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    Home » Recipes » Condiments + Sauces

    10-Minute Homemade Berry (Licious) Sauce

    Published: Nov 14, 2021 · Modified: Oct 16, 2022 by Kelly · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

    Jump to Recipe

    Make this sweet homemade berry sauce to top your favorite cheesecake, pancakes, meringues, or even yogurt. Don't waste your money on storebought syrups or sauces that are filled with unnecessary stuff. All you need is frozen or fresh berries, lemon juice, and sugar. The best part -- this sauce is ready to eat from start to finish in just 10 Minutes! And you get to control the sweetness. Double the recipe for larger crowds or to refrigerate or freeze for easy weekday breakfasts (breakfast for dinner) or desserts.

    bag of frozen Frutti di Bosco mixed berries from Asiago Food brands
    four fresh lemons with leaves in tact in a straw fruit basket
    a view into a pot with frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, currants, and blackberries) and lemon juice and sugar in the middle
    kenny scharf mural on Houston Street in NYC with melting, amazing bright monsters of all colors intertwining with one another in a continuous flow of and endless scenes
    Kenny Scharf mural - Houston & Bowery (NYC)
    kenny scharf mural on Houston Street in NYC with melting, amazing bright monsters of all colors intertwining with one another in a continuous flow of and endless scenes
    Kenny Scharf mural - Houston & Bowery (NYC)
    kenny scharf mural on Houston Street in NYC with melting, amazing bright monsters of all colors intertwining with one another in a continuous flow of and endless scenes
    Kenny Scharf mural - Houston & Bowery (NYC)

    10-Minute Homemade Berry Sauce Ingredients

    All you need to make homemade berry sauce is frozen or fresh fruit, freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice, and sugar. When you see how easy it is, you'll never go back to the store-bought stuff.  A few things to keep in mind is to first understand how naturally sweet or tart the fruit you're using is. You may need to add just a bit more (or less sugar) to get the right balance. A typical "Fruitti di Bosco" fruit mix (various wild Italian berries) like I've used in this recipe, includes blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and red currants which are notoriously tart requiring this recipe to use a bit more sugar. Alternatively, if your berry mix consists of only sweet berries, you may need ta add less sugar and a little more lemon juice. Don't be afraid to play around with the flavors and adjust them to your preferences. Scale up the recipe and refrigerate or freeze the sauce. 

    • 5 ½ ounces (1 scant cup of frozen or fresh mixed berries) (150g) 
    • 2 tablespoons sugar, or more or less to taste (26g)
    • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste (8g)
      showing the entire wall 17 feet by 50 feet with the sidewalk, sky and pedestrians in view giving a perspective of the grand nature of the mural
      Kenny Scharf Mural -Spraypainted without any sketching first [Houston & Bowery Street, NYC, NY]

    What's the Difference Between a Purée, a Coulis, and a Sauce?

    People often ask what's the difference between a sauce, a purée, and a coulis. Although they can be very similar, it's all in the details and mostly boils down to refinement as I've outlined below.

    • Purée. To process food by mashing, straining, or chopping it very finely in order to make it a smooth paste or consistency. Can also be a product produced using this technique like Boiron fruit purée as one example.
    • Coulis. The difference between a purée and coulis is that the fruit (or vegetable) purée is strained by using a rubber spatula to push the purée through a fine-mesh strainer (aka. sieve or chinoise) to remove the seeds and skin resulting in a perfectly smooth texture.
    • Sauce. A liquid accompaniment to food and can contain visible pieces of fruit (or vegetables) or not.
    homemade berry fruit sauce in a spoon above the glass jar filled with bright red and blue sauce
    Frutti di Bosco Jam Sauce (mixed wild berries with skins and seeds)
    deep red homemade berry sauce in a small weck jar in the sunlight.
    Fruitti di Bosco Coulis (seeds and skins removed)

    How to Make Homemade Berry Fruit Sauce From Scratch -- Measure, Cook, Pour, and Store. 

    Making homemade berry sauce or fruit sauce is really easy as long as you follow a couple of foolproof methods which I show you in this recipe.

    1. Measure the fruit + sugar + lemon juice. In a small heavy-bottomed pot, add the fruit, sugar, and lemon juice. 
    2. Cook the sauce. Heat the mixture to a boil and cook stirring frequently for 10 minutes, or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Serve the sauce hot, at room temperature, or even cold, and Enjoy!  
    a view into a pot with frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, currants, and blackberries) and lemon juice and sugar in the middle
    frozen mixed berries that have just started to cook and are no longer frosted, but instead are glossy and brighter than ever and full of juices
    back of a spoon covered completely with fruit sauce
    a spoon with homemade fruit sauce and a finger has swiped horizontally across the back of the spoon leaving a clean spot that the sauce is not dripping into
    homemade berry fruit sauce in a spoon above the glass jar filled with bright red and blue sauce

    What Should the Consistency of Homemade Berry Sauce Look Like?

