Port Wine Poached Pears

Port Wine Poached Pears are a stunning and delicious fall and winter dessert. Full of warming spices, they're fantastic on their own, over ice cream, in a tart, and even alongside chicken. This port wine dessert is so easy to make and so impressive! It's so easy to poach pears . . . . and even more delicious!

Poaching pears in port wine takes the fall fruit to another level.

The pears steep in Ruby port wine for hours, along with cinnamon, star anise and fresh thyme. It's a beautiful, aromatic and rich combination of flavors.

There are a variety of ways to present port poached pears, and they range from pretty to prettier!

What is a poached pear?

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Poaching pears is essentially cooking them submerged in a liquid on the stove. They're most commonly poached in simple syrup, but are often poached in wine.

The flavors pears are poached in can vary widely, and you can tailor the liquid to your taste by adding spices, fruits and using different sweeteners.

What are the best pears for poaching?

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Firm pears are best for poaching because they hold their shape well. Bosc, Anjou, Comice and Asian pears are all great choices.

What is port wine?

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Port is a fortified dessert wine from Douro Valley of northern Portugal.

There are several varieties of port, but there are two main types: red Ruby port, which has a berry-like flavor, and Tawny port, which has more of a caramel, nut-like flavor. Both are sweet, but the Tawny is a bit sweeter.

You can learn more about port wine here.

Above: The pears on the left have just been added to the poaching liquid, and the pears on the right have been marinating for about two hours.

Serving Ideas

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• Port Wine Poached Pears are outstanding on their own.
• Reduce the poaching liquid and you'll have an amazing port wine glaze to drizzle over them. (Which is what we do in this recipe.)
• Fill the cavity (from where the seeds and core have been removed) with whipped cream, mascarpone or vanilla custard.
• Slice them and serve them over vanilla bean ice cream. (I like using mild-flavored ice creams with port wine poached pears so it doesn't compete with their delicious flavor.)
• The pears are perfect for filling tarts and pies.
• This one might throw you, but trust me . . . . serve them sliced with roasted chicken or duck. Imagine cranberry sauce and turkey, only different. 😉 

Above: The pears have marinated overnight.

Recipe Tips and Substitutions

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• Be sure not to use pears that are overly ripe or too soft because they likely won't hold their shape when you poach them.
• The longer the pears sit in the poaching liquid, the deeper the red color will be and the stronger the flavor.
• Ruby port wine is a dessert wine and is already sweet, which is why there's not much sugar in this recipe. Feel free to add more or less sugar to suit your taste.
• You can use Tawny port instead of Ruby if you'd like. The Tawny is slightly sweeter so lessen the sugar a bit if you do, and note that it's more brown than red.
• Feel free to change up the spices. I love the combination of the star anise and cinnamon in this recipe, and cloves and/or cardamom would also be great.
• You can use this pear poaching method with other wines also, and with most simple syrups. This Hazelnut Simple Syrup is my favorite and it's excellent with pears.
• It's pretty to garnish the pears with finely chopped nuts to contrast their color. I especially love how pistachios look.

Pictured below are a few different presentations . . . .Whole Port Wine Poached Pear with Port Wine Glaze and cacao nibs.

Whole, fanned Port Wine Poached Pear with Port Wine Glaze and chopped pistachios.

Halved Port Wine Poached Pears with Port Wine Glaze.

Can you make them ahead?

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• Poached pears actually are even better when they're made ahead. As I mentioned above, the longer the pears sit in the poaching liquid, the deeper the red color will be and the stronger the flavor. In my experience they never get too strong. I think they go from delicious to even more delicious, the longer they marinate.
• You can make them up to a week ahead, and they should be stored refrigerated in the liquid they were poached in, in a tightly sealed container.
• A reason to serve them soon after they've poached, or to poach them for less time, is the color. When you slice into a Ruby port or red wine poached pear that has only marinated for about an hour, the pear will still be its natural cream color in the center. Here's an example. And when they marinate overnight, the red color goes all the way through. Either way, they're beautiful. 

I hope you love this port wine dessert recipe as much as I do!

More pear dessert recipes:

• Pear Frangipane Tart (Cocoa & Lavender)
• Honey Baked Korean Pear
• Rosemary Roasted Hasselback Asian Pears

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