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Home Ā» Food Ā» BEST Cherry Sauce

BEST Cherry Sauce

November 4, 2020 by Kimberly Killebrew Ā· 31 Comments

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This quick and easy cherry sauce recipe is the perfect accompaniment to your dessert – everything from pound cake to waffles, pudding, cheesecake, ice cream and more!Ā  With its silky texture and fabulous flavor, it’s a showstopper!

You’re going love how quick and easy this cherry sauce is to make and how absolutely delicious it is!

If you’re into canning, this sauce is a great way to put the fruits of your labor to use (see my post on how to can cherries). Ā I can cherries every season and on a whim decided to make a dessert that needed a cherry sauce. Ā No need to make a run to the store, I just went into my pantry and grabbed a jar of beautiful bing cherries I canned during the Summer.

You can use also use fresh or frozen cherries for this recipe. Ā Canned cherries are nice option because you can use the cherry-saturated juices in the can as part of the sauce.

This cherry sauce includes fresh lemon juice to provide some contrast with the sweet as well as a touch of almond extract that adds a wonderful depth of flavor. Ā This sauce can be made well in advance but is quick enough that it requires no advance planning.

With a great flavor and silky texture, this Cherry Dessert Sauce will bring your desserts to life!

cherry sauce recipe dessert easy quick from scratch

Cherry Sauce Recipe

Let’s get started!

As I mentioned above, I’m using canned cherries that I prepared this past Summer because the cherry-infused syrup is perfect to use in place of water. Ā However, you can absolutely use fresh or frozen cherries.

Place the cherries and 1/2 cup of their syrup from the can in a small saucepan, or water if using fresh or frozen cherries, along with the sugar, lemon juice and butter. Ā Bring to a boil. Ā If using fresh or frozen cherries, reduce the heat and simmer for about 3 minutes.

Combine the cornstarch with the water and stir it into the sauce, stirring constantly until thickened, about 1 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Cover and store the sauce in the fridge for up to a week.

Serve the sauce warm or at room temperature.

cherry sauce recipe dessert easy quick from scratch

 

A dessert that features this cherry dessert sauce is Risalamande, Denmark’s most popular dessert!

cherry sauce recipe dessert easy quick from scratch

 

PIN ME!

cherry sauce recipe dessert easy quick from scratch

 

cherry sauce recipe dessert easy quick from scratch fresh frozen canned

Cherry Sauce

Kimberly Killebrew
This delicious cherry sauce is the perfect accompaniment for your cheesecake, pound cake, waffles, rice pudding, ice cream and more!
Print Recipe
4.65 from 17 votes
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 15 mins
Course condiment, Dessert
Cuisine dessert
Servings 8
Calories 71 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 cups canned cherries plus 1/2 cup of the light syrup from the can or fresh or frozen cherries plus 1/2 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon butter vegans: use an oil-based spread
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon quality pure almond extract

Instructions
 

  • Place the cherries and the syrup or water in a small saucepan along with the sugar, butter and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. If using fresh or frozen cherries, reduce the heat and simmer for another 3 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture, stirring continually until the sauce is thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract.
  • Cover and store in the fridge where it will keep for up to a week.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.25cup | Calories: 71kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 45mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 400IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.7mg
Keyword Cherry Sauce
Tried this recipe? Mention @daringgourmet or hashtag #daringgourmet

First published on the The Daring Gourmet Dec 21, 2016

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31 Comments →

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31 Responses

  1. Kirsten says

    December 27, 2021 at 11:49 am

    My dad’s family is Danish, so I’m trying to recreate some of my favorite Christmas recipes. This confirmed what I remembered about the topping for rice pudding, except my family always put cherry herring (the liquor) in it as well. I remember being sent out to liquor stores on Christmas Eve several times while everyone else was cooking to try to find it!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    December 26, 2021 at 2:59 pm

    Best cherry sauce I have made, used a can of Tart cherries, followed the recipe but purƩed at the end, used with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. YUM

    Reply
  3. Matt says

    May 30, 2021 at 1:12 am

    Hi, how much does 1.5 cups of Cherries weigh?

    Thanks

    Matt

    Reply
  4. Vicki Kechekian says

    December 24, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    For a double portion, I used 2 cans of the supermarket cherries, which seemed to lack flavor, and added one small jar of imported pitted sour cherries. I used the syrup from both for the amount called for, and kept the rest the same. I won’t tell the Danes but it came out delicious. I bet it would be great on cheesecake. Thank you very much for posting this recipe!

    Reply
    • Vicki says

      December 24, 2020 at 12:21 pm

      5++ stars easily. I bet homemade canned cherries would be awesome.

      Reply
      • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

        December 24, 2020 at 1:31 pm

        Fantastic, Vicki, thanks so much for the feedback!

