Brandied Cherries Recipe That Beats Any Store-Bought Jar

The Luxardo family has been bottling maraschino-soaked marasca cherries in northern Italy since 1821, which is why “Luxardo” is the shorthand for the gold-standard cocktail cherry. The version below is the American brandied cousin: pitted sweet cherries in a brandy-and-cherry-juice syrup, sealed in jars, and left to infuse for at least two weeks. They are the cherry at the bottom of an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan, eaten last.

Tools You’ll Want

A cherry pitter speeds the prep from tedious to manageable, especially if you are making more than a single pound. A medium saucepan for the syrup, two pint-sized mason jars for storage, and a small fine-mesh strainer for straining out the spices at the end. Sterilized jars are the only piece of canning hardware this recipe actually needs.

If you plan to gift them, a set of half-pint jars with twine and a small handwritten tag makes the project look more deliberate than it actually is.

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Luxardo vs. Brandied: What’s Actually Different

The two styles get blurred together because both end up in cocktails, but they are different preparations. Luxardo cherries are sour marasca cherries from the Dalmatian coast, soaked whole (pit and stem on, in the original) in maraschino liqueur and sugar. The result is dark, intensely cherry, and a little bitter from the pit. They lean toward dessert-syrup density.

American brandied cherries belong to a different tradition. Sweet Bing or Rainier cherries, pitted, in a brandy-and-cherry-juice syrup, often with a piece of cinnamon stick and a strip of orange peel. The pit-off step keeps them tidier in a glass and easier to eat. The brandy carries the spirit notes; the cherry juice keeps the cherry character front and center.

If you want to dupe Luxardo, you want maraschino liqueur and sour cherries. If you want the cherry that lives at the bottom of an Old Fashioned in a hotel bar, you want this recipe.

A Few Notes on the Ingredients

Fresh sweet cherries, 450 g (1 lb), pitted but stems removed. Bing or Rainier are the easy choice in summer; in the off-season, frozen pitted sweet cherries (thawed and drained) work as a respectable substitute. Sour cherries lean toward the Luxardo style and can be used, but you will want to bump the sugar slightly.

Brandy, 240 ml (1 cup). A decent VS or VSOP cognac is the classic move. Mid-shelf American brandy (E&J VSOP, Korbel) is more economical and works well; the cherries do not need a single-cask bottle. Avoid flavored brandies.

Granulated sugar, 200 g (1 cup). Sugar is doing double work here. It draws moisture out of the cherries to make the syrup, and it is the preservative that keeps the jar shelf-stable in the fridge for months.

Cherry juice, 240 ml (1 cup). Tart cherry juice (R.W. Knudsen or any 100% juice) gives the cleanest color and flavor. Avoid cherry “drinks” with added sugar or HFCS. In a pinch, water plus 30 ml (2 Tbsp) lemon juice works.

Whole spices: 1 cinnamon stick, 2 whole cloves, a 5 cm (2 inch) strip of orange peel (no pith), and 1 vanilla bean split lengthwise (or 1 tsp vanilla extract added off-heat). The spices stay in the jar with the cherries; they continue to infuse over time.

Optional almond extract, 1/4 tsp, added off-heat. Almond pushes the cherries closer to the marzipan-and-marasca register of true Luxardo. Skip it if you want a cleaner brandy profile.

Recipe: Brandied Cherries

Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 10 minutes | Total time: 30 minutes (plus 2 weeks infusing) | Yield: 2 pint jars (about 4 cups)

Ingredients

• 450 g (1 lb) fresh sweet cherries, pitted, stems removed
• 240 ml (1 cup) brandy or cognac
• 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 240 ml (1 cup) tart cherry juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 strip orange peel, 5 cm (2 inches), no pith
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Instructions

1. Sterilize two pint-sized mason jars and their lids. Wash in hot soapy water, then either run them through a dishwasher on a hot cycle, or boil the jars and lids in a large pot of water for 10 minutes. Lift out with tongs and let air-dry on a clean kitchen towel.
2. Pit the cherries and remove any stems. Set the pitted cherries aside in a bowl. A cherry pitter is faster, but a paring knife works if you do not have one; slice around the pit and pop it out.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cherry juice, cinnamon stick, cloves, and orange peel. If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds into the pan and drop the pod in too. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
4. Simmer the syrup for 5 to 7 minutes, until it has thickened slightly and coats the back of a spoon. The syrup should look thick and reduced by about a quarter.
5. Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the brandy, the optional almond extract, and the vanilla extract if you are using that instead of a bean. Adding the brandy off-heat keeps the alcohol content intact and stops the syrup from getting cloudy.
6. Add the pitted cherries to the warm syrup and stir gently to coat. Do not return the pan to the heat. The residual warmth of the syrup is enough to soften the cherries slightly without turning them to mush. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes off-heat.
7. Ladle the cherries into the sterilized jars, then divide the syrup and whole spices evenly between the two jars. The cherries should be fully submerged; if not, top with a small splash of brandy. Wipe the rims clean and seal with the lids.
8. Let the jars cool to room temperature on the counter, then move to the fridge. Wait at least 2 weeks before opening. Four weeks is noticeably better; six weeks is closer to commercial-grade.

Notes

The off-heat addition of the brandy and cherries is the move that keeps the texture right. If you simmer the brandy with the syrup, you burn off the alcohol; if you simmer the cherries, they turn to jam. Take the pan off the heat first, every time.

