This post may contain affiliate links. See my privacy policy for details.
Happy Saskatoon recipes week! Here, as promised, is the very first recipe of 5 that I am going to post this week. The whole concept of this week came about yesterday, while I was in the middle of making this very sauce for dessert. I have ample Saskatoons to use up from my trip to BC last week and while whipping up this sauce was concocting all the various ways I was going to use up these beauties. I had a good 3 recipes planned in my head and decided to challenge myself by trying to get them out all in one week.
Not only is this a challenge for me but it also helps everyone who has been asking what to do with their Saskatoon berries. If I get them out in a timely manner, then hopefully my lovely local Edmontonians can bake, cook or sauce up a Saskatoon storm!
This is also featured in my Attainable Eats category because really, anyone can make this sauce. You can substitute any other berries and it’s the same deal but why would you if you can get your hands on Saskatoon berries? A simple Saskatoon sauce and you look like a culinary genius at dessert time!
My love of traditional Saskatoon pie has no contenders for first place in my heart, but a sauce to enjoy on top of ice cream comes a close second, mainly because it’s like pie filling without the crust. On top of ice cream. Win!
Ingredients Needed for Saskatoon Berry Sauce
4 cups of fresh Saskatoons
2 cups of water
1 cup of white sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon juice
Combine 1 3/4 cups of water, the sugar and the Saskatoon berries and boil for 15-20 minutes, until the juice is very dark and rich with flavor, like the picture below. Some of the berries will start to break down and this is a good thing. Saskatoons aren’t the most sauce friendly berries, they can be seedy and tough.
I use lemon in my sauce even though I don’t in my pie because there is nothing tangy to compliment it elsewhere. With my pie the lard pastry uses vinegar and the tang adds another dimension to the dessert.
The sauce should stand alone flavor-wise and this burgundy beauty certainly did.
Stir the cornstarch into your remaining water add the lemon and then cook 5 minutes more or until the Saskatoons are the texture you want. This sadly involves a lot of taste testing, poor you.
This is a large amount of Saskatoon berry sauce mainly because I wanted to have jars on hand for the fall/winter. This recipe yields 4 cups of cooked product by the end, meaning that I have 3 jars of sauce to seal up and place on my shelf for when we are jonesing for a taste of Saskatoon berry. You can half this easily and also add more sugar if you are inclined. This is not a super sweet recipe, I prefer to let the Saskatoon flavor shine rather than smother it with too much sugar.
It was mentioned by Michelle that it would make a lovely savory sauce and perfect on pork chops and because my version isn’t too sweet, I readily agree.
Also, it is beyond fabulous on turkey. I’ve had it. It’s to die for on a piece of juicy, hot from the oven turkey breast.
Get our your canning gear and tuck away some jars of this to gift at Christmas or merely to enjoy yourself instead of cranberry sauce. Be a rebel; let Saskatoon sauce grace your Christmas table and bring a taste of Edmonton summer to your wintertime dinner plate!
Love,
I Love Saskatoon Season in Edmonton Magpie
Saskatoon Sauce
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- Canadian
- Servings
- 60
- Calories
- 20
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 4 cups of fresh Saskatoon’s
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine 1 3/4 cups of water, the sugar and the Saskatoon berries and boil for 15-20 minutes, until the juice is very dark and rich with flavor. Some of the berries will start to break down and this is a good thing. Saskatoon’s aren’t the most sauce friendly berries, they can be seedy and tough.
- Stir the cornstarch into your remaining water add the lemon and then cook 5 minutes more or until the Saskatoon’s are the texture you want.
- You can can these in a water bath, freeze the sauce in the freezer for up to 6 months or it will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Made this recipe?
Share a photo of what you made on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thekitchenmagpie or hashtag it #thekitchenmagpie.
Please rate this recipe in the comments below to help out your fellow cooks!
Learn to cook like the Kitchen Magpie
A Very Prairie Christmas Bakebook
Cookies, Candies, Cakes & More: Vintage Baking to Celebrate the Festive Season!
Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky
A Modern Baker’s Guide to Old-Fashioned Desserts
The Prairie Table
Suppers, Potlucks & Socials: Crowd-Pleasing Recipes to Bring People Together
Allison says
Like others, I found the resulting filling much too gelatinous because of all the cornstarch. I’m wondering if there is a way to fix this before baking into tarts. Would adding orange juice do the trick? I don’t want to just add water, as that will, obviously, water down the flavour.
Nm says
Can I use frozen berries?
Donna says
Terrible. It turned out gelatinous. Way too much cornstarch
Cathy says
This looks great! I have so many saskatoons this year I would like to can them. Do you can this receipt as is? No pectin required?
C. Kai Anderson says
I love that this is so easy and versatile. Last week I used it with shortcake. Tonight it will be topping for creme brule. I have limited culinary skills, so this recipe, because of it’s simplicity goes to the top of my list!
Sandra Hill says
Was looking for something easy as I had few baking supplies during this stressful time with the covid19. I was running out of jam, I had saskatoon berries and your recipe was perfect!! It’s delicious! Tomorrow I have enough ingredients to make buns, so I’m looking forward to buns with saskatoons. Thanks again!
Kelly says
Great recipe.
We had it with New York style Cheesecake. No leftovers.
The recipe doubles nicely too.
We canned the remaining seven cups and look forward to trying it as a cranberry sauce substitute at thanksgiving.
Thank You
Bev Kaiser says
I too love Saskatoons more than anything. …. except Saskatoons on a Vancouver unbaked cheesecake… smooth and not sticky like New York cheesecake. I use the old Keg recipe…. yes I stole it while working there. This is the most amazing combo you can imagine…. Saskatoons fresh or sauce and Keg Cheesecake. If you want the recipe I am happy to share it with you. Super easy.
I am about to cook up some sauce and put on the cheesecake in my freezer.
Deb says
What did I do wrong? It tastes terrible. Too much cornstarch! I only used 3 Tablespoons not four and I continue to simmer, but its not getting better! Help!
Shannon says
Can this sauce be frozen instead of canned? Thank you!
Jane says
Sure can!! I did and they thaw and reheat beautifully.
Bob says
Have you done this using a pressure cooker such as Instapot
Karen Harnett-Voigt says
Looks good. Sadly, I have no clue what they taste like. (I’m from the East Coast.) I guess I need to get with the program and find out!
Wendy MacLean says
My husband is from the East Coast — they used to call them ‘Indian Shads’ — does this help?
Donna Andrus says
Yum!
Stacy Westman says
Instead of canning, can I freeze this sauce?
Jane says
“1 Cup White Sugar” is listed twice…is this just an error, or should the recipe call for 2 Cups White Sugar?
ACanadianFoodie says
This is so weird. I thought I commented. It looks lovely. I am debating about whether I bother to make this, or just make my jam – which is definitely lovely, and not at all sweet, as jams go – and use it for a “sauce”, as needed. Such a big decision! It looks lovely. I linked this to my Saskatoon berry ice cream post today – and have another one coming tomorrow, or the next day. Maybe I will save it for Friday! I am doing a Saskatoon Berry French Tart. Just finished making it, but haven’t taken the final photos or tasted it yet. I had only enough Saskatoons for the ice cream and the tart from my own bushes this year. SO odd! I still have bags in the freezer from last year, and decided to buy 4 litres. It looks more like two. Oh well. I will get 2 pies out of it.
:)V
Karlynn says
I’m doing a WHOLE week of Saskatoon berry recipes! Another absolutely fabulous one is coming today!
CookTheStory says
I was in Manitoba a few weeks ago and ate my fill off of a bush in my brother’s backyard and had some nice desserts that my mom made. Now, back in Florida, I miss them and am totally jealous of y’all up there with that bounty and this beautiful sauce. I’m going to share this recipe with my friends on FB because many of them are in Manitoba and just might be looking for some tasty saskatoon berry recipes right now.