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Baked Pears in Spiced Pomegranate Syrup

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These baked pears are a wonderful light autumn or winter dessert, perfect for the holidays!

Plate with a baked pear in spiced pomegranate syrup.

Whenever I’m hosting big holiday dinners, I’ll often make several desserts: something chocolate (you gotta have something chocolate for the chocolate lovers), something seasonal, and something light, like fruit. This is a wonderful light option. The ruby-colored pomegranate syrup is beautiful and festive, and baked pears are so much more enticing than a typical fruit salad. It might look like it’s begging for vanilla ice cream, but it’s plenty sweet and better without it — if anything, a dollop of honeyed Greek yogurt is nice. I like it best with cookies, especially almond biscotti, walnut & cinnamon biscotti, double chocolate biscotti or Italian cornmeal cookies.

What you’ll need to make Baked Pears

Baked pear ingredients including lemon, cloves, and Pom.

How to make Baked Pears

Begin by peeling and coring the pears. It’s easiest to use a vegetable peeler for peeling and a melon baller for coring — plus, if you do it this way, the fruit will look prettier. Leaves the stems on if possible (although they will only be on one half of each pear).

Cored and peeled pears on a counter.

Make the pomegranate syrup by combining the pomegranate juice and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for one minute until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon juice, cloves and cinnamon sticks.

Sugar pouring into a saucepan of pomegranate juice.

Arrange the pears cut side down in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Halved, peeled pears in a baking dish.

Pour the syrup over top.

Pomegranate syrup pouring over halved and peeled pears.

Bake for about 45 minutes, basting occasionally, until the pears are easily pierced with a knife.

Baking dish of baked pears.

Meanwhile, de-seed the pomegranate if necessary (see how to deseed a pomegranate). Place the pears in shallow bowls and spoon some of the syrup over top. Sprinkle the pomegranate arils around the pears and garnish with cinnamon sticks, if desired. Serve warm, cold or room temperature.

Plate with a baked pear in spiced pomegranate syrup.

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Baked Pears in Spiced Pomegranate Syrup

These baked pears are a wonderful light autumn or winter dessert, perfect for the holidays!

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 45 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups unsweetened pomegranate juice (such as POM Wonderful)
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one large lemon
  • 2 cinnamon sticks, plus more for serving
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 4 firm baking pears, such as D'Angou or Bosc, peeled and cored (see note)
  • ½ cup pomegranate arils, from one pomegranate or ready-to-eat, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
  2. In a small non-reactive sauce pan (such as stainless steel, glass, enameled or nonstick), combine the pomegranate juice and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, then add the lemon juice, cinnamon sticks and cloves.
  3. Arrange the pears cut side down in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Pour the pomegranate syrup over the pears, and place the dish in the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes, basting occasionally, until the pears are tender and easily pierced with a sharp knife. If serving hot, proceed to the next step; otherwise, cover and chill until ready to serve.
  4. Place the pears in shallow bowls and spoon the syrup over top. Sprinkle the pomegranate arils around the pears and garnish with cinnamon sticks, if desired. Serve with fork and knife for cutting the pear, and a spoon for the syrup. (The dish may be served hot, cold or room temperature.)
  5. Note: Be sure to use firm, not ripe, pears. It's best to peel them with a vegetable peeler and core them with a mellon baller.

Nutrition Information

Powered by Edamam

  • Per serving (8 servings)
  • Serving size: 1 pear half
  • Calories: 161
  • Fat: 0g
  • Saturated fat: og
  • Carbohydrates: 42g
  • Sugar: 35g
  • Fiber: 4g
  • Protein: 1g
  • Sodium: 22mg
  • Cholesterol: 6mg

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

Gluten-Free Adaptable Note

To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.

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Comments

  • Such a simple dessert to make. Even better ,its delicious and festive! My pears were already ripe so I just lowered the baking time. Also the skin was so thin I left it on. Everyone loved it!

    • — Marita on December 29, 2023
    • Reply
  • Happy holidays! I’m wondering if these can be made the night before a breakfast/brunch. I see that they can be served cold, so it seems like it would be OK, but thought I would check first. Thanks so much, love your site!

    • Happy holidays to you (and so glad you like the site)! Yes, it’s fine to make these the night before. Hope everyone enjoys! 🙂

  • Absolutely delish! Used farro and increased the amount of dates and mint! Thank you for this wonderful dish!

  • Absolutely delicious and really easy! Another winner–we cut back slightly on the sugar the second time that we made this—but this was a wonderful and healthy winter time dessert!

  • This was great! I made for my husband’s birthday as a healthier alternative to cake. I will definitely make again. I was able to fit a few extra pears into the pan (same amount of syrup) and upped the cinnamon to 4 sticks. Delicious!!!

  • Another winner! I made this for my husband’s birthday as a healthier alternative to cake. It was simple, but elegant, and delicious. I added extra cinnamon sticks (4 total). In addition I was able to fit 6 pears (12 halves) in the baking dish (no adjustment to syrup quantity) to be able to feed a crowd. Will certainly make this one again!

  • Hi Jenn
    I’m thinking of making this for a dinner party dessert. Can I slice the pear and fan out before or after baking to give a more dramatic presentation. Thanks
    Lynn

    • — Lynn Weinstein
    • Reply
    • Sure, Lynn — I’d fan them out after baking. Hope everyone enjoys!

  • Hi Jenn – Another winner! I made these for Passover and everyone loved them. Very easy. Had to bake the pears about 15 minutes more than suggested because they were really hard. But they baked up nicely. I have a lot of sauce leftover and am wondering if I can reuse it (to bake up some more pears) or freeze it and use it as an ice cream topping. Any thought? Thanks. Kathy

    • Hi Kathy, So glad you enjoyed! You can definitely reuse the syrup to bake more pears. Freezing it is also a great idea…I think it’d be delicious over vanilla ice cream. 🙂

  • Hi Jenn I love your recipies! My husband cannot eat sugar-is there a substutition that I can use?

    • Hi Marisa, Glad you like the recipes! 🙂
      I think an equal amount of maple syrup would work here if that’s allowed in your husband’s diet.

  • This will be the third time making for family. It is truly a hit!

  • Super easy, elegant in appearance and delicious!! Thanks for this great recipe.

  • I made these on the weekend to serve with yoghurt and granola for brunch. They were so delicious and the spices gave a beautiful flavour. They were a huge hit with everyone and I’ll be making them again. Thanks for a great recipe.

  • I followed the recipe but I cored the pears and left them whole. It’s super pretty this way. I just adjusted the baking time

  • Made these as a lighter Christmas dessert option. They were seasonal, delicious, and beautiful!

  • I found the baking time was not adequate for the pears to become tender throughout. I baked for an extra 15 minutes, while continuing to baste the baste every 5-10 minutes but I felt that the pears were just too hard still.

    • Hi Nafsin, Sorry to hear you struggled with these a bit. Were your pears very hard or large to start with? (That may have made a difference in baking time.) If you prepare these again, I would just keep them in the oven until they achieve the desired texture.

  • Is there a way to use Pomegranate molasses instead of the juice, or a combo of both, in this recipe, Jenn? Adding some ruby port might be fun, too! I love poached pears, and have pears on hand, so I want to try this version. I will, of course, report back!

    • Hi Marlene, I probably wouldn’t use pomegranate molasses; I think it might thicken the syrup too much and make it too sweet. However, using half pomegranate juice and half port or red wine works beautifully — I have tried it. You can also add some orange peel to flavor the syrup if you like. Hope you enjoy and please do let me know how it turns out.

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