Make your own homemade raspberry simple syrup in less than 10 minutes with fresh raspberries (or frozen!) and sugar. It’s so easy and adds a fruity, colorful addition to drinks, cocktails, tea, lemonade, and more!
Clean the raspberries well (if using fresh) in a bath of salt water or vinegar. Rinse well.
In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water, and raspberries. Heat over medium-high heat until simmering, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 5-7 minutes until the berries have disintegrated into seeds.
Remove from heat and strain out the berries and seeds through a fine-mesh sieve. Use a spoon to stir the mixture to release the syrup as needed, being careful to not let any seeds or fruit bits into the syrup. Discard the seeds.
Optional: stir in a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to bring out the berry flavor if it's tasting flat; it's not about adding lemon flavor but rather enhancing the raspberry notes.
Let cool as needed and use immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Serving Size: this recipe makes approximately 3/4 cups of syrup. Feel free to double it if needed.
Frozen Berries: use frozen raspberries in place of fresh; they tend to be less sweet so be sure to taste test and add more sugar if you need to.