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Made from fresh, juicy pears, this three ingredient homemade pear simple syrup recipe is delicious in cocktails and mocktails.
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Pear has a light flavor that can be easily overwhelmed with additional ingredients. This pear syrup recipe leaves out lemon juice and/or lime juice to ensure pear is the star of the show. It also allows you to decide when (and if) you want lemon or lime flavor in your drinks.
Pear simple syrup is a great way to enjoy fall flavor without spices or pumpkin. Use it to add pear flavor to a gin and tonic or add it to hot apple cider. Enjoy it over ice with club soda. This delicious syrup can even be stirred into oatmeal for an easy way to sweeten your morning meal.
Note: This recipe is for pear syrup, NOT prickly pear simple syrup. Prickly pear cactus fruit needs to be handled differently than the pears that grow on trees. Looking for prickly pear syrup? My friend Susannah at Feast and West has a great Prickly Pear Syrup Recipe for you to make.
What's in Pear Syrup
- White Sugar - Choose cane sugar or beet sugar for this syrup recipe.
- Fresh, whole pears - The riper, the better!
- Water - Used filtered water in your syrup recipes.
How to Make Pear Simple Syrup (Step by Step)
Using a cutting board and sharp knife, cut the pears in half. Remove the core and stem. Cut the pears into large chunks.
Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves.
Add pears and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat. Allow the mixture to cool for 10-15 minutes. You can leave it cool until it reaches room temperature if you’d like.
Gently crush the pears in the pot using a potato masher or spatula.
Place a fine mesh strainer over a medium sized bowl. Pour the syrup through the strainer.
Use a spatula to move around the pear mixture so all the liquid drains through to the bowl below.
Discard the pear mixture.
Store the syrup in a mason jar or other glass, airtight container.
When kept in the refrigerator, pear simple syrup has a shelf life of 2 weeks. Discard it if it changes in look or smell.
Recipe Tips
- Use ripe pears. The riper the pears, the more pear flavor, juice and natural sweetness your syrup will have. Make sure your pears are soft when you gently squeeze them (like an avocado) before using them in your syrup. If they’re hard (like an apple), leave them to ripen for a few more days.
- Make your syrup ahead of time. Any kind of simple syrup being used in cocktails or mocktails needs to be nice and chilled before you make your drinks. Otherwise the warm syrup will melt the ice too fast when you add it to your drink and that will water it down.
- There’s no need to peel the pears before using them. The pear skin is thin and whether or not it’s left on doesn’t change the syrup’s flavor. You only need to remove the pear’s core, seeds, and any stem parts before adding it to the sugar and water.
- Make it a spiced pear simple syrup recipe by adding 1-2 cinnamon sticks to the syrup when you remove the pot from the heat. Strain out and discard the cinnamon sticks with the pears. Use spiced pear syrup in a bourbon cocktail.
What to Make with Homemade Pear Simple Syrup
Pear Syrup is an essential ingredient in my non-alcoholic Thanksgiving Mocktails. You can make them by the glass or by the pitcher!
FAQs and Substitutions
I used Bartlett pear when photographing this recipe, but have made it with several kinds. Red pears, bosque pears, and anjou pears are all delicious in this syrup. So just go with whatever’s easiest to find at your local grocery store.
You can use raw sugar or maple syrup in this recipe if you prefer, but it will change the flavor of the syrup a bit and can overwhelm the flavor of the pears.
Plastic containers can take on the smell of the item last in them, including strong flavored foods. Because pears have a delicate flavor, using a container with any lingering odors in it will ruin the taste of the syrup. Glass containers don’t have this issue, so using a mason jar or other glass bottle to store your syrup will eliminate any potential problems.
Yes, you can use canned pears instead of fresh pears as long as you buy the kind canned in juice. Don’t use the pears that are canned in heavy syrup. Those will be too sweet. If you used canned pears, drain off the juice before using them. You’ll want an entire 15 oz can of pears to replace the 2 pears called for in this recipe.
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Pear Simple Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 fresh pears
Instructions
- Cut the pears in half. Remove the core and stem. Cut the pears into large chunks.
- Combine water and sugar in a small pot over medium heat.
- Stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Add pears and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Allow the mixture to cool for 10-15 minutes.
- Gently crush the pears in the pot using a potato masher.
- Place a fine mesh sieve over a medium sized bowl.
- Pour the syrup through the strainer.
- Use a spatula to move around the pear mixture so all the liquid drains through to the bowl below.
- Discard the pear mixture.
- Store the syrup in a mason jar or other glass, airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
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