Grilled Whole Pineapple #HowToTuesday

This is a fun way to cook an entire pineapple on the grill. I use this method when I want to make pineapple salsa. Or a nice pineapple sauce to slather over ribs. 

I cannot even begin to explain how much I love pineapple. When it’s fresh and ripe it’s the perfect food. The flavour is out of this world.

Now take that flavour and sweetness, pop it on the grill and wait for the magic to happen. It caramelizes on the outside and those brown bits are heavenly.

Now you’re wondering why I cut mine this way. Two reasons. One is I’m a girl and I dig pretty things. This just looks spectacular, and makes a terrific centrepiece for a summer tablescape.

The other reason is my extreme love and addiction to fresh pineapple. When my daughter brings them home from work (mini-me works in the produce department at our local grocery store) I start to convulse at the very sight of them. Then I catch a whiff and I’m practically salivating. Once I start to cut it up and pop that first piece in my mouth it’s game over. I will continue to demolish every single piece of it.

So I’ve learned if I leave it whole I’m less likely to make a little piggy of myself. There will actually be some left for whatever recipe I wanted the pineapple for in the first place.

So this is survival of the fittest. One good deed for pineapple lovers everywhere. This will save you from eating it all before you can cook with it. Or you could just buy two so you can cook one, and eat one. Either way grab a pineapple and get out to the grill as soon as possible. Grilled pineapple is freaking amazing, you’ll thank me for these words of wisdom.

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Things to remember when grilling fruit, or any food quite frankly:

It’s imperative you keep the grill clean. Not only is this sanitary, but it also keeps the food from sticking to the grill grates.

It’s so much easier to clean the grill grates when the grill is smoking hot. I tend to clean mine every time I turn it off, then again when I preheat it. A stiff brush works wonders on the grill.

It always helps to oil the grill before use. I bring out a small ramekin of cheap oil and a brush to oil mine each time I use it. Once it’s clean I dip the brush in the oil and carefully brush the oil over the grates before adding the food.

Don’t waste your money using olive oil on the grates, a cheap vegetable or canola oil works fine. Olive oil is great for brushing on the food prior to popping it on the grill. But sort of a waste of good olive oil to put it on the grates.

Fruit can burn easily, it has natural sugars in it so it caramelizes beautifully but it can also go from golden to black very quickly. Keep an eye on it. If it’s something that cooks quickly you can use a lower temperature, or leave the lid up to help keep control over the cooking temperature.

Adding a bit of sugar to the fruit makes it magical. For this recipe I did not bother since it was being turned into salsa, and sauce. You will see lots of fruit recipes on the site over the summer that will use brown sugar on fruit. It really gives the fruit a great taste, and help caramelize it perfectly.

You can also cut pineapple into thick strips, or rounds if you like. I do both often. If we’re eating pineapple as a dessert I typically cut it into thick strips.

I hope you get to try this. If you’re anything like me it’s a good idea to leave the pineapple in huge whole pieces like this. Less chance of gobbling it all up before you can use it in other recipes.

You can pop over to my other site, Cravings of a Lunatic, to see a dessert pineapple recipe I did for a series called Give A Girl a Grill. It’s Grilled Pineapple with Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Vanilla. Absolutely stellar!

Want more grill recipes from Kiss My Smoke, check me out on Pinterest: 

Follow Kiss my Smoke’s board * Kiss My Smoke Recipes * on Pinterest.

Want more Fruity Recipes from Kiss My Smoke, check these out: 

Chicken, Mango and Papaya Kebabs, pictured above

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Peach and Pink Grapefruit Salsa, pictured above

Cherry Smoked Pork Chops with Rainier Cherry Salsa, pictured above

I hope this inspires you to hit the fruit aisle and load up on fruit. Get creative and have fun with it.

Now be confident and get your grill on!

Kim xx