Name: Simple Strawberry Sauce
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 3¼ cups (1 pound) strawberries; 3 tablespoons sugar

Why This Recipe Works

Get your ice cream, pancakes, and waffles ready—the whole family will be berry pleased with this sweet sauce that’s full of fresh strawberry flavor, uses just two ingredients, and cooks for just 10 minutes. As they cook through this recipe, ask kids to observe the texture of the strawberry mixture at each step, from whole berries to finished sauce. How does it change? Our sauce gets its texture from some sweet science: Mashing the berries releases their juice. As the strawberry-sugar mixture cooks, the sugar dissolves into the strawberry juice, creating a strawberry-flavored syrup. Some of the juice also evaporates during cooking, giving our sauce a pourable texture that thickens even more as it cools. As for the strawberries themselves, cooking makes them softer, but since they’re only on the heat for 10 minutes, they don’t fully break down.

Before You Begin

You can use thawed frozen strawberries instead of fresh strawberries, if desired. Pour this sauce over ice cream, waffles, pancakes, and more.

Instructions

Working with 1 strawberry at a time, place strawberries on their sides on cutting board and use knife to carefully cut off tops with leafy green parts (see photo, “Step-by-Step: How to Hull Strawberries,” below). Discard strawberry tops.

Transfer hulled strawberries to medium saucepan. Use potato masher to mash until fruit is mostly broken down (see photo, “Step-by-Step: How to Mash Strawberries,” below).

Add sugar and use rubber spatula to stir until combined.

Bring strawberry mixture to simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened, 10 to 12 minutes.

Turn off heat and slide saucepan to cool burner. Let sauce cool completely, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve. (Strawberry sauce can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 days.)