    We love a good homemade fruit sauce or coulis around here and getting a perfect consistency depends on your preferences and how thick or thin you'd like the finished sauce to be. We like a traditional pourable/squeezable sauce that's not too thin (runny), nor too thick.  It needs to be easily dispensed but not glide straight off of whatever you just drizzled it over. It also shouldn't have the consistency of jam which is more spreadable. (*see example images below of the fruitti di bosco sauce purée and how to strain it and turn it into a seedless, skinless professional berry coulis). 

    • The sauce should coat the back of a spoon and when you swipe a finger through it, the swiped area should remain clean without any sauce dripping down into the "clean" just-swiped area.

    Photos below show the process of turning a fruit sauce into a silky smooth fruit coulis.

    a fine-mesh sieve placed on top of a 1 quart liquid OXO brand measuring cup and filled with hot finished berry sauce
    a fine-mesh sieve placed on top of a 1 quart liquid OXO brand measuring cup and filled with hot finished berry sauce
    the bottom of the sieve with some fruit sauce that needs to be scraped off the bottom into the strained sauce
    the remaining seeds in the sieve after the sauce has been strained
    deep red homemade berry sauce in a small weck jar in the sunlight.
    Fruitti di Bosco Coulis (seeds and skins removed)

    Ways to Customize Homemade Berry Jam Sauce

      • make a berry coulis (pass the hot finished sauce through a fine-mesh sieve or strainer to remove all seeds and skins like in the photos above)
      • citrus zest (incorporate the zest of a lemon, lime, or orange for a little extra citrus flavor without adding more acidity)
      • citrus juice (use freshly squeezed lime, satsuma, mapo, or even orange juice instead of lemon juice to create a slightly different flavored sauce)
      • substitute regular sugar for flavored sugars (use lemon sugar, vanilla sugar, strawberry sugar, or even blood orange sugar to replace regular sugar)
      • mix up the berries and frozen fruit you use (make a single berry sauce, or add in diced mangoes, pineapples, or even pears or apples to give a slightly different flavor and texture to your sauce.
      • spices (sprinkle a little cinnamon, cardamom, or even cayenne pepper into your berry sauce to give it an extra kick.
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    stack of beautifully fluffy golden pancakes with a fat pat of butter melting in the middle of a homemade berry sauce dripping on 3 sides and maple syrup oozing off the pile of pancakes creating a pool around the pancakes
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    golden brown crêpe cooking in a crepe pan
    Pumpkin Cheesecake with a layer of Chestnut Graham Cracker crust in the middle and the bottom

    Ways to Enjoy Homemade Berry Fruit Sauce

    Depending on how you're going to use this sauce, you can make it as sweet or as tart as you want. Here are a few tasty recipes for inspiration and pairing ideas.

    • key lime pie
    • meringue pavlovas
    • white chocolate caramel cheesecake
    • fluffy classic vanilla bean cheesecake 
    • french toast
    • super fluffy pancakes
    • white chocolate creme brùlée cheesecake
    • devil's food cake
    • crêpes
    • pumpkin cheesecake w/chestnut graham cracker layer + graham cracker crust

    Let's get started!

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    📖 Recipe

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    homemade berry fruit sauce in a spoon above the glass jar filled with bright red and blue sauce

    10-Minute Homemade Berry (Licious) Sauce


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    • Author: Kelly
    • Total Time: 11 minutes
    • Yield: 4-6 servings depending on hunger level 1x
    • Diet: Vegan
    Print Recipe

    Description

    Don't waste your money on storebought syrups or sauces that are filled with unnecessary "stuff". All you need is frozen or fresh berries, lemon juice, and sugar. The best part -- this sauce is ready to eat from start to finish in just 10 Minutes! And you get to control the sweetness. Double or triple the recipe for larger crowds and refrigerate or freeze leftovers.


    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 5 ½ ounces (1 scant cup of frozen or fresh mixed berries) (150g)
    • 2 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste (26g)
    • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste (8g)


    Instructions

    1. Measure the fruit + sugar + lemon juice. In a small heavy-bottomed pot, add the fruit, sugar, and lemon juice. 
    2. Cook the sauce. Heat the mixture to a boil and cook stirring frequently for 10 minutes, or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Serve the sauce hot, at room temperature, or even cold, and Enjoy!  

    Notes

    • Refrigerate or freeze leftovers and thaw in the fridge overnight before using.
    • Use a single type of berry if you don't want to use mixed berries. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are all great options for single berry sauces.
    • If you want a seed-free smooth and silky sauce, pass the finished sauce through a fine-mesh sieve pressing on the mixture with a rubber spatula, ladle, or the back of a spoon. Discard the seeds.
    • Prep Time: 1 minute
    • Cook Time: 10
    • Category: Sauces + Spreads + Dips
    • Method: Stovetop
    • Cuisine: American

    Nutrition

    • Serving Size: 2 tablespoons

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    Hi, I'm Kelly! A private chef helping busy families cook and enjoy tastier, healthier meals at home. Born and raised in Arkansas, I've lived and worked in NYC, Sichuan China, and now Northeast Italy. Each of these places impacts the diverse way we cook, live, and celebrate life. You'll find a bit of everything here whether you're new to cooking, or you've made it all. If you love to eat, you're in the right place!

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