5 Sweet And Savory Ways To Dress Up Grilled Fruit

According to Google search data compiled by This Old House, grillers seem to be getting more adventurous in recent years with what they put on their grills. While ribs have the top spot and steak is holding strong, fish and vegetables are making significant inroads, and fruit is also gaining ground. In fact, pineapple seems to have cracked the top 10, and in Utah, Georgia, and Maryland, it topped the list of most-searched "how to grill" items. If you've yet to try throwing fruit on the grill, you may want to join the Google search party since grilling not only allows fruit to retain a fair amount of its nutrients but can also enhance its sweetness by helping the natural sugars caramelize.

In light of grilled fruit's growing popularity, we spoke with Brazilian grill master and private chef Silvio Correa. He told us that he, too, likes to cook fruit over a grill, and depending on how it's seasoned, he may use it as either a side dish or a dessert.

To grill peaches, start by slicing each one in half and removing the pit. You can either brush the peach halves with a little oil to keep them from sticking to the grill grates, or else brush the oil directly onto the grates themselves. Cook them for about three minutes on one side, then flip them over and give them another three on the other. Peaches don't need a lot of cooking to soften, and unlike meat, there are no safety issues that require them to hit a certain internal temperature. After all, peaches are perfectly safe to eat raw.

As Silvio Correa told us, "Grilled peaches can be enjoyed with sweet and savory sides," which is pretty much true for all types of grilled fruit. For sweet peaches, he suggests flavoring them with honey or cinnamon and serving them with mascarpone, vanilla ice cream, or yogurt with granola. If you want something more savory, you could flavor them with balsamic vinegar or herbs and pair them with burrata or goat cheese. They'd also taste great alongside either ham or chicken and can be teamed up with vegetables in dishes like our grilled zucchini-peach salad.

Watermelon is an interesting fruit to grill because during the cooking process, it undergoes significant changes not just to its flavor but also its texture. This well-named melon is 92% water, but cooking makes much of that moisture evaporate and leads to what Silvio Correa calls "a denser, meatier texture." While he grills this fruit for just a few minutes on each side so it stays soft, watermelon baked in the oven for an hour or so before grilling can be used as a vegan substitute for tuna steaks due to its similar texture. Watermelon "steaks" have no fishy flavor, per se, except for a taste of the soy sauce and other seasonings used in the marinade, while a pinch of dried seaweed can provide a hint of brine.

Grilled watermelon makes for an impressive cookout side, but Correa also suggested adding it to a salad. Even though watermelon-feta salad is a bit cliché, it's still really tasty. Watermelon salads (with or without feta) can be garnished with mint and dressed with lime juice and honey or a balsamic vinegar reduction. Watermelon also tastes good with Tajín, chili powder, or cayenne since its sweetness plays nicely with these seasonings' heat.

If you find fresh pineapple a bit too tangy for your liking, you'll appreciate the fact that grilling it can neutralize the bromelain that would otherwise cause your mouth to get all tingly. While you can grill either fresh or canned pineapple slices, it's a mistake to use the latter if they're packed in heavy syrup, as this makes the slices cook unevenly and may cause them to burn. Canned pineapple in water is okay, though, as long as the slices aren't so thin that they slip between the grates. If this seems likely, put a perforated piece of foil down to save them from the flames.

Grilled pineapple makes an excellent side dish for ribs, chicken, or fish, especially if you dress it up teriyaki style with a soy sauce glaze and a sprinkling of sesame seeds or snipped scallions. Grilled pineapple can also be paired with ham to top a pizza, or you can combine it with bacon and cheese on an aloha burger. If you're thinking more along dessert lines, you could brush it with butter that has a bit of brown sugar and vanilla extract mixed in, along with cinnamon, ginger, or other warm spices. To really take things over the top, serve the grilled pineapple with a scoop of vanilla or coconut ice cream and drizzle the whole thing with rum sauce.

While the aforementioned fruits can all make great desserts on their own, fruit kebabs are an even better way to end a cookout. Not only can you have all of your favorites at once, but you get to eat them off a stick! Mix or match these fruits as you please, along with different melons or stone fruits, bananas, mangoes, or strawberries. Cut the fruits to roughly the same size to help them cook evenly, then thread the chunks on a skewer and brush them with melted butter. The kabobs should take about 10 minutes to cook on the grill — five on each side, so you'll need to flip them halfway through.

If you want your dessert to be light and healthy, you can eat the fruit on its own or paired with a dip made from yogurt and honey. For something a bit more exciting, you could pair them with fudge sauce and maybe even thread a few marshmallows between the fruit chunks on the kebabs. The grilled fruit can also be taken off the skewers and used to top a slice of pound cake (don't forget the whipped cream!).

Of course, grilled fruit kebabs can also go savory as well as sweet. In this case, you can swap the butter for olive oil, then drizzle the finished dish with balsamic vinegar, chamoy, or lime juice.

While we've told you how to dress up your grilled fruit, we'd be remiss if we failed to mention that the reverse is also true, as certain grilled fruits can themselves be used to dress up a dish. Grilled citrus, in particular, makes for an unusual (but very flavorful) garnish. Simply slice up your fruits — lemons, limes, oranges, or even grapefruits, if you've got them — and lay them on the grill for a minute or two until they turn brown on one side. Flip them over, then repeat the process. As with sliced pineapple (or any other thin-cut fruit), a sheet of foil with a few holes poked in it can be used to prevent the pieces from falling through the cracks. If you want to make the fruit sweeter, you can also dip each slice in granulated sugar before grilling.

If you have grilled oranges, you can muddle them to make a smoky cocktail like a sidecar or an old fashioned. Grilled grapefruit can be used in a paloma or salty dog, while a grilled lime wheel can be an out-of-the-ordinary margarita garnish. Grilled lemon can be very versatile, as you could stick a wheel on the rim of your iced tea or squeeze a grilled lemon wedge over your fish.