This cherry coulis recipe makes a smooth cherry sauce, perfect for cheesecakes, ice creams and other desserts. With only 4 main ingredients, this fruit coulis is super easy to make and tastes absolutely yummy!
The recipe uses dark sweet cherries that are pitted and cooked with sugar and lemon juice before being pureed and strained for a perfect homemade cherry coulis.
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❤️Why you will love this recipe
- This is an easy cherry sauce recipe and uses only simple ingredients.
- It is very easy to make and turns out great every single time.
- It is a great way to use up cherries during cherry season.
- You can add this easy recipe to your collection of homemade sauces and make fresh cherry sauce when ever you want.
Like this cherry coulis recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:
- Black Forest Ice Cream
- Blueberry Filing Recipe
- Strawberry Filling (An Easy Homemade Recipe)
- Small Batch Strawberry Jam
- How to Make Lemon Curd (A Homemade Recipe)
- Salted Caramel Recipe (Quick and Easy)
- Ube Jam (Ube Halaya) (How to Make)
📋Ingredients
- Dark cherries - both fresh cherries and frozen cherries can be used to make the coulis.
- White sugar - either coarse sugar or granulated sugar will work for this recipe.
- Lemon juice - use fresh lemon juice and strain to remove seeds.
- Cornstarch - helps to thicken the sauce.
- Water - use filtered water.
*Refer to the recipe card below for exact quantities of the ingredients above. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*
🧾Substitution and variations
- This easy sauce recipe can also be made with frozen cherries. Let the fruits thaw first before using. Also, since frozen fruits release more liquid then fresh fruit, use a little less water in the recipe.
- This recipe uses sweet cherries, but can also be made with sour cherries. However, the sauce will be more tangy. If you want it sweet, increase the amount of sugar added to the sauce when cooking it. You can also reduce the amount of lemon juice to balance the tart cherries.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!
👩🏻🍳How to make
Cooking the fruits
- Wash and pat the cherries dry.
- Remove the stems and pit them. You can pit the cherries by using a cherry pitter or cutting them into half all round the seed and then twisting both sides of the fruit to separate the 2 sections. Use a small knife or spoon to remove the seed from the fruit section it is attached to. Add the halved and pitted cherries into a small saucepan.
- Add the sugar.
- Add the lemon juice.
- Add water.
- Turn on the heat to low and cook the cherries until they turn soft. Keep stirring the fruits constantly to avoid the bottom from burning. As you stir, try mashing them with the spoon. Turn off the heat when the fruits start to soften.
Pureeing the cherries to make the coulis
- Let the cooked cherry mixture cool down and then add them into a blender or food processor.
- Add water and process them for about 10 to 15 seconds. Processing the cherries will make it easier to strain and squeeze out the cooked cherries.
- Pour the blended cherry puree into a strainer.
- Use the back of a spoon to press out as much extract and sauce as possible from the cooked fruits, leaving on the skin pulp behind. Discard the pulp. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the strainer constantly as you press the fruits with the back of your spoon. Much of the thick cherry extract will be sticking to the strainer.
Cooking the cherry coulis
- Return the strained cherry coulis into the small saucepan.
- In a small plate, mix the cornstarch with the remaining water to make cornstarch slurry. Make sure it is smooth and there are no lumps of the cornstarch.
- Add the cornstarch mix into the coulis.
- Turn on the heat and stir the cornstarch quickly to ensure it does not cook into gooey lumps in the cherry coulis.
- Continue cooking over low heat until the coulis thickens to your desired consistency. Taste the sauce to see if it is sweet enough and if more lemon juice is required. Add accordingly and mix well.
- Turn off the heat and the the cherry coulis cool down before using.
🍽️Serving & storage
- The cherry coulis can be used immediately after making, depending on whether you want it warm or cooled to room temperature.
- If not using immediately, it is best refrigerated. Pour it into a mason jar or covered container. The sauce can last for up to 3 to 4 days.
⭐What can you use the fruit sauce with?
