14 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Canned Peaches

When peaches are in season, they're sweet, juicy, and delicious, but the rest of the year, they're often rock hard and flavorless. Canned peaches, on the other hand, are consistent year round, so they're perfect when fresh peaches aren't at their best — or when you just can't be bothered with the prep work. If you tend to get stuck in a rut with your recipes, you might be interested in these 14 things you didn't know you could do with canned peaches.

From sauces to quesadillas to bruschetta, there are plenty of unexpected ways to use these tasty canned fruits. Even better, all our suggestions are expert-approved as we spoke to seven chefs and recipe developers to learn their favorite lesser-known ways to use canned peaches and it didn't disappoint. These tips and recipe ideas might just help you expand your culinary repertoire, and they'll certainly make you want to eat more peaches or dig out that can that's been lurking in your pantry for months.

Canned peaches are often softer than fresh ones, and one way to make the most of this texture is to blend them into a spread. There are many spreads or dips you can make with them, but Imene Senouci, who runs the food blog Ambitious Foodie, makes one with goat cheese that she recommends.

"This creamy spread is a sophisticated appetizer that combines the tanginess of goat cheese with the sweetness of peaches and the aromatic notes of fresh basil," she tells us. "You'll appreciate this spread for its creamy texture and the way the peaches and basil elevate the tangy goat cheese." She says it's a perfect addition to a meal when you're entertaining — or it's great just for snacking on.

This is just one option, though. You could pair peaches with other soft cheeses or mayo and herbs to make a spread of your own devising. Slather your peachy spread on hunks of sourdough or focaccia or use it as a dip for crudites or high-quality chips. It could also make a nice salad dressing, thinned out a little with olive oil.

If you've got a can of peaches kicking around, then you can easily use it to make ice cream. Food and lifestyle blogger, cookbook author, and TV food segment creator Jessie-Sierra Ross of Straight to the Hips, Baby tells us, "Peach ice cream is a classic way to enjoy the sweet juiciness of fresh peaches, but you can also substitute canned peaches."

Here's how you make it, according to Ross: "Simply drain the canned peaches and measure out 1 cup of peach slices. Add to a blender and purée well. Place in the refrigerator for an hour or two, and then add to your ice cream base before churning for a delicious batch of peach ice cream." It's perfect added to a lightly vanilla ice cream base, as this complements the peaches. Of course, you'll need an ice cream maker or a willingness to churn by hand.

You can also use peaches to make a one-ingredient sorbet. Just chop your canned peaches into smaller chunks, freeze them for at least 12 hours, and then whizz them up in a blender or food processor along with the syrup or juice from the can. Pectin-rich fruits, like peaches, make an amazingly creamy sorbet without the need for extra ingredients.

Barbecue sauce is beloved for its sweetness, which is often balanced with tangy, acidic, and smoky notes. While most commercial sauces use sugar or corn syrup as a sweetener, if you make it yourself, you can use fruit instead. Canned peaches have a complex fruity flavor that excels in BBQ sauce.

"I love to use canned peaches to make a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce by blending them with ketchup, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and spices, " says Emily Laurae, a pastry chef and recipe developer at Emily Laurae Home Recipes. "You'll want to simmer the mixture until thickened," she adds. Then, you can use it as a glaze or a condiment for dipping fries in or spreading on burgers.

Jessie-Sierra Ross also recommends making peach BBQ sauce. She starts by draining and rinsing the canned peaches. Then, you should "take a few cloves of fresh crushed garlic and sauté them in a little bit of oil with a pinch of salt and black pepper," she says. Her next step is to "add the canned peaches along with some ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, smoky paprika, a couple of tablespoons of bourbon, and a bit of apple cider vinegar." Finally, she simmers it on low for 10 to15 minutes, before blending it on high until smooth and seasoning to taste.

If you make peach BBQ sauce, you could use that as a glaze for meat, tofu, or other proteins. But, there are other glazes you can make with canned peaches, too. Glazes need a sweet element, because the sugar is what thickens and helps to coat your protein. It also caramelizes slightly, giving that rich complexity people want.

There are many ways to make a glaze or turn a sauce into a glaze. While sugar or honey is often used in glazes, blended peaches work wonders here too, and you can adapt the other ingredients to help you get the flavor profile you're looking for. You'll usually want something acidic and something salty to balance it out.