Sealed and refrigerated, brandied cherries keep up to 6 months. The flavor continues to develop for the first month, then holds steady. Once you start dipping a spoon into the jar regularly, plan to use them within 2 to 3 months.

This recipe is not designed for room-temperature shelf storage. It uses brandy and sugar as preservatives, but the cherries are not heat-processed like a true canned preserve. Keep the jars in the fridge.

Tips and Variations

How to Pick Cherries for This Job

Fresh sweet cherries in early-to-mid summer are the obvious answer. Bing cherries give you a dark red color and a fuller cherry flavor; Rainier cherries are paler and slightly more delicate. Either works.

Off-season, frozen pitted sweet cherries thawed and drained are a respectable workaround. Skip canned cherries in syrup; the texture is too soft and the syrup throws the sugar balance off.

Why You Add the Brandy Off-Heat

If you stir the brandy into a simmering syrup, the alcohol cooks off in the steam. You lose the spirit kick that defines a brandied cherry. Take the pan off the heat first, then stir the brandy in. The hot syrup is plenty warm to integrate the brandy without driving off the alcohol.

The cherries go in immediately after. The warm-but-not-simmering liquid softens them just enough to absorb the syrup over the next two weeks.

Luxardo-Style Version (Sour Cherries, Maraschino Liqueur)

To push closer to a Luxardo profile, swap sweet cherries for sour Morello or Montmorency cherries, swap the brandy for maraschino liqueur (Luxardo Maraschino is the obvious choice), and bump the sugar to 250 g (1 1/4 cup) to balance the tartness. Keep the spices.

You can leave the pit and stem on for an even more traditional result, but be warned: pit-on cherries are a slow eat at the bottom of a cocktail. Pitted is the more practical choice.

Bourbon Cherries for an Old Fashioned

Swap brandy for a mid-shelf bourbon (Buffalo Trace, Maker’s Mark, Four Roses) and keep everything else the same. The result is sweeter and more vanilla-forward, closer to the cherry profile of a bourbon-heavy Old Fashioned or a Boulevardier.

Bourbon cherries are also better than brandy cherries for spooning over vanilla ice cream, since the bourbon plays well with the dairy.

Gift-Jarring for Christmas

Half-pint mason jars hold roughly one cup of cherries plus syrup, which is the right size for a gift. Decant from the larger pint jars about a week before giving (the cherries need at least two weeks of infusion total, so factor that into your start date).

Tie with twine, add a small handwritten tag with the date and “keep refrigerated; use within 3 months.” A jar of brandied cherries reads as a more thoughtful gift than the time it took to make them.

What to Use Them For

The home for a brandied cherry is the bottom of an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan, with a splash of the syrup standing in for simple. They also work in a French 75 or a Cosmopolitan as a garnish, or spooned with a little syrup over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Folded into a brown-butter cake batter or stirred through a panna cotta. Spooned over crème bavarois. Set out next to a wedge of blue cheese on a holiday board. Browse our Christmas dessert ideas for more places they earn their keep.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do brandied cherries last?

Sealed and refrigerated, up to 6 months. Once you start opening the jar regularly, plan to use them within 2 to 3 months. The brandy and sugar are the preservatives, and the jar needs to stay cold.

What’s the difference between Luxardo and brandied cherries?

Luxardo cherries are sour marasca cherries soaked in maraschino liqueur, often with pit and stem on. American brandied cherries are sweet cherries (pitted) in a brandy and cherry-juice syrup. Both end up in cocktails, but the flavor profiles are noticeably different.

Can I use any brandy for brandied cherries?

Stick to unflavored brandy or cognac. A mid-shelf VS or VSOP works well; you do not need a top-shelf bottle. Avoid flavored brandies (peach, apricot) which throw the balance off, and skip the bottom-shelf “fruit brandy” labels, which are often closer to liqueur.

Do you need to pit cherries for brandied cherries?

Not technically, but yes for this recipe. Pit-on cherries are slower to eat and harder to fish out of a cocktail. The pit can also impart a slight almond bitterness over months of infusion, which some people like and others do not. Pitted is the more practical choice.

How long do brandied cherries need to sit before eating?

A minimum of 2 weeks for the flavors to come together. Four weeks is noticeably better, and six weeks is close to the commercial gold-standard infusion. Patience is the only ingredient this recipe really demands.

What cocktails use brandied cherries?

The Old Fashioned and the Manhattan are the classic homes. They also work in a Boulevardier, a Sazerac, a Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned, and as a garnish in a Whiskey Sour. The syrup is bonus simple-syrup with a cherry-and-spice backbone.

Final Thoughts

Brandied cherries are a small project with a long tail. Thirty minutes of stove work in summer when cherries are at their best earns you a jar of garnishes that improves through the fall and lands at peak quality by Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Once you have a jar in the fridge, the cocktail repertoire expands quietly: Old Fashioneds with a real cherry, Manhattans with a real cherry, ice-cream sundaes with a real cherry. The syrup gets used too, in spritzes and over yogurt and as a sweetener for whipped cream.

Half-pint jars make a credible homemade gift at the holidays. Plan the timing so the cherries have had at least three weeks in the fridge by the time you hand them off.

Last update on 2026-08-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API