This simple homemade raspberry sauce includes the perfect combination of fresh raspberries with a little citrus and sweetness for the perfect topping for your favorite dessert! It’s the ultimate sauce for angel food cake or your favorite cake recipe!
Ever since I saw Sandra Lee make a homemade raspberry sauce on Food Network years ago, I’ve always wanted to try making my own.
Hers was pretty much a combination of frozen raspberries and powdered sugar mixed together. It was good but not great.
This homemade raspberry sauce is great.
The raspberries are mixed with a little citrus and some sweet sugar for a complex sauce that makes the perfect addition to any of your favorite desserts. It’d be really good with these mini cheesecakes, or even on this chocolate lava cake!
It’s definitely my favorite raspberry sauce for cake!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Use it on all sorts of desserts – this sauce is super versatile so you could make it and use it on all sorts of different desserts!
- Easy to make – this recipe is as easy as literally just mixing the ingredients together in a pot on the stove until they’re combined.
- Great flavor – unlike some raspberry sauces that have a super tart flavor because of the raspberries, the citrus cuts that a bit to make it a more complex flavor that everyone will love!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Lemon – you’ll use the lemon for both fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. I highly recommend using fresh rather than bottled lemon juice.
- Raspberries – I highly recommend using fresh raspberries in this sauce. If you can’t get fresh, frozen will work in a pinch but you need to make sure to thaw and strain them completely first or the extra liquid will dilute the sauce flavor.
How to Make Homemade Raspberry Sauce
The first thing you need to do is combine half of the raspberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and bring it to boiling. Stir them together until the sugar is completely dissolved into the raspberries.
Once the sugar is dissolved, reduce the heat and add the rest of the raspberries, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir to combine them all well together in the pan.
While that is heating, combine the cornstarch with 1 TBS of water in a small cup or bowl and mix well. This step is important so that the cornstarch thickens the sauce, not just coats the berries.
Once the cornstarch is mixed, pour it into the hot raspberry mixture. Stir it in well.
Boil the mixture over medium to low heat for another 4-5 minutes until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove the pan from the heat and either serve warm or allow the sauce to cool and serve cooled.
Serve on top of your favorite desserts, with fresh fruit instead of a fruit dip, or even just set it out on a dessert board for people to add to their dessert choices! Even better when you serve with fresh raspberries on top!
Expert Tips
Don’t turn the heat on too high. You want to keep it at medium-low to allow the flavors to combine together well without scorching the sauce.
Keep the sauce in the refrigerator for up to a week in an airtight storage container.
Recipe FAQs
I do not recommend freezing this raspberry sauce. Use it within a week or toss.
Raspberry sauce goes great with mini Oreo cheesecake, with sopapilla cheesecake, and with these no bake desserts! It also makes a great sauce for angel food cake or just regular cake!
More Easy Desserts
If you like this homemade raspberry sauce, you’ll love these other fruity desserts!
- Brownie fruit pizza – like a traditional fruit pizza but better because it’s made with a brownie crust!
- Blueberry whipped cream – another great fruity topping for your favorite desserts and only three ingredients to make!
- Chocolate covered rice krispie treats – these delicious chocolate dipped rice krispie treats are upgraded with a burst of fruity flavor!
- Glazed cherry cake – an old-fashioned cherry cake with a nice sweet glaze on top!
- Cherry cheesecake cookies – like cherry pie and cheesecake wrapped up in one simple cookie recipe!
Homemade Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups fresh raspberries
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 TBS water
Instructions
- Add 1/2 of the raspberries and the sugar to a saucepan. Heat the mixture over medium and bring to a boil, stirring often until the sugar is dissolved.2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries, 3/4 cup sugar
- Reduce heat to medium-low and add the remaining raspberries, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir to mix in.2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries, 1 TBS fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp fresh lemon zest, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Combine the cornstarch and one TBS of water in a small cup and mix well.1 tsp cornstarch, 1 TBS water
- Add cornstarch mixture to the hot raspberry mixture in the pan. Stir and boil over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove the pan from heat and either serve warm or allow to cool and serve at room temperature.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info
Update: This was post was originally written in 2014 with a homemade raspberry sauce using frozen raspberries. It has since been updated with a new raspberry sauce recipe. If you’re looking for the old one, you can find a printable version here.
Allie says
Yummy any time of year but especially fun at Christmas time served over ice cream al a mode.
Cristal says
Had this with our brownies sundaes last night a big hit!
Deanne Wheaton says
I love this recipe so much. You make everything look so fun and easy to make 🙂
Daniella Palmucci says
Mmm I’ll have to try this!
Megan Charlesworth says
I pour this over our dessert crepes! Amazing!!
Victoria Faherty says
Hmmmmm…imagine this over french toast or Belgian Waffles!!
Karen Preator says
Nothing better than raspberry sauce and this one is delicious!
Anne Sanders says
Awesome recipe, great taste and super simple!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
I always forget how much I like angel food cake until I see it on a blog. Love this!
Chelsea says
This is so easy and looks so good! I have come to really appreciate those types of recipes now that I have two kids! Thanks, Britni!