70+ Pomegranate Recipes

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Pomegranate recipes make the most of those sweet-tart red seeds in crisp salads, glazed salmon, chocolate bark, and homemade grenadine. Pomegranates fill the grocery store bins as the weather turns cold, and one fruit adds crunch and color to a whole week of meals.

Pomegranates are one of the few fresh fruits that come into season as summer fades. They show up in stores in the fall and stay through the winter holidays, right when a rich dinner needs something bright on the plate.

Bottled pomegranate juice is easy to find all year, so you don’t have to wait for fresh fruit to cook with it. A splash goes into lemonade, punch, marinades, and sticky glazes for chicken or salmon.

If you love cooking with fall fruit, my persimmon recipes and quince recipes are full of ideas too. A handful of pomegranate seeds also looks lovely over a dish of roasted Brussels sprouts.

What Are Pomegranates?

Pomegranates (Punica granatum) grow on small, shrubby trees with glossy leaves and orange-red flowers. They’re native to the region from Iran to northern India, where people have grown them since ancient times. Spanish settlers brought them to California in 1769.

The trees need long, hot summers and mild winters, so they grow best in USDA zones 8 to 11. Most of the pomegranates sold in the United States come from California.

If you live where they grow, Grow Organic sells potted Wonderful pomegranate trees. Wonderful is the variety you’ll see in most grocery stores.

Inside the leathery skin, hundreds of seeds sit in pockets of white pith. Each one, called an aril, is a little sac of juice wrapped around a small, crunchy seed, and it’s the part you eat.

How Do Pomegranates Taste?

Pomegranate seeds are juicy, sweet, and tart, with a little crunch from the seed in the center. Wonderful pomegranates are tart-sweet with a winey flavor, while Utah Sweet is sweeter, with softer seeds.

Cooking brings out that tartness. Simmer the juice with sugar and you have grenadine, and cooked down further, it becomes pomegranate molasses, a staple in Middle Eastern cooking. A splash can even stand in for the wine in my Lebanese lamb stew.

Choosing the Best Pomegranates

Pick pomegranates that are heavy for their size, with firm skin and no soft spots. A heavy fruit is full of juice.

Pomegranates stop ripening once they come off the tree, so buy them ripe. Keep whole fruit in a cool, dry spot for a few days, or refrigerate it for up to two months, so it’s easy to stock up while they’re in season.

How to Seed a Pomegranate

Pomegranate juice stains, so put on an apron and work over a deep bowl. I cut the fruit through the middle, then break each half into sections with my hands.

Tap the back of each section with a wooden spoon, and the seeds fall right out. For less mess, pull the sections apart in a bowl of cool water. The seeds sink, and the bits of peel and white membrane float to the top so you can skim them off.

Drain the seeds and use them right away, or keep them covered in the fridge for a few days. To freeze them, spread the seeds on a tray until they’re firm, then pack them into freezer bags.

Pomegranate Recipes

Start with a handful of seeds over a salad or a bowl of yogurt. Once you have a pomegranate or two open, the seeds go into dinner, dessert, and the drinks pitcher just as easily.

If you end up with a big haul, juice the extras. Pomegranate juice makes jelly, syrup, and even homemade wine, so none of that fruit goes to waste.

Pomegranate Salads and Soups

Pomegranate seeds add sweet-tart crunch to a green salad, especially with pears, oranges, and toasted nuts. The juice also shakes up into a bright vinaigrette.

Try a salad with maple cider vinaigrette, oranges with balsamic, or pears with a ginger dressing. My leftover turkey recipes include a spinach salad with pomegranate seeds and candied pecans, too.

• Pomegranate Salad with Maple Cider Vinaigrette
• Orange and Pomegranate Salad with Balsamic Dressing
• Pomegranate and Pear Salad with Ginger Dressing
• Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Pomegranate soup is a classic in Iran. Ash-e anar simmers little meatballs with herbs and pomegranate juice for a tangy, filling bowl.

• Ash-e Anar (Persian Pomegranate Soup with Meatballs)

Pomegranate Breakfast Recipes

A spoonful of pomegranate seeds wakes up a bowl of yogurt, oatmeal, or chia pudding. They add color and a little crunch without any extra work.

