Grilled Fruit Platter with 2 Luscious Sauces

This Grilled Fruit Platter is a fun, show-stopping dessert! Just grill peaches, plums, pineapple, etc., and pile them up with your favorite toppings.

Take it to the next level with my two sauces – Maple Ricotta and Chocolate Chai – and you’ve got one impressive meal finale.

Plus it’s gluten-free, grain-free and can be dairy-free, too!

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Grilled Fruit Platter

You’ve seen meat and cheese platters which I love (who doesn’t?). Laying out a ton of good food for guests to mix and match is perfect for a party. But what about dessert? Won’t anyone think of dessert?

This Grilled Fruit Platter with 2 Luscious Sauces is a perfect way to let guests customize their own sundaes. And while vanilla ice cream is almond mandatory, you could be even more extra and make my Maple Ricotta and Chocolate Chai sauces.

Serve them with nuts, herbs, honey, flaky sea salt and anything else you like (chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, etc.).

I promise you’ve never had a dessert quite like this!

 

Wait, can we talk about those sauces for a second?

I thought you’d never ask. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is a fantastic way to top grilled fruit.

Or double up the fruit flavor with this Dairy-Free Rhubarb Gelato.

But since we’re serving this platter-style, it might be a little risky to include ice cream as it might melt too quickly. If you don’t mind that or don’t think it’ll sit around long enough for that to happen, by all means include some!

But I’m including two ideas for sauces here that are too good to pass up.

Maple Ricotta Sauce is just that – ricotta mixed with maple syrup. It’s sweet, creamy and just oozes everywhere once it hits the warm fruit.

Plus it’s so simple to make you’ll want it on everything: pancakes, waffles, French toast, zucchini bread, this Pecan Molasses Bread, your face. Like I said – everything.

Chocolate Chai Sauce blends chocolate with warm, slightly spicy flavors inspired by masala chai, a South and Southeast Asian spice mix for tea.

Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and black pepper add depth and complexity that play beautifully with the sweet, floral notes of the fruit.

And wouldn’t it be nice if we all played beautifully with others? This Chocolate Chai Sauce could really teach us a thing or two.

I use Enjoy Life! chocolate chips if I want a dairy-free/vegan option for guests.

How to grill fruit

If you’ve never grilled fruit before, don’t be intimidated by the idea of grilling more than one kind at a time. Everything is roughly done at the same time.

And if you have grilled fruit before, you know how delicious it is. Smoky, caramelized and warm, they’re perfect for topping with ice cream or yogurt.

You’ll probably see a range of sizes:

• Peaches can be large, medium or small, whereas plums tend to always just be small. That’s okay! You can either take the plums off the grill earlier while the peaches continue to cook or let the plums cook as long as the peaches so they get nice and soft and jammy.
• Pineapple tends to be pretty sturdy so it’s a little more forgiving if your cooking time is less than accurate.
• I’ll admit, grilled bananas won’t win any prizes for prettiness, but that’s okay because they taste fantastic.
• You can also experiment with grilled watermelon or even grilled pear or apple.

The point is, unless you somehow burn everything to a crisp, you’ll do just fine!

A lot of recipes will sprinkle sugar or honey over the cut fruit before grilling but I find this unnecessary. Not bad, of course – I wouldn’t turn it down if offered – but fruit is sweet enough.

No outdoor grill? No problem. You can make these on an indoor grill pan instead.

If so, aim for small-to-medium peaches. Without a cover, a stovetop grill pan won’t cook the fruit as thoroughly. You don’t want the cut sides to burn while you wait for the fruit to cook through.

What you need for this Grilled Fruit Platter

Ingredients:

• 3 peaches
• 3 plums
• 2-3 bananas
• 1 pineapple
• avocado oil or melted coconut oil, for the grill (or avocado/coconut oil spray for a grill pan)
• see topping ideas below

For the Maple Ricotta Sauce:

• 1 (15-16 oz.) tub full-fat ricotta (or dairy-free ricotta if necessary)
• 5 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Chocolate Chai Sauce:

• 1 cup chocolate chips (dairy-free if necessary)
• 1/2 cup full-fat unsweetened coconut milk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• an outdoor grill or grill pan
• a cutting board and sturdy knife
• regular tongs or long tongs for flipping the fruit
• a regular spatula or long spatula to help flip the fruit
• measuring spoons (these are my favorite because they fit inside spice jars!)
• a serving platter
• bowls for the sauces

 

How do I serve this grilled fruit platter?

With panache, of course!

Or, you know, on a platter. Any old platter will do. I particularly white serving pieces as the food really pops against a white background, and I love ones like this that include handles for easy transport to the table.

Or you could even use a cutting board. The fruit will ooze their juices after sitting around a few minutes so a cutting board with a moat running around the edge is your best bet.

Does that mean you have to call it a Grilled Fruit Board? Only if you want to. I don’t care, the fruit doesn’t care – in the immortal words of Roxette, just “listen to your heart.”

Since we’re already making two sauces, I like to keep the rest simple:

• Any combination of your favorite nuts is great – almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, macadamias, pine nuts, etc. For this I’m using pecans and marcona almonds, a type of Spanish almond you’ll often find roasted with olive oil and salt which I highly recommend. But anything that adds crunch will work.
• Fresh herbs might seem strange but they’re great in desserts! Fresh mint is the obvious choice and for a good reason. A warm grilled peach topped with maple ricotta, marcona almonds and fresh mint is a thing of beauty.
  • Thyme surprisingly works, too, as it’s floral earthiness balances all the sweetness.
  • Basil or lemon verbena would also be lovely.
• I like to set out some honey in case some people want more sweetness without the sauces (or with the sauces – I don’t judge).
• And don’t forget the salt! A few pinches of flaky sea salt really make everything pop. We’re not seasoning the fruit so a little salt on top is essential. Friends don’t let friends eat unsalted food.

In fact, you could make this for a brunch party without having to change anything. Just add mimosas and your favorite egg dish and you’re all set.

If you have any leftovers, the fruit can be chopped up to make an easy grilled fruit salad or grilled fruit salsa.

Although really, grilled fruit by itself is very snackable when cold the next day.

The longer the fruit sits in the fridge, the more watery it’ll get.

 

Other recipes you might like:

1. Grilled Italian Platter
2. Grilled Cabbage Steaks
3. Grilled Carrots
4. Chocolate Ricotta Pudding

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