What Goes With Cherries?
Wondering what goes with cherries? Learn the best ingredient pairings, meal ideas, popular flavor combinations, and other helpful tips.
Knowing what goes well with cherries gives you a starting point for putting meals together using the ingredients you already have on hand.
Whether you want to reduce food waste, get more creative in the kitchen, or improve your cooking skills, it starts with understanding what flavors pair well together.
What Are Cherries?
Cherries are in the stone fruit family along with apricots, peaches, plums, and nectarines. There are over 1,000 varieties of cherries in the United States alone. The most common sweet cherry varieties are Bing, Rainier, Royal Ann, and Lambert and the most popular sour cherries are Montmorency and Morello.
This super juicy fruit is either sweet or tart depending on the variety and has smooth skin that ranges in color from red to black to dark purple to yellow with pink blushing.
Helpful Tips
When To Buy
Cherries are in season from May through July. Look at the seasonal produce guide to see what’s in season right now.
What To Look For
Look for cherries that still have most of the stems attached as they keep them fresher for longer. They should look shiny and feel firm with no wrinkled or bruised skin.
How To Store
Cherries need to be refrigerated and should only be washed just before eating. They’ll keep for about a week in the refrigerator, or up to 1 year in the freezer when properly stored.
To freeze, arrange the pitted cherries in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer the frozen cherries to a sealed freezer-safe bag or airtight container.
What Goes Well With Cherries?
Vegetables
Fennel, garlic, and ginger.
Fruit
Apricots, coconut, red currants, figs, lemons, limes, melon, nectarines, oranges, peaches, plums, quince, and raspberries.
Spices
Allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and kosher salt.
Herbs
Sage.
Nuts & Seeds
Almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts.
Non-Dairy/Dairy
Butter (unsalted), buttermilk, caramel: miso caramel would be delicious, cheese: brie, goat, and ricotta: use cashew ricotta or almond ricotta for dairy-free, cream: use coconut cream or cashew cream for dairy-free, cream cheese, creme fraiche, mascarpone, vanilla ice cream, sour cream, and yogurt.
Proteins
Duck, meats, and pork.
Pantry Items
Amaretto, bourbon, brandy, chicken stock chocolate: esp dark and white, coffee/espresso, cognac, dried cherries, honey, liqueur: almond and orange, oats, rum, sugar, vanilla, vermouth, vinegar: balsamic and red wine, vodka, and wine.
Popular Cherry Pairings
- almonds + cream + vanilla
- chocolate + walnuts
- coconut + custard
- coffee + cream
- honey + pistachios + yogurt
- mint + vanilla
- orange + sugar + dry red wine
- sweet vermouth + vanilla
What To Make With Cherries
Cherries are delicious when eaten right out of your hand. But they can also be flambéed, poached, stewed, or baked.
You can use them similarly to the way you’d use other stone fruit in desserts such as cakes, flan, clafoutis (a French custard-like dessert), meringues, rice pudding, pie, pastries, crisps, cobblers, and galettes – replace the peaches in this recipe with fresh cherries.
Make jam, cherry compote, or other fruit spreads. Serve with oat flour crepes, french toast, crispy dairy free waffles, and pancakes. Pair with grilled pork, duck, or pate for a balance of sweet and savory.
Top frozen yogurt granola bars with fresh cherries for a refreshing summer snack. Make roasted balsamic cherries and add to either a salad with greens or serve over vanilla ice cream.
Cherries are a popular ingredient in cocktails and mocktails. Make infused simple syrup, smoothies, and sauces (such as bbq sauce since it acts as a natural sweetener).