Mulled Wine Poached Pears
These mulled wine poached pears are sweet, tender & flavoured with warming Winter spices. It’s a festive twist on the classic French dessert!
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We’ve taken a batch of classic red wine poached pears & given them a festive twist by using mulled wine as the poaching liquor. These poached pears are sweet, tender & absolutely jam packed full of flavour!
When you poach pears in mulled wine, they gain this fantastic deep red colour & a punchy spiced fruit flavour. They’re super easy to make & go great when served with a luxurious Crème Anglaise, a drizzle of pouring cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you’re looking for a simple yet impressive Winter dessert, this is the dish for you…
Poaching: Gently cooking food, fully submerged in liquid. To poach, the liquid is kept at a gentle simmer but never boiling.
For more pudding inspiration, check out our ever growing collection of dessert recipes! There’s a wide range of desserts here, from classic crumbles, tarts, homemade ice creams & lots more…
What You’ll Need
- Red Wine – I used a Cabernet Sauvignon for poaching my pears but a Zinfandel, Shiraz & Merlot would all be good alternatives. Don’t worry about using an expensive bottle of wine but it should be good enough to drink!
- Pears – I like to use Conference pears for poaching but Bosc or Anjou will also work well. The pears should be slightly under ripe, otherwise they’ll be too soft once cooked.
- Citrus – We’re using orange zest & juice in the mulled wine. We’re also going to be using lemon juice & water to put our pears in once they’re peeled, to stop them discolouring.
- Spices & Aromatics – We’re keeping our mulled wine traditional & flavouring it with a cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, grated nutmeg, a bay leaf & a vanilla pod.
- Sugar – We’re using caster sugar to sweeten our mulled wine, for a clean flavour.
How To Make A Baking Parchment Cartouche
Covering your pears with a cartouche as they poach, helps keep the fruit submerged which prevents them from discolouring & helps them cook evenly. For those of you that haven’t made a cartouche before, it’s basically a circular piece of baking parchment that’s used to cover the top of pans, which retains steam & moisture and prevents a skin from forming on sauces, stews & poached food.
A cartouche is also known as a “false lid”. Here’s how to make one…
- Cut out a large square of baking parchment.
- Fold the parchment in half, from opposite corners to make a triangle.
- Fold the parchment triangle in half then half again.
- Hold the tip of the triangle over the centre of your pan then use this as a guide to trim the end off so that the cartouche sits snugly over the top of the pan.
- Trim the tip of the parchment triangle slightly, to make a small steam hole (if needed) then unfold the parchment, to make a circle.
How To Make Mulled Wine Poached Pears
The full, printable recipe card for these poached pears can be found at the bottom of this post! Here’s a quick rundown of the recipe…
- Pear Prep
First, we peel our pears then cut a small amount off the bottom of each one, so that they sit flat. We use a melon baller to scoop the core out the bottom of each pear then we place them into a bowl filled with lemon juice & cold water, to stop them going brown. - Mulled Wine
Onto the mulled wine. To make this, we add a bottle of red wine into a pan with sugar, orange zest & juice, a cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, a bay leaf, grated nutmeg & half a vanilla pod (with the seeds scraped out) then set over a low heat & cook to dissolve the sugar. - Poaching The Pears
To cook the pears, we add them into the mulled wine, making sure that they are completely submerged, cover with a cartouche then simmer them gently until the pears are soft & tender – use a skewer to test the pears, there should be very little resistance.
If the wine doesn’t cover the pears, use a smaller pan or add in more wine. You’ll need to lay the pears on their side. - Overnight Chill
Once the pears are cooked, we let the wine & pears cool separately them place them into a container together & chill in the fridge overnight. This lets the pears absorb as much flavour & colour from the wine as possible.
Mulled Wine Syrup
Once you’ve finished cooking with your mulled wine, you can either drink it or turn it into a sauce, to serve with pears. To make a mulled wine sauce, we add some extra sugar to the wine then cook it over a high heat until it has reduced into a thick, syrupy sauce. This will take around 5-10 minutes.
To serve the sauce, we let it cool then drizzle it over our pears. Or you could brush the pears with the syrup, to give them a glossy finish…
What To Serve With Mulled Wine Poached Pears
I like to serve my poached pears cold however they’re just as good warm (I’d recommend warming them up in the mulled wine!). These poached pears pack a huge amount of flavour so it’s best to keep things simple & serve them with something creamy, to cut through the punchy wine flavour.
I serve my mulled wine poached pears with a homemade Crème Anglaise, but a scoop of vanilla ice cream or clotted cream will work fantastically as well. So would a drizzle of pouring cream or a spoonful of Greek yoghurt, crème fraiche or mascarpone.
