Grilled Peaches with Bourbon Caramel Sauce

This easy summer dessert recipe can be made in less than 20 minutes and is the perfect way to celebrate fresh peach season.

Warm, juicy, quick-grilled peaches.  Cool, refreshing, melty vanilla ice cream.  A generous drizzle of the world’s most delicious hot bourbon caramel sauce.

I’m officially calling it — this wins as our favorite dessert of the summer! ♡

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, we’ve been making this 10-minute bourbon caramel sauce on repeat this summer, drizzling it on everything from ice cream to brownies, cheesecakes, fruit crisps and more.  But our favorite pairing — times ten — has been to serve this caramel sauce over hot grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream.

It’s super-duper easy to make on an outdoor grill or inside on the stove with a grill pan.  It takes just 20 minutes to make, or less than 10 if you have prepped the caramel sauce beforehand.  It’s easy to scale up for a big crowd or down for just a serving or two, and customize with your favorite toppings.  And most of all, it is just crazy delicious.

So if peaches happen to be in season wherever you are right now, bring home a few and let’s get to grilling!

Bourbon Caramel Sauce Ingredients:

The ingredient list for this bourbon caramel sauce is pretty simple.  You will need…

• Bourbon: Or whatever kind of whiskey you love best.
• Sugar: We’re going classic with granulated white sugar for this sauce.
• Water: To mix with the sugar before boiling it.
• Heavy cream: Room temp (or warmer), otherwise the hot sugar will seize and clump up when this is added.
• Butter: Also room temp, please.
• Vanilla extract: Optional, but I highly recommend adding some for extra flavor.
• Salt: Add in however much sea salt you would like!

How To Grill Peaches:

To grill peaches on a traditional gas or charcoal grill…

1. Heat the grill.  Make sure the grates are nice and clean.  Then heat the grill to medium-high heat, or so.
2. Prep the peaches.  Halve and pit the peaches.  Then brush the cut sides with a bit of oil.
3. Grill the peaches.  Place the peaches cut-side-down on the grill.  Then cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until the peaches are charred to your desired level of doneness.

How To Assemble This Dessert:

Pretty easy!  Just…

1. Make the bourbon caramel sauce.  I posted the full recipe and instructions in yesterday’s post.  This sauce is absolute magic and easy to make in just 10 minutes!
2. Grill the peaches.  As directed above.
3. Assemble.  While the peaches are still nice and hot, place them in serving bowls cut-side-up.  Top with ice cream, drizzle with the bourbon caramel sauce, sprinkle on any extra toppings that sound good (see ideas below) and dig in!

Possible Variations:

Feel free to get creative with this recipe and make it your own!  For example, you could also…

• Add nuts. Toasted walnuts, pecans, or almonds would all taste delicious sprinkled on top.
• Add cookies.  Crumbled gingersnaps would be amazing sprinkled on top of these peaches.  Or graham crackers!
• Add cinnamon sugar.  For extra flavor, sprinkle the grilled peaches with cinnamon sugar just after grilling.
• Sub out the ice cream.  In its place, you could use Greek yogurt, mascarpone, or meringue.  Or keep things simple with just peaches and caramel sauce. 🙂
• Use a different fruit.  Feel free to grill (or bake) nectarines, pears, apples or bananas as a base instead of (or in addition to) peaches.
• Use a different kind of whiskey.  If bourbon isn’t your thing, any other kind of whiskey would be delicious in this caramel sauce.
• Skip the grilling.  If you’re short on time, fresh (raw) peaches would still be delicious here.  Or cook them on the stovetop in a grill pan. 🙂

More Summer Dessert Recipes:

Looking for more summer dessert recipe inspiration?  Here are a few of my faves…

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