Cinnamon Grilled Apples with Apple Bourbon Caramel Sauce
On September 15, 2021 (Updated April 15, 2022)
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Looking for a delicious grilled dessert? This recipe for Cinnamon Grilled Apples is sure to satisfy all your sweet BBQ cravings. These apples are topped with a decadent apple bourbon caramel sauce that’ll knock your socks off.
Can You Grill Apples?
The grill isn’t just for meat and vegetables! You can cook all sorts of goodies on the grill, apples included. In fact, that little bit of char mixed with a sweet apple makes for the most amazing treat.
You can also control how crisp or soft you cook your apples on the grill. By using two-zone cooking, you can keep your apples nice and crisp, or cook them down to soft perfection.
Grilled Apples
When grilling apples, I like to take things a step further and make mine into a sweet treat. Sure, you can simply grill up apples and eat them right off the heat, but add in a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream, and you’ve just kicked them up a major notch.
Another great thing about grilling apples is that you don’t have to fire up the oven to make dessert. Go ahead and cook up your full dinner on the grill, then toss the apples on when you’re ready. It’s a major time-saver, and it’s great when it’s hot outside and you don’t want to turn on the oven inside your house.
How to Grill Apples
Let’s get to the grilling, shall we? Start off by turning on the grill and preheating it to 375 degrees F for two-zone cooking (one hot side with direct heat and one warm side with indirect heat).
- Prep the apples. Toss the apple wedges in a bowl with melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Grill. With your grill nice and preheated, cook the apples on the direct heat side for 3 minutes. Move them to the indirect heat side, close the lid, and cook for another 5-7 minutes to your preferred doneness. I like my apples to retain their shape while being tender.
- Sauce. Place the apples in serving dishes and drizzle with apple bourbon caramel sauce (check out the tutorial on making this in the recipe card below). I also serve mine with vanilla ice cream. Extra sauce can be stored in a mason jar and enjoyed throughout the week over ice cream)
- Enjoy. Dig in! You can also allow your guests to serve themselves with a variety of ice cream flavors and toppings.
Tips for Making Grilled Apples
Before you dive into the recipe below, take note of these few tips. I gathered these while creating this recipe, and they’re important to ensure your apples cook well on the grill.
- Pick the right apple. I recommend going with an apple that has a lot of crunch. My favorites are Honeycrisp if I want a sweeter apple, and granny smiths if I want something more tart and tangy.
- Clean your grill grates before cooking. The last thing you want is for your apples to taste like leftover burnt burgers, or worse, grilled fish. Clean grates make for better-tasting grilled apples.
- Don’t quit on the caramel sauce. After you stir in the heavy cream, your sugar may tighten up and seize. If this happens, turn the heat on your burner back to medium and continue whisking until the caramel dissolves in the cream.
More Grilled Fruits
Just like with meat and veggies, you can also cook just about any fruit on the grill. Check out my other awesome grilled fruit recipes from Hey Grill Hey below.
Cinnamon Grilled Apples Recipe
Whether you enjoy these for dessert or a tasty snack, these apples are always ready to please. If you loved this recipe, be sure to leave us a 5-star rating and comment below so we can continue to make the best recipes for you.
You can also find us on all social media platforms as we aim to help you make better BBQ, so you can feed the people you love and become a backyard BBQ hero.
Cinnamon Grilled Apples with Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
Cinnamon Grilled Apples
- 2 pounds Honeycrisp apples cored and cut into 1-inch thick wedges
- ¼ cup salted butter melted
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 4 cups vanilla ice cream
Apple Bourbon Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup cream
- 1 Tablespoon apple bourbon
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat your grill to 375 degrees F for 2 zone cooking, one side hot and direct heat, one side cooler with indirect heat.
- Prepare the caramel sauce. Pour the sugar and the water into a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium and swirl the water and sugar until it dissolves. Simmer the water and sugar together, without stirring, until it turns a warm amber color and reaches 350 degrees F (about 15 minutes). Turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream. The caramel will bubble up, so stir quickly. If the sugar mixture cools too quickly, your caramel can stay as a sticky ball, separated from the cream. If this happens, return the heat to medium and stir until the caramel is smooth. Turn off the heat and pour in the apple bourbon and salt and stir to combine. Set aside to cool slightly until the grilled apples are done.
- Season the apples. In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add in the apple wedges and toss to combine.
- Grill the apples. Place the seasoned apples on the direct heat side of your grill. Cook for 3 minutes per side to form nice grill marks. Move the apples to the indirect heat side of the grill and close the lid. Cook for 5-7 minutes to soften the apples slightly. You want the apples to still retain their shape and integrity, but cook to a tender-crisp texture.
- Plate and serve. Remove the apples to your serving dishes. Top each portion of apples with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of the apple bourbon caramel sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
