Raspberry Sauce
With fresh raspberries and only 20 minutes, you can have a flavorful and easy raspberry sauce that’s perfect for special occasions, holidays, or even everyday use. This raspberry reduction is a fresh raspberry sauce that will taste amazing with fresh or frozen raspberries.
My family loves putting this on our breakfast foods such as English pancakes, buttermilk waffles, almond milk pancakes, and we even love it in our oatmeal! But it’s also amazing on your favorite desserts like cheesecake, angel food cake and brownies.
Why This Recipe Works
- This raspberry sauce recipe is so versatile! It can be used on and with so many delicious foods. Whether you choose to use this raspberry sauce for cheesecake or use this raspberry sauce for ice cream, you really can’t go wrong. It’s excellent on yogurts and cupcakes too! I like pairing it with my Greek yogurt whipped cream and crepes, using the cream as the filling and the sauce as the topping and I swear it’s heavenly.
- Knowing how to make raspberry sauce is a huge bonus as it’s easy to make and only takes a few simple ingredients. Plus, if you make it for a breakfast, you can use it for a dessert another time! Gotta love those leftovers that also become dessert 🙂
Ingredients
- Raspberries: You can use frozen or fresh raspberries.
- Sugar: The sugar pulls out the juices in the berries, making this raspberry sauce sweet and flavorful.
- Water: To make it a bit more pourable and not super chunky like a jam.
- Vanilla Extract: This gives it a bit more flavor depth.
- Cornstarch: This is the thickener and it makes the raspberry sauce thicker — more like a topping and less like a syrup.
- Butter: You can use salted or unsalted.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add the raspberries to a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and water. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Heat the mixture until it comes to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat and add in the vanilla.
- Next, make a cornstarch slurry. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water until the cornstarch is well mixed.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and stir. Allow to boil for 4-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add in the butter. Stir until the butter has completely melted and is well incorporated into the sauce.
- Allow the raspberry sauce to cool for about 20 minutes and then add in the remaining fresh or frozen raspberries.
- Stir until raspberries are well distributed. Serve this sauce cold or hot over breakfast foods, ice cream, cheesecake and other desserts.
Recipe Tips
Raspberries: You can use frozen or fresh raspberries in raspberry sauce. Adding some extra whole berries at the end allows for a chunky and smooth sauce full of texture throughout the sauce and in my opinion, it’s AMAZING! Feel free to add even more raspberries at the end if you want more.
Be sure to stir while cooking the sauce so you don’t get sticking and burning.
You can serve this sauce cold or hot.
Serve this raspberry sauce on cheesecake, brownies, ice cream, pizookies, pancakes, waffles, etc.
Serve this raspberry sauce as a filling for chocolate cake or chocolate cupcakes, toaster strudels, doughnuts, and so much more!
Storing
Store the raspberry sauce in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to a week. I like using a mason jar with fitted lid and rim to contain it because it’s airtight and easy to pour or scoop from. You can freeze the sauce in an airtight container or Ziplock bag for up to 3 months.
FAQs
Absolutely! Fresh raspberries aren’t always easy to find (or cheap to buy) especially in the off-season. Cut out some of that hard work and cost by buying a big bag of frozen raspberries and you can enjoy this simple sauce whenever you want!
While I’ve never tried, you should be able to freeze and thaw this sauce just fine. Just make sure that the airtight container of choice is also freezer friendly and you should be good to go. Freeze it for up to 3 months and thaw it by placing the sauce in the fridge overnight. You can always reheat it on the stove to warm it up if you’d like to serve it warm.
The cornstarch slurry we made should be good enough to thicken your sauce up pretty well. If you notice your sauce isn’t thickening as you want it to, turn the heat up just a little bit (not much) and boil for a little longer. The cornstarch needs heat to activate and you will also notice that the sauce continues to thicken as it cools, so patience could also be key to a great consistency.
While recipes can differ, the staple ingredients are raspberries, cornstarch, water, and sugar. My recipe uses vanilla and butter in addition for more flavor.
More Raspberry Recipes
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Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz bag frozen raspberries (or fresh) about 2 1/2 cups
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon butter - (salted or unsalted, but I used salted)
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat add 1 1/2 cups raspberries, sugar, and water. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Reduce heat and add the vanilla.
- In a small bowl stir the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan of raspberries. Stir and boil over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened a bit.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter and stir the butter into the sauce until the butter is completely melted.
- Let the raspberry sauce cool for 20 minutes, then add the remaining raspberries (about 1-1 1/2 cups or whatever you have left. Stir to incorporate the raspberries into the sauce.
- Serve over any and all desserts!
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
This recipe was originally published in April 2018. It was republished on Aug. 3, 2021, to include additional information and photos.
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15 Comments on “Raspberry Sauce”
This sauce is to die for and my husband can’t eat his waffles, pancakes, French toast or scones without it now! I’d love to try it over ice cream or cheesecake next!
Does reducing the sugar affect the composition of the sauce? Our berries are ripe and delicious and don’t need that much added sugar. 🙂
You can reduce the sugar with no problems. Let me know how you like the sauce!
Any advice what ingredients to use if I can’t dissolve any amount of starch no matter what?
This sauce is amazing, and it really adds the best flavor for my cheesecakes.
I was wondering though, would this same recipe work for something like peaches or cherries?
Thanks again!
Yes, it’s versatile and should work great with any fruit!
I’d love to hear how it turns out when you try it with a different fruit. Be sure to report back 🙂
Do you know if you can water bath can this raspberry sauce? Thanks!
Umm, I’m not 100% sure. I would think you can…
If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Can this sauce be canned?
I haven’t tried canning it, sorry!
Sounds good! Could it be doubled?
Yep! Go ahead and double it! 🙂
Could I preserve this by canning?
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried canning this. I usually only make one batch at a time and we devour it before it has time to go bad. If you do can the raspberry sauce let me know how it goes.
Wowza! This sauce is goooood!! We served the raspberry sauce over ice cream and everyone loved it.