This easy homemade strawberry-blood orange sauce is a super tasty way to top all your favorite cheesecakes, pancakes, french toast, strawberry shortcake scones, and ice cream sundaes. Avoid buying storebought syrups or sauces which can be full of preservatives and loaded with sugar because all you need is fresh (or frozen) strawberries a single Sicilian blood orange (or a good Florida or California variety) and a little sugar to make this really delicious sauce. The best part — you get to control the sweetness and it tastes great on just about everything (even by the spoonful♡). Double the recipe and freeze it for an easy dessert or pancake topper for Easter Brunch, or Mother’s Day. For anyone who may be new to cooking (or for little kitchen helpers), I’ve included step-by-step photos at the end of the post.
Blood Orange Vs. Orange –What makes Tarocco blood oranges so special?
Sicily has some of the best fruits and vegetables in the world. The Tarocco blood orange is seedless, super juicy, and has the highest concentration of vitamin C out of any other orange variety in the world. This is mainly on account of the oranges being grown in and around Mt. Etna which is home to some of the best volcanic mineral-rich soil anywhere in the world. While that’s pretty special on its own, these oranges are also known for their superior sweetness compared to regular oranges. Plus, this particular blood orange variety is known to be the sweetest of all the blood orange varieties. You get it, they’re really sweet and full of orange flavor.
Blood oranges are a natural mutation of the orange and are thought to be a hybrid of a pomelo and tangerine. Its deep ruby crimson flesh color comes from anthocyanins which are a family of polyphenol pigments found in many flowers and other types of fruit with beautiful deep colors. However, anthocyanins are not commonly found in citrus fruits which makes blood oranges even more unique. And like so many other great Italian foods, this Sicilian, “arancia rossa di Sicilia” (red orange of Sicily) has protected geographical status or IGP.
The Three Most Common Types of Blood Oranges Come from the Mediterranean
- Tarocco Blood Orange is super sweet and comes from Italy.
- Sanguinello Blood Orange (aka “Sanguinelli” if you find it in your supermarket in the States) – comes from Spain.
- Moro Blood Orange is the darkest and most bitter of the three Mediterranean blood oranges. Its color range varies more widely even reaching an almost black interior flesh and it’s from near and around Syracuse, Sicily.
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. See the photos below for examples of strawberry purée vs. strawberry coulis vs. strawberry sauce.
- 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. Purée can use raw or cooked ingredients.
- 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 Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce Ingredients
All you need to make homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange sauce is frozen or fresh strawberries, a blood orange, and a little sugar. 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. Sweet summer fresh strawberries may require less sugar than say a typical bag of frozen strawberries (without added sugar) which tend to be somewhere in the sweet-but-not-too-sweet range. Also, if you’re not using a Tarocco Blood Orange (which is the sweetest Italian blood orange variety), you may need to increase the amount of sugar called for if the oranges are tart. You can use any orange variety in this sauce, we just happen to really love using the blood oranges. Just don’t be afraid to play around with the flavors and adjust them to your preferences.
- 5 ounces fresh or frozen strawberries (about 10 medium or large strawberries), sliced (150g)
- 3 1/2 ounces flesh only from 1 Tarocco blood orange, supremed (100g)
- 3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons granulated white sugar, or more to taste (45g)
How to Make Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce From Scratch — Measure, Cook, Sieve, and Serve.
Making strawberry-blood orange sauce (or any fruit sauce) at home is really quick and easy. Follow these simple steps and enjoy the taste of sweet strawberries and Tarocco blood oranges on all. your favorite desserts or breakfast goodies.
- Measure the ingredients. In a small heavy-bottomed pot, add the strawberries, blood orange flesh, and sugar.
- Cook the sauce. Heat the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook stirring frequently to avoid scorching for 15 to 20 minutes or until the strawberries are mostly broken down and the mixture coats the back of a spoon (as seen in the berry sauce photo example below). Remove from heat and set aside until ready to serve. You may refrigerate or freeze the jam sauce once it has cooled to room temperature. Enjoy!
