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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.
Fantastic sauce – I was licking out the pot afterwards with my finger! LOL! Pour some of the sauce over the blueberry cheesecake I just made and the rest of the sauce is in the fridge to serve with vanilla icecream; yummmylicious!!!
Portia-
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for stopping by and providing your feedback – have a great day!
-Jamie
I served this on homemade buttermilk icecream. They went perfectly together.
This is a fantastic recipe. I upped the corn starch to 3 tbsp and used it as cheesecake topping (you just pour it on to the chilled cheesecake after about 10 min. of cooling and it gels really nicely and stays put). The second time I replaced the water with de-seeded raspberries and it was scrumptious. Thanks!
Ria
I am so happy to hear the sauce turned out so well! Thanks for coming back and commenting on your experience with the recipe. Have a great day!
-Jamie
Jamie, This looks awesome and I love, love, love blueberries! I would like to make it, but I am trying very hard to stay away from added sugar and artificial sweeteners. My sweetener of choice is Stevia. I use it as my sweetener in coffee, teas, and even Zevia brand sodas (sweetened with Stevia). Sometimes I use Xylitol sweetener. Do you know if I used Stevia or Xylitol in your recipe would it work? Thanks for posting your recipe!
Lorraine-
I haven’t tried making this sauce with Stevia, but I would be very interested in knowing how it turns out if you give it a try. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
I tried this recipe and loved it! My family is loving it too and it tasted great over chocolate ice cream (blueberry and chocolate is a surprisingly good flavor combo!)
Joelle-
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the blueberry sauce recipe. Thanks so much for coming back and telling us your thoughts! Have a great day.
-Jamie
I am curious if anyone has ever tried canning this recipe? I have tons of blueberries and would like to use this as Christmas gifts for my staff this year. Do I need to add anything to preserve it? Can I just follow the recipe and do a water bath method? Any suggestions would help! Thanks!
I’m making this for the second time-FANTASTIC!!
Barbara-
So glad to hear this recipe was a success for you! Thanks for taking the time to report back!
-Jamie
Just polished off some classic pancakes with this blueberry sauce. It was absolutely perfect. I just might double it next time so that we have enough to sop up with our pancakes.
I used frozen blueberries because that’s what we had and it was great, but I’m sure it would be even better with fresh blueberries. I tasted the sauce before I added the vanilla and lemon zest and thought it needed something, but then I added the vanilla and lemon zest and it completed the recipe, giving it a full delish flavor.
if you make this, how long will it last in the refrigerator, so you can use it a little at a time?
Allison-
It will last a few days in the fridge, but it freezes beautifully as well! Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
Very good! I had some leftover blueberries to use up and halved the recipe. I subbed lemon lime flavored club soda for the lemon juice, as I did not have any. I can’t wait to have this with whole wheat pancakes this weekend! Thanks for sharing.