Sweet summer cherries are sprinkled with sugar, dashed with cinnamon, and slowly simmered with a squeeze of lemon in this fresh cherry compote recipe. The result: a glassy red sauce studded with plump n’ juicy whole cherries!
Fruit compote is my go-to move when we’ve got sad fruit laying around. As you can see below, these cherries are no longer in the prime of their life. They were actually leftovers from developing my Cherry Salsa recipe and after a week, they ain’t lookin’ so good.
But with a quick simmer in sugar, lemon juice, and just a touch of cornstarch for thickness, almost any fading fruit can turn into a glistening delight that is perfect for smothering over ice cream, mounding atop cheesecakes, jazzing up pancakes, you name it.
Turning older cherries into compote not only improves their declining flavor and texture, but cooking them with sugar hinders their decay process, thereby extending their lifespan just a bit longer.
Many cherry compote recipes use halved or chopped cherries to make the sauce cook faster, but I think leaving them whole results in a luscious treat that is worth the wait. The deep red hue of the cherries becomes even more saturated once cooked down into the thick, lacquer like sauce. Plus, I love the way the whole fruits burst in your mouth when you eat them!
ingredients for cherry compote
ingredient notes & swaps
- Using the right type of fresh cherries is the first step to making the best cherry compote recipe! Sweet cherries are what you want to use here, a category which includes varieties like Bing, Rainier, and Black cherries. Appearance wise, the ones you see here are Bing cherries. Rainier cherries are yellow/red in color and will produce a lighter colored compote. Black cherries, of course, will produce a wonderfully dark black cherry sauce. I would avoid sour cherries for this sauce as their tartness means they will need more sugar than I have written this recipe for.
- I used about 2 tablespoons (1 oz) of bourbon whiskey, but you could do a full shot (3 tablespoons or 1.5 oz) if you are a bourbon lover like me 🫶 It’s all up to you! Or skip it entirely and replace the booze with water if you’d like to go alcohol free.
summer cherry compote recipe
Sweet summer cherries are sprinkled with sugar, dashed with cinnamon, and slowly simmered with a squeeze of lemon in this fresh cherry compote recipe. The result: a glassy red sauce studded with plump n’ juicy whole cherries!
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh cherries
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Pluck the stems from and pit the fresh cherries. I do not have a cherry pitter tool (I know!!) so I use a combo of a chopstick and sandwich pick to accomplish this task, by inserting the pointy end of either tool through the stem end of the cherry, and popping it out the other side. If using something sharp (I’m looking at you sandwich pick) watch your fingies!
- In a saucepan or wide skillet over medium heat, combine the pitted cherries, lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon, salt, and ¼ cup water.
- Cook, stirring often for about 15-20 minutes, until the cherries have softened and released some of their juices. Not sure what science is taking place here but the mixture always gets all foamy as it cooks! As the mixture cooks, it will get thicker and more concentrated, so you may have to reduce the heat and keep a close eye on it to avoid sticking.
- Stir in the bourbon and cook for 2 more minutes, just to cook the alcohol off.
- Make the cornstarch + water slurry in a small bowl, stirring it well so that the cornstarch dissolves completely. Stir about half of the slurry into the cherry mixture and continue cooking over medium heat, for about 2-3 minutes until thick and smooth. Check the consistency of the sauce; if you want it to be thicker, add in the remaining cornstarch slurry. Keep in mind that the sauce will continue thickening a bit as it cools too!
- Remove your cherry compote from the heat and set it aside, letting it cool for about 5 minutes to finish thickening. Serve warm or chilled, however you like!
Notes
- When pitting cherries, try your best to keep most of them whole. It takes a little patience, but the pits will pop out the other side, I promise! Don’t worry if a few of them crack or smush, they’ll help make the sauce nice and juicy.
- The amount of cornstarch slurry you need to use will depend on the amount of naturally occurring pectin in your cherries, which can vary across crops, seasons, and levels of ripeness. My cherries thickened up a fair bit on their own, so half of the cornstarch mixture was perfect for my batch. It’s also a little bit up to your personal tastes too! I like my compote on the thinner side so it can be dripped and drizzled as opposed to thick and gloppy like a cherry pie filling (mmm that sure sounds like a recipe for another day though…) but if you want it more thick and jammy, you do you!
- If at any point your cherry compote seems like it is getting TOO thick, simply add a splash of water. If it becomes too wet, just cook it for a few extra minutes to evaporate excess water. Nice and forgiving 🙂
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: sauce
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: american
FAQs
Can I make this cherry compote recipe using frozen cherries?
For sure! Frozen cherry compote will turn out a bit different texturally, as the frozen fruit will become softer once cooked as opposed to the fresh cherries which hold their shape nicely. Textural changes aside, using frozen cherries to make compote is still a delicious endeavor!
Compote made from frozen cherries may be more liquidy, as the fruit will seep extra liquid as it cooks, so you might want to have some extra cornstarch slurry on hand in case you need some additional thickening power.
What is cherry compote used for?
So. Many. Things. I love it spooned over top vanilla ice cream (we literally ate the below bowls of ice cream for lunch the day I tested this recipe), stirred into yogurt, or used as a cherry topping for cheesecake, pound cakes, short cake, you name it! It is also a great addition to a special breakfast, making a perfect topping for waffles, french toast, or pancakes.
If you love desserts, make sure to try my No Bake Key Lime Cheesecake and Sugar-Glazed Meyer Lemon Cake recipes too!
dig in!
Enjoy & let me know what you think 🌙 💛
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