This easy blackcurrant sauce recipe is delicious with cheesecake, yogurt, pancakes or ice cream. Enjoy it for breakfast or dessert. Or you can serve this tart, fruity blackcurrant compote with rich meats such as duck. It's an ideal recipe for a glut of homegrown blackcurrants!
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What you'll love about the recipe
- Ready in less than 10 minutes
- Suitable for fresh or frozen blackcurrants
- Easy blackcurrant sauce with just 2 ingredients
- Blackcurrant compote thickens naturally due to the high pectin levels in blackcurrants
- Blackcurrants are very high in antioxidants, including vitamin C. They also contain a plant compound called GLA which is anti-inflammatory and can help immunity. (Read more about the health benefits of blackcurrants.)
If you've got some leftover blackcurrants you might also like this blackcurrant fool dessert or blackcurrant smoothie. You could also make a healthy blackcurrant curd.
Ingredients
Blackcurrants. You can use either fresh or frozen blackcurrants to make this easy blackcurrant sauce. If using frozen fruit, use half the amount of water. There's no need to defrost frozen fruit, just allow it to melt down in the pan.
If using fresh blackcurrants, remove any stalks and wash the fruit.
Honey or you can use maple syrup or sugar. If you'd prefer to use sugar, use either castor or icing sugar (powdered sugar) so that it dissolves quickly.
You'll also need some water to help cook the blackcurrants
How to cook blackcurrant sauce
Add the blackcurrants to a pan along with 4 tablespoons (60ml) of water. If using frozen blackcurrants, reduce the water to 2 tablespoons (30ml).
Place the pan on a medium heat and gently simmer the blackcurrants for 5 minutes. The stewed blackcurrants will split open and the fruit will soften.
Stir in the honey, maple syrup or sugar. Taste the sauce - if it's still too tart, you can adjust the sweetener to suit. Of course, if your blackcurrants are relatively sweet, you can also use less sugar. The ones that grow in my English garden are quite sour, even when fully ripe.
As the sauce cools, it will thicken further.
Expert tips
- This blackcurrant compote is naturally thick due to the pectin in the fruit. However, if you want to thicken it further into a quick set jam, add a tablespoon of chia seeds.
- For an extra twist, add a spoonful of creme de cassis in place of one spoonful of water in the recipe.
- I find that the cheaper bags of frozen summer fruits often have too many blackcurrants, especially for children's taste as they are quite sour. Put them aside and use them in this easy blackcurrant recipe!
- If you've got lots of redcurrants, try this healthy redcurrant coulis recipe.
Serving and storage
I found it difficult to resist eating this blackcurrant sauce straight out of the jar, but it's also delicious served with yogurt and other dairy desserts such as rice pudding or vanilla ice cream. You can also top a lemon cheesecake with this blackcurrant compote recipe.
Blackcurrant sauce is also a healthy addition to pancakes, crepes and waffles. Or add a dollop on your morning porridge.
The tart flavour of blackcurrant also pairs well with other sweet fruit, so try serving the compote over nectarines, strawberries and even melon.
Rich game meats such as duck or venison are also often served with a tart blackcurrant sauce. Why not give it a go?
Store fruit sauce in the fridge for up to a week in an airtight container. It also freezes well.
Frequently asked questions
Rather like gooseberries, blackcurrants have a small 'tail' at the opposite end from the stalk, which is the dead flower head. It's not usual to tail blackcurrants, but if they are very large, you can remove them if you prefer.
If you sieve your sauce, it will become a smooth blackcurrant coulis. However, there's a lot of nutrition in those tiny seeds. Blackcurrant seeds contain omega essential oils and GLA, so I prefer to leave them in. The skin is also a source of nutrients and fibre.
Blackcurrants are one of the few fruits that taste nicer cooked. Although raw blackcurrants won't harm you, they are quite sour to eat by themselves. Cooking them with a little sugar or honey makes them much nicer!
Other healthy summer fruit recipes
Make the most of fresh berries and currants whilst they are in season, or use frozen fruits at other times of the year. In the UK, frozen berries are now much more available, and are often very good value.
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Recipe
Easy Blackcurrant Sauce
Equipment
- saucepan
Ingredients
- 200 g blackcurrants fresh or frozen
- 3 tablespoon honey, maple syrup or sugar
Instructions
- Add the blackcurrants to the pan, along with 4 tablespoons (60ml) of water. If using frozen blackcurrants, reduce the water to 30ml.
- Place the pan over a medium heat, and simmer the blackcurrants for 5 minutes. The skins will split and the fruit will soften.
- Stir in the honey or preferred sweetener and mix well.
- Leave to cool and store in the fridge for up to a week in an airtight container.
Notes
- There's no need to pull the little tails off the blackcurrants, but you can if you prefer.
- If using sugar in the recipe, use either castor or powdered sugar so that it dissolves quickly.
- To turn this blackcurrant sauce into a quick set jam, add a tablespoon of chia seeds.
Nutrition
Please note nutritional information is per serving and is provided for guidance only.
Gillian Roberts says
I used the last black currants from my garden and had about 65 grams, which would be enough for two of us on ice cream, but not enough to make a coulis. I think it would give a very nice sauce at sea level, but I live in Colorado at 6000 ft and water boils at 200 degrees F. So I had an issue with cooking the currants till they popped and broke down. They didn't and I needed to physically break them down, as well as use more water (because it boils off very quickly) and cook for longer. But the combination of ingredients and methodology would work really well at low altitudes and even given my problems, the results tasted great, but texture wasn't as broken down as I would like.
Wendy Faulkner says
Hi, thanks for your comment. I'm afraid I've never cooked at altitude, so I'm no expert at all on the differences! I understand that you do have to cook things for longer though, sorry I can't give more specific help!