Layer the seeds into a parfait with granola, or stir them into chia pudding, oatmeal, or an acai bowl.

• Pomegranate Breakfast Parfait
• Chia Seed and Pomegranate Breakfast
• Pomegranate Oatmeal
• Acai and Pomegranate Breakfast Bowl

For something warm, top toast or banana pancakes with the seeds, or cook them into a quick compote. The breakfast crumble bakes apples and pomegranate together.

• Pomegranate-Almond Toast
• Pomegranate Banana Pancakes
• Easy Pomegranate Compote
• Apple-Pomegranate Breakfast Crumble

Breakfast cookies with banana and pomegranate are easy to grab on the way out the door. For a savory start, try a breakfast salad with bacon and eggs, or narnumru, eggs fried over a bed of pomegranate seeds.

• Breakfast Cookies with Banana and Pomegranate
• Pomegranate Breakfast Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
• Pomegranate with Eggs (Narnumru)

Pomegranate Main Dishes

Pomegranate and meat go together in a lot of Persian and Middle Eastern cooking. The juice makes a tangy glaze or braising liquid, and the seeds add a fresh finish to a rich dish.

Pomegranate chicken is easy enough for a weeknight, either spiced in a skillet or roasted on a sheet pan with Brussels sprouts.

• Spiced Pomegranate Chicken
• Pomegranate Chicken and Brussels Sprouts

Fesenjan is a Persian stew, often made with chicken, simmered in a walnut and pomegranate sauce. The butternut squash stew uses pomegranate with beef and cinnamon instead.

• Fesenjan (Persian Pomegranate Walnut Stew)
• Butternut Squash Beef Stew with Cinnamon and Pomegranates

Beef stands up well to pomegranate’s tang. Braise short ribs in the juice, serve a seared steak with quinoa and fresh seeds, or try beef with spiced potato wedges.

• Pomegranate Beef with Spiced Wedges
• Pomegranate Steak with Quinoa
• Pomegranate Braised Short Ribs

Pomegranate is lovely with fish, too. Brush salmon with pomegranate molasses, or spoon a fresh pomegranate salsa over seared white fish.

• Pomegranate Molasses Salmon
• Pan-Seared Fish with Pomegranate Salsa

Pomegranate Appetizers and Snacks

Pomegranate seeds make party food look festive with almost no effort. Scatter them over crostini, roll a cheese ball in them, or stir them into a chunky avocado salsa.

Goat cheese and pomegranate are a great pair on crostini, and the cheese ball and pecan appetizer are easy to make ahead for a holiday spread.

• Pomegranate Avocado Salsa
• Pomegranate Goat Cheese Crostini
• Pomegranate Crusted Cheese Ball
• Pomegranate Pecan Party Appetizer

For movie night, toss salty popcorn with pomegranate seeds and chocolate chips. Chocolate and pomegranate are great together, too, in a bark and two kinds of little chocolate bites.

• Popcorn Snack Mix with Pomegranate Arils
• Pomegranate Chocolate Bark
• Chocolate Pomegranate Bites
• Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Bites

Kids love the bright color. Bake the seeds into granola bars, or turn the juice into fruit leather or homemade gummies.

• Pomegranate Pumpkin Granola Bars
• Strawberry Pomegranate Fruit Leather
• Pomegranate Gelatin Gummies

Pomegranate Cakes, Tarts, and Bars

Pomegranate seeds sparkle on top of a frosted cake, and the tart juice balances a rich, sweet dessert. They’re a natural fit for Christmas baking.

Bake the seeds into a fresh pomegranate cake, or use them to top a Christmas cake or a batch of cupcakes.

• Fresh Pomegranate Cake
• Pomegranate Christmas Cake
• Pomegranate Cupcakes

My sourdough chocolate focaccia gets a topping of Nutella, cream cheese, and fresh fruit, with pomegranate seeds scattered over the top. The cream tart, no-bake chocolate tart, and apple crisp are three more pomegranate desserts to try.

