Roasted Plum Compote
Roasted plum compote naturally sweetened with honey and infused with warming spices and vanilla.
One of the best surprises since moving to Salt Lake City was discovering that our backyard was home to a large plum tree.
Within the last two months tiny, green, acorn-sized fruit slowly grew and transformed into beautiful, ripe Italian plums ready for picking.
As a former city-dweller who has always dreamt of having an edible garden this has been extremely exciting development for me.
And since I quickly found myself with a large quantity of plums, it felt only right to share what we’ve been making with them, especially since we’re in the throes of plum season.
This Roasted Plum Compote is the epitome of my baking style these days. Simple, easily adaptable, and ingredient-forward. While I love typical fruit desserts, more often then not I prefer these types of preparations. Delicious, simple, and versatile.
What Makes a Fruit Compote?
A compote is defined as fruit cooked in syrup on the stovetop. While today’s recipe and technique involves roasting, the resulting dish feels like a hybrid of sorts.
As the plums roast in the oven, they concentrate in flavor and release their juices. It transforms into an incredible, thick natural syrup.
To enhance the fruit’s natural flavor, the plum halves are sprinkled with ground cinnamon (ground ginger and cardamom is also fantastic!) and drizzled with honey. Once cool, we’ll stir in vanilla bean paste or extract.
How to Make Roasted Plum Compote:
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack in the center position.
- Place the plums, halved and pitted, cut-side up in a 2-quart capacity baking dish. It is ok if they slightly overlap each other, but try to mostly keep them in a single layer.
- Sprinkle ground cinnamon over the plums, then drizzle the honey evenly across the fruit. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the plums have softened slightly, and gently toss with a spoon. Continue baking for an additional 5 to 15 minutes, or until the plums are soft and syrupy, yet still intact. Total baking time will vary depending on the size and ripeness of your fruit.
- Set aside on rack to cool – the liquid will become thicker and more syrupy as it cools. Stir in the vanilla paste or extract, if using. Store in a covered container in the fridge for up to a week.
How to Serve Roasted Plum Compote:
Like any roasted or stewed fruit, this roasted plum compote tastes great on its own or as a topping on a variety of dishes.
My favorite way to serve it is on top of vanilla ice cream, Greek yogurt (with a sprinkling of granola), or slow cooker steel cut oats. The soft and naturally syrupy fruit adds an almost indulgent addition and burst of flavor to any breakfast bowl.
It also tastes fantastic on top of pancakes, buttermilk waffles, or vanilla ice cream for a quick and easy dessert.
Roasted Plum Compote
Ingredients
- 1 lb ripe, yet firm Italian plums (or other small varieties) halved and pitted
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon for sprinkling (see notes for spice substitutions)
- 1 tablespoon pure honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste or extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack in the center position.
- Place the plum halves cut-side up in a 2-quart capacity baking dish (or alternatively, an 8-inch square baking pan) and spread into an even thin, tighlty packed layer. It is ok if they slightly overlap, but try to mostly keep them in a single layer.
- Sprinkle ground cinnamon over the plum halves, then drizzle the honey evenly across the fruit. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the plums have softened slightly, and gently toss with a spoon. Continue baking for an additional 5 to 15 minutes, or until the plums are soft and syrupy, yet still intact. Total baking time will vary depending on the size and ripeness of your fruit.
- Set aside on rack to cool - the liquid will become thicker and more syrupy as it cools. Stir in vanilla paste or extract, if using. Transfer compote to a container and store in the fridge for up to a week. Best served with yogurt or on top of ice cream, pancakes, or waffles.
Tips for Success:
- Feel free to substitute the ground cinnamon with other warm baking spices. This compote also tastes great with a combination of ground ginger and cardamom as well.
21 Comments on “Roasted Plum Compote”
Hi, I’m looking forward to making this. Do you think it will freeze well? I don’t think I can eat it all myself in a week. Thanks!
Definitely! Just defrost overnight or perhaps a touch longer in the fridge or you could even warm it up slowly in a small saucepan with a splash of water) if you want it warm for something!)
I had an Italian plum tree bless me this season so I went looking for recipes. Just took this out of the oven and grabbed a spoon. So good and really brings out the tart and sweet of the fruit.
This recipe is the bomb-diggity! I tried it with plums I got off of our tree, and it was fantastic. I’m now baking some peaches with the cardamom option. It smells delicious. I love that it’s so quick, simple, and TASTY!
Incredibly delicious with Greek yogurt and so easy to prepare! Prune plums are in abundance currently here in BC so this recipe will become a mainstay for us during this time. Definitely want to try with our local peaches as suggested by others!! Cheers for the awesome recipe!
We have a large Italian prune plum tree in Victoria BC Canada. After handing out lots to friends and eating raw, we freeze bags of them. Leaving enough for the local Raccoons. The timing has to be just right to get to the tree before the Raccoons do. Back to the recipe, we used frozen plums and followed your recipe, added a little lemon juice. It turned out great !!
So happy to hear this!
I have frozen plums on hand too. Did you thaw the plums before roasting them? Thanks!
Just chiming in to say that I think you could do either – but I’d probably thaw them. The result might be a bit softer/compote like in texture due to the added moisture from freezing.
Followed the recipe exactly and the result is very good. The compote is a little tart (obviously that will vary with the type and ripeness of the plums) but it’s delicious and if desired we can add more sweetener. The kitchen smells of Christmas!
🙂
Glad to hear that! I definitely prefer compotes on the tart side, so that is definitely a flavor preference that I personally have – but for sure, the ripeness and size of the plums that you’re using will have a massive impact on this, as is the case with any fruit dessert. You can always upp the honey quantity (and add some later) but can’t decrease it, so I always like to err on the lesser side.
Made this with local peaches today. Came out very good! I cut them in fours and peeled them, then did the rest as written.
So glad to hear that!
Hi, planning on making this tomorrow. I bought the plums. Is there any trick to cutting them off the seed?
If you just make a center cut around the whole plum and pull apart into two halves, the seed should easily be removed for the types of plums that this recipe was designed for. If the plums are too ripe, that’s when it usually becomes a problem. Hope this helps!
Thx making it today with small plums. I believe black plums not the kind you have. Those aren’t in season here yet.
I made this last night with black plums. Italian plums aren’t seasonal here yet. Super easy to make and tastes good. Am eating it with plain yogurt and granola. I think I’m going to try this same idea with peaches. 🙂
Looks delicious and easy. Going to try making it. 🙂 Let you know the results.
This looks absolutely amazing, I love plums, and that just looks warm and inviting.
Thank you so much!
congratulations on your move, and your plums! Nice compote, great for the weekend for me