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Grilled Peaches take an already delicious fruit and elevate it to incredible. This easy grilled peaches recipe starts with fresh peaches cooked hot and fast on the grill, and then finish with honey and topped with ice cream! Want to add extra flavor – consider smoked honey or homemade hot honey instead.
This is the perfect summer dessert idea for your backyard cookout. Summer juicy peaches are perfect for the outdoor grill.
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And when you add ice cream on top of grilled fruit, it ends up being one of the most simple, yet flavorful summer desserts. Top it with some smoked honey adds a flavor that your family and friends will go bonkers for.
Ingredients for Grilled Peaches
- Fresh Peaches – Take advantage of peach season at your local farmer’s market or grocery store. The natural sugars when peaches are ripe really shine after grilling them. There are many varieties of peaches. Because peaches are a stone fruit, look for freestone peaches. They are much easier to remove the pit of the peach. Clingstone peaches are a little firmer and you have to remove the pit with a knife.
- Seasoning – We want the fresh flavor of the peaches to shine and the natural sweetness so we don’t add any seasoning. But you can add brown sugar if you would like.
- Vanilla Ice Cream – A scoop of vanilla ice cream is our favorite for topping (regular or dairy free). But you can use any scoop of ice cream flavor you like.
- Toppings – We start with crushed graham crackers and then add a drizzle of honey at the end. The honey adds some fun sweetness to the smoky flavor of the peaches. For just one last garnish we add fresh mint leaves.
What to Look for when Buying Peaches
For this grilled peaches recipe, it’s important to buy peaches that are slightly firm, but not rock hard. White peaches are our favorite variety of peaches for the sweetness level. When grilling peaches, the slightly firmer peaches will allow time to grill and soften while still remaining slightly firm when you serve them.
Overly ripe peaches will be very soft to the touch, or almost spongy. If that is all you can find, then adjust the grilled heat temperature higher to get the grill marks since they don’t need to be grilled and softened, otherwise they will end up very mushy.
Cutting Peaches
When cutting clingstone peaches for the grill, the best way is to have a sharp paring knife.
- Hold the peach in one hand and a sharp paring knife in the other.
- Start cutting the peach at the stem by pressing the paring knife into the peach until you feel the knife hit the pit.
- Continue cutting the peach from the north pole to the south pole and all the way around the peach until you connect at the stem, finishing the line. Always be sure you are cutting along the pit so you have two equal size halves.
- Place the paring knife down, and then using your two hands, gently twist the two halves in opposite directions to separate the halves.
- One side will have a pit. Using the paring knife, slowly cut around the pit into the peach and then using a small spoon, gently lift and remove the pit from the peach.
Seasoning
Place the peach half on a large sheet pan. Add extra virgin olive oil to the tops (or flesh) of the peaches. This helps avoid the peaches from sticking to the grill. When you place brown sugar (or in this case, naturally sweet peaches) on a hot grill you run the risk of burning or sticking. The oil will help prevent this from happening. We only add brown sugar if the peaches aren’t as ripe as we like, and we so at the end after grilling them.
How to Grill Peaches
First, be sure the grill grates are clean. Consider adding olive oil to paper towel and coating the grates with more oil. Long tongs are also very important because it prevents the peaches from being crushed or dropped over the grill. Spatulas are fine, but tongs work better.
- Preheat Grill: Prepare charcoal grill for direct, or one zone grilling. Target the temperature of the grill at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for the grill (or medium heat). Note that if the peaches are overripe, you can grill them at a higher temperature because they are already soft. Target direct heat of 550 degrees for overly ripe peaches. But again, it’s best to use firm peaches for this.
- Grill Peaches: Place peaches, flesh side down, on the preheated grill for 4-6 minutes. Remove the peaches after you see some nice sear marks on them and they are soft.
- Serve: Place on your serving platter. If making as a dessert, it is best to grill the peaches right before serving so they are warm. Serve with ice cream and toppings.
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Gas Grill – If using a gas grill set two burners to medium-high heat, targeting 500 degrees in the cooking chamber.
Indoor Grill Pan – If doing this in a grill pan with grill grates, add butter to the hot pan over medium heat and be sure the melted butter coats the base of the pan. Follow the same directions and grill for 4-6 minutes per side.
Toppings for Grilled Peaches
There is no better companion to grilled peaches than ice cream for a delicious dessert. We prefer vanilla ice cream. From there we keep it simple adding crushed graham cracker and a drizzle of honey (you can also use smoked honey or homemade hot honey for a little pizzazz). We garnish with mint.
Feel free to add whipped cream or swap the honey with aged balsamic vinegar.
We have also made this recipe with non-dairy ice cream and it works just as well following the same portions.
Serve warm right away so the ice cream is softened but not melted.
More Grilled Fruit Recipes
- Grilled Peach Crostini with Mascarpone and Honey
- Grilled Strawberry Sundae
- Bourbon Cocktail with Grilled Lemon Simple Syrup
- How to Grill Lemons
- Grilled Pineapple Coleslaw
- Grilled Pineapple
- Consider adding hot honey to any of these dishes for even more flavor
This recipe was originally published in 2020, and updated in 2023 with more details and information on fruit selection. The original recipe remains the same.
About Vindulge
Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.
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Grilled Peaches Recipe with Ice Cream and Honey
Equipment
- Paring Knife
Ingredients
- 6 whole white peaches, sliced in half
- 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 pints Vanilla Ice Cream
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup crushed graham cracker
- 3 tablespoons diced mint leaves
Instructions
- Preheat Grill: Prepare the grill for direct or one zone cooking. Target the temperature over the heat at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare Peaches: Cut peaches with a pairing knife along seam, cutting from the stem and vertically along the peach from one side of the stem to the other in one motion. Cut along the pit so the two hemispheres are equal in size. Using the knife, carefully cut along the pit and remove with a small spoon.
- Grill Peaches: Coat the flesh side of the peaches with olive oil using a brush and place the peaches over direct heat. Grill over direct heat for 4-6 minutes or until the peaches have grill marks and have softened a bit. See note below for ripeness considerations.
- Serve: Remove the peaches from the grill and serve warm with one scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of honey. Finish with some of the crushed graham cracker and a small amount of mint. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are the prettiest peaches – and they’re so delicious on the grill!