This simple strawberry coulis (or smooth strawberry sauce) has an intense strawberry flavor. And while fresh strawberries are great, you can make this strawberry sauce with frozen strawberries too – it’s convenient, just as bright a flavour and you can make it any time of year.
Dessert sauces made from fruit are often so simple and quick to make plus they have the bright, fresh flavour that’s wonderful with so many desserts. Strawberry coulis is essentially a strawberry puree, with just a little sugar and cornflour (cornstarch) for thickening.
It has a sweet and delicious taste and seriously takes less than 15 minutes to make.
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What is a coulis?
Coulis is a French word for a fruit or vegetable puree or sauce.
As opposed to this strawberry compote, filled with chunks of strawberries, strawberry coulis is a smooth sauce. The only difference is the chunks of fruit. Coulis has all the flavour of a strawberry topping and can be used in the same ways. These macerated strawberries are another way to have a lovely strawberry sauce with your ice cream, cheesecake or french toast.
Do you use fresh or frozen strawberries for strawberry coulis?
You can use frozen or fresh berries for this coulis recipe. The benefit to using frozen strawberries is the convenience and ability to make this sauce any time of year. If you do use fresh, make sure they are beautifully ripe as you’ll get the best flavour that way.
I use frozen fruit a lot. In my oats, in this strawberry sauce and I’ll even bake with frozen fruit. It’s versatile and very convenient and it’s frozen quickly after it’s picked to lock the flavour in.
How to make strawberry coulis
There are two ways to go about making your strawberry coulis. Blend first or blend last.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
Option 1: Blend first
- Add strawberries (thawed if using frozen), sugar, lemon juice and cornflour (cornstarch) to a blender and blend to a thick puree.
- Pour into a medium saucepan and cook, stirring often over medium heat until it gets thick and darker in colour (about 10 minutes).
- Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve (I like to do this twice). Alternatively, you can squeeze it through cheesecloth or muslin.
- Pour into preserving jars to store.
Option 2: Blend last
- Add the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and cornflour to a medium saucepan and stir well.
- Stir over medium heat, letting it come to a simmer and stirring often until the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries have released plenty of liquid.
- Blend with an immersion blender (or transfer everything to a regular blender with the vent open, or food processor) until smooth.
If you want a chunky strawberry sauce, see my homemade strawberry topping.
Uses for strawberry sauce
- Freeze it to use as popsicles or as sorbet
- Serve warm over pancakes and waffles
- Use it in or over cakes or cheesecake
- Serve it over a panna cotta
- Pour it over a tart like this strawberry frangipane tart
- As a flavouring for milk shakes and in smoothies like in this strawberry milk
- I used it as a base for my no bake strawberry cheesecake too
- Add it to overnight oats with some yogurt
- Top your rice pudding with a spoonful of strawberry coulis.
I could go on. There are so many ways to enjoy this.
Can you freeze strawberry coulis?
This sauce will keep well in the fridge for up to 4 days in sealed preserving jars but if there is any leftover, it freezes well too.
I like to freeze this the same way I freeze my basil pesto and that is on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Once frozen, break into pieces and store in a ziplock bag with baking paper between them, so you can take out just as much as you need. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can use a large ice cube tray to freeze portions too.
Variations
- You can make a coulis with many types of berries. Try raspberries, blackberries or blueberries in this recipe in place of the strawberries.
- You can also swap the fresh lemon juice for lime juice or orange juice for a slightly different flavour.
- A little vanilla extract can add a warming flavour to your strawberry coulis.
I originally made this sauce to use with my strawberry swirl cheesecake, however I’ve since refined and updated this recipe to work beautifully as a standalone sauce; post and photos reflect the new and improved version. This version will still work in that cheesecake.
Such a gorgeous and quick strawberry sauce and it’s also really versatile. You can make a sauce with just about any berry the same way.
