Amarena Cherries substitute

Best substitute

Jarred sour or morello cherries in syrup

Use the same amount including a spoonful or two of their syrup as the amarena cherries you are replacing

Best for gelato and ice cream

Close match

The best substitute is jarred sour or morello cherries in syrup, used 1:1 with some of their syrup. If you have frozen sour cherries, simmer 200 g pitted cherries with 100 g sugar and a tablespoon of lemon juice for 10 to 15 minutes until glossy, and you have made something very close. Luxardo cocktail cherries work 1:1 and are excellent in drinks, just sweeter and more almond-scented. The thing to understand is that amarena are sour cherries, so their job is to cut richness with sharp fruit acidity while adding sweetness, deep colour and a soft chewy bite; bright red cocktail maraschino cherries are sweet and one-note and will not do that job unless you add lemon juice.

Other amarena cherries substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Frozen or jarred sour cherries cooked into a syrup
Different texture
200 g pitted sour cherries, 100 g sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice, used 1:1 for the amarena
The best homemade version and genuinely close.
What changes
Simmer everything together for 10 to 15 minutes until the fruit is glossy and the syrup coats a spoon, then cool. The cherries end up softer and a little more collapsed than the firm-bodied commercial ones, and the colour is bright rather than near-black, but the sweet-sour balance is exactly right.
Best for
gelato and ice cream, semifreddo, cake fillings and layers, spooning over ricotta or mascarpone, cocktails
Frozen sour cherries are much easier to find than fresh, and they work better here because they release liquid as they thaw. Add a strip of lemon peel to the pan for a more perfumed syrup.
3Luxardo or other dark cocktail maraschino cherries
Close match
Use the same amount
The proper cocktail cherry, dark, dense and packed in thick syrup, and a very good swap.
What changes
It is noticeably sweeter than amarena and carries a distinct almond and marasca perfume from the way it is made, so a cocktail is superb while a scoop of gelato tastes slightly more perfumed and less sharply fruity. It is also expensive.
Best for
cocktails and old fashioneds, gelato garnish, cakes and desserts, cheese boards
Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the syrup if the dish needs the tartness that amarena provides. These are firmer than amarena, which is an advantage on a garnish and a disadvantage in a filling.
4Cherry preserves or jam thinned with lemon juice
Different texture
For every 100 g amarena, use 80 g cherry jam, 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon water
Gets you the flavour, the sweetness and the dark colour with none of the whole fruit, so there is nothing to bite into.
What changes
That makes it good for swirling and layering and useless as a garnish. Jam is usually made from sweet cherries, so the lemon juice is not optional if you want the tart edge that makes the original work.
Best for
swirling into semifreddo or ice cream, cake fillings, sauce for panna cotta, cheesecake ripple
Sour cherry jam, if you can find it, is much closer than sweet cherry jam. Warm it gently with the lemon and water so it loosens into a pourable sauce.
5Dried sour cherries, rehydrated
Different texture
100 g dried cherries simmered with 100 ml water and 40 g sugar for 10 minutes, then rested 30 minutes; use 1:1
Dried sour cherries carry real tartness, which is why this works better than dried sweet cherries.
What changes
Rehydrated they are chewier and more raisin-like than the plump juiciness of amarena, the colour is duller, and the flavour is more concentrated and slightly leathery. Fine chopped into a batter, less convincing as a garnish.
Best for
cake and cookie batters, chopped into tiramisu or trifle layers, granola and baking, stuffings for baked fruit
Let them sit in the warm syrup off the heat so they soak up liquid rather than boiling to mush. A splash of kirsch or brandy in the syrup improves them considerably.
6Bright red cocktail maraschino cherries
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice per 100 g
The supermarket last resort.
What changes
These are usually brined, bleached and dyed, then sweetened and flavoured, so they taste of sugar and almond candy with no cherry sourness at all, and the texture is bouncy and slightly rubbery rather than tender. The lemon juice fakes some of the missing tartness. Expect a bright red garnish that reads as retro rather than Italian.
Best for
a garnish when nothing else is available, children's desserts, sundaes
Rinse off the packing syrup first, which is the harshest-tasting part. Do not use these where the sourness is doing structural work in the dessert, such as cutting a very rich cream.

What is Amarena Cherries?

Amarena Cherries is Amarena cherries, amarene sciroppate, are small dark Italian sour cherries preserved whole in a thick sugar syrup, best known from the blue-and-white Fabbri jar and used as a dessert garnish and cocktail cherry.

Cooking tips

Use the syrup, because it is half of what you paid for. Spoon it around the plate under a scoop of gelato, brush it onto cake layers, or add a teaspoon to a cocktail; throwing it away and using only the fruit wastes most of the flavour.
Drain the cherries on kitchen paper for 10 minutes before folding them into a batter or a cream. Straight from the jar they bleed pink streaks through mascarpone or sponge, which looks accidental rather than deliberate.
Two or three cherries per serving is the right amount as a garnish, and a jar goes a very long way. They are rich and intense, and a pile of them overwhelms whatever they are sitting on.
Chop them for anything they are folded into and leave them whole for anything they sit on top of. Whole cherries in a slice of cake give one enormous sweet bite; chopped, they distribute properly.
Once opened, keep the jar in the fridge and they will last for many months, because the heavy syrup preserves them. Make sure the fruit stays submerged, since any cherry above the syrup line will dry out and darken.

Frequently asked questions

Are amarena cherries the same as maraschino cherries?

Not the ones in the bright red jar. Amarena are Italian sour cherries preserved whole in dark sugar syrup, tart and deeply fruity. The neon red cocktail cherries most people call maraschino are typically bleached, dyed and heavily sweetened, with no sourness left. Confusingly, proper maraschino cherries such as Luxardo, made with marasca cherries and their liqueur, are dark, tart-ish and genuinely close to amarena, and those do work as a substitute.

Can I use fresh cherries instead of amarena cherries?

Only if you cook them into a syrup first, and ideally only if they are sour cherries. Fresh sweet cherries are much less tart and have no syrup, so they will not cut the richness of a cream or ice cream in the same way. Simmer 200 g pitted cherries with 100 g sugar and a tablespoon of lemon juice for 10 to 15 minutes, and you will have something close. Raw cherries scattered on a dessert are a different thing entirely.

Do I need the syrup, or can I use just the fruit?

For garnishing, the syrup is a big part of the effect, both visually and because it carries a concentrated sweet-sour hit. For folding into a batter or a filling, drain the fruit and use the syrup elsewhere, because the extra liquid can loosen a mixture or make a sponge soggy. Never simply discard it.

Can I just leave amarena cherries out?

If they are a garnish, yes, though the dessert loses its focal point and some acidity, so a squeeze of lemon or a spoonful of any tart fruit compote helps rebalance it. If the recipe is built around them, such as a cherry ripple gelato or a cassata, then they are the dish and you should substitute rather than omit. Cooking down sour cherries with sugar takes 15 minutes and is far better than leaving a rich dessert with nothing to cut it.

Do amarena cherries need refrigerating after opening?

Yes, refrigerate the jar once opened, and they will keep for many months because the thick syrup acts as a preservative. Keep the fruit under the syrup and use a clean spoon each time. If the syrup ever smells fermented or the surface looks fizzy, throw it out rather than trying to rescue it.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Amarena Cherries substitute

Other amarena cherries substitutes

2Frozen or jarred sour cherries cooked into a syrup

3Luxardo or other dark cocktail maraschino cherries

4Cherry preserves or jam thinned with lemon juice

5Dried sour cherries, rehydrated

6Bright red cocktail maraschino cherries