Imene Senouci makes a glaze that she uses for chicken thighs, though you could glaze any ingredient you like with it. "The peach glaze adds a tangy and sweet dimension," she notes, adding that it's "enhanced by soy sauce and Dijon mustard for a complex, mouthwatering flavor profile." She likes this dish because it "offers a mix of sweet and savory with a hint of tanginess."

Quesadillas are a classic, but they can get boring and one-note after a while, especially if you never get creative with them. When you're sick of your usual fillings, you might want to throw peach into the fray to elevate them. What's more, quesadillas are quick and easy to throw together, so they're a great lunch option when you get stuck.

The idea to put peaches in quesadillas came from Imene Senouci of Ambitious Foodie. "A delightful fusion of sweet and savory, these quesadillas pair the creamy richness of brie cheese with the fruity notes of peaches, all wrapped up in a crispy tortilla," she says. "If you enjoy a blend of sweet and savory, these quesadillas are a must-try. The melty brie cheese and juicy peaches create a luxurious and unexpected combination that is both comforting and gourmet."

However, you don't have to pair peaches with brie. You could use any cheese, including blue cheese and feta. Some fresh herbs wouldn't go amiss here, either. Just put your fillings on one half of a tortilla, fold it over, and toast it on each side in a dry pan until it's crispy on the outside and the cheese has melted.

Chutney is often made with fruits, such as mangos and apples. Peach isn't as common a chutney ingredient, but there's no good reason for that. The sweetness and fruity flavor of peaches work beautifully with a range of spices, giving you a sweet and savory condiment that's totally memorable.

Recipe developer Emily Laurae tells us how she makes her signature peach chutney. "Cook your canned peaches with onions, ginger, garlic, and a blend of spices like cumin, coriander, and cinnamon," she says. When it's ready, she likes to add it to cheese boards, spread it on roasted meats, or layer it on a summer sandwich. "Its sweet and savory profile will elevate your dishes with ease," she adds.

What's cool about chutney is that you can make it in large batches and put it in sterilized jars for later use. In fact, chutney tends to improve with age, as the vinegars or other acidic ingredients mellow and it becomes more balanced.

Whether piled on nachos, stuffed in burritos, doused over tacos, or used as a dip for tortilla chips, salsa has many uses. But, tomato salsa can get boring after a while. Luckily, help is on hand from canned peaches. You can easily turn them into a salsa by dicing them and combining them with ingredients like onions, cilantro, jalapeños, and lime juice. What you want is a balance of sweetness, acidity, and saltiness to round it out. The exact ingredients vary between recipes, but you could also adapt a mango salsa recipe, using peaches in place of mangoes.

Imene Senouci has a favorite peach salsa. "This vibrant salsa combines the sweetness of canned peaches with the heat of jalapeños and the freshness of cilantro, making it a perfect topping for grilled meats or a flavorful dip," she says. She appreciates "its perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors." Senouci remarks that it's a refreshing change from traditional tomato-based salsas and adds a "bright, fruity twist" to dishes.

Anyone looking for more breakfast options might be considering overnight oats. They're made by soaking oats in milk or yogurt overnight with other ingredients added for flavor and texture. There are all kinds of mistakes people make with overnight oats — and failing to recognize the potential of canned peaches could be considered one of them.

One big fan of peach overnight oats is Emily Laurae, and she has a go-to option that she shares with us. "Mix diced canned peaches with rolled oats, Greek yogurt, almond milk, and a touch of honey in a jar or container," she advises. "Let it sit overnight in the fridge for a ready-to-eat, nutritious and quick breakfast with your canned peaches." She says that she particularly likes how "the peaches infuse the oats with a natural sweetness, making mornings delicious and simple." It certainly is an easy breakfast for anyone who isn't a morning person. All the hard work goes down the night before, so you can just grab your oats out of the fridge and chow down come morning time.

You might have already figured out the differences and similarities between cobblers and crisps, but what about a buckle? It belongs to the same family of desserts but is slightly different. Fruit is mixed into a cake batter, or the cake batter is poured on top of fruit. The cake batter dips — or "buckles" — slightly around the fruit, hence the name. Blueberry buckle is a common choice, but peach buckle is just as tasty, if not more so.

"Peach Buckle is an easy homestyle cake made from a simple butter based sweet cake batter and sliced fresh peaches," says food and lifestyle blogger Jessie-Sierra Ross. "But, did you know you can also use canned peaches instead?" she adds. "Just drain the peaches from their juices and add to the cake batter. Bake as directed and top with a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar." The beauty of using canned peaches is that they're always available. "You can have a gorgeous cottage-style peach dessert all year around," Ross remarks.

