Easy Raspberry Compote

Use this easy raspberry compote recipe in many ways! Drizzle the sauce on cake or ice cream, or use for topping for yogurt, oatmeal, pancakes or waffles.

Looking for an easy raspberry sauce? This raspberry compote has your name on it! This sweet tart sauce is ultra versatile. It’s perfect for drizzling on chocolate cake or cheesecake. Or, use it for swirling into yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, or as a topping for pancakes or waffles. Anything goes here! Alex and I originally made this to go with our flourless chocolate cake. It was the perfect tart antidote to the fudgy sweet cake. There are so many ways to use this sauce, you’ll be eating it for days.

Why to make this raspberry compote recipe

The basic method for a fruit compote is simple: cook down fruit with a sugary syrup. Here are a few things about this raspberry compote that we think makes it exceptional:

• It’s sweetened with just enough maple syrup. We love using natural sweeteners, and you don’t need loads of sugar to make a compote! Pure maple syrup adds a great nuance of flavor, and sweetens gently without overpowering the fruit.
• It has a beautiful sweet tart flavor. This one’s pure berry! The recipe has a range of maple syrup so you can make a sweeter version or a more tart version.
• Add a splash of Cointreau if you like. Here’s our secret weapon: Cointreau! You can use any orange liqueur, or leave it out if you don’t have it. But it adds a lovely citrus essence! Alex and I have a big bottle from making margaritas and Cosmos, so we’re always brainstorming new ways to use Cointreau.

What’s a compote? Is it different from a sauce?

First off: what’s a fruit compote? Compote is fresh or dried fruit that’s cooked down in a sugary syrup. Usually it’s left fairly chunky, so you have the texture of chunks of fruit. It’s often served spooned over desserts, like cakes. It’s perfect over ice cream.

This compote recipe is an easy raspberry sauce, too! The only difference is that sometimes sauce recipes are strained to remove the seeds. Because a compote is usually chunky, we kept all the fruit inside this compote. We loved the nice texture contrast of the slightly chunky berries. The seeds didn’t bother us!

Can I strain it to make a smoother sauce?

Not into raspberry seeds? You could strain the compote after cooking if you’d like a smoother sauce. If you do so, keep in mind it will make less than the listed yield since you’re straining out a lot of volume. The ¾ cup listed volume would likely reduce to about ½ cup or less. The great thing about compotes is that you can avoid straining…but if you prefer smoother sauces, it would be delicious as well!

Frozen raspberries vs fresh: which should I use?

The nice thing about raspberry compote is that you can use frozen berries, and the flavor is just as good as with fresh! Sauces and jams are a great place to use frozen berries, which still retain all the nutrients of fresh berries. Because we originally made this in the middle of winter, we used frozen berries. If you prefer using fresh, they’re incredibly tasty as well!

Most of our jam recipes also use frozen berries, like this tasty Easy Strawberry Jam! This Quick Blueberry Sauce can also be made using frozen berries.

Ways to serve raspberry compote

There are lots of delicious ways to serve this raspberry compote sauce! Here are some of our best serving suggestions:

• Chocolate Cake: This rich and fudgy Flourless Chocolate Cake for chocolate lovers is perfect with the tart raspberry topping. Perfect for Valentine’s Day or birthday celebrations!
• Mug cake: Try it on a 5 minute Vanilla Mug Cake!
• Cheesecake: Try our Crustless Cheesecake and swap the cherries for this compote!
• Vanilla Ice Cream: Top it on your favorite ice cream! This works as a vegan dessert idea.
• Yogurt: Swirl it into yogurt as a breakfast bowl!
• Oatmeal: Swirl it into this fan favorite Best Oatmeal recipe with Nut Butter, and prepare to be amazed.
• Pancakes: What stack wouldn’t be lovelier with a bit of raspberry compote? Try our Sour Cream Pancakes, Banana Oatmeal Pancakes, or Chocolate Spelt Pancakes.
• Waffles: Same as pancakes! Try our Fluffy Gluten Free Waffles or Cornbread Waffles with this tasty raspberry sauce.

This raspberry compote recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.

Print