Make this delicious, healthy strawberry sauce recipe for fresh eating, refrigerating, freezing or canning. Sweetened with honey and made with natural pectin, this is a healthy alternative to store bought berry sauces!

A bowl of strawberry sauce for spreading on pancakes or waffles.

When I first started preserving this delicious berry, I would freeze strawberries whole, make home canned strawberry jam or even turn berries into a delicious strawberry vinegar.

But then one day, I realized I was constantly pulling out our frozen strawberries, so I could make a quick, stovetop sauce with them! That's when I knew our family would benefit from a good, strawberry sauce recipe that could be preserved.

I prefer to water bath can my strawberry sauce so it's ready at the pop of a lid, but you can freeze it for months, or refrigerate it for several weeks.

This recipe is low sugar and uses honey for sweetener. I also use a natural pectin that doesn't contain corn-based sugars or corn products. It doesn't require sugar for gelling or thickening.

You can even reduce the amount of honey, if desired!

If you're looking for a healthy strawberry sauce recipe, this might the right fit for you.

Difference Between Strawberry Syrup and Strawberry Sauce

Strawberry syrup is thickened strawberry juice. Most of the time, berry solids are strained out, so it's free from bits of fruit and flows out of the bottle like...syrup!

Strawberry sauce contains juice, but it has delightful chunks of red strawberry floating throughout.

Strawberry sauce spooned on a saucer, to show the chunks of strawberries in the red sauce. — My strawberry sauce is thicker than syrup, but not quite so thick as a strawberry jam.

Around here, we prefer sauce. I like having chunks in my fruit toppings, and it's more economical than juicing your berries and tossing the solids!

Ingredient List

Strawberries

You can use fresh or frozen strawberries for this recipe.

Fresh strawberries: if using fresh berries, go ahead and slice fruit into 1/4 inch rings or roughly chop them.

Frozen Strawberries: add whole frozen strawberries or frozen sliced berries to a stockpot and cook until soft.

The key thing when making sauce is to measure out your berries after they've been cooked and juices have released. This way you'll get accurate measurements for the addition of

Honey

Using honey is a great way to make your strawberry sauce a leetle healthier. In this recipe, you can add honey slowly and stop whenever it suits your taste.

Important note: jam with lower honey content will spoil faster. Sugars (natural or otherwise) are a preservative. If you significantly lower the honey in your recipe, be sure to use smaller jars your family will eat within the week.

Natural Pectin

When using honey in a jam or sauce recipe, I highly recommend using Pomona's Universal Pectin. This pectin doesn't contain corn products or corn-based sugars. Instead it's made entirely from citrus pith and used calcium to thicken the berries (vs a 5 pound bag of sugar).

Important note: be sure to follow directions carefully when adding calcium and pectin to jam. It's a bit different than the norm.

Tools You'll Need

Basic Equipment

stockpot for making jam
long handle spoon for stirring hot jam
funnel
7 pint jars
7 pint lids & bands
small bowl & spoon for mixing honey and pectin together

Special Equipment for Canning

Canning pot
Jar lifter
cooling rack

How to Make Healthy Strawberry Sauce

Important note: if you plan to water bath can your strawberry sauce, set the canner on to boil before you start the sauce-making process. For freezing or refrigerating, just follow the directions below.

Slice fresh strawberries into 1/4 inch thick rings and roughly measure out 17 cups.

Using frozen strawberries? You can skip this step!

Slicing fresh strawberries into 1/4 inch rings and measuring sliced fruit in a measuring bowl.

Measure berries into a stock pot, until you have approximately 17 cups. Cook the berries under high heat, until they begin to soften.

Remeasure lightly cooked fruit (you should have about 12 cups), and add more strawberries if you are short 12 cups. If you have extra, set cooked berries aside or use them for refrigerator sauce.

Lightly cooking strawberries on the stovetop to soften the fruit before adding pectin and honey.

In a small bowl, measure out 2 cups of honey, then measure out 4 teaspoons of Pomona's Universal Pectin. Stir the two together, until well incorporated.

Measure Pomona's Universal Pectin powder into honey, and mixing the two to combine before adding to cooked strawberries.

Return to the stockpot and measure in 4 teaspoons of calcium water (which comes with your package of Pomona's Pectin). Stir it in.

Measuring calcium water into cooking strawberries before adding honey and pectin.

Add the honey and pectin mixture to the stockpot, and stir it in well. Turn the heat to high and cook until the sauce bubbles.

Adding honey and pectin to hot berry sauce on the stove top.

Once a bubble is accomplished, it's time to ladle hot berry sauce into jars! From here, you can choose your preserving method and follow directions below, or in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Preserving Methods for Strawberry Sauce

Refrigerating

If you fill your jar to the brim with strawberry sauce and cover it with a tight fitting lid, the sauce will last 2-3 weeks (maybe 4 if you're lucky!) in the fridge.

Ladling hot strawberry sauce into pint jars (500 ml) using a white funnel to keep things clean.

Yes, that's all! Sugar is natural preservative and when you lower the amount in a recipe, foodstuff spoils much, much faster.

But if you're in a pinch, this short term preserving method is easy and gives you fresh strawberry sauce for several weeks.

Helpful tip: be sure to use a clean spoon to lift out the sauce, to help prevent mold or spoilage.

Freezing

It's easy to freeze these preserves! Just fill your jars with strawberry sauce, let things cool to room temperature, then add a tight fitting lid and freeze in an upright position.

Adding a lid to a jar of strawberry sauce, so it can be preserved in the freezer.

Really. It's that simple.

Helpful tip: don't freeze large jars of jam, unless you will use the entire jar in 2-3 week's time.

Canning

If you want shelf stable strawberry sauce, water bath canning is a great idea. In fact, it's my favorite method for preserving this recipe. Canning is wonderful because all you do is pop a lid and presto! Your strawberry sauce is ready to go!

Lifting a jar of canned strawberry sauce from a small, boiling water pot.

The process is simple, and I have detailed instructions for you in the printable below.

Extra Tips for the Best Strawberry Sauce

Always measure out berries (whether fresh or frozen) after they have been heated and release juices.
Remember to follow directions carefully the first time you use Pomona's Pectin!
- Calcium water should be stirred into hot berries on stove.
- Pectin must be stirred into honey before adding to hot strawberries.
If you want to adjust sweetness, stir pectin into 1 cup of honey and stir into berries, slowly adding more honey until you're happy with the flavor.
When using Pomona's Pectin, you need to avoid overcooking it; if preserving in the canner, be sure the canner is hot when you add pectin to strawberry sauce.

Best Ways to Use Strawberry Sauce

Use strawberry sauce in any way that appeals to you or your family!

Pour over hot oatmeal.
Serve with hot pancakes.
Spoon over waffles.
Serve with crumpets or scones.
Drizzle over a dish of ice cream.
Use as a fruity cake topping.

Healthy Strawberry Sauce Recipe (+3 preserving methods)

Difference Between Strawberry Syrup and Strawberry Sauce