This homemade Berry Syrup is a delicious topping for pancakes, waffles, French toast, ice cream, and so much more. It's an easy fruit syrup that adds a serious blast of flavor to every bite and only takes about 10 minutes to make.
Delicious served hot or cold, you can add this to just about any dessert or sweet breakfast dish. It's obviously delicious on pancakes, waffles, and ice cream. But, you can also enjoy it on Coconut French Toast, Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake, Raspberry Sweet Rolls, No-Bake Mini Cheesecakes, or this Lemon Raspberry Parfait.
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Homemade Berry Syrup
If you’ve never made your own berry fruit syrup for pancakes, or your favorite breakfast recipe, get ready to have your world rocked! This recipe for berry syrup is a far cry from the pancake syrup that you buy at the store, and it is so incredibly simple.
This mixed berry syrup can be made with any of your favorite berries. If you happen to be lucky enough to have berry bushes in your yard, by all means, make berry syrup with those! But, this is also a great recipe to use up any berries that you have sitting in your fridge that you know aren’t going to last much longer. Even frozen berries will work great.
More good news is that because of the high sugar content, this syrup lasts for quite a while so feel free to double the recipe. You can store leftovers in the fridge for up to a month, or in the freezer for much longer. Once you taste this, you'll be making berry syrup for years to come.
Key Ingredients
- Mixed Berries - you can use any combination of fresh or frozen blueberries, strawberries, blackberries or raspberries.
- Sugar - we use regular white granulated sugar. You could substitute a touch of honey if you wanted, too.
- Water - you’ll be adding water into the pot along with the sugar and berries, as well as a separate measurement of cold water to make a slurry with the cornstarch.
- Cornstarch - this will help to thicken the syrup.
- Lemon Juice - this balances the flavor of the sweet berries perfectly and helps set up the natural pectins in the berries while they cook.
How to Make Berry Pancake Syrup
- Cook the berries and sugar. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the berries, sugar and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, then mash and stir with a potato masher while boiling for 2 minutes, or until the berries are soft and plump. (Optional: If you don't like seeds or chunks in your syrup, strain the syrup through cheesecloth to remove the seeds, then return to a clean saucepan.)
- Add the cornstarch slurry. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and cold water and stir until the cornstarch is completely dissolved; then, stir into the berry mixture along with the lemon juice and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute or until the mixture thickens slightly.
- Serve. Remove the syrup from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before serving on pancakes, waffles, French toast, or ice cream. Enjoy!
Storing Instructions
- Refrigerator: this syrup will last for up to 1 month in the fridge, as long as it is kept in a jar or another airtight container.
- Freezer: you can also transfer the syrup to freezer bags and freeze flat for up to 6 months. To thaw, just transfer to the refrigerator overnight.
Homemade Berry Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Mixed Berries any combination of fresh or frozen blueberries, strawberries, blackberries or raspberries
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Water
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons Water cold
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Instructions
- In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the berries, sugar and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, then mash and stir with a potato masher while boiling for 2 minutes, or until the berries are soft and plump.
- If you don't like seeds or chunks in your syrup, strain the syrup through cheesecloth to remove the seeds then return to a clean saucepan.
- In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and cold water and stir until the cornstarch is completely dissolved, then stir into the berry mixture along with the lemon juice and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, or until the mixture thickens slightly.
- Remove the syrup from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before serving on pancakes, waffles, French toast, or ice cream. Enjoy!
Nutrition
More Homemade Syrup Recipes
More Breakfast Recipes:
- Cinnamon Roll Recipe
- Caramel Cinnamon Rolls
- Fruit Charcuterie Board
- Homemade Biscuits
- Mini Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Cake
- Breakfast Casseroles
- Egg Recipes
- French Toast Bake Recipes
- Sweet Breads
- Best Brunch Recipes
- More Breakfast Recipes
This Mixed Berry Syrup recipe is made with simple ingredients and a perfect berry syrup for pancakes, waffles, French toast, or ice cream. It adds a serious blast of flavor to every bite, and only takes about 10 minutes to make. You will love this fruit syrup recipe!
Kim Shalla
Can this be made ahead and kept in the fridge?
Jill Baird
You bet, you can make it ahead of time and store it in a jar with a lid or a covered container for up to about 10 days.
Shirley
Super easy! We are having friends from out of town and she loves Marion Berry Syrup. Instructions are very easy to follow. I’m thrilled with how yummy it is! Thanks for all your hard work.
Crystal
Satisfyingly easy and quick recipe that was a hit with the kiddos. Making breakfast one morning and realized we were out of syrup. This recipe is absolutely delicious. Highly recommended as a must try!!
Angel
Haven’t tried this yet but was wondering if it’d work as a flavor syrup for tea or will it be too thick?
Jill Baird
It has chunks of berries in it but you could strain the chunks out or even serve it with the chunks. It would be delicious in a drink!
Anna
Hi there, any chance you've ever canned this?
Thank you!
Jill Baird
I haven't ever canned this but I know it freezes really well.
Lil
Has anybody canned this syrup in the past? I mixed up the recipes and canned this yesterday. Not sure how the corn starch will hold being canned? I see no specific answer regarding ability to can this syrup.
Jill Baird
I haven't tried canning it, but freezing it is a great option.
Tami
Have several containers of mixed fruit...papaya, pineapple and mango in juice. Could a fruit compote or syrup be made with this combination of fruit in the same manner used in this mixed berry syrup?
Jill Baird
I don't see why it wouldn't work. Any combo of fruit that sounds good to you should work great. You may need to add a little extra lemon juice to balance the sweet to tart ratio.
Jocelyn
Great recipe! We made it with frozen mixed berries and put it over waffles (with whipped cream, of course). My kids loved it so much that my daughter is using in place of jelly for pb&j sandwiches. 🙂
Mel
We have so many fresh marionberries here in Oregon! My kids LOVED helping make the syrup and having it on pancakes. I can't wait to try other berry combinations. Thanks!
Allison
Absolutely delicious! We could just eat it off the spoon. Haha!
Carolyn M.
My daughter and I just made this to put on top of our French toast, added a little cinnamon butter on the French toast and it was a perfect fall meal!
Cheri
Can you tell me ounce wise how much this recipe makes?
Tiina
This looks yummy, how large is a serving?
Tammie Miller
How long will this keep? Can you water bath can out or freeze it?
sarahK@thecarefreekitchen
Hi Tammie, thanks for your question! We've updated the recipe with an answer for you.
Cheri
I am making for gifts. Putting in 8 oz jars. How much ounce wise does this recipe make?
Mini
Used this recipe to make berry syrup for my New York Style Cheesecake!! I filtered it as my husband doesn’t like seeds and kept the filtrate as jam for my toast. So yummy!! Thanks
sarahK@thecarefreekitchen
So glad to hear! Thanks for letting us know.
Melissa
Hello! This recipe sounds great but you don’t mention how much corn starch to use. You also mentioned the water twice. Is it one cup of water each time or half the water at first and half the second time? Please update!
The Carefree Kitchen
I edited the recipe to show the cornstarch and water. You will want to combine 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons of cold water. Stir it with a spoon until smooth. When your fruit mixture is boiling, add the cornstarch/water mixture slowly while stirring. Add the lemon juice now too. The berry syrup mixture will thicken just a little. Hope this helps!
The Carefree Kitchen
Thanks for letting me know! I'll be sure to edit the recipe!
AMY E HIGLEY
I literally just made this for the first time. It was so good with my pancakes and super easy to make! Definitely keeping this recipe around.
sarahK@thecarefreekitchen
Thanks, Amy! We love hearing that!