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This easy and simple raspberry sauce or raspberry coulis is made with just 3 ingredients – fresh or frozen raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice. It’s the perfect topping for cheesecake, ice cream, cakes, and other desserts!
This 5-minute raspberry sauce or raspberry coulis is a bright, fruity sauce made of raspberries cooked with sugar and lemon juice. The raspberry seeds are then strained using a fine mesh sieve resulting in a beautiful bright red sauce that’s full of raspberry flavor.
This sauce is excellent on any dessert, such as cakes, ice cream, and pancakes. It’s especially delightful on cheesecake as shown in my recipe for raspberry cheesecake.
As raspberries are naturally tart, a bit of sugar is needed to balance out the flavors. You can use any sweetener you’d like, but plain white sugar lets the intense raspberry flavor shine. A squeeze of lemon juice adds extra brightness to this sauce.
Ingredients for Raspberry Sauce
- Raspberries – Either fresh or frozen raspberries work for this recipe.
- Sugar – Plain white sugar lets the raspberry flavor shine through but you can replace it with your sweetener of choice. Start with less and adjust to your liking.
- Lemon – Freshly squeezed lemon juice adds just the right amount of brightness.
Step by Step Photos
- Add the raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a saucepan and heat over high heat to bring to a boil.
- Using the back of a spoon or a masher, break apart the raspberries to release their juices. Once it boils, turn off the heat. Taste and adjust with more sugar or lemon juice if needed.
- Strain the raspberry seeds using a fine mesh sieve or strainer to get a smooth, silky sauce. Be sure to firmly press all the raspberry pulp through because that is what thickens the sauce. Note: Some recipes call for pureeing the sauce first, but I find that unnecessary, making it harder to strain the seeds out since they become smaller in size.
- You should end up with a thick and smooth sauce that can be used warm or cold. If you’d like a thinner sauce, I recommend adding just a teaspoon of water at a time. Keep in mind the sauce thickens as it cools.
To check the viscosity, drizzle a bit onto a cool plate and run a spoon through it. You should be able to see the trail left behind by the spoon as pictured above. Note: I did not add any water to the sauce.
Serve this homemade raspberry sauce or coulis with cheesecake, sponge cake, chiffon cake, roll cake, panna cotta, ice cream, waffles, pancakes, pound cake, angel food cake, and more!
More dessert sauces:
Easy Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz raspberries, fresh or frozen; about 3⅓ cups
- 4 to 6 tablespoons granulated sugar, adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, or more
Instructions
- Heat: Add the raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a saucepan and bring to a boil while mashing the raspberries to break them down. Once it boils, turn off the heat and adjust with more sugar or lemon juice as needed.12 oz raspberries, 4 to 6 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Strain: Strain the raspberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds. Press firmly to extract all of the pulp as that is what thickens the sauce. If desired, thin with a teaspoon of water at a time, keeping in mind the sauce thickens as it cools (the sauce in the photo was not thinned). See Note 1.
- Serve: Add to cheesecake, cakes, ice cream, or other desserts. Enjoy!
Notes
- Straining: Some recipes call for pureeing the sauce first, but I find that unnecessary, making it harder to strain the seeds out since they become smaller in size. However, you can puree the sauce if you prefer.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Raspberry coulis is a sauce made from pureed or strained raspberries. All coulis are pureed or strained resulting in a smooth texture. Compotes on the other hand don’t require straining or pureeing the fruit so they have a chunkier texture.
This was the perfect sauce to serve over some homemade vanilla bean ice cream. I used raspberries freshly picked from the garden and garnished with a little fresh mint. So delicious.
There are so many great ways to make this easy sauce. Hello yogurt, ice cream, cake, cheesecake. LOVE raspberries.
This raspberry sauce is my all-time favorite for pairing with desserts, especially cakes. Thanks for sharing the difference between raspberry coulis and compote.
Have just seen this recipe. Can the raspberry coulis be frozen? Thanks!
Perfect raspberry sauce.. a touch of tangy lemon with the wonderful raspberry flavor.. we use this over lots of things to make them better 😉
I made this raspberry sauce with raspberries from our garden. So far, I’ve used it on ice-cream and cheesecake. Sublime!
This sauce is so good! I love it on yogurt and making a parfait for breakfast!
I had some fresh raspberries that needed to be used up and this sauce was the perfect recipe to use them in. Great on top of pancakes!
Super easy, delicious, nice and bright. You don’t need any fancy equipment for every day use, basic fine mesh kitchen strainer and a spatula works great. Absolutely do not need to puree first, makes it harder to keep the seeds on the correct side of the strainer.
Our raspberry bushes were bursting with fresh berries and I found this recipe while searching for recipes to make with them. This was delicious! We made a batch and used it on pancakes in the morning and ice cream at night. My only regret is not making a double batch!
Lovely recipe, just kept it because it will be super handy to add to different recipes such as pancakes, cakes, yogurt, or even our Christmas nut roast. Thank you!
Easy, delicious, and fast! Very delicious over cheesecake. Yummy!
The sweet and tangy flavors of fresh raspberries created a perfect balance of sweetness. It’s a quick and easy recipe that can be used in so many ways!
Such a simple recipe for an amazing raspberry sauce! Poured it over panna cotta and my guests loved it! Thank you!
I put this sauce on everything! It’s so good. Thanks for sharing.
My favorite sauce for ice cream! I could eat a bowl of just the sauce!
Such a simple and delicious recipe. And the color turned out so vibrant. Loved it in my oatmeal this morning.
Delicious! I have been wanting to put this raspberry sauce on everything! So easy and we love to use it for both breakfast and desserts
Can’t wait to try this on vanilla ice cream. Just 3 simple ingredients. Perfect.
Love, love, love the color of this raspberry sauce! It will be so good served with vanilla ice cream or pound cake.