Homemade Strawberry Sauce
What could be better than homemade strawberry sauce? This homemade strawberry sauce is easy to make, healthy, cheap and tastes amazing. Making homemade strawberry sauce is much cheaper than purchasing a jar of the stuff, and it’s also easily customizable.
When it comes to strawberry season, there are so many ways to enjoy this delicious and versatile fruit. When not in season, if you can find them at your local food store, take a pint and get cooking.
Making your own sauce is easy and fun because you can customize it based on your favorite flavors and toppings. Homemade Strawberry Sauce prepared with fresh or frozen whole strawberries. Cooked with pineapple juice, orange juice, vanilla bean, organic sugar, and a splash of Grand Marnier Liquor. The sauce can be served as a dessert topping or for breakfast with pancakes, french toast, or waffles.

What’s in the sauce?
The main ingredient in this recipe is strawberries. You can use fresh or frozen berries, depending on what’s available in your area. You can also try using other fruits, such as peaches or nectarines, instead of strawberries. Make sure they are chopped into small pieces before adding them to your food processor or blender. This will help them blend better with other ingredients.
How to use homemade strawberry sauce?
You can use this sauce topping for desserts like ice cream cake or even pancakes! It also tastes great on top of waffles or pancakes with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top! If you’re feeling adventurous, try adding whipped cream and chocolate chips to make an amazing milkshake! Or just spread some on toast with some butter! I love mixing this with plain Greek yogurt and adding granola on top of it. The possibilities are endless!
How to make the strawberry sauce
Homemade Strawberry Sauce is delicious and easy to make, and you can use it on just about anything! Do you want to know how to make Homemade Strawberry Sauce? It’s easy— first, get the ingredients and follow the steps below:
Ingredients
- Fresh or frozen whole strawberries, washed and stems removed if fresh.
- Fresh Pineapple Juice: regular juice if lighter. If using concentrated juice, add a little bit of water to dilute it a bit.
- Fresh Orange Juice: fresh squeezed or store-bought is fine.
- Organic Sugar: I like using this sugar to make baked goods and fruit compote.
- Vanilla Bean: I know it is expensive, but it is worth it. You can also use Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Paste.
- Grand Marnier Liquor: find it in most liquor stores. The alternative is Brandy or Dark Rum (Barbancourt preferably).
Directions:
- Rinse the strawberries, then hull them.
- Add whole strawberries, pineapple juice, orange juice, vanilla bean sugar, and Grand Marnier in a large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Once the mixture starts to boil, uncover and lower the heat. Let strawberries cook slowly until they have released their juices and the sauce is thick.
- Remove from heat and serve with waffles, pancakes, or french toast.

Notes and Tips
Strawberry sauce is one of the easiest things to make yourself, and it’s so much better than store-bought. Here are some tips for making it:
- Use ripe strawberries—you want them soft enough to squish easily with your fingers.
- Chop the berries into pieces that fit in a food processor or blender.
- Make sure you remove all stems and leaves from the strawberries before processing or blending! This will significantly impact how your finished sauce tastes (and looks).
- Use fresh lemon juice and sugar, not store-bought lemon juice or sugar (store-bought versions are often too acidic or sweet).
- If you want your sauce to be smooth, strain it through a fine-mesh strainer before serving!
This strawberry sauce is not hard to make, and if you have the ingredients on hand, it is probably quicker to make than running out to the store to get ketchup. And the next time you make homemade pancakes—or waffles—you will be grateful that you made the sauce at home.
We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Feel free to leave a comment below with any questions or comments concerning the recipe or process.
Homemade Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups of fresh or frozen whole strawberries stem removed
- 1/4 cup fresh pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/3 cup organic sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 – 2 tbsp Grand Marnier Liquor
Instructions
- Rinse the strawberries, then hull them.
- Add whole strawberries, pineapple juice, orange juice, vanilla bean sugar, and Grand Marnier in a large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Once the mixture starts to boil, uncover and lower the heat. Let strawberries cook slowly until they have released their juices and the sauce is thick.
- Remove from heat and serve with waffles, pancakes, or french toast.
Notes
- Use ripe strawberries—you want them to be soft enough to squish easily with your fingers.
- Chop the berries into small pieces that will fit in a food processor or blender.
- Make sure you remove all stems and leaves from the strawberries before processing or blending! This will significantly impact how your finished sauce tastes (and looks).
- Use fresh lemon juice and sugar, not store-bought lemon juice or sugar (store-bought versions are often too acidic or sweet).
- If you want your sauce to be smooth, strain it through a fine-mesh strainer before serving!
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
Corn Allergy:
Always choose ingredients without corn or corn derivatives.
Originally published on April 27, 2014. Revised and updated.