Maraschino Cherries substitute

Best substitute

Glace cherries, also sold as candied cherries

Use the same amount as the maraschino cherries you are replacing

Best for pineapple upside-down cake

Taste and texture differ

Same size, same intense red, same job, but dried rather than packed in liquid, so they are dense and chewy instead of soft and wet. That is an advantage in baking: they hold their shape in a cake batter and do not bleed pink streaks the way drained maraschinos can. They are also sweeter and more purely sugary, with none of the almond note. On top of a scoop of ice cream they look right but eat firm and toffee-like rather than juicy.

Other maraschino cherries substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Luxardo or Amarena cherries in syrup
Close match
Use the same amount
The bar-quality option and genuinely better in a drink.
What changes
These are dark sour cherries preserved in thick syrup, so they are deep burgundy-black rather than red, much less sweet, and taste of real cherry with a wine-like depth. In a Manhattan or an old fashioned they add complexity instead of just sugar. In a pineapple upside-down cake they look wrong, because the point of that cake is the red dot in the middle of each ring, and these read almost black. Their syrup is excellent stirred into drinks.
Best for
Manhattans and old fashioneds, sundaes and desserts, cheeseboards, garnishing anything for adults
Use a little of the syrup too; it carries most of the flavour.
3Brandied cherries, homemade or jarred
Different taste
Use the same amount
Sweet or sour cherries steeped in brandy and sugar syrup.
What changes
They are firm, dark and boozy, with a warm spirit note that maraschinos do not have, and they are the traditional cocktail cherry that maraschinos were originally imitating. To make them, pack pitted cherries in a jar, cover with a syrup of equal sugar and water plus a few tablespoons of brandy, and refrigerate for at least three days. Obviously unsuitable for anything for children, and the alcohol is noticeable in a cake.
Best for
cocktails, ice cream sundaes, adult desserts, Black Forest cake
Keep them in the fridge and use within a couple of months; this is a refrigerator preserve, not a canning recipe.
4Jarred sour cherries or Morello cherries, drained
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount drained and patted dry
The natural, no-dye choice, and the flavour is far better: actually tart and cherry-tasting instead of sweet and almondy.
What changes
The trade-offs are appearance and structure. They are duller red to purple, softer, and wetter, so they must be drained and blotted or they will bleed colour into cake batter and leave a damp hole where they sat. Toss them in a teaspoon of flour before folding into batter. For a garnish they look homemade rather than glossy.
Best for
cakes and muffins, topping cheesecake or pavlova, no-artificial-colour baking, spooning over ice cream
Sitting them in a little sugar syrup for twenty minutes makes them glossier for garnish work.
5Fresh cherries, whole or halved
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by piece
The best-tasting garnish in season and the least suitable for baking.
What changes
A fresh Bing or Rainier cherry on a sundae or perched on a drink looks lovely and tastes like fruit, which no maraschino does. But fresh cherries are firm, only mildly sweet and not syrupy, so they contribute none of the sticky sweetness a maraschino brings, and in a hot cake they collapse and release juice. Leave the stem on for a cocktail garnish and pit them for anything people will eat with a spoon.
Best for
cocktail garnish, sundaes and milkshakes, fruit platters, topping cheesecake
Only worth it in season; out of season, frozen cherries thaw too soft to garnish anything.
6Candied pineapple, a strawberry, or a citrus twist (when it is purely decoration)
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 piece for every cherry
Sometimes the honest answer is that no cherry is available and the cherry was only ever there to be looked at.
What changes
A small piece of candied pineapple sits in a pineapple upside-down cake exactly as a glace cherry does and tastes better with the fruit around it. A small strawberry or a raspberry does the red-dot job on a dessert. In a drink, a wide strip of orange peel expressed over the surface adds aroma a maraschino never would. What you lose in every case is the specific sticky-sweet syrup bite.
Best for
upside-down cake, sundaes, cocktails, plating desserts
Dried cranberries or dried sour cherries also read as small dark red fruit in baked goods.

What is Maraschino Cherries?

Maraschino Cherries is the trade name for pitted sweet cherries brined until their own colour and flavour leach out, then steeped in sugar syrup, flavoured with almond or bitter-cherry notes and usually dyed bright red, so the job they do in a recipe is colour and a sugary chew rather than real fruit flavour, which is why they turn up as a garnish, in fruitcake and on sundaes.

Cooking tips

Anything packed in liquid has to be drained and blotted dry before it goes into batter. Undrained maraschino or jarred cherries bleed pink into a cake crumb and leave a wet hollow around each cherry, which is the single most common problem with cherry cakes.
Toss drained cherries in a teaspoon of the recipe's flour before folding them in. The coating stops them sinking straight to the bottom of a muffin or a loaf.
The syrup in the jar is useful, not waste. It sweetens a cocktail, tints frosting pink, soaks a sponge or goes over ice cream. A tablespoon or two of it is what makes cherry buttercream taste like cherry.
Maraschino cherries taste of almond as much as cherry, because the flavouring used is typically bitter almond. If a substitute tastes like it is missing something, a drop of almond extract closes the gap faster than adding more sugar.
For a pineapple upside-down cake, press the cherries firmly into the butter and brown sugar layer at the bottom of the pan, cut side down if halved. Cherries perched loosely on the sugar float sideways as the batter goes in and end up off-centre.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the maraschino cherries out?

Usually yes, with only cosmetic loss. In a pineapple upside-down cake, a sundae, or a fruit cocktail the cherry is decoration and the dessert works without it. In a cocktail you lose a little sweetness and the visual, both easily replaced with a citrus twist. The places you should not simply omit them are cherry-flavoured bakes such as cherry chip cake or cherry buttercream, where the chopped cherries and their syrup are the actual flavour, in which case use another candied or jarred cherry instead.

Are maraschino cherries and cocktail cherries the same thing?

The terms overlap. Bright red stemmed maraschino cherries are the standard American cocktail cherry. Bartenders often mean something better by cocktail cherry: a dark, less sweet Luxardo or Amarena cherry in thick syrup. All of them substitute for each other one for one; the dark ones taste of real cherry, the red ones taste of sugar and almond. Note that maraschino liqueur is a different product entirely, a clear cherry spirit, and is not a substitute for the fruit.

What is the difference between maraschino cherries and glace cherries?

Maraschino cherries are wet, packed in syrup, soft and glossy. Glace or candied cherries have been saturated with sugar and then dried, so they are dense, chewy and sticky rather than juicy. For baking, glace cherries are the more reliable choice because they hold their shape and do not release liquid. For garnishing anything, maraschinos look shinier and eat softer.

Can I make my own maraschino-style cherries without red dye?

You can make something better rather than something identical. Simmer pitted sweet or sour cherries for five minutes in a syrup of one cup sugar to half a cup water with a tablespoon of lemon juice and a quarter teaspoon of almond extract, cool, and refrigerate for a day or more. They will be dark red rather than neon and will taste of real cherry. Keep them in the fridge and use them within a few weeks, since this is not a tested canning recipe and must not be stored on a shelf.

How many cherries does a pineapple upside-down cake need?

One per pineapple ring, so typically seven to nine for a 9-inch round cake or ten for a 9 by 13 pan, plus a few extra for the gaps between rings. A single small jar is plenty. If you are using glace cherries, halve them and place them cut side down so they sit flat in the caramel.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Maraschino Cherries substitute

Other maraschino cherries substitutes

2Luxardo or Amarena cherries in syrup

3Brandied cherries, homemade or jarred

4Jarred sour cherries or Morello cherries, drained

5Fresh cherries, whole or halved

6Candied pineapple, a strawberry, or a citrus twist (when it is purely decoration)