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 below.

closeup a glass Weck tulip jar filled with strawberry blood orange sauce on a pink and gold vintage venetian wooden tray top down view

a strawberry grown in my planters with a ton of little seeds covering the outside — Homegrown window box strawberries

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.

halved beautiful, bright and sunny Sicilian Tarocco half blood oranges with flesh in varying colors of orange, to red, to pink and yellow bursting with sunshine

ruby speckled blood orange supremed segments on a cutting board (red and orange)

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.

Tarocco blood orange halves juiced and empty with beautiful reds, pinks, oranges and yellows closeup

closeup shot of Tarocco blood orange sugar in a jar next to a glass of tarocco blood orange juice and a stack of partly visible orange halves stacked on top of one another neatly

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.

a smiling face made out of 2 blood oranges for the eyeballs, a strawberry nose and a strawberry smile on a cutting board

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.

a spoon in the jar with homemade strawberry blood orange sauce.

a spoon in the jar with strawberry blood orange sauce

the scraps left from peeling the strawberries and blood oranges

blood orange segments, strawberries in a small pot

blood orange segments, strawberries, and sugar in a small pot

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. Also, 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 more (or less sugar) to get the right balance to suit your tastes. 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)

not yet pureed blood orange and strawberry sauce in the bowl of a food processor

freshly pureed blood orange and strawberry sauce in the bowl of a food processor

a glass Weck tulip jar filled with strawberry blood orange sauce on a pink and gold vintage venetian wooden tray top down view

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 it from the heat and allow it to cool completely if you desire a chunky sauce. For a completely smooth sauce, use an immersion blender to break up the fruit, or add the sauce to the bowl of a food processor, Vitamix, or another blender and process until smooth. You may refrigerate or freeze the jam sauce once it has cooled to room temperature. Enjoy!

Homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce recipe step-by-step photos

a spoonful of perfectly cooked blood oranges and strawberries

Example of how fruit sauce should coat the back of a spoon to know when it’s finished cooking

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

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.

glistening cooking strawberries and blood oranges with sugar

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

- 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.)

a serving platter with a stack of beautiful pumpkin-colored pancakes with melting butter, toasted chestnuts and covered with maple syrup with a wedge cut out to see the fluffy layers.

a stack of six red and blueberry and pecan filled pumpkin pancakes with melting butter on top, maple syrup surrounding i

Whole key lime pie baked in a spring from cake pan.

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

a bite of cheesecake in a small spoon and drizzled with strawberry sauce and a biscoff crust with the rest of the cheesecake in an individual terra cotta ramekin typically used for creme cramel

Biting at the Bit's Colomba French Toast

golden brown crêpe cooking in a crepe pan

strawberry scone with homemade clotted cream and a scoop of strawberry sauce topped with the scone top and the plate dusted with pureed freeze-dried strawberries and three dots of strawberry sauce.

a spoon full of strawberry jam on a plate

top down view of homemade nectarine-strawberry-apricot jam in a glass jar.

closeup of a top down view of vanilla bean cheesecake in rose gold pink foil muffin wrappers with a small Weck Jar filled with easy homemade berry sauce in the middle in colorful contrast to the mini white cheesecakes

Homemade strawberry coulis in my old Brooklyn Kitchen

Looking For More Easy Fruit Sauce Recipes Or Ways to Use This Sauce?

If you’re looking for a few ways to use this strawberry-blood orange sauce, or for a few more easy fruit sauce and easy jam recipes, here are a few of our family’s favorites (in photos above).

Let’s get started!

Homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce

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Author: Kelly
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: About 1 cup of Sauce
Diet: Vegan

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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)

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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 it from the heat and allow it to cool completely if you desire a chunky sauce. For a completely smooth sauce, use an immersion blender to break up the fruit, or add the sauce to the bowl of a food processor, Vitamix, or another blender and process until smooth. 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.
When the sauce is ready, it will 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.

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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15-Minute Easy Homemade Strawberry-Blood Orange Sauce