30-Minute Poached Pears (Wine or Tea)

Poached pears with wine (or tea) sound like a fancy dessert, but they're actually super simple to make in about 30 minutes. Serve these on their own with a dollop of whipped cream, as a garnish for a plated dessert, or baked into a tart or cake.

Prep time: PT15M

Cook time: PT15M

Total time: PT30M

Rating

4.91 stars (11 reviews)

Keywords

pear dessert, poached pears

Ingredients

4 medium, firm-ripe pears (such as Bosc), peeled, halved, cored
¾ cup (165 g) organic granulated sugar
3 tablespoons loose tea leaves ((Earl Grey, black tea, or Jasmine))
4 cups (950 ml) boiling water
1 vanilla bean (or 2 scraped vanilla pods leftover from another recipe)
juice of 1 large lemon
2 cups dry red or white wine ((any that you like the flavor of))
2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole allspice berries
2 whole cloves
3 strips of orange peel (orange part only)

Cuisine

French

Steps

For Tea-Poached Pears
- In a large, heatproof measuring pitcher, pour the boiling water over the tea leaves and let steep 5 minutes.
- Strain the brewed tea into a wide skillet with high sides, or another large pot.
- Add the sugar and vanilla pods and bring to a boil. Add the lemon juice.
For Wine-Poached Pears
- In a wide skillet with high sides, or another large pot, combine the wine, sugar, water, spices, and orange peel and bring to a boil.
Both Recipes
- Use a large spoon to lower the pears into the boiling liquid. The liquid should just cover the pears; if it doesn't add more water to cover them.
- Reduce the heat to medium and simmer the pears until just tender but still holding a shape, 8-12 minutes, turning the pears over halfway through.
Storage
- If using right away, remove the pears from the poaching liquid and serve warm. Otherwise, let the pears cool in their poaching liquid.
- The pears can be stored in their poaching liquid in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for up to 1 year.
- When you're ready to serve the pears, remove them from the poaching liquid, return the liquid to a saucepan, and simmer the poaching liquid until thick and syrupy, 10-20 minutes.

Reviews

Kathryn on 2026-01-20 (5 stars):
Ok these are so good (the tea ones, I use earl gray always). So make them, and then make the cheesecake. It is probably the best thing I have ever tasted. Then make pear butter with the poached pears. It means you can have this amazing flavor around for a long time. Basically just keep cooking the poached pears forever, puree and keep cooking. It's labor intensive especially at the end, as I had to keep whisking to keep it from splattering molten pear in order to get to the thickness I wanted. But OMG. I did hot water bath can it so now I have a supply that will last. I was going to make the cheesecake for a party and the party got cancelled and I'm so glad it did as it forced me into o figure out what to do with this huge batch of poached pears I had made.
Eloise Robbie on 2025-11-10 (5 stars):
Great recipe
Ja'Net on 2025-07-29 (5 stars):
Thanks for the easy recipe. My pears turned out great. Can the poaching liquid be reused to poached another batch of pears?
Laura G on 2025-01-06 (5 stars):
These are amazing on a salad. I used some of the poaching liquid in the dressing and it is delicious!
Kathleen P Beck on 2024-09-02 (5 stars):
Thank you. I’ll try a darker wine next time. Over all, though, the tart was a winner.
Kathleen P Beck on 2024-09-01 (4 stars):
How do you get the pears to be such a brilliant red color? I'm making it now, it's in the oven and it looks really good, but the pears are barely tinted.
Anne on 2024-02-29 (5 stars):
Do you think they will feeeze well so I can use them later? I was given a whole bag of pears and I wanted to be able to use them later