Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: This is such an easy recipe, and rhubarb sauce is a nice change from applesauce. Serve it as a simple dessert, or as a topping for pancakes, waffles, or yogurt.
How long it takes: 20 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: sharp knife, saucepan
Servings: 4
Rhubarb (or Pie Plant)
Fruit or vegetable, rhubarb is making a comeback. Found in many home gardens, a rhubarb plant is the plant that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving. It’s pretty impossible to kill a rhubarb plant, not that you would ever want to! You may know it as pie plant (so named because rhubarb makes a great pie!).
Here in Michigan, it’s absolutely the first crop to be harvested in the spring, and it’s always so welcome. Just when we think winter is going to last forever, the snow melts, the ground warms up a bit, and up through the ground, pink knobs of rhubarb emerge. The stalks grow so rapidly, you can literally see the change overnight. Stretching toward the sun, long stalks with gigantic leaves beckon to be made into delicious spring time treats.
My mom always made rhubarb sauce with rhubarb fresh from her garden. It’s so easy and flavorful. Since it’s really quite sour on its own, you need to add a fair amount of sugar to make it palatable. Experiment a little until you find just the right balance of tart/sweet for you.
Rhubarb Tips
Rhubarb is a vegetable that’s more commonly used as a fruit. It’s often used to make pies, sauces, cakes, bars, and so on.
There’s no need to peel rhubarb. Even though it may look kind of stringy, it will all cook down and be perfectly tender and edible. Never eat the leaves because they contain a toxic substance.
You can eat rhubarb raw, too, but it is super tart. Add very thin slices to salads for a nice crunch and burst of flavor.
How To Make Rhubarb Sauce
Think of rhubarb sauce like applesauce or peach sauce. It’s basically cooked fruit with a little sweetener, in this case, sugar.
Prep the rhubarb. Preparing the stalks to cook is easy. Simply cut off the leaves. Don’t be tempted to eat the leaves because they contain a substance that is toxic when eaten in large quantities. Wash the stalks thoroughly, and chop with a really sharp knife into one inch pieces.
Cook it on the stove. Put the chopped rhubarb into a large saucepan, add a splash of water (not too much, rhubarb is pretty juicy on its own), and sugar. Cook over medium to low heat until the rhubarb chunks have broken down and formed a nice sauce.
Make as much as you like. You can double or triple this recipe easily since there are only a couple of ingredients. It just depends on how much rhubarb you’re lucky enough to have. You could also add some strawberries. It’s a very forgiving recipe!
How to serve rhubarb sauce
Serve rhubarb sauce at room temperature or chilled. You can easily make a big bowl of it and keep it in the fridge for a week. It’s ready to eat any time you are.
Eat a bowl of rhubarb sauce for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Serve it as a delicious sauce for pancakes or waffles for breakfast. Stir it into plain yogurt. Top vanilla bean ice cream or pound cake with rhubarb sauce for dessert.
More Rhubarb Recipes
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Rhubarb Bars
- Rhubarb Instant Pot Cake (Rhubarb Upside Down Cake)
- Rhubarb Cake (a coffee cake topped with streusel)
- Roasted Rhubarb by The Spruce Eats
- Rhubarb Custard Pie by The Spruce Eats
- Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce by Taste of Home
- Rhubarb Jam from Ten Acre Baker
Refrigerate: Rhubarb sauce can be stored in the fridge in a tightly covered container for up to a week.
Freeze: Rhubarb sauce freezes well. Put into freezer containers and freeze up to 6 months. It’s best thawed overnight in the refrigerator.
How To Freeze Rhubarb
If you have a lot of rhubarb, it’s very easy to freeze. Wash, dry, and cut into small pieces (about one inch). Spread on a sheet pan and freeze for about an hour until frozen. Then, move it to an airtight storage container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 months. This method prevents the pieces from sticking together.
Rhubarb Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 cups roughly chopped rhubarb (about 1 inch pieces)
- ½ cup sugar, more to taste
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Put all ingredients into a large saucepan. Cook on medium heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until rhubarb chunks are soft and sauce is desired consistency.4 cups roughly chopped rhubarb, ½ cup sugar, more to taste, ¼ cup water
- Taste and adjust sweetness. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
- Increase yield: Recipe can be easily doubled or tripled depending on how much rhubarb you have.
- Storage: Rhubarb sauce can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for up to six months in a freezer safe container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Tip: If desired, add a couple drops of red food coloring. This is particularly helpful if your rhubarb is more green than red, which can depend on what type of rhubarb you happen to have. The color doesn’t affect the flavor, so it’s more for visual appeal.
- Strawberry-rhubarb sauce: Substitute 2 cups sliced strawberries for 2 cups of the rhubarb. Cook as instructed.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
Made your recipe this morning, and put some on my Toast,
The only changes I made was I used 1/2 cup Stevia & 1/2 cup Sugar, also mixed in 1 T Corn starch dissolved in a scant 1/4 cup warm water. Cooked it on medium for 12 minutes Delicious
Glad you enjoyed it!
Look forward to making this sauce, love putting it on buttered toast or fresh biscuits. Sometimes I even spread it on freshly made pancakes
Yum! All such great uses.
Delicious and easy!!
So glad you liked it!
Delicious! Just make it & it’s just like My Mama in-law made it. Going to freezer little containers. Thanks for bringing back memories of Mama.
So glad you liked it and it brought back memories – I love that! Thank you for leaving a review!
Thank you so much! The sauce is delicious!
I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks for leaving a review!
This looks exactly like my mother used make it! Just rhubarb, some sugar and a little water. Making this rhubarb sauce today! Thank you Rachel!
I love that! I hope it brought back wonderful memories.
Maybe you can’t count so I will do it for you 1) Rhubarb, 2) sugar, 3) water.
Thank you for this oh-so-very-helpful comment. I do indeed know how to count. I don’t count a splash of water as an “ingredient” because I assume everyone has that on hand and won’t have to make a trip to the store for it. I do hope you have a great day and that you find a way to spread kindness instead of negativity. Life is too short!
wow i haven’t had this in years. Sure glad i found this recipe
Enjoy!
Yum, my mom makes great rhubarb pie too. I actually just eat this cold with a spoon. I imagine it would probably be good over ice cream or even vanilla yogurt, but I've never tried that.
I love rhubarb pie, my gram makes it. What do you do with the sauce? :-)