I followed the recipe to a T and it came out perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Have you tried it wid frozen strawberries? Would it still taste as good ?
Can one use frozen strawberries in this recipe?
This was so good!! I think I cooked it too long because some of my strawberries looked really soggy. I picked some out and added more fresh cut strawberries. This will be my go to now!!
Absolutely mouth watering.
I made this for my family a few weeks ago. I used it with pound cake and whip cream in a truffle bowl. Delicious. For Father’s Day the family has requested it again. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, this sauce just popped with fresh strawberry flavor. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I emulsified it a bit as another reviewer suggested. Came out fantastic..
I was lucky to get fresh strawberries and this was a quick and delicious place to use them. Served over pound cake and ice cream in was delicious 🦋❤️
Can you put this in the refrigerator??
Just made this for mother’s day! It looks amazing and i can’t wait to taste it! (It’s cooling).
I made this a few days ago for my yellow sheet cake. It’s so DELICIOUS. Today, I doubled the recipe. It really is that good!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
I just ran out of vanilla extract making my whipped cream. Is there any substitution for it or can I omit it altogether?? Will it still taste yummy??
Can this recipe be used for BLUEBERRIES? The strawberry sauce is really good.