More fruit sauces and curds
- Raspberry Compote
- Blueberry Topping (Blueberry Compote)
- Blackberry Compote
- Homemade Strawberry Topping
- Fresh Cherry Sauce (Cherry Compote)
- Blackberry Curd
More fruity desserts
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Did you try this easy strawberry coulis recipe?
Show it some love with a comment and rating below.
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Ingredients
- 500 g fresh or frozen strawberries (notes, 1.1lb)
- ⅓ cup white sugar (notes)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 teaspoons cornflour (US cornstarch)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- If using frozen strawberries, let them thaw first.
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend to a puree.
- Add the puree to a saucepan over medium heat and stir regularly, letting it come to a bubble.
- Once big, thick bubbles starting breaking the surface cook for a further 2-3 minutes until thick and darkened in colour a little.
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. You may need to do this a couple of times to get rid of as many seeds as possible.
- If using fresh strawberries, you may need to thin your sauce with a little water.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Serve over pancakes, waffles, cheesecake, cakes, in milkshakes or even in popsicles.
- You can swap the sugar for ¼ cup of maple syrup for a naturally sweetened coulis.
- Store up to 4 days in the fridge in airtight preserving jars.
- Freeze up to 2 months.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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22 Comments on “Strawberry Coulis Recipe”
Thank you for sharing this great recipe! It’ delicious and easy to make.
I use the sauce in my 4 brick 9 inch cheesecake recipe. I use half of it swirled inside and the rest on top before baking. In other words: I pour half of the cheesecake batter onto the crust, then half the sauce, then the rest of the batter before swirling in the rest of the sauce. Then bake. I like to double the recipe to have extra sauce when actually eating the cheesecake, while my husband does not like to add extra sauce. But my whole family loved this sauce in the cheesecake, it is so delicious and I’ve been recommending it to others! For this particular purpose I love that it is smooth and not lumpy. The flavor is great and the thickness is nice as well, although it would have been fine if it was thicker for cheesecake use. Overall I would say it is perfect for just about any use. Thank you!!
Sounds wonderful, Terese. I’m so happy you love it.
Recipe is very good.
Next time I make this I will blend the strawberries and then strain the seeds out before adding sugar and cornstarch and cooking to thicken. I think it will be quicker.
Yes, that can work too. The reason I cook it with the seeds in, is the natural thickening that the pectin in the seeds does.
This is the best sauce. Good make it for my cheesecakes, delicious. Can you use this recipe this with other fruit, like blueberries?
I’m so happy you love it, Petrina. Technically, it can work but I have separate recipes for these;
1. Raspberry compote (raspberry sauce)
2. Fresh cherry sauce (cherry compote)
3. Blueberry Topping (blueberry compote)
4. Blackberry compote
Hope those help 🙂
The sauce was easy and delicious. I used frozen strawberries and it was delicious. The leftover sauce I used in my smoothies.
So happy you loved it Kim 🙂
I used this sauce in a cheesecake recipe. Instead of cornstarch, I used ground flaxseeds as a way to sneak more fiber into it. The remaining sauce I used to make gummies for my kids and they loved them!
Great tips Seleana. I’m so happy you all enjoyed it in so many ways.
Just wondering… how much does this make? What portions should I use if I want to make the strawberry swirl cheesecake, and not have a ton leftover?
It will make just over a cup, Kaitlyn. I’d suggest making the full recipe. You can freeze any leftover sauce. It’s perfect for pouring over ice cream or pancakes another day.
Thank you!!
Marie, what a great idea. I would have never thought of that with the leftover strawberry sauce. Having leftover sauce for pancakes and ice cream sounds so good. I love both so I will be making this sauce just for those. Thank you, Nana
It’s really delicious over both.
I love that this recipe uses frozen strawberries which means I can enjoy this even when strawberries are not in season!
That’s right. Thanks so much Trang
this works with redcurrants fyi to those wondering
Thanks so much Francesca. Very helpful 🙂
Can I use fresh strawberries? Thanks.
Hello Marketa, yes you can. I had it in the post but not in the recipe card so I’ve updated it now.
Thanks a lot!