Our recipe for blueberry simple syrup is delicious and easy to make with just a few ingredients. This is delicious mixed into lemonades, matcha lattes, cocktails, or mocktails!
This summer has been busy for us with home improvement projects and traveling, so I’ve been posting a little less this summer but focusing on sharing easy-to-make recipes that are perfect for summer, like our blueberry simple syrup that’s perfect for drinks.
Our recipe for blueberry syrup is a simple syrup recipe mostly for drinks, so this isn’t a whole-fruit sauce recipe (I’ll create a recipe for that sometime).
The color of our syrup is natural and so vibrant and fun, too, it adds some beautiful color to your favorite drinks!
Since posting this recipe, I have tried this with frozen wild blueberries and I think that is my preferred method for a more flavorful blueberry syrup! I include the instructions for how to do this with wild blueberries farther down in the post and recipe card.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Our blueberry syrup only needs 3 simple ingredients (not including the water) and it’s really easy to make as well.
It’s actually easy to make – we’re not just saying that!
This can be used in all kinds of drinks (lemonade, matcha, etc.), but you can also use it on top of pancakes, or ice cream for summer. This blueberry syrup would taste amazing on top of lemon sorbet!
How to make blueberry simple syrup
Our blueberry simple syrup has simple ingredients and is easy to make, here are the steps to make this recipe (the full recipe is at the end of the post):
- Add the washed blueberries, sugar, water, and lemon juice to a 2-quart saucepan and stir.
- Cook over medium heat until the liquid begins to simmer, and lower the heat to medium-low heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- You want the blueberries to release their liquid but you don’t want the fruit to be mushy, it still needs to have some shape so you don’t get a lot of fruit puree into the syrup.
- Remove from the heat and pour the fruit and juice into a mesh strainer to separate the syrup, pressing gently on the fruit to help release the juice/syrup. Press gently on the fruit to encourage the juices to come out, but don’t press the fruit or puree through the strainer.
- Allow the fruit to drip juices into the bowl for about 5 minutes. You can use the leftover fruit for smoothies or oatmeal (the leftover fruit won’t be as flavorful).
- Pour the strained syrup through another finer mesh strainer (like a fine mesh tea strainer) to filter out more of the fruit solids.
- Allow the syrup to cool completely and store in a jar (I used Mason clamp jars). If the syrup thickens in the fridge due to the high amounts of natural pectin, just stir or whisk the syrup until it’s smooth again before using.
Blueberries have a lot of natural pectin, so you may notice that this syrup will thicken a bit after you strain it and chill it. Just stir it up to mix it well after it’s been chilled and expect a slightly thicker syrup than our strawberry syrup or rhubarb syrup.
Interestingly this didn’t happen with the wild blueberries and we had a smoother syrup when I used the frozen wild blueberries in this recipe (the instructions for that are below).
Store this syrup in the fridge in an airtight jar or container for up to 2 weeks. It may last longer, but you’ll need to watch for fermentation that can still happen in the fridge with our fruit syrups.
I haven’t tried freezing this yet, but this syrup should freeze well in a freezer-proof jar or container. Make sure to leave headroom for the expansion of freezing liquids if you decide to freeze this syrup.
Can I use frozen wild blueberries in this recipe?
Yes! We used fresh/farmed blueberries for the original recipe, but frozen wild blueberries also work for this as well and we have tested them and had great results.
After posting this recipe initially with farmed blueberries, I tried the frozen wild blueberries and I prefer the wild blueberry version. Since wild blueberries are more flavorful than farmed blueberries, I think the wild blueberries result in an even better-tasting syrup that’s smoother.
When making this syrup with frozen wild blueberries, you won’t have to thaw them beforehand, but it will take a bit longer to cook because it’s starting out frozen.
I also noticed that the frozen blueberries had some more liquid in them, so you can reduce the water by 2-4 Tablespoons for a slightly thicker syrup.
Here are the steps for using frozen wild blueberries (the steps are essentially the same with a few changes):
- Add 18 ounces of the frozen wild blueberries to the saucepan along with the same amount of sugar and lemon juice, and reduce the amount of water by 2-4 Tablespoons.
- Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. This will take longer to bring to a simmer than with fresh blueberries since these are frozen, it took me about 14 minutes to bring mine to a simmer.
- Once the liquid is simmering, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 8-10 minutes. I was able to cook these longer than with the fresh blueberries, I think wild blueberries are more firm and hold up better than farmed blueberries. As with the fresh blueberries, you want the fruit to soften and release its juice, but you want the fruit to still hold its shape and not become mushy.
- Pour the blueberries and juice through a metal strainer to separate the juice/syrup. You can gently press the fruit to release the juice, but don’t push any fruit pulp through the strainer.
- Allow the fruit to drain over your pitcher or bowl for about 5 minutes. Put the discarded fruit in a container for later to add to smoothies or oatmeal (it won’t be as flavorful just FYI).
- I double-strained my syrup, so I took the syrup and poured it through a fine mesh nylon strainer to filter out even more solids for a smoother syrup.
I noticed that the wild blueberry syrup had fewer particles even before straining/filtering a second time, and it didn’t try to coagulate in the fridge like the syrup I made from the farmed blueberries. So the wild blueberry syrup is smoother!
Check out our other fruit syrups!
- Easy Strawberry Simple Syrup
- Homemade Chokecherry Syrup
- Easy Rhubarb Simple Syrup (technically not a fruit syrup, but it’s sweet and great mixed with our other fruit syrups!)
Homemade Blueberry Simple Syrup
Ingredients
- 18 ounce container fresh blueberries (or frozen wild blueberries)
- ¾ cup unbleached sugar
- ½ cup water (use less water if using frozen wild blueberries)
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
With fresh farmed blueberries:
- Add the washed blueberries, sugar, water, and lemon juice to a 2-quart saucepan and stir together.
- Cook over medium heat until the liquid begins to simmer, and lower the heat to medium-low heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- You want the blueberries to release their liquid but you don’t want the fruit to be mushy, it still needs to have some shape so you don’t get a lot of fruit puree into the syrup.
- Remove from the heat and pour the fruit and juice into a mesh strainer to separate the syrup, pressing gently on the fruit to help release the juice/syrup. Press gently on the fruit to encourage the juices to come out, but don’t press the fruit or puree through the strainer.
- Allow the fruit to drip juices into the bowl for about 5 minutes. You can use the leftover fruit for smoothies or oatmeal (the leftover fruit won’t be as flavorful).
- Pour the strained syrup through another finer mesh strainer (like a fine mesh tea strainer) to filter out more of the fruit solids.
- Allow the syrup to cool completely and store in a jar. If the syrup thickens or coagulates in the fridge due to the natural pectin, just stir or whisk the syrup until it's smooth again before using (this didn't happen with the wild blueberry syrup).
With frozen wild blueberries:
- Add 18 ounces of the frozen wild blueberries to the saucepan along with the same amount of sugar and lemon juice, and reduce the amount of water by 2-4 Tablespoons.
- Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. This will take longer to bring to a simmer than with fresh blueberries since these are frozen, it took me about 14 minutes to bring mine to a simmer.
- Once the liquid is simmering, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 8-10 minutes. I was able to cook these longer than with the fresh blueberries. As with the fresh blueberries, you want the fruit to soften and release its juice, but you want the fruit to still hold its shape and not become mushy.
- Pour the blueberries and juice through a metal strainer to separate the juice/syrup. You can gently press the fruit to release the juice but don't push any fruit pulp through the strainer.
- Allow the fruit to drain over your pitcher or bowl for about 5 minutes. Put the discarded fruit in a container for later to add to smoothies or oatmeal (it won't be as flavorful just FYI).
- I double-strained my syrup, so I took the syrup and poured it through a fine mesh nylon strainer to filter out even more solids for a smoother syrup.
- Storage instructions are the same as the fresh blueberry instrctions.
Notes
Nutrition
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Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and allergy friendly food blogger of 12 years based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist