If you’re looking for a dessert that is both elegant and refreshingly simple, let me introduce you to Red Wine Sous Vide Plums with Homemade Granita. This dish may sound like something you’d find on the menu of a fine-dining restaurant, but in reality, it’s a recipe you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with just 3 ingredients, even if you’re not an experienced cook. The beauty of sous vide cooking lies in its precision and effortlessness: once you prepare the ingredients and set up your water bath, the method does all the hard work for you.
Plums, with their deep colors and natural tartness, pair beautifully with red wine. When cooked sous vide, they become incredibly tender, aromatic, and infused with the rich, fruity notes of the wine and sugar syrup. The result is a dessert that balances sweetness and acidity, freshness and indulgence. And when you pair the plums with a homemade red wine granita, you elevate the dish to an entirely new level. The granita is icy, slightly boozy, and packed with flavor — a refreshing contrast to the soft texture of the fruit.
A 3-Ingredient Dessert You Will Love
This recipe is also incredibly versatile. You can prepare the plums ahead of time, chill them in the fridge, and focus on making the granita whenever you have a few spare minutes. The granita doesn’t require fancy equipment either — just a fork, a shallow dish, and a bit of patience as you scrape the mixture every half hour.
Perfect for dinner parties, autumn evenings, or simply when you want to treat yourself, Red Wine Sous Vide Plums make a statement without requiring complicated techniques or exotic ingredients. In fact, you only need three main ingredients: ripe plums, red wine (even leftovers will work), and sugar. Add some optional spices if you’d like, and that’s it! When served, this dessert not only looks stunning but will also leave your guests wondering if you secretly hired a professional chef.
How to Make Red Wine Sous Vide Plums with Homemade Granita
Follow these simple steps to create tender, wine-infused plums paired with a refreshing homemade granita. This guide will take you from prepping the fruit to serving a stunning dessert that looks and tastes like it came from a professional kitchen.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
- 4 large plums (preferably red or black)
- 200 ml (about ¾ cup) red wine (any good-quality dry red works well)
- 100 g (½ cup) sugar (white or brown)
- Optional: cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom pods, juniper berries
Equipment
- Sous vide cooker (immersion circulator or sous vide pot)
- Glass jars with lids (or vacuum-sealed bags)
NOTE: If you’re curious to dive deeper into the sous vide method and want to learn all the tips and tricks for getting perfect results every time, check out my guide here.
Step-by-Step: Red Wine Sous Vide Plums with Wine Granita
Prepare the water bath
The key to perfect sous vide plums is cooking them in a water bath at a constant temperature for a long time. You can do this in a few ways: either fill a large pot with water and use an immersion circulator (Roner), or use a dedicated sous vide cooker. Adjust the water temperature depending on your container: 75 °C (167 °F) if using vacuum-sealed bags, or 80 °C (176 °F) if cooking in glass jars. This ensures the plums cook evenly and retain their texture.
Make the syrup
While the water heats, in a small saucepan, combine red wine and sugar. Heat gently until the sugar is fully dissolved (1). If you’d like, add optional spices for extra flavor.
Prep the plums
Wash plums, cut them in half, remove the pit, then cut again to make quarters (2).
Place plum quarters in the jars, filling up to two-thirds of the jar. Pour the hot wine syrup over the plums (3). Screw on the lids, but do not tighten too much — stop as soon as you feel resistance.
Cook sous vide
Immerse the jars in the water bath before it reaches 80 °C (176 °F) to avoid thermal shock (4). Cook for 2 hours. If you are using vacuum-sealed bags instead, 30–45 minutes is usually enough.
At the end of cooking, the plums will be beautifully colored and infused with the aroma of the wine. You can serve them in two ways:
- Warm: Serve immediately with a dollop of whipped cream.
- Chilled: Place the plums in the fridge and use the remaining liquid to make a refreshing red wine granita, perfect to serve alongside the plums. Either way, your guests will wonder if you hired a professional chef!
Prepare the red wine granita
If you opt for the chilled version, you’ll need some time to make the granita. Don’t worry — it’s not complicated, and you don’t need an ice cream maker or food processor. Simply separate the plums from their syrup and pour the liquid into a shallow dish no more than 1 cm deep. Let it cool to room temperature, then place it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes, stir and scrape the mixture with a fork, breaking up ice crystals. After about 4 hours, you’ll have a perfectly textured granita ready to serve (5).
Chill and serve
Keep the plums in their jars in the fridge until ready to serve. To plate, place a few plum pieces on a dessert dish and add a couple of spoonfuls of granita alongside. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Storage and Shelf Life
After cooking, your Red Wine Sous Vide Plums can be stored safely to enjoy later. If you used vacuum-sealed bags, the plums should remain submerged in their syrup. If you used glass jars, they will create a partial vacuum as they cool, but they are not fully sterile since we didn’t cook at high temperatures. In both cases, we recommend keeping the plums in the fridge for up to one week once they have cooled to room temperature.
The red wine granita, on the other hand, can be stored in the freezer for up to two months. When you’re ready to serve it, just give it a quick scrape with a fork to refresh its icy texture. This makes it easy to prepare the dessert ahead of time, so you can impress guests or enjoy a sweet treat any day without the last-minute rush.
Tip: For best flavor and texture, always keep the plums submerged in the syrup and ensure the granita is stored in a shallow, covered container to prevent freezer burn.
Red Wine Sous Vide Plums with Homemade Granita
Ingredients
- 200 ml red wine (any good-quality dry red works well)
- 100 g sugar (white or brown)
- 4 large plums (preferably red or black)
- Cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom pods, juniper berries (optional)
Instructions
- The key to perfect sous vide plums is cooking them in a water bath at a constant temperature for a long time. You can do this in a few ways: either fill a large pot with water and use an immersion circulator (Roner), or use a dedicated sous vide cooker. Adjust the water temperature depending on your container: 75 °C (167 °F) if using vacuum-sealed bags, or 80 °C (176 °F) if cooking in glass jars. This ensures the plums cook evenly and retain their texture.
- While the water heats, in a small saucepan, combine red wine and sugar. Heat gently until the sugar is fully dissolved. If you’d like, add optional spices for extra flavor.
- Wash plums, cut them in half, remove the pit, then cut again to make quarters.
- Place plum quarters in the jars, filling up to two-thirds of the jar. Pour the hot wine syrup over the plums. Screw on the lids, but do not tighten too much — stop as soon as you feel resistance.
- Immerse the jars in the water bath before it reaches 80 °C (176 °F) to avoid thermal shock. Cook for 2 hours. If you are using vacuum-sealed bags instead, 30–45 minutes is usually enough.
- At the end of cooking, the plums will be beautifully colored and infused with the aroma of the wine.
- Place the plums in the fridge and use the remaining liquid to make a refreshing red wine granita, perfect to serve alongside the plums. Keep the plums in their jars in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Pour the liquid into a shallow dish no more than 1 cm deep. Let it cool to room temperature, then place it in the freezer.
- Every 30 minutes, stir and scrape the mixture with a fork, breaking up ice crystals. After about 4 hours, you’ll have a perfectly textured granita ready to serve.
- To plate, place a few plum pieces on a dessert dish and add a couple of spoonfuls of granita alongside. Serve immediately and enjoy!