• Sourdough Chocolate Focaccia
• Pomegranate Cream Tart
• No-Bake Chocolate Pomegranate Tart
• Brenda’s Apple and Pomegranate Crisp

For a cookie tray, try lemon bars topped with seeds, meringue bars with pomegranate curd, mousse brownies, or pomegranate macarons.

• Lemon Cookie Bars with Pomegranate Seeds
• Pomegranate Meringue Bars
• Pomegranate Mousse Brownies
• Pomegranate Macarons

Pomegranate Mousse, Trifles, and Frozen Treats

Creamy desserts show off pomegranate’s color. A layered mousse parfait or a holiday trifle looks festive in a glass dish.

The trifle layers vanilla pudding, cranberry sauce, and pomegranate seeds, so it’s easy to put together ahead of a party.

• Layered Pomegranate Mousse Parfaits
• Cranberry Pomegranate Christmas Trifle

Pomegranate ice cream comes in a no-churn version and a rich one with dark chocolate. For summer, freeze the juice into popsicles with coconut water or creamy yogurt.

• No Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream
• Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
• Pomegranate Coconut Water Popsicles
• Pomegranate-Yogurt Ice Pops

Pomegranate Drinks

Pomegranate juice makes a beautiful red drink with a tart bite. Mix it into punch, lemonade, or an Italian soda, or simmer it with sugar into homemade grenadine.

Grenadine gets its name from the French word for pomegranate. A little goes a long way in sparkling water, lemonade, or a Shirley Temple.

• Pomegranate Syrup
• Pomegranate Punch
• Pomegranate Lemonade
• Vanilla-Pomegranate Italian Soda

For a party, shake up a pomegranate martini or a paloma, or top a pomegranate smash with prosecco. The sparkling citrus mocktail is just as pretty without the alcohol.

• Sparkling Citrus Pomegranate Mocktail
• Pomegranate Paloma
• Pomegranate Prosecco Smash
• Pomegranate Martini

Pomegranate Moscow mules pair the juice with ginger beer and lime, and pomegranate fruit tea makes a cozy caffeine-free cup. The juice is good in iced tea and a banana and berry smoothie, too.

• Pomegranate Moscow Mules
• Pomegranate Fruit Tea
• Pomegranate-Raspberry Iced Tea
• Banana and Berry Smoothie

Fermented Pomegranate Recipes

Pomegranate juice ferments into a deep red wine with a strong pomegranate flavor. I make mine with bottled juice, since it’s available all year, and my winemaking recipes have plenty more fruit wines to try.

With honey, the juice makes a pomegranate mead. It also flavors kombucha and kefir for a lighter, fizzy drink.

• Homemade Pomegranate Wine
• Persephone Mead
• Pomegranate Kombucha
• Pomegranate Kefir

You can ferment pomegranate seeds right in honey, or turn them into a fermented hot sauce, relish, or kimchi. Most honey ferment recipes call for raw, unpasteurized honey.

If fermenting is new to you, start with my guide to lacto-fermentation for beginners.

• Honey-Fermented Pomegranate Seeds
• Fermented Pomegranate Rose Hot Sauce
• Pomegranate Relish Fermented with Honey
• Pomegranate Kimchi

Preserving Pomegranates

Whole pomegranates keep for a couple of months in the fridge, and the seeds freeze well. For longer storage, juice the fruit and put the juice up in jars.

I like to split a batch of juice, freezing part of it for the deepest color and canning the rest. Pomegranate juice also turns into jelly, syrup, and pomegranate applesauce, and there are dozens more ideas in my fruit canning recipes.

• Canning Pomegranate Juice
• Pomegranate Applesauce
• How to Preserve Pomegranates

Pomegranate jelly makes a lovely holiday gift, and it’s easy to make with bottled juice. The jam keeps some of the fruit in the jar.

• Pomegranate Jelly
• Pomegranate Jam

Pomegranate Recipes FAQs

Readers ask whether the seeds are edible, how to tell when a pomegranate is ripe, how long the fruit keeps, and what goes into grenadine.

More Fall Fruit Recipe Roundups

Persimmons, quince, and rose hips all ripen in the fall, too.

70+ Persimmon Recipes

50+ Quince Recipes (How to Cook Quince)

30+ Rose Hip Recipes