Wondering what goes with blueberries? Learn the best ingredient pairings, meal ideas, popular flavor combinations, and other helpful tips.
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Knowing what goes well with blueberries gives you a starting point for putting meals together using the ingredients you already have on hand.
Whether you want to reduce food waste, get more creative in the kitchen, or improve your cooking skills, it starts with understanding what flavors pair well together.
What Are Blueberries?
Blueberries are small, round fruit that grows on bushes and range in color from blue to purple. Ripe berries have a sweet, floral taste with a hint of acidity.
Did you know that mixing cinnamon with blueberries intensifies the flavor of the blueberries? Try it with this apple and blueberry crumble and see for yourself.
Helpful Tips
When To Buy
Blueberries are in season from April through September. Look at the seasonal produce guide to see what's in season right now.
What To Look For
Look for blueberries that are plump and firm, with smooth skin and an even blue powdery color.
Avoid blueberries that are bruised, have broken skin, or are reddish in color as they have been picked when underripe and will be very tart and astringent.
How To Store
Blueberries are highly perishable, so storing them unwashed in the refrigerator in either the plastic clamshell you bought them in or an uncovered container is key.
Just make sure to place a paper towel inside the container to absorb extra moisture and store them on a shelf in the fridge instead of in the crisper drawer so they get the best air circulation.
To extend their shelf life, you can freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer the frozen blueberries to a sealed freezer-safe bag or airtight container. When frozen, they can keep for up to 9 months.
What Goes Well With Blueberries?
Vegetables
Ginger.
Fruit
Apples, apricots, bananas, blackberries, lemons, limes, mangoes, melon, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapple, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, and watermelon.
Spices
Allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
Herbs
Mint.
Nuts & Seeds
Almonds, pecans, pine nuts, and walnuts.
Non-Dairy/Dairy
Butter, buttermilk, cream: use coconut cream or cashew cream for dairy-free, ice cream, cream cheese, creme fraiche, mascarpone, ricotta: use cashew ricotta or almond ricotta for dairy-free, sour cream, and yogurt.
Pantry Items
White chocolate, cognac, cornmeal, honey, liqueurs: berry and orange, maple syrup, molasses, oats, port, rum, sugar, triple sec, and vanilla.
Popular Blueberry Pairings
- cinnamon + cream + sugar
- cream + lemon zest + mascarpone + sugar
- honey + port + vanilla
- lemon + lemon thyme
- lemon zest + maple syrup
- mascarpone + peaches
What To Make With Blueberries
Blueberries can be cooked or eaten raw and are a popular ingredient in baked goods like banana blueberry oat muffins, blueberry lemon baked oatmeal, and quickbreads - sub the blackberries for blueberries in this blackberry lemon bread.
Blueberries are also often used in desserts such as pies, tarts, galettes, crisps, crumbles, and cobblers.
Make fluffy blueberry dairy free pancakes, add fresh or frozen blueberries to smoothies, or make a fruit spread such as compote or 10 minute blueberry chia jam, which can be spread onto oat flour waffles, or dolloped on a scoop of vanilla ice cream or custard.
Add fresh blueberries to fruit salads, green salads, peanut butter granola and yogurt, and frozen yogurt granola bars with fruit.
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