- Drizzle over vanilla ice cream, or use as a cheesecake topping (like the New York cheesecake). The sweet-tart flavor of the coulis complements the sweetness in these desserts and makes a delicious topping.
- Use as a fruity and flavorful alternative to traditional maple syrup. Pour it over pancakes, waffles, or French toast for a delightful breakfast or brunch treat.
- Pair with chocolate desserts as a topping for these crinkle top chocolate brownies or chocolate ice cream (like this black forest ice cream). The combination of cherries and chocolate is truly decadent.
- Layer with yogurt and granola in a glass or bowl to create a refreshing and nutritious parfait. The sweet-tart coulis adds a lovely fruity flavor to the creamy yogurt and crunchy granola.
- Incorporate into cake batters, muffin batters, or swirl it into cheesecake or pound cake batter before baking for a cherry flavored treats.
- Use the sauce to create beautiful swirls on plates when plating desserts and add an extra layer of flavor to desserts like mousse, panna cotta, or tiramisu.
💭FAQs
The cornstarch in this recipe acts as a thickening agent. It helps change the consistency of the cherry sauce from being runny to a thicker liquid.
If you are not a fan of cornstarch in your coulis, you can omit it and thicken this homemade sauce by cooking it over a longer period of time, however, this will result in the sauce becoming dry and the texture of the coulis will not be the same as thickened with cornstarch.
Coulis is pureed fruit or vegetable sauce. It is also often referred to as sauce.
The ingredients to make fruit coulis are almost similar to the ingredients used to make jams, compotes and pie fillings. The only difference you will see is the use of pectin in jams; and cornstarch in pie fillings and coulis.
Compotes, on the other hand, are simply fruit chunks cooked in sugar syrup until a slightly thickened consistency is achieved.
This recipe makes cherry coulis that is not overly sweet. Having said that, you can further reduce the sugar in the recipe if you like.
Similarly, if you like your coulis sweeter, you can add more sugar.
Yes you can, but it will take quite some time to squeeze out all the cherry sauce from them.
The best way is to process the fruits in a blender to break them down. That way, you need not spend too much time trying to squeeze out as much sauce from the fruits as possible.
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📖Recipe
Cherry Coulis (Easy Homemade Cherry Sauce)
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
- 350 g cherries (fresh)
- 50 g white sugar
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 150 ml water
Instructions
- Wash and pat the cherries dry.
- Remove the stems and pit them.
- Cut the cherries into half and place them in a saucepan.
- Add sugar and lemon juice.
- Add 4 tablespoons of water.
- Cook the cherries over low heat until they become soft. Keep the heat low to prevent the sauce from drying out. Also, stir the fruits sauce constantly to avoid the bottom from burning.
- Turn of the heat as the fruits become soft. Let them cool down slightly.
- Transfer the fruits into a blender and add another 4 tablespoons of water. The water will help the sauce to dilute and this will help with the pulsing of the fruits. Pulse the cherries along with the syrup and water for about 10 to 15 seconds.
- Strain the pulsed fruits in a sieve. Use the back of a spoon to press all the fruits extract, leaving behind only the skin.
- Remember to scrape the bottom of the strainer as there will be thick cherry sauce remaining there as you press the fruits with the back of the spoon.
- Return the strained coulis to the saucepan.
- Mix the cornstarch with the remaining water until smooth. Pour the cornstarch solution into the saucepan.
- Turn on the heat to low and stir the coulis quickly to disperse the cornstarch. This will prevent it from turning into a gooey clump in the sauce.
- Continue to cook the cherry coulis until it thickens and reaches the consistency you desire.
- Turn off the heat and let it cool down before pouring into a clean mason jar or a bottle with lid.
- Keep the cherry coulis refrigerated.
Notes
- This recipe can also be made with frozen cherries. Let the fruits thaw first before using. Also, since frozen fruits release more liquid, reduce the amount to water used in the recipe.
- This recipe uses sweet cherries, but can also be made with sour cherries. However, the sauce will be more tangy. If you want it sweet, add more sugar to the sauce when cooking it. You can also reduce the amount of lemon juice to balance the tart cherries.
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