Tips & Tricks
- Use slightly under ripe pears, to avoid making them too soft once cooked.
- Make your mulled wine with a good quality red wine – something that you’d drink!
- Use a melon baller to remove the base & core of the pear before poaching.
- Trim the base of each pear flat, so that they sit level when you plate them.
- Keep the stalks attached for the pears, for a classic presentation style.
- Let the poached pears soak in the mulled wine overnight (once cooked), for the best flavour & a vibrant red colour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Red wines that are fruity & a little sweet are best used for poaching pears. Your poached pears will take on the flavour of whatever wine you use, so make sure you use one that you like! I used a Cabernet Sauvignon for poaching my pears but a Zinfandel, Shiraz or Merlot would be some other good choices.
Varieties of pear that are firm are best for poaching, as they will keep their shape once cooked. Conference, Bosc & Anjou pears are all good choices.
When you poach pears, it’s best to use slightly under ripe fruit to avoid making the pears too soft once they are cooked. The pears will absorb more flavour the longer they sit in the poaching liquid as well.
There’s 2 things that you can do with the mulled wine, once you’ve poached your pears in it. You can drink it & serve it as a sweetened mulled wine with hints of pear flavours. Or you can add in some extra sugar then reduce the wine over a high heat, into a thick syrupy sauce, which can be drizzled over the poached pears.
How To Poach Pears On An Aga
With all of my recipes, I include cooking instructions for conventional ovens, fan ovens & also Agas. Here’s how to cook this recipe in an Aga…
Use the simmering plate to make the mulled wine. Once you’ve added the pears, bring the wine to a simmer then transfer to the simmering oven. The pears will take around 1-1½ hours to cook.
Equipment Used
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More Desserts To Try!
- Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding With Miso Caramel
- Blackberry, Pear & Apple Crumble
- Individual Tiramisu
- Cake Crumb Treacle Tart
- Apricot & Almond Frangipane Tart
- Coffee Stracciatella Ice Cream
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Mulled Wine Poached Pears
Equipment
- Large Saucepan
- Veg Peeler
- Melon Baller
- Juicer
- Sieve
Ingredients
- 6 Conference Pears
- 1 Lemon (Juiced)
Mulled Wine
- 750 ml Red Wine (See Notes)
- 1 Orange
- 100 g Caster Sugar
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 1 Star Anise
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 5 Cloves
- ½ A Vanilla Pod (Or 1 tsp Of Vanilla Paste)
- Freshly Grated Nutmeg
Mulled Wine Syrup – Optional
- 75 g Caster Sugar
Instructions
Prepping The Pears
- Fill a bowl with cold water then stir in the lemon juice.
- Next, peel the pears with a vegetable peeler then cut a small amount off the bottom of each pear, so that they sit flat.
- Use a melon baller (or a teaspoon) to scoop out the core from the bottom of each pear then place into the lemon water (this stops them going brown).I'd recommend working with one pear at a time. Coring the pears is optional as well!
Mulled Wine
- Add the red wine into a large saucepan then cut the peel off the orange & add both the peel & juice into the wine.Try to get as little pith on the peel as possible. Make sure to use a pan big enough to hold all the pears.
- Next, add the sugar, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaf, cloves, vanilla & a small amount of grated nutmeg into the wine then set the pan over a low heat. If you're using a vanilla pod, scrape the seeds out with a knife then add both the seeds & pod into the wine.
- Gently warm the wine, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved then add in the pears, making sure that they are completely covered.If the wine doesn't cover the pears, use a smaller pan or add in more wine. You'll need to lay the pears on their side.
- Make a cartouche of baking parchment (a circle of parchment) with a vent hole cut in the centre then place over the pears.See the post above for a guide to making a cartouche!
- Simmer the pears gently (but don't boil!) until they're cooked through. This will take around 20-45 minutes, depending on the size & ripeness of your pears.Use a skewer to check if the pears are cooked. They'll feel soft when they're ready.
- Once cooked, take the pears out of the wine & let both components cool.
- Place the pears & wine into a container (together) then refrigerate overnight before serving.This gives the pears the best flavour & colour. If you'd like to make a syrup with the wine, to serve with the pears, see the instruction below.
Mulled Wine Syrup
- Take the pears out of the wine & set aside then pass the wine into a saucepan, through a sieve.
- Add the sugar into the wine then set the pan over a high heat. Bring to the boil then cook the wine for 5-10 minutes, until it has reduced into a thickened sauce.
- Let the wine cool then drizzle over the pears, to serve.
