A quick and easy Blueberry Compote with a hint of lemon is the perfect topping to stir into yogurt, drizzle on top of pancakes, or spooned onto ice cream. All you need are a few ingredients and less than 15 minutes to make this delicious blueberry sauce.
Blueberries seem to be available year-round where I live, but as always they taste the best during peak season around summertime. You can enjoy them fresh or baked into scones, coffee cake, and pies. But they are even more delicious when cooked up into this easy Blueberry Compote.
In this blueberry compote recipe, I will show you just how easy it is to whip it all together, and how you can control the thickness of your compote. You can make it thicker and chunkier or make it a thinner blueberry sauce that you can pour over french toast instead of maple syrup.
How to make Blueberry Compote
Blueberry compote ingredients
- Fresh Blueberries are the main ingredient of this recipe, but frozen berries will work just as well.
- Lemon zest is added to brighten the compote’s flavor.
- Lemon juice is also added for that bright flavor as well as a boost of natural pectin to help thicken the blueberry sauce.
- Sugar – typically, I don’t use a lot of sugar to sweeten fruit compote, two tablespoons per pound of fresh fruit is enough. But since lemon juice adds a lot of tartness, I increase the amount of sugar to three or even four tablespoons in some cases, especially if the blueberries are off-season and not very sweet.
- Salt – just a pinch is needed to enhance the flavor of the compote.
Cooking the blueberries
Stir all the ingredients together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the fruits are softened and the mixture thickens slightly. The compote will continue to thicken as it cools.
If you are using frozen blueberries, the cooking time may need to be longer as frozen berries release more water and will take longer to reduce and thicken.
Baker’s Tips
How do you thicken blueberry compote?
Blueberries and lemon juice contain natural pectin, which helps things gel together in this recipe. The compote is also thickened from reducing the cooking liquid. You can control the thickness of the compote during the cooking process.
- For a thicker and chunkier blueberry compote, almost like pie filling texture, remove the fruits about ⅔ of the way through the cooking time and allow the liquid to reduce by half. When you add the fruits back in, take it off the heat, it will thicken up further as it cools.
- For a thinner, pourable blueberry sauce, cook the entire mixture for the entire amount of time without removing the fruits. As you cook, the juice will reduce but the fruits will also release more juice and keep the mixture thinner.
How long does this compote last?
You can store your homemade compote in a clean jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
If you make a large batch and want to preserve it longer, freeze it. Divide the sauce into smaller portions using ice cube trays and freeze solid, this way you only need to defrost as much as you’re going to use.
Can I use this recipe for canning?
This blueberry sauce recipe uses a very small amount of sugar and is not made for canning.
More fruit compotes and sauces
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, send me a photo, rate it and don’t forget to tag me @wildwildwhisk on Instagram. I’d love to see what’s cooking up in your kitchen. Cheers!
Blueberry Compote
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh blueberry (454 g)
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice (from about 1 lemon)
- 3 - 4 tablespoon granulated sugar (34 g to 45 g)
- A pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Wash and dry the blueberries.
- Add blueberries, sugar, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice in a medium sauce pan and cook over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes until blueberries are wilted and soft.
To get thick compote
- Remove blueberries with a slotted spoon and cook the liquid for 2 - 3 more minutes until reduced in half and thickened.
- Add blueberries back into the pot and stir to combined.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a jar. As the compote cool, it will thicken almost to pie filling consistency.
To get pourable compote
- Continue cooking without removing the blueberries for the next 2 - 3 minutes, reduce the heat slightly so the mixture doesn’t boil over.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a jar. As the compote cool, it will continue to thicken but will still be slightly thinner and pourable.
Video
Notes
- Frozen blueberries can be used instead of fresh blueberries.
- Increase cooking time if using frozen berries since they will release extra liquid.
- Adjust the amount of sugar to your taste if the lemon juice is too tart or the berries are not sweet enough.
- This recipe yields about 1 cup of thick compote or 1 ½ cup of the thinner one.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on 8/16/2018. The post has been updated and republished on 5/25/2020 with the latest improvements, extra tips, and a video to help you in the kitchen.
Hi, may I know the weight yield of this recipe? Also, is it possible to replace the blueberries with raspberries?
Hi Lavender, sorry I did not measure the weight yield, never really thought to do so. You can replace raspberries but they won’t hold their shape after cooking since raspberries are a lot more fragile.
wonderful recipe, thank you
Love this recipe. So delicious. The lemon gives the perfect tang and it’s wonderful with pancakes.
So easy and delicious! I put it on some cottage cheese for a healthy snack that tastes indulgent.
Oh I do love fruit with cottage cheese, great choice for serving!
Easy to make and excellent on pancakes! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing the compote recipe. Used blueberries with my daughter’s nee waffle iron.. Was super.
Thank you for trying! Sounds amazing with waffles 🙂
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Yes, you can!
This recipe is good but i cut the lemon juice ammnt.
In half. Other than that love it its so simple and tasty
( summer in a jar )
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Love this recipe! Second time I’ve made it! So very easy and it tastes wonderful. My family loves it!!
Thanks Pam! Have you tried the other compote recipes on the site? They’re just as easy 🙂
Tasted delicious on top of Italian cheesecake, excellent recipe!
Thank you so much for your feedback!
I wanted to k ow if this could be used to top a cheesecake,thanks for posting how well it works as a cheesecake topping
perfect treat in this warm weather