This homemade cherry sauce is easy to make and only has a few, simple ingredients. It’s vegan friendly, naturally sweetened, and gluten free! It’s a delicious topping for pancakes, oatmeal, ice cream, cheesecake, cakes, and more!
Who needs canned cherry pie filling, when you can make your own cherry sauce at home! It couldn’t be more simple either. Just pitted cherries, sweetener, cornstarch, and water. You can do it with just about any fruit too—cherries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.
And what do you do with a homemade fruit sauce, you ask? The possibilities are endless! I recently used this in my Black Forest Cake, but this would be delicious on a stack of pancakes, oatmeal, ice cream, cheesecake, or whatever you typically top with fruit.
This sauce will keep for up to a week in the fridge, if it lasts that long! It’s definitely a delicious addition to many different dishes and worth a try, especially if you have an abundance of cherries…not a bad problem if you ask me!
homemade cherry sauce
This homemade cherry sauce is easy to make and only has a few, simple ingredients. It’s vegan friendly, naturally sweetened, and gluten free! It’s a delicious topping for pancakes, oatmeal, ice cream, cheesecake, cakes, and more!
Ingredients
- 1/2–1 cup water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 1/2 cups pitted cherries, fresh or frozen*
- 3–4 tablespoons maple syrup, honey, or sugar (can use less or more, to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional (Can also use 1–2 tablespoons cherry liquor/kirsch)
Instructions
- Measure out 1/2 cup of water. In a separate small dish, combine cornstarch with a few spoonfuls of the measured water and mix until smooth. Mix in the rest of the measured out water. Set aside.
- Place pitted cherries in a small saucepan. Add cornstarch slurry and sweetener. Set pot on the stove over medium-high heat and cook until sauce has thickened, stirring often. Sauce has to come to a low boil to activate the cornstarch. This may take several minutes. If it’s too thick, stir in the additional 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of water.
- Once it has thickened, remove from heat and stir in extract(s). Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until needed. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.
Notes
Can roughly chop the cherries if you plan to use them in a cake for easier slicing.