Example of how fruit sauce should coat the back of a spoon to know when it’s finished cooking
What Should the Consistency of Homemade Fruit Sauce Look Like?
We love a good homemade fruit sauce 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 thick and somewhat jam-like (hence the name). It needs to be easily dispensed and spreadable on pancakes, but pourable enough that if you top an ice cream sundae with it, it’ll still ooze slowly down the sides. If you’re looking for a more professional strawberry coulis sauce that’ll please any guest, click the link to take you to it. But if you’re in a hurry, this delicious strawberry jam sauce can’t be beaten.
- 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.
Don’t be Afraid to Play Around with Ingredient Amounts
With fruit sauces, it’s easy to play around with the level of fruit and sugar you use and still have great results. You may use the precise measurements called for in the recipe, or simply as a guideline and you’ll be fine. Just add a little more (or less) sugar to taste as necessary. There is something about strawberries and oranges that complement each other so well. And whether you make this sauce with or without a bit of orange zest (or blood orange sugar), it’s always delicious.
Ways to Customize Homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce
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- citrus zest (Incorporate the zest of a lemon, or lime for a different citrus flavor without adding more acidity.)
- substitute flavored sugars for regular white sugar (Use lemon sugar, vanilla sugar, strawberry sugar, or even blood orange sugar to replace regular sugar.)
- mix up the berries you use (Make a multi-berry sauce, or add in diced mangoes, pineapples, or even pears to give a slightly different flavor and texture to your sauce).
- spices (Sprinkle a little cinnamon, cardamom, or even cayenne pepper into your strawberry blood orange sauce to give it an extra kick.)
Ways to Use Homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce
Depending on how you’re going to use this strawberry-blood orange sauce, you can make it as sweet or as tart as you want. Below are a few tasty recipes that this strawberry sauce pairs perfectly with:
- a better key lime pie
- the fluffiest ever pancakes
- meringue pavlovas
- white chocolate creme brùlée cheesecake
- classic vanilla bean cheesecake
- vanilla bean custard Colomba french toast
- easy and delicious classic crêpes
- strawberry shortcake scones w/clotted cream
Let’s get started!
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Homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: About 1 Cup of Sauce
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This 15-minute easy homemade strawberry-blood orange sauce is a super tasty way to top all your favorite cheesecakes, pancakes, french toast, strawberry shortcake scones, and ice cream sundaes. Avoid buying storebought syrups or sauces which can be full of preservatives and loaded with sugar because all you need is fresh (or frozen) strawberries a single Sicilian blood orange (or a good Florida or California variety) and a little sugar to make this really delicious sauce. The best part — you get to control the sweetness and it tastes great on just about everything (even by the spoonful♡). Double the recipe and freeze it for an easy dessert or pancake topper for Easter Brunch, or Mother’s Day. For anyone who may be new to cooking (or for little kitchen helpers), I’ve included step-by-step photos at the end of the post.
Ingredients
- 5 ounces strawberries (about 10 medium to large strawberries), sliced (150g)
- 3 1/2 ounces flesh only from 1 Tarocco blood orange, supremed (100g)
- 3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons granulated white sugar, or more to taste (45g)
Instructions
- Measure the ingredients. In a small heavy-bottomed pot, add the strawberries, blood orange flesh, and sugar.
- Cook the sauce. Heat the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook stirring frequently to avoid scorching for 15 to 20 minutes or until the strawberries are mostly broken down and the mixture coats the back of a spoon (as seen in the berry sauce photo example below). Remove from heat and set aside until ready to serve. You may refrigerate or freeze the jam sauce once it has cooled to room temperature. Enjoy!
Notes
- You may add a little zest from the blood orange, but it may make your sauce a tiny bit bitter. However, the zest from regular Navel oranges and other typical grocery store varieties usually don’t have bitter zest. I’ve just noticed with Tarocco blood oranges (which have super sweet and not bitter at all flesh), sometimes have bitter zest.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Sauces + Spreads + Dips
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
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Homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce recipe step-by-step photos
