Ever wondered if there is a way to use up all the rind leftover from your tasty watermelon! Well there is! We love this watermelon rind fruit sauce recipe for an easy and tasty way to save that rind! Adapt the basics to create whatever flavour combination you love!
Delicately Sweet On Its Own
Add Flavour With Your Favourite Fruit
Soft In 25 – 30 Minutes
Easily Blended For A Smooth Consistency
And Makes A Perfect Snack!
Prepare The Watermelon Rind
The part of the watermelon we are using for this recipe is the thick white rind between the green skin and the sweet fruit. When you’re cutting up your watermelon, take an extra few minutes to:
- Slice away the tough outer layer of green skin.
- Then slice the thick white rind away from the pink (or yellow) fruit.
- Finally, dice the watermelon rind as small as you can for the quickest cooking time!
How To Make Watermelon Rind Fruit Sauce
In order to soften the thick rind we boil the rind with some lemon juice and sugar until it’s soft and translucent. Since there is only the two of us, we usually buy miniature watermelons. 1 mini watermelon tends to yield about 3-5 cups of diced rind.
*If you have a larger watermelon, adjust the recipe to suit how much rind you have OR freeze some of it so you can make multiple batches of fruit sauce!
- Add your 3-5 cups of diced watermelon rind to a medium pot,
- With the juice of 1 lemon (or about 3 tbsp),
- And ⅓ cup cane sugar (feel free to use less or more… a sugar-free version is still very tasty!)
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat,
- Lower the temperature to a medium boil,
- Cover the pot,
- And allow to cook for 20-25 minutes (stirring occasionally) until the rind is translucent.
What Fruit To Add
We love how versatile this watermelon rind fruit sauce recipe is!
You can actually leave the watermelon rind as a sauce on its own! It will be similar to applesauce but made with watermelon rind instead! OR try any of your favourite fruit combinations. Our favourites so far are:
Watermelon Rind Applesauce: 1 peeled and diced apple, plus some cinnamon, and a bit of maple syrup!
Strawberry Watermelon Sauce: 1 ½ cups diced strawberries, plus some added chia seeds!
*A sturdier fruit, like an apple, could be added right from the beginning of the cooking process. BUT softer fruits, like berries, can be added just for the last 10 minutes of the cooking time.
How To Blend The Watermelon Rind Fruit Sauce
Cook the watermelon rind and any additional fruit until everything is soft and tender. Now, you can blend the sauce into a smooth consistency.
Carefully use an immersion blender OR transfer the mixture to your stand blender when it’s cool. Blend until smooth and either enjoy as is or…
Return the fruit sauce to the heat and stir in any spices, like cinnamon, or any additional sweeteners. OR… to thicken the consistency:
- Add chia seeds
- Or some dissolved starch
*If you are a better jam maker than I am you can absolutely make your watermelon rind into a more traditional jam!
Recipe Cost
We call this a “Thrifty How-To” recipe because we love that we are able to get more out of watermelon and our dollars are actually going further!
Turning our watermelon rind into the applesauce version costs us an additional: CAD $1.22.
And the strawberry version costs us an additional: CAD $2.50.
What do you think? Will you be getting more out of your watermelon? Let us know in the comments below if you try this watermelon rind fruit sauce recipe and what your favourite flavour combinations are!
For a more traditional applesauce recipe take a look at our 25 Minute Just Apples Applesauce!
Oh… and use that watermelon flesh for our show-stopping Spicy “Tuna” Watermelon Poke Bowl or Watermelon “Tuna” Steaks!
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Watermelon Rind Fruit Sauce – Easy & Delicious
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 750 ml 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This adaptable watermelon rind fruit sauce is our favourite way to save that rind! Try our strawberry sauce, our applesauce, OR get creative!
Ingredients
Kathryn’s Pick – Watermelon Strawberry Sauce
- 3–5 cups white watermelon rind (from 1 small seedless watermelon)*
- 1 lemon juiced (or 3 tbsp concentrated lemon juice)
- ⅓ cup cane sugar (more or less to taste)
- 1 ½ cup diced strawberries*
- optional: 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- optional: 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch (dissolved in 2 teaspoon water before adding)
Bryan’s Pick – Watermelon Rind Applesauce
- 3–5 cups white watermelon rind (from 1 small seedless watermelon)*
- 1 apple (peeled, cored and diced)*
- 3 tbsp lemon juice (or 1 lemon juiced)
- ⅓ cup cane sugar (more or less to taste)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
*Fresh Ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
- To prepare the watermelon; remove the outer green peel, then slice the white rind away from the sweet fruit. Dice the strips of rind as small as you can for the quickest cooking time. If you’re making the fruit sauce from frozen watermelon rind see the notes below!
- Combine diced watermelon rind, lemon juice, and sugar in a medium pot (if making the apple sauce, add the diced apple now). Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a gentler boil, cover, and boil for 20-25 minutes stirring periodically until the watermelon pieces are translucent.
- If making the strawberry sauce add 1 ½ cup strawberries and cook with the lid on for an additional 10 minutes to soften the strawberries.
- Carefully test a piece of watermelon and make sure it’s quite tender. When tender and translucent, remove the pot from the heat and either carefully blend with an immersion blender. Or allow the mixture to cool and transfer to a stand blender.
- Blend the mixture until it forms a smooth sauce.
- For the applesauce, stir in the cinnamon and maple syrup if desired. For the strawberry sauce either enjoy as is OR return it to the pot, warm it back up, and add in chia seeds and/or optional arrowroot starch to thicken the consistency. Cook for 3-5 additional minutes.
- Allow your watermelon rind sauce to cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Best enjoyed within the first week!
Notes
If you have a larger watermelon, adjust the recipe to suit how much rind you have OR freeze some of the rind so you can make more sauce when you need a top up! You can follow the recipe as is when using frozen watermelon rind OR defrost the rind in the pot before adding any additional ingredients and discard about ½ of the water released.
Use the watermelon flesh for our Spicy “Tuna” Watermelon Poke Bowl!
If you’re using frozen watermelon rind you can add the frozen pieces to your pot and heat them to defrost. You can pour out that first bit of water that is released. Then add the lemon juice and sugar. You can also simmer the watermelon rind with the pot lid off so that more water is encouraged to evaporate. I have tried making this from frozen and not dumping the initial water released from the frozen watermelon pieces; the sauce still worked well but the flavour was slightly watered down. Let me know in the comments if you give this a try!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Thrifty How-Tos
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Maria
Who would have imagined? I will never throw watermelon rind away again. This recipe is quick and easy and oh so delicious. I added strawberries because Ontario strawberries are plentiful right now. The combination is fantastic!
Kathryn Alexandre
So glad to hear that! I love this with strawberries, especially when they are so fresh! Thank you for trying it and enjoy your fruit sauce!
Diane Albright
I need to fix this and eat it every day
Kathryn Alexandre
Haha! I made a batch and combined it with rhubarb just a few days ago! I hope you enjoy it!