22 Stone Fruit Recipes That Are Pure Summer (2024)

Juicy peaches. Plump cherries. Tart raspberries (yes, raspberries!) Summer is the season of stone fruit, and we've pulled together over 20 recipes here that showcase them at their best. Dessert may immediately come to mind, and we've certainly got recipes for those, from a Lemon Lavender Nectarine Cobbler to a Plum Upside-Down Cake, which is just as pretty as it sounds. But if you're looking for more of a savory preparation, have no fear — you'll also find Spicy Mango Pork with Noodles here, as well as Grilled Apricots with Burrata, Country Ham, and Arugula. Keep reading for all 22 recipes, and start making your shopping list now so you can squeeze in a few before fall.

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Stone Fruit Salad with Collard-Peanut Pesto

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"Nowadays, when I serve plums and nectarines, like in my Stone Fruit Salad with Collard-Peanut Pesto, I'm transported to parties where we dapped, hugged, boogied, and kissed under the moonlight," says writer Nicole A. Taylor, of her Juneteenth celebrations. In this savory fruit salad, roasted peanuts, collard greens, and Parmesan yield a hearty pesto that's the perfect partner for honey-dressed wedges of plums and nectarines. Fonio, a West African grain similar in texture to couscous, soaks up the pesto, flavoring each bite of this salad.

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Cherry-Vanilla Clafoutis

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Baking Cherry-Vanilla Clafoutis on the grill lends a delicious and unexpected smokiness to the simple French dessert, while whole-wheat flour provides a nutty kick to this otherwise-classic recipe. Want to move this indoors? This clafoutis can be baked for the same amount of time.

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Lemon Lavender Nectarine Cobbler

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This summery cobbler is spicy, sweet, and tart with a delicate lavender aroma. Fresh nectarines are the star of the filling — skin-on ones are ideal, but you can also make this dessert with thawed frozen peaches. As you make the biscuit dough, take care not to overwork it, which will make them tough and chewy. Gently folding the dough over onto itself will help create flaky, buttery layers. Serve the finished cobbler with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. Stash any leftovers in the refrigerator and enjoy reheated or at room temperature.

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Apricot Kuchen with Labneh Whipped Cream

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This simple, sweet cake is studded with juicy, tart apricots and served with a tangy labneh whipped cream. Frozen apricot halves will work when fresh are unavailable, as will many fruits as the seasons change; try grapes, apples, or nectarines.

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Blackberry-Cardamom Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

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These lightly spiced, fruity vegan cupcakes have a tender and delicate crumb with a soft texture from the full-fat oat milk and a blend of baking soda and baking powder. The frosting is soft after beating but will pipe beautifully and is surprisingly stable. Its bright lemon flavor and light, melt-in-your-mouth quality are similar to Swiss or Italian meringue buttercreams.

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Almond-and-Plum Snack Cake

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This snack cake catches the eye with its ripe red plums, toasted almonds, and glistening sugary crust, but the tender cake hidden underneath is the real star. The moist cake has a tight crumb, but a trio of butter, sour cream, and chunks of thick, sweet almond paste make it exceptionally tender.

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Peach Salad with Peanuts and Chile

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Spicy chiles and sweet peaches come together in this simple, summery salad perfect for backyard parties. Lemon vinegar and manuka honey lend each bite a sweet-tart zing and silky texture, amplifying the juiciness of fresh peaches. The sweet honey mellows the sharp and punchy lemon vinegar, adding brightness without overpowering the delicate fruit. Avoid using Meyer lemon vinegar, which will be too sweet once combined with the honey. Long, thin, and vibrantly colored, Holland finger chiles, or Dutch chiles, add a moderate jalapeño-like heat to the fragrant dish. Lean on this stunning salad when peaches are at their prime to showcase the best of summer produce.

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Chè Khúc Bach

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Doris Hô-Kane, who runs Ban Bè, a Vietnamese-American bakery in Brooklyn, is particularly fond of chè khúc bach, or "white chunk dessert soup." Drizzled with sweet coconut cream, this Vietnamese dessert of flavored panna cotta, tropical fruits, and shaved ice is a riot of color and texture. Here, Hô-Kane uses both canned longans and lychees. Her approach to this dessert is an amalgamation of her Vietnamese heritage and her American upbringing — she likes to add beet juice, butterfly pea flower, and coffee to the panna cotta to add both color and contrast to the chè. One tradition she does stick to is cutting the panna cotta with a wavy knife ($5, mrslinskitchen.com), which gives the squares a set of ridges, which are as fun to look at as they are to eat.

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Spicy Mango Pork with Noodles

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The technique of tempering — heating spices gently in oil or ghee to release their essential oils — is commonly used in Indian cooking to build layers of flavor. Here, sweet and peppery mango teams up with pork for a gentle simmer in the spice-laden oil.

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Sour Cherry Mezcal Margarita

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This fruity spin on a margarita combines smoky mezcal, citrusy Cointreau, and sweet-tart cherry puree in a vibrant red drink perfect for late-summer sipping. Bright, pleasantly tart sour cherries are in season for a limited window, so this simple roasted puree is an easy way to preserve their flavor. Try it on ice cream or over pancakes, too.

