This strawberry topping recipe has 4 simple ingredients and can be made with either fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries. Strawberry lovers are going want to spoon this strawberry sauce over pancakes, shortcake and cheesecake and so much more!

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Strawberry topping is wonderful on pancakes, waffles, shortcake, cheesecake, poured over any of these Cuisinart ice cream maker recipes, folded into a crepe, with sous vide creme brulee, as a topping for Oreo cheesecake, on toast or served alongside lemon blueberry bread, or rhubarb cake.
Jump to:
- What ingredients do you need to make strawberry topping?
- How to make strawberry topping:
- Can you double this recipe?
- ❄️ Storage tips if you have leftover potato casserole
- Can you freeze strawberry topping?
- How long do you store strawberry topping in the refrigerator?
- 👩🍳 Chef Tip
- 📝 Frequently asked questions, answers and tips:
- 📖 Recipe
- 👩🏻🍳 Sarah Mock
- Comments
What ingredients do you need to make strawberry topping?
- strawberries
- lemon juice
- vanilla extract
- sugar
How to make strawberry topping:
- Cut cleaned, hulled strawberries into quarters and measure out 2 cups.
- In a medium sauce pan, add the quartered strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
- Stir over medium high heat, bring the sauce to a boil, stirring to prevent burning.
- Allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- Remove from the heat and cool completely before storing in the freezer or refrigerator.
Can you double this recipe?
This recipe will yield 1 ¾ cups of strawberry topping. I have doubled and even tripled the recipe with excellent results.
❄️ Storage tips if you have leftover potato casserole
Can you freeze strawberry topping?
I freeze my extra strawberry topping in vacuum seal bags. Just be sure to manually seal them before the moisture reaches the seal edge. I also portion out the topping into 1 ¼ cup portions. This is ¼ cup of strawberry sauce per person in our house for a pancake breakfast.
If you don't have a seal and vac system, use a freezer safe plastic zip top bag and be sure to force out as much air as possible before sealing the bag. Additionally, a freezer safe container would work week for freezing the topping.
How long do you store strawberry topping in the refrigerator?
I store my strawberry topping in a closed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. It is usually eaten before the 2 weeks is up!
👩🍳 Chef Tip
- At the 13 minute mark of simmering the sauce, add ¼ cup of chopped strawberries. These berries will not break down as much as the other strawberries in the recipe, giving you firmer strawberries in the sauce in addition to the tender berries.
- Fresh lemon juice is best but use bottled if that is all you have available.
📝 Frequently asked questions, answers and tips:
A pint of strawberries is 16 ounces or one pound. Commonly strawberries are sold in pint plastic clamshell containers in the grocery store. If your recipe calls for a quart of fresh strawberries you are going to need 2 pint containers to make the quart.
It is best to wash the strawberries and remove the green stem just before cutting them to cook them down. Don't let the strawberries soak in water as they might absorb the water and start to break down quicker.
A quart of strawberries is approximately 32 ounces or 2 pounds. This is the rhyme I use to remember how many pints are in a quart. A pint is a pound, the world round. There are 2 pints in a quart and 4 quarts in a gallon. 128 ounces in a gallon.
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📖 Recipe
Strawberry Topping Recipe
There is more to a recipe than just the recipe card. Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Ingredients
- 2 cups strawberries (diced (plus ¼ cups))
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Cut cleaned, hulled strawberries into quarters and measure out 2 cups.
- In a medium sauce pan, add the quartered strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
- Stir over medium high heat, bring the sauce to a boil, stirring to prevent burning.
- Allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- Remove from the heat and cool completely before storing in the freezer or refrigerator.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
Nutritional facts are estimates and are provided as a courtesy to the reader. Please utilize your own brand nutritional values to double check against our estimates. Nutritional values are calculated via a third party. Changing ingredients, amounts or cooking technique will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
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👩🏻🍳 Sarah Mock
CEO/Owner/Founder/Culinary Blogger
Sarah Mock is a classically trained Chef and graduate of Johnson & Wales University. A culinary blogger for 14 years Sarah helps the home cook prepare her recipes with professional results.
Sarah Mock
thank you for the compliment Tammy! I appreciate it. This is my favorite strawberry topping recipe and I am so glad you love it as much as I do.
Sarah
Tammy Hull
I love this recipe. I use it on cheesecakes I make for our school auction. I also make a little extra to put on strawberry and vanilla ice cream. It's very tasty and real easy to make.
Sarah Mock
Lib,
Yup! go ahead and leave it out. It just helps with adding a bit of acid to the topping. It will also help keep the strawberries from looking 'muddy' after a few days. I am sure your topping will be good without using lemon juice.
Sarah
Lib
Sounds delicious. I know you said bottled juice can be subbed got fresh lemon juice. But can it be left out entirely? I have a relative who is supposed to avoid lemons (not an allergy.) I wouldn't think 1/2 teaspoon in 1 3/4 cups of sauce would cause problems but I'm not sure.