This sweet and tart Cherry Sauce is a delicious and simple way to add a fantastic finishing touch to your desserts. It’s ridiculously versatile and an absolute knockout drizzled over ice cream, cakes, or pancakes. This easy Cherry Sauce recipe is made with frozen sweet cherries, so it’s also incredibly budget-friendly. But you can also use fresh sweet cherries, which are really easy on your wallet when they’re in season. Win!!
What Is Cherry Sauce?
Cherry Sauce is a tangy syrupy dessert dressing made with fresh or frozen cherries. It can be served warm or cold as a topping for ice creams, pancakes, waffles, flan, and cheesecake. This easy cherry sauce recipe is also wonderful drizzled over chocolate, lemon, and vanilla cakes! It can also be used as a filling for Cherry Pie and Cherry Turnovers. (OMG, am I making a Cherry Sauce-inspired dessert table at my next brunch? Don’t doubt it!)
Ingredients for Cherry Sauce
I love that you can cook this yummy Cherry Sauce in about fifteen minutes with very minimal effort. And then all you have to do is not eat it all in before you pour it over your favorite dessert. (That’s a lot harder than it sounds. Trust.) Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy Cherry Sauce recipe:
- Sweet Cherries: have more sugar and less acidity than tart cherries. They’re usually labeled Dark Sweet Cherries. You can use fresh or frozen dark sweet cherries or mixed variety cherries. If you use tart cherries (usually a lighter brighter red) you’ll have to up the sugar content of this sauce by 2 to 4 tablespoons of sugar, depending on the tartness of the fruit.
- Sugar: Helps to sweeten the sauce and balance out the natural tartness of cherries. We use granulated white sugar but feel free to use brown sugar for deeper caramel notes.
- Lemon: The zest adds a nice citrus note to the sauce while the juice also adds flavor and naturally thickens the sauce with pectin.
- Cornstarch: helps thicken the sauce and gives it a glossy finish.
What To Serve With Cherry Sauce
Cherries pair perfectly with the flavor of almonds, lemon, orange, cream, caramel, cheese, vanilla, and chocolate. These are just a few of the recipes it will take over the top:
How To Store Cherry Sauce
Once the sauce has cooled, refrigerate it in an airtight container. It will keep for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze Cherry Sauce. Store it in an airtight container with plastic or beeswax wrap directly on the surface of the sauce. It will keep for up to 3 months. Then, thaw it out in your refrigerator overnight.
Cherry Sauce
Servings 16 (2 Tbsp each)Ingredients
- 2 cups frozen or fresh sweet cherries ($3.33)
- ½ cup sugar ($0.22)
- 1 pinch salt ($0.01)
- 1 lemon ($0.30)
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.03)
- 3/4 cup water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Place a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add cherries, sugar, salt, and 1/2 cup of water. Stir to incorporate and bring the mixture to a soft boil.
- Use a vegetable peeler to zest the lemon in long strips. Then juice the lemon. Add the zest and just 1/2 tablespoon of the lemon juice to the pot. Stir to incorporate.
- In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch into the remaining 1/4 cup of water until it is completely dissolved and creates a slurry. Add the cornstarch slurry and stir until incorporated. Boil the sauce for at least one more minute to activate the cornstarch.
- Continue to stir until the syrup in the cherry sauce is bubbling softly and has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take the cherry sauce off the heat, allow it to cool, and remove the strips of lemon zest. It will thicken as it cools. Enjoy!
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Nutrition
How to Make Cherry Sauce – Step by Step Photos
Place a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add 2 cups frozen cherries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup of water. Stir to incorporate and bring the mixture to a soft boil.
Use a vegetable peeler to zest 1 lemon in long strips. Then juice the lemon. Add the zest and just 1/2 tablespoon of the lemon juice to the pot.
In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch into the remaining 1/4 cup of water until it is completely dissolved and creates a slurry. Add the cornstarch slurry and stir until incorporated. Boil the sauce for at least one more minute to activate the cornstarch.
Continue to stir until the syrup in the cherry sauce is bubbling softly and has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take the cherry sauce off the heat, allow it to cool, and remove the strips of lemon zest. It will thicken as it cools. Enjoy!
Could I substitute a small bit of agave if I’m avoiding white sugar?
Hey, Sean. I would substitute brown sugar if you can. I think agave would be ok. Sometimes agave can be overpoweringly sweet (I don’t usually do a 1:1 ratio when I am using agave instead of white sugar) and it’s already in syrup form, so I’m not sure what the thickness/consistency will be after cooking without testing it first. Let us know how it goes! Sounds delicious either way!
Hello
Can you put this through a blender to make a smooth pouring sauce?
Thanks
Sure! You may want to strain it through a sieve after if you want it to be REALLY smooth.
I used frozen blueberries instead of cherries because that’s what they had at the store, and it turned out great! I really enjoyed it with yogurt. Looking forward to trying it on pancakes for “breakfast for dinner” tomorrow. Also looking forward to the lemonade I’ll be making with the leftover juice from my lemon :)
Do you need to take the pits out first?
Yes, if you’re using fresh cherries then remove the pits. Frozen cherries will already be pitted. :)
Do you know if this can be preserved, like jelly?
Unfortunately we’re not experienced with canning, so I’m not sure.