        Reply
  5. michelle says

    December 15, 2019 at 5:08 pm

    Hello,
    Wanting to use this as a cherry sauce for waffles on Christmas day.. I am looking for a liquidy cherry sauce is this it? Do I just omit the cornstarch? Or is this sauce gelatinous with or without the cornstarch. Please advise?

    Thank you

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      December 15, 2019 at 11:38 pm

      Hi Michelle, without the cornstarch it’s completely liquidy, like water. You can start out using less cornstarch to get the consistency you want and you can always add more if you need to.

      Reply
  6. Anonymous says

    December 14, 2019 at 11:30 am

    Thank you .I have used this recipe to dress up a ginger coffee cake….its great tasting and so easy. Thank you….can I substitute any fruit or berry?

    Reply
  7. Sandra says

    December 12, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    Hi there.
    A danish who is going to try your recipe ;) but a friend of mine is gluten intolerant. Would I be able to swap cornstarch for arrowroot? If yes, is it the same amount I need to use as the cornstarch?

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      December 12, 2019 at 10:19 pm

      Hi Sandra! Cornstarch is gluten free but you can use arrowroot if you prefer. I haven’t used arrowroot for this before but here’s the substitution info I found online for using it as a thickener:
      “To use arrowroot powder as a cornstarch substitute, prepare it in the following manner:
      2 teaspoons Arrowroot Flour = 1 tablespoon Cornstarch (3 teaspoons Cornstarch)
      1 tablespoon to 1 cup of liquid, when used as a thickening agent.”

      Reply
  8. Joanna McGlone says

    December 11, 2019 at 12:51 am

    once made can it be frozen?

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      December 12, 2019 at 10:49 pm

      Hi Joanna, cornstarch does not freeze well so you would have to omit the cornstarch, freeze, thaw, then heat up and add the cornstarch to thicken.

      Reply
  9. Anonymous says

    November 22, 2019 at 12:53 am

    My family is from Denmark and we have this for Christmas desert every year with the risalamonde (rice pudding).
    We use canned cherries , corn starch, and the add sherry liquor for the added flavour.

    I can honestly say that after 54 years, this is still by far, my favourite desert!

    Reply
  10. Emilia says

    June 29, 2019 at 8:49 am

    Is there any substitute for almond extract?

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      June 29, 2019 at 9:07 am

      Hi Emilia, you can simply omit it or use vanilla extract instead.

      Reply
  11. Pam says

    May 6, 2019 at 6:52 am

    I made these as a topping for chia coconut pudding. Excellent! I will definitely use this recipe again. Thank ryou.

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      May 6, 2019 at 8:31 am

      Wonderful, thanks Pam!

      Reply
      • Maegan says

        July 5, 2019 at 6:55 pm

        Hi there! Can this recipe be canned??

        Reply
        • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

          July 5, 2019 at 7:14 pm

          Hi Maegan, not with the cornstarch. What you can do is can the cherries in sugar syrup (super duper simple to do, just look up “how to can cherries”) and then all you have to do is open the jar, pour them into a saucepan, bring them to a simmer, add the cornstarch as instructed and let it thicken.

          Reply
          • Maegan says

            July 7, 2019 at 11:45 am

            Hey ok so to clarify, if I didn’t thicken it and just used the lemon juice and almond extract, I could can that??

            Reply
            • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

              July 7, 2019 at 6:01 pm

              No, I’m saying that you can take the cherries and can them (look up “how to can cherries” online). Then you can take those canned cherries, empty them and the liquid into a pot, then follow the recipe to add lemon juice, almond extract and thicken.

              Reply
  12. Kimberlyn says

    February 14, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    I just made this to go over fudge brownies and vanilla ice cream for a birthday dessert for my mother’s 70th. She’s not a sweets person, but does enjoy chocolate covered cherries and grew up in Washington State where some of the best cherries are grown. I did a taste test of this sauce and, Oh Wow is this good! Since I didn’t have canned, I used frozen and added about 2 tsp of sugar, reasoning that if you made this with the light syrup, it would be a bit sweeter. It turned out really lovely. Not overly sweet as I feared. The lemon adds a lift. Fantastic recipe. I think I’ll be canning some cherries this summer!

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      February 14, 2019 at 6:49 pm

      Thanks so much, Kimberlyn, I’m glad you enjoyed it and hope your mother does as well!

      Reply
  13. Brian Gogal says

    December 16, 2017 at 6:11 am

    I can see where a good healthy dose of kirsch could be used. :)

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      December 16, 2017 at 9:18 am

      For sure, Brian! :)

      Reply
  14. Jean Noonan says

    December 15, 2017 at 3:45 pm

    my sister was looking for a cherry syrup recipe in books so I found this for her & she is thrilled with it. :)

    Reply
    • Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      December 15, 2017 at 8:59 pm

      Wonderful, Jean, I’m happy to hear that, thank you!

      Reply
  15. Heather | All Roads Lead to the Kitchen says

    December 29, 2016 at 3:14 pm

    Cherries are my weakness, I could eat these with a spoon!

    Reply
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