These honey, balsamic + almond roasted pears are seriously so easy to make, you will wonder how you have lived so long without them. My favorite part of this recipe is that the pears can lean to sweet or savory. I served them with burrata, honey roasted pancetta + grilled french loaf. However you could totally serve these pears over vanilla ice cream and they would be incredible!!!
This sweet and salty dish is the biggest crowd pleaser at parties… you know, when you can attend parties again. For now, I would recommend having you own little party at home, just to eat this. Not that you need any more excuses to make this.
Okay I have a serious question, do you like seeing process photos in a recipe? Like ingredient shots, cooking shots, etc… If you do, can you let me know in the comments. I think it would be fun to challenge myself in my work and start shooting during the cooking process. But I honestly always forget about it until the end when my whole dish is done.
tips + substitutions
10000000% you can! I personally follow a gluten free diet for health reasons – I am celiac – but no one else in my family is! So a lot of my recipes are gluten free, but you can swap out gluten free ingredients for regular ingredients about 99% of the time!
You definitely can use fresh pears! If you do, I would recommend using a pear on the softer, riper side. If you have a pear that’s not super ripe, then I would recommend roasting them for a little longer so that the pears can absorb some of the liquid!
Yes you can! I would sub in fresh mozzarella in place of burrata. It has a similar flavor so you will get a close final outcome!
No! You can omit the pancetta completely or you can sub it with something else like honey roasted bacon. Even a spicy salami would pair great with it!
the 411 on these almond, balsamic + honey roasted pears
I had the pleasure of teaming up with Del Monte Canada to create this recipe. I used Del Monte Pear Halves for this and I was worried that the pears would fall apart because they were soaked in fruit juice. To my surprise that actually made the pears more tender and melt in your mouth. The pears were tender, a little sweet and paired perfectly with the pancetta + burrata.
The serving size of this dish will completely vary based on the amount of pears you’re using. The cans of pears I use for this were 796 ml, so fairly large with about 3 – 4 pears per can, and I used 2 cans. If you do not want a large amount, I would scale down on the canned pear size, or only use 3 – 4 fresh pears if you are going that route.
if you make this recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram or leave a comment below!
almond, balsamic + honey roasted pears
Ingredients
roasted pears
- 2 796 ml canned pear halves I used Del Monte Pear Halves
- 1/4 cup almond halves
- 3 tbsp balsamic glaze I use Nonna Pia's Classic Balsamic Glaze
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Other
- 1 pkg pancetta
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 burrata balls
- olive oil
- kosher or flakey salt
- 1 french baguette I used a gluten free baguette
Instructions
For pears
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, mix together honey, balsamic glaze, balsamic vinegar + cinnamon, whisk until combined, set aside.
- In a cast iron skillet on the stovetop, melt the butter until bubbly. Add your pears, cut side down, cook for 2-4 minutes or until just starting to brown. Remove from heat. Pour balsamic mixture over pears, sprinkle in almonds.
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes. During its baking time, baste the pears every 5-10 minutes, this ensures the tops of the pears get a nice coating of the glaze. After 20 minutes. Turn oven off and leave pears in the oven while you grill your bread. Once bread is done, remove from oven + drizzle with a small amount of honey
For baguette
- Preheat grill to 400 degrees F. Cut your baguette into slices, lay them out on a large cutting board or baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil on both sides of the bread and sprinkle with salt. Once grill is hot, add bread to grill and leave on for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden with grill marks. Once done, remove from grill and place on serving dish. This can also be done in the oven if you do not have access to a grill
For pancetta
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pancetta on a lined baking sheet, alternately, if you have a baking rack, place that on your baking sheet – this is the method I used. Drizzle with honey. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until pancetta has shrunk a bit and its visibly crisp. Remove from oven, place on a paper towel lined plate until ready to serve
