Cherry Sauce
Cherry Sauce using only 5 ingredients is easy to make at home in just 10 minutes! Perfect to use for cakes, cheesecakes, ice cream, pancakes, waffles or any dessert.
I can never pass up on dessert, can you? But when a dessert has fruit in it, it feels almost good for you!
Using the best fruits of the season to make desserts like a tangy Raspberry Compote or Poached Pears in red wine means a truly sweet ending to a meal.
This Cherry Sauce is simple, quick and easy and a great topper for lots of desserts.
Ingredients
This sauce is so simple and needs only 5 ingredients.
- Cherries – fresh or frozen
- Sugar
- Cornstarch (cornflour)
- Lemon juice
- Almond extract
Plus water if you think of that as an ingredient!
Instructions
- Bring cherries, sugar, and water to a simmer.
- Mix cornstarch (cornflour) with water in a small bowl.
- Thicken cherries mixture with cornstarch slurry.
- Cook until thick and clear about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat then stir in lemon juice and almond extract.
- Pour into a small bowl to cool or glass jar to store in the refrigerator.
Can I use canned cherries?
Yes, it’s even more simple if you use canned cherries. The juice in the canned cherries is substituted for the water, lemon juice, and sugar. To make Cherry sauce with canned cherries here’s what you do.
- Use two 15 ounce/415 gram cans of pitted black cherries in syrup.
- Heat in a saucepan until simmering.
- Add cornstarch/cornflour slurry as per the original recipe.
- Thicken and continue as per the original recipe.
This Easy Cherry Sauce is perfect for so many desserts!
There are so many uses for delicious sauces. Use this sauce over cakes, cheesecakes, ice cream, pancakes, waffles or any dessert. This Homemade Cherry sauce is perfect in trifles like my individual Trifle Dessert Cups.
Before I have talked about the many lemon curd uses and similar things apply for this cherry sauce. I also like to spoon it over my yoghurt and gluten free granola for breakfast.
Cherry Sauce is so simple to make especially if you keep frozen pitted cherries in the freezer. You’ll never be without a delicious dessert in minutes. Simply prepared this easy sauce and spoon it over ice cream.
More recipes you’ll love
Blueberry Compote
Strawberry Jam Recipe
Sweet Ricotta Dip
Strawberry Coulis
Trifle Desserts with Mascarpone and Cherries
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Cherry Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh or frozen pitted cherries
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
- 6 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon almond extract optional
Instructions
- Place cherries, sugar and water into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer for 2 minutes (if using fresh cherries you may need a few more minutes to slightly soften the cherries)
- Mix cornstarch (cornflour) with water in a small bowl.
- Lower the heat on the cherries, then pour in the cornstarch and water stirring all the time.
- Increase heat to a simmer.
- Cook until thick and clear about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and the almond extract (if using).
- Pour into a small bowl to cool or glass jar to store in the refrigerator
Notes
Using canned cherries.
Yes, it’s even more simple if you use canned cherries. The juice in the canned cherries is substituted for the water, lemon juice, and sugar. To make Cherry sauce with canned cherries here’s what you do.- Use two 15ounce cans/415gram of pitted black cherries in syrup.
- Heat in a saucepan until simmering.
- Add cornstarch/cornflour slurry as per the original recipe.
- Thicken and continue as per the original recipe.
Nutritional Estimate Per Serving
Nutritional Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. For accurate results, it is recommended that the nutritional information be calculated based on the ingredients and brands you use.
What is the best sub for the corn starch? I am allergic to corn.
Use wheaten starch or arrowroot starch.
Hi Marcelina!! I am going to make the cherry trifle recipe and was wondering if I could add amaretto into the cherry sauce instead of drizzling it? How would you recommend doing this and how much do you think I should add?
Mariah, you could add the 1/3 cup of amaretto directly into the cherry sauce but it would result in a thinner sauce giving a different result. If you really want to add amaretto to the sauce just add half of the amount to the sauce then drizzle the other half on the as per the recipe.
Thank you for the quick feedback! I will be using it for tonight’s dessert
Enjoy!
Making dessert for my mom’s birthday and have fresh cherries in the fridge, thought a compote/sauce would be perfect and found this recipe. Was a o easy to make, most difficult part was pitting the cherries (since my pitter wasn’t extracting all the stones, did end up cutting the cherries in half). Can’t wait to use this sauce on the dessert – Black Forest brownies – chocolate chunk brownies with cream cheese icing and cherry sauce!
Thank you for your feedback, Amy! Yes, pitting cherries without a pitter would be difficult but cutting them in half still works fine. Enjoy your time with your mom!
I see lemon juice and almond extract mentioned in your write up but the lemon juice isn’t listed in the ingredients and neither of these ingredients are listed in the directions. Would you clarify please? I’m excited to make this for a cheesecake topping! ???????? It sounds delicious!
Hi Amy, I’ve updated the post. Hope this helps. This sauce is so wonderful with cheesecake. Remember to let it cool completely before topping the cheesecake. Then refrigerate until cold.
What a great recipe! I’m sure I could find many uses for this Cherry sauce.
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║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ NEW YEAR ☆
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It think that that is my dream sauce! I love anything cherries and love the idea of keeping full cherries in there. So easy and delicious – I can imagine so many different ways to use it!
I think so too, Sylvie! I’ve been making this sauce for years with canned cherries. I’ve only recently branched out to use fresh and frozen cherries. The bonus is that we can make this sauce year round!