"I love working with peaches and always have lots to use up since we grow them here in our yard," says Melissa O'Leary, recipe developer at Keeping it Simple. While she has plenty of fresh peaches during peak season, she also likes to use canned peaches at other times of year. O'Leary loves making bruschetta with peaches. "My favorite way to use canned peaches is to make a meal by making crostini and then topping that with ricotta and canned peaches," she notes.

The mild creaminess of the ricotta is punctuated by the sweetness of peaches. And, we all know peaches work well with mild cheeses, such as in this tomato and peach burrata salad recipe. To take the peaches to the next level, you could grill them or caramelize them slightly in a skillet, but it isn't necessary. You can rub the crostini base of the bruschetta with a clove of raw garlic to infuse even more flavor, though you shouldn't go too heavy handed. Fresh herbs like basil or thyme pair nicely, too. If you think that bruschetta begins and ends with tomato, this peach-forward variant makes a welcome change.

Cocktail sauces are usually synonymous with shrimp. However, you can do all kinds of things with these sauces, from dip fries in them to mix them in with egg salad. And, although the classic sauce eaten with shrimp is ketchup-based, things have moved on from there. Canned peaches can be used to make a delicious cocktail sauce with the sweetness of the original, but way more flair.

Chef Greg Garrison from Repeal 33 in Savannah, Georgia makes a signature peach cocktail sauce for the restaurant. He remarks that using canned peaches is often the best way to keep a recipe the same throughout a season. Whether people buy canned peaches from the store or preserve them at home in large batches, they end up with a consistent flavor through the whole batch. "This method makes it very easy to make our peach cocktail sauce in smaller batches throughout the year by simply combining ready to use ingredients," he says.

"For the chilled shrimp, we season local sweet shrimp with chiles and sous vide them," he explains. "The peach balances out the spices provided by both the chiles in the seasoning and the horseradish in the cocktail sauce." But this isn't the only reason Garrison uses peaches in his cocktail sauce. "It's also our hyper-local take on a tried and true classic that represents both the importance of peaches in Georgia, as well as Savannah's coastal cuisine that is founded in fresh seafood," he adds.

When life gives you canned peaches, make trifles. At least, that's what recipe developer Farwin Simaak of Love and Other Spices does. She has a go-to peach trifle recipe that she makes regularly. "My family and guests are crazy over it and I love that it's quick and easy to make," Simaak says. "It's a recipe that doesn't need exact measurements and you can eyeball and throw in the ingredients and the end result is always a delicious trifle," she adds.

It uses a can of peaches, premade angel food cake or other soft sponge cake, cartons of ready made custard, and whipped cream and cherries to serve. You basically layer all these ingredients together, cutting the cake into chunks and lightly soaking it in the peach syrup. Chill it for at least 30 minutes, and it's ready to serve. It's a great dessert when you want something that comes together quickly and easily from ready-made ingredients.

A compote is a dish made from fruit cooked in a sugar syrup, and it's a bit like a mix between stewed fruit and jam or jelly. You can use it to top pancakes, oatmeal, ice cream, and more. But, did you know that canned peaches are perfect for compote? Those that already come in a syrup are pretty much ready to turn into compote straight out of the can.

"Canned peaches are the best for a peach compote," says Julia Mullaney founder and chef of the Five Ingredient Feast. She explains how to make it using canned peaches in syrup. "Finely chop them and heat them with a little sugar and some of the peach syrup for about 10 to 15 minutes," she explains. "You can thicken it further with a little flour or cornstarch if you want, but it isn't necessary. It pairs well with plenty of dishes, but I like to serve it warm over some vanilla." Not only is it delicious, but it's super quick and easy to make. You could even add fragrant spices, such as cloves and cinnamon.

You might not think to go beyond food and into drink territory with canned peaches, but it's a great use for them. They're particularly great for alcoholic drinks. "Canned peaches can also make a wonderful cocktail when the peaches are pureed," recipe developer Melissa O'Leary tells us. "The syrup they come in can double as simple syrup," she adds, so you get two cocktail ingredients for the price of one.

A peach Bellini might be the obvious choice, where peaches are blended and paired with sparkling wine. But, there are way more options than that. You could whizz canned peaches into a daiquiri, frozen or otherwise. You can also adapt other classic cocktails to include peaches. Martinis, margaritas, and mojitos are all good choices. Peaches are delicious additions to a sangria. Adding peaches to cocktails is a simple way to upgrade them, and it's perfect for anyone who likes fruity drinks.