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Black Rice Salad with Cherries and Plums

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Fresh plums and cherries add pops of juicy sweetness to this hearty summer salad. Black rice gives the dish a dark, moody hue and an extra textural bite. The salad builds to a delicious crescendo with its finishing touch: crunchy, craggy, blue cheese–infused breadcrumbs, which provide a lovely textural reprieve to the chewy rice and fruit.

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Plum Upside-Down Cake

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This pretty cake from pastry chef Joanne Chang is moist and buttery, with plenty of sweet and tangy caramelized plums on top. The finished cake can be stored in an airtight container overnight.

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Peach Chutney

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Former F&W Senior Test Kitchen Editor Grace Parisi's gingery peach chutney is terrific on a grilled cheddar cheese sandwich or brushed on pork chops during the last few minutes of cooking. To make removing the pits easier, look for freestone peaches, rather than clingstone.

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Raspberry-Hibiscus Sorbet

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The two main ingredients in sorbet are fruit and sugar — there's no dairy in sight. (In fact, the difference between sorbet and sherbet is that sherbet contains milk or cream.) This sorbet by chef and ice cream maker Fany Gerson has a creamy texture thanks to the addition of corn syrup or honey, which increases the sugar content and helps make the final product richer, less icy, and more scoopable. Bright and airy, with the perfect balance of creamy and tart from the raspberries, this sorbet is a great palate cleanser. With just the right amount of a floral hit from the hibiscus, this is a super-refreshing summertime treat.

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Summer Peach and Blackberry Galette

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"What I love about galettes is that they're so user-friendly," says Katie Button, a . "No matter how you fold or crimp them, they always look beautiful; in fact, the more rustic they look, the prettier they seem to be." Button's easy-to-make galette dough bakes into a flaky crust with a crisp bottom thanks to a high initial baking temperature, which is then reduced to finish cooking, allowing the filling to get perfectly glossy and jammy. "The nice thing about this recipe is that it's not too sweet, and proves that thyme and blackberries are truly best friends," Button says. "The herb brings out a different floral component to the dessert that's unexpected and delicious."

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Es Teler (Shaved Ice with Jackfruit, Avocado, and Coconut)

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Es teler sits comfortably in the middle of a Venn diagram of "dessert" and "refreshing drink." It's one of many similarly hard-to-classify (but wonderful to eat) sweets found throughout Asia. This Indonesian treat is served in a glass but is most often eaten with a spoon. Served throughout Indonesia — by street vendors and fancy restaurants alike — es teler is beloved for its cooling properties, and is often consumed as an afternoon snack, says Lara Lee, the author of the cookbook Coconut & Sambal. This dessert features young coconut meat; crunchy, jelly-like toddy palm seeds; creamy avocado; pleasantly fibrous jackfruit; and chewy tapioca.

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Stone Fruit Butter

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Fruit butters are made with less sugar than jam, so they have a less candied fruit flavor. Grace Parisi blends all types of stone fruits here, making combinations like nectarine-plum or cherry-peach. The yield here will vary slightly; when the fruit is especially juicy, there is more water to evaporate before the butter thickens, and the yield is smaller.

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Mango-Hibiscus Cooler

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Let guests choose their own adventure with this make-ahead mixer flavored with sweet mango nectar and sour-tart hibiscus syrup, and studded with fresh chopped mango pieces. It's equally delicious on the rocks with sparkling water, topped with bubbly Cava, or stirred together with tequila for a co*cktail.

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Chocolate-Raspberry Icebox Cake

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This Chocolate-Raspberry Icebox Cake is the answer to summer days when you want to serve a beautiful cake but it's too hot to turn on the oven. It's creamy, it's dreamy, and it's so simple to make. Crushed cookies, fresh raspberries, and layers of tart raspberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream transform into a gorgeous marbled layer cake in about 15 minutes — no frosting required. The raspberries sink into the milky, sweet layers of ice cream, adding a tart flavor and pops of color to the cake, and crunchy chocolate cookie crumble layers are the perfect sweet and salty counterpoint, adding satisfying texture and a hint of bittersweet flavor. Finally, after a deep chill in the freezer, the cake is topped with whipped cream and more raspberries. The finished cake slices beautifully, revealing deep pink, creamy white, and rich dark-chocolate cookie swirls.

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Grilled Apricots with Burrata, Country Ham, and Arugula

22 Stone Fruit Recipes That Are Pure Summer (20)

Here, chef Travis Lett pairs lightly charred grilled apricots with radicchio and baby arugula and tosses them in a simple lemon dressing. The mixture is then topped with shredded burrata, shaved country ham, and a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar. Depending on the season, Lett also makes this salad with plums, peaches, and pears.

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Triple Ginger Nectarine Jam

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This jam uses three different forms of ginger — ground, candied, and fresh — for a deep flavor that beautifully complements the nectarines. Fresh lemon juice brightens everything up.

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Spicy Mango Bisque with Scent Leaf

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"This cool mango soup was inspired by the frenzied crawl, the hurry-up-and-wait pace of driving into Lagos from the west," food writer and recipe developer Yewande Komolafe says. You'll need four large mangoes for the recipe — don't forget to have some warm crusty bread on hand for serving, too.

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