Thick and chunky Fresh Homemade Pineapple Sauce is a tasty tropical topper for your next ice cream sundae or pound cake. Great on waffles, too!

At our house, ice cream is a year round dessert staple. And it just would not be dessert without a delicious topping, like this Fresh Homemade Pineapple Sauce. I made it with leftover fresh pineapple, but I bet it would be awesome with canned pineapple chunks too!
Reasons to love this Fresh Homemade Pineapple Sauce recipe:
- This sauce is packed with delicious flavors and essential Vitamin C and Manganese.
- Budget -friendly and leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for 7 days.
- Versatile – Great for using up leftover fruit.
- It is easy to make and ready to eat in about 20 minutes!
This recipe is all about the fresh pineapple! Throw the pineapple in the food processor and give it a few pulses to puree. If you don’t have a food processor, use a sharp knife to mince the pineapple as finely as you can.
Leave some larger chinks of pineapple. They will give some body and texture to the sauce. Yum.
This sauce smells heavenly while it is cooking, just like pineapple up-side down cake!
I keep empty jars on hand to store sauces that I make from scratch. That way if the kids finish something off, they are not throwing out my mason jars by mistake.
Helpful Tools and Ingredients:
- Powerful Food Processor – this is the one I have used for years and it just keeps on going.
- Large Eversharp Kitchen Knife – this is my favorite knife ever! It feels like an expensive knife in your hands. I have used mine everyday for years and it is still as sharp as brand new.
Fresh Homemade Pineapple Sauce
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INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups fresh pineapple, chopped
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
- To the bowl of a food processor, add the pineapple and pulse to lightly puree, still leaving some larger chunks. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt.
- Stir in the corn syrup and the pineapple.
- Over medium heat, bring to a boil while gently stirring constantly. Stir until mixture thickens, about 2 – 3 minutes.
- Stir in the vanilla and remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Stir in the lemon juice. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Serve warm or store in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container for up to 7 days.
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NUTRITION INFORMATION PER SERVING
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Hi Alicia, thanks for the comment. I would use a 20 ounce can + an 8 ounce can of crushed pineapple in 100% juice (no sugar added). Once drained, you should have a little more than the 2 cups of pineapple called for in the recipe. Let me know how it turns out.😃👍
Hello—I don’t have any fresh pineapple right now. I know it won’t taste as good, but can I use canned crushed pineapple and skip the food processor, since that’s what I have? If so, about how much do you think I need—8 oz can? 20 oz can? Many thanks—the recipe sounds wonderful 🙂
Hi Eveyln, I’m glad you liked the recipe even without the sugar. I love when readers adjust the ingredients to suite their own tastes and for what’s available to them. Thanks for letting us know😊!
I live in Florida and grow my own pineapple. I let them ripen on the plant. When I made this sauce it was to sweet. I made it again and left out the brown sugar and corn syrup and it still sweet enough. Very good, I will continue to make it to use when I don’t have pineapple to eat.
Hi Patrice, thanks for the question. Yes, this pineapple sauce can be frozen. Store it in an airtight container and be sure to leave room for expansion at the top. I would store the pineapple sauce for up to 3 months, but I’m sure it will keep longer than that. You’ll want to thaw and stir the sauce before using.Hope that helps!😊
Can the pineapple sauce be frozen?
I am so glad you loved it! Making a sauce or syrup is a great way to use fruit that will be discarded otherwise…and who wouldn’t like a big spoonful of fresh pineapple syrup on their sundae? Sounds amazing! Thanks for the comment and rating, I really appreciate it! 😁
I made this tonight because I had a pineapple going bad on my counter if I didn’t do something quick! Also, I am hosting a make your own sundae party at my house this week so I was on the hunt for a good pineapple sauce. It went together super fast and is perfect! It is so delicious. I also love the consistency. Many of the other recipes that I saw looked like a chutney consistency but this is a SAUCE, which I needed because I am putting all of my sauces in jars that pour. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!! It is going to be part of our family repertoire now. – blessings