These tender spiced grilled plums highlight sweet summer stone fruit in the best possible way. For this easy dessert that's ready in just 20 minutes, quartered plums are gently cooked in spiced orange butter in a foil packet on the grill or over your campfire.
Recipe at a Glance: Grilled Plums
- DETAILS
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Preparation method: Grill or campfire (in a foil packet)
- HIGHLIGHTS
- This simple 5-ingredient dessert features tender grilled plums in a sweet syrup. It's cooked in a foil packet on the grill or over a campfire. No dishes or mess to clean up!
- Grilling your fruit in a foil packet allows the juices from the fruit to melt into the syrup, creating a thick sauce for drizzling over the plums.
- Serve these spiced plums right from the foil packet just as they are, or with a scoop of ice cream on top.
These plums are quartered, topped with a simple combination of butter, orange juice, brown sugar, and nutmeg, then wrapped up in a snug package and gently cooked on the grill or over a campfire. The result is meltingly tender plums that softly slump into a buttery spiced syrup. The hardest part of the whole process is waiting for them to be cool enough to eat.
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Why This Recipe Works
Most grilled plums recipes have you cook halved plums directly over the heat, creating a caramelized surface and soft juicy center. They are delicious, but any juices that cook out are lost to the grill. This recipe uses the steam created inside a foil packet to gently cook the plums while still capturing the flavorful juices. As these juices cool, they create a thick syrup that makes the perfect topping for your soft, grilled plum wedges.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Plums--This recipe is intended for plums that are ripe, but not overripe and juicy. Extremely ripe fruit will break down too much during cooking. Choose plums that give gently when squeezed but don't feel soft. Got extra plums? Make this plum galette!
- Brown sugar--This adds just a little bit of sweetness to the plums.
- Orange juice--If you want to get fancy, or make a grown-up version of this dessert, try swapping in an orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau.
How to Make Grilled Plums
1. Pile the quartered plums on a large sheet of foil. Top with butter, sugar, orange juice, and nutmeg. Fold up and seal the foil packet.
2. Grill the plums over medium-low heat until tender when pierced with a knife. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Grilled Plum FAQs
Place your food in the center of the foil. Bring the long edges of the foil up to meet, and then fold them over a couple of times, creating a seam that runs over the top of your food. Then working with one end at a time, fold it over a few times to seal the end.
I like this method for folding a foil packet because it's easy to open the seal on top to check them for doneness and then close, if necessary, and it also creates an easy pouch for eating when opened.
The key to grilling plums, or any stone fruit in a foil packet, is to keep the heat reasonably low. Around 300°F on a grill is good. If your foil packet is over a campfire, you should hear gentle sizzling, but not a lot of crackling and popping.
Because the fruit is encased in a foil pouch, it can break down quite quickly if cooked at a high temperature. Cook it over gentle heat and check it frequently as it begins to soften.
Storage & Reheating
These are best served as soon as they're made, but if you've got leftovers, store them in a sealed container in your fridge or cooler for up to 3 days. Reheat them gently in a small skillet over low heat until warmed through.
Tips and Troubleshooting
- If you want to double or triple the recipe, I recommend making more foil packets. Attempting to fit everything into one packet will be awkward to handle and may result in uneven cooking.
- Don't flip the foil packet while it is cooking.
- To check your plums, gently open the foil packet from the top and give them a poke with a knife. When they're ready the knife will slip easily into the fruit. If they're not ready, close up the foil packet and wait a few minutes. Don't try to increase the heat to rush things along as this will result in the plums breaking down.
- Don't skip the rest period! While the plums are resting and cooling, the syrup will thicken, resulting in a perfect sauce to drizzle over the grilled plums.
- This spiced grilled plums recipe is suitable for gluten-free diets. To make it vegan, use plant-based butter.
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Recipe
Spiced Grilled Plums
Ingredients
- 4 medium plums quartered
- 2 teaspoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 big pinches nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat the grill for medium-low heat (300°F | 150°C) or prepare a bed of hot coals below a campfire grate.
- Pile the plum quarters on a large sheet of aluminum foil.
- Top with butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg. Drizzle over the orange juice.
- Fold up and seal the foil packet.
- Place the plum foil packet over direct low heat on the grill or your campfire grate. Grill until the plums are tender when pierced with a knife and just beginning to slump, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and open the top of the foil packet slightly to let steam escape. Let the plums sit in their juices for at least 10 minutes before serving. They will smell amazing and it will be incredibly difficult to be patient, but it's worth the wait.
- Serve the warm plums with the syrup from the bottom of the pouch drizzled over the top.
Notes
- Don't use overripe fruit--Extremely ripe fruit will break down too much during cooking. Choose plums that are ripe, but still firm.
- Scaling the recipe--If you want to double or triple the recipe, I recommend making more foil packets. Attempting to fit everything into one packet will be awkward to handle and may result in uneven cooking.
- How to check your plums for doneness--Gently open the foil packet from the top and give them a poke with a knife. The knife should slip easily into the fruit. If they're not ready, close up the foil packet and wait a few minutes. Don't try to increase the heat to rush things along as this will result in the plums breaking down.
- Let the plums rest--This is the most important part of the whole recipe. The plums will be very hot, so they need to cool, and as they cool, the buttery juices will thicken up into a sauce.
- Dietary--This recipe is suitable for gluten-free diets. To make it vegan, use plant-based butter.
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