Creamy Vanilla Sauce (perfect for dessert!)
There's nothing like a drizzle of creamy vanilla sauce to take your favorite desserts to the next level. This easy homemade vanilla sauce is rich, smooth, and infused with real vanilla flavor, making it the perfect finishing touch for cakes, bread pudding, cobblers, crumbles, crisps, and pies.
Or keep things simple - spoon it over fresh berries or sneak a taste straight from the spoon (no judgment here!). With its luxurious texture and just-right sweetness, this versatile vanilla cream sauce complements just about anything sweet.
I developed this recipe with my Swedish Apple Pie recipe in mind, but it is a perfect match for almost any dessert, including Swedish Spice Cake, Spiced Pear Cake with Cardamom and Cardamom Peach Cobbler. With a short list of easy-to-find ingredients, you are just 10 minutes away from enjoying this custard-like vanilla sauce.
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Ingredients
- Half and half - is my dairy ingredient of choice for this recipe.
- Egg yolks - provide richness without giving the sauce an overly eggy flavor.
- Sugar - brings sweetness.
- Salt - balances out the sweetness of the sugar.
- Vanilla extract - adds its quintessential comforting flavor.
- Cornstarch - serves as the thickener.
See the recipe card below for exact amounts and detailed instructions.
Substitutions
- Substitute whole milk or cream for the half and half. The whole milk version will be a little less rich and the cream will be more so.
- Use the paste from a vanilla bean in place of the extract.
Variations
- Almond Vanilla Sauce: Add a just a few drops of almond extract in with the vanilla.
- Spiced Vanilla Sauce: Add a sprinkle of cinnamon, cardamom and/or nutmeg to the sauce. This is a lovely variation for autumn!
- Vanilla Bourbon Sauce: Add a splash of bourbon or whisky to the sauce.
How to Make Vanilla Sauce
- Step 1: Combine the half and half, egg yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch together in a large saucepan. Heat over medium low, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a simmer. Continue whisking until the sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes.
- Step 2: Remove from the heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine. Serve the sauce warm, cold or room temperature on top of your favorite dessert!
Expert Tip
Be sure to keep a close eye on the sauce while it cooks, ideally whisking it the entire time. Any dairy-based sauce such as this one can easily scorch on the bottom on the bottom of the pan.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! This sauce can be made up to three days ahead of time. Simply store it tightly covered in the refrigerator. It can be served warm or cold so you can either enjoy it straight from the refrigerator OR you can warm it in the microwave or the stovetop.
Really anything that would go well with vanilla ice cream would be an excellent pair with this sauce. Think cobblers, crumbles, pie, cake, bread pudding.....you name it. See a full list of recipe suggestions below!
What to Serve with Creamy Vanilla Sauce
In addition to the recipes I mentioned above, here are a few more that are delicious with this sauce:
- Gingerbread Cobbler with Apples and Pears
- Swedish Apple Pie (pictured above)
- Swedish Apple Cake
- Spice Cake with Dates and Rye (use in place of the caramel sauce)
- Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake
- Old-Fashioned Norwegian Rhubarb Crumb Cake
- Rustic Strawberry Rhubarb Rye Galette
- Finnish Strawberry Almond Tart
Related Recipes
Looking for more sweet sauce ideas? Check out these blog favorites:
If you tried this Creamy Vanilla Sauce recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Recipe
Creamy Vanilla Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups half and half or whole milk or cream
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the half and half, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a large saucepan and heat over medium low. Whisk the mixture constantly until it begins to simmer. Cook until the sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and pour the sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract. Serve warm or cold.
An excellent alternative to whipping cream - and took about the same amount of time, Plus, I almost always have half and half and eggs in the house.
Served with Crustless Apple Pie - delicious!
Thanks, Marcia! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
Kristi
This was wonderful. I used it with your crustless Swedish apple pie, which was also fabulous. A question…it was smooth when first made, but as it cooled I noticed it became somewhat grainy. Is this to be expected? I will probably use a caster sugar the next time.
Hi Sally,
Thanks for your comment and question! It's likely the sugar wasn't full dissolved and the crystals reformed after it cooled. Caster sugar would definitely help it dissolve faster. Also, keeping the heat nice and low and stirring constantly will help keep the texture silky smooth. Straining it, as the recipe suggests, is another safeguard. You did everything right...just a couple of small tweaks should make it perfectly smooth next time!
Kristi
I made it for a banana apple Tartan I didn’t have heavy whipping cream so I melted French vanilla ice cream and it was delicious!
Was looking for a creamy topping for strawberry cobbler and came across this recipe. Made it as written, at first :), and found the flavor to be excellent. I added 1 additional tsp. of cornstarch only because I wanted the sauce to be a bit thicker. It was perfect for the cobbler. I will use this recipe many times going forward. Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Janet! Strawberry cobbler sounds amazing with this!
Kristi
Hi Linda,
That's really strange! There aren't too many eggs in the recipe and they are just yolks which shouldn't create much of an eggy taste. I wonder if it had something to do with the eggs you were using? I would give it another try!
This looks fabulous. Going to make it to serve tomorrow with my Eve’s Pudding to some company.
Hi Mary, your recipe turned out fantastic, very delicious.. I am going to pour it over my bread pudding! Any ideas for a great bread pudding? I need it for Saturday. Good job!
Michelle Alexander- Leach.
Thank you so very much!
This creamy vanilla sauce is absolutely delicious and easy to prepare. It was the perfect complement to the Swedish Apple Pie I made yesterday from your recipe.
Thank you so much!
Thanks, Mary! It is such a delicious sauce. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! It is much appreciated.
Kristi
Delicious recipe! I love it on its own for so many of my desserts. I tweaked it a little bit for my gingerbread spiced bundt cake. Instead of 1 and 3/4 cup of a singular dairy, I use 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup half-and-half, 3/4 cups eggnog. I added a good dash of nutmeg and drizzled it over my gingerbread Bundt cake. It was a perfect pairing to it.
Danielle,
Ooh...eggnog! That is genius! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for leaving a comment!
Kristi
That idea sounds delicious, Danielle. The butter sauce recipe I'm looking for is almost clear at the end of cooking time, and I believe it also used the juice from the canned pineapple tidbits I needed for the lime jello salad. My maternal grandmother used to make that lime jello salad with the clear butter sauce and it was delicious. My siblings and I used to eat up the sauce and skip the jello! The lime jello salad had cottage cheese in it and so is full of protein.
Made sauce to drizzle over strawberries and shortcake . It was excellent consistency and flavor ! Yum!
So glad you enjoyed it. What a perfect compliment to strawberry shortcake!
Kristi
Thanks this is perfect.
Absolutely awesome recipe! I have been hunting for a vanilla sauce recipe for years. This reminds me of a sauce I had as a kid. It is delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe. All the others I have tried have been too sweet.
Thank you, Sheila! I'm so glad you liked it. It definitely goes with almost everything!
Kristi