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Homemade Blueberry Sauce comes together in just a few minutes. Try a spoonful with your morning yogurt, dolloped over a stack of pancakes, or spooned on top of cheesecake for a delicious treat!
I seriously can’t get over the fact that our little babe goes back to school in a month.
I don’t know if it was the fact that it rained the entire month of June or what, but summer has flown by and I’m all kinds of sad about it.
We’re trying to pack as much as we can into these remaining weeks while still saving time for just chilling out at home, eating ice cream and creating some pretty epic chalk designs on the driveway.
If I’m being honest, I have some serious anxiety about her going from half-day to full-day school. Trust me, she’s definitely ready, it’s Mom that’s not.
I just get this overwhelming feeling of missing her so much every single time I think about it. But I’m putting on a brave face and pumping her up for this new adventure, even though I get all teary-eyed every time we browse the school supply aisles at Target.
Everyone told us that time flies, but I just didn’t really get it until now.
One of the things we love to do together is bake – when it’s not sweltering outside. Whether it’s sweets for Elle’s lemonade stand or just a little quality time in the kitchen, we’ve been whipping up chocolate chip cookies, pineapple coconut cake and testing several cheesecake recipes to share with all of you!
If you caught my post for graham cracker crust last week, you know I’m going to share my favorite recipe for vanilla cheesecake this week. But first, I wanted to share this homemade blueberry sauce with you because it is the perfect cheesecake topping!
HOW TO MAKE BLUEBERRY TOPPING FOR CHEESECAKE
I love homemade blueberry sauce. Spooned over a slice of vanilla cheesecake? It’s absolute heaven.
The thing I love the most about blueberry sauce? The fact that it comes together on the stovetop in less than ten minutes with just a few staple ingredients.
That’s right. Fresh or frozen blueberries, water, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch are all you need.
To start, throw the blueberries, a little bit of water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring this mixture to a low boil, stirring frequently.
While the blueberries get bubbly and happy, mix together a slurry with cornstarch and cold water.
Did you know if you add cornstarch to hot liquid, it will clump up? That’s why it’s important to make a slurry, or a mixture of cornstarch and a cold liquid, when using cornstarch to thicken a recipe. Add the slurry to your dish and the cornstarch won’t clump!
Add the slurry to the blueberries and stir, but be careful not to crush the blueberries!
Once the blueberry sauce has thickened, remove it from the heat and stir in vanilla and lemon zest for some extra flavor if you’d like.
Out of lemons? You can use orange juice and zest instead.
HOW ELSE CAN YOU USE BLUEBERRY SAUCE?
So if my recent posts on how to soften cream cheese, making graham cracker crust and how to bake cheesecake in a water bath haven’t made it clear enough, cheesecake is pretty much my fave. Which means serving blueberry sauce as a cheesecake topping is pretty much my fave.
But I also love serving blueberry sauce in a ton of other ways.
I like to stir a spoonful into vanilla Greek-style yogurt and top with a sprinkle of Coconut Pecan Granola for a fun and tasty afternoon snack.
It’s also absolutely delicious spooned over a stack of mascarpone pancakes or vanilla bean waffles for breakfast. Or make blueberry trifles or use it to top cream cheese pound cake for dessert.
Whether you’re serving this sauce up with breakfast, dessert or a midday snack, it’s sure to please the blueberry lover in your life!
Homemade Blueberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lemon about 1 tablespoon, optional
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, 1/2 cup of water, sugar and lemon juice. Stir frequently, and bring to a low boil.
- In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water.
- Slowly stir the cornstarch into the blueberries, taking care not to crush the blueberries. Simmer until the homemade blueberry sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and gently stir in vanilla and lemon zest.
Video
Notes
- The amount of sugar that you use will depend on the sweetness of your berries, simply adjust the amount to suite your taste.
- If this sauce is too thick for you, slowly add in water until you reach the desired consistency.
- No lemons on hand? This homemade blueberry sauce recipe tastes really great with orange juice and zest.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Forgot to add that I used Splenda instead of sugar & it was still perfect.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Wanda!
Just made this to put on a homemade cheesecake & it worked great. We have blueberry bushes & have lots of blueberries so I was looking for a new recipe to use them in. This if fabulous.
I’m not a fan of lemon zest so I left it out but it still turned out perfect.
Great sauce but I think next time I will omit the vanilla.ย
I’m so glad you liked the sauce, Brandi, and you should definitely do what suits your tastes! Take care!
Oops completely out of lemons but did have some lemonade in the fridge. Used instead of water sugar and lemons worked perfectly, just added a little more sugar
That sounds great, Sandy!
Fast, easy, and delicious! I only used 1/4 cup sugar…perfect!
Thanks so much for the feedback, Lynn!
-Jamie
Can you make this by blending the blueberries? I just want a drizzle over cupcakes so whole blueberries wouldn’t work..
Hi, Lauren! I think you can definitely blend the blueberries. The consistency might be a bit thinner, but it should work. I hope you like it!
Hi all. I made this blueberry sauce. It’s a wonderful recipe. Not too sweet and can be served on anything. As I was putting the container of what was leftover in the fridge, I spotted a jar or home rendered pears that was given to us. Well, no one has been eating the cinnamon, preserved, jarred pears so I pulled them out. (A very nice gift but not to our liking.) I drained the pears and cut them into bite size pieces. I then made this recipe using the pears. I try not to waste food. Needless to say, everyone loved the pears sauce just as much as the blueberry sauce. I’m so happy to find this recipe. I’ll definitely experiment with other fruits. Thank you Jamie, for posting.
You’re so welcome, Joan! The pears sound amazing!
Hi- thanks for sharing this recipe. ย I had a bounty of blueberries from my CSA, so I had a hankering for Blueberry sauce on my gluten free waffles. ย I didn’t have any lemons left but a few limes so I subbed them. ย I try not to use white sugar so I substituted raw wildflower honey (my berries were unbelievably sweet so I only needed about 2 Tablespoons) and I subbed Tapioca starch for the cornstarch). ย I think 1 Tb of the tapioca starch would have been sufficient, but it turned out great! ย Can’t wait to use it on ice cream or yogurt! Yummy!
It sounds wonderful, Anne!
Best ever!ย
Our pantry was running pretty low this morning, so I made this blueberry sauce to go with pancakes instead of syrup. It was very good & easy! I didn’t have any lemons so I left that out, and it was still fine (though I would definitely want to include the lemon juice next time).
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kae!