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Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears)
Hard Gieser Wildeman cooking pears stewed for hours with red wine, sugar and cinnamon until they turn deep ruby red, the sweet side for game, stews and winter stamppot.
Dutch · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 180 min
~262 cal · 0g protein · 53g carbs · 0g fat · 8g fiber · 38g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Stoofpeertjes are a Dutch autumn and winter classic, and they are made with a special kind of pear. The Gieser Wildeman, a small, hard, russet cooking pear grown in the Netherlands since the nineteenth century, is almost inedible raw, but stewed slowly for two or three hours it becomes soft, sweet and a deep, glowing red all the way through.
The classic pan holds peeled pears, stalks left on, with red wine or port, water, sugar and a cinnamon stick, sometimes with cloves, star anise or a strip of lemon peel. The red comes partly from the wine and partly from the fruit itself; cooks who leave out the wine use red berry juice instead.
In the Netherlands they are served as a side dish rather than a dessert: warm next to game, a beef stew such as hachee, roast pork or a plate of stamppot in winter, and on the Christmas table. Leftovers are just as good cold, and some families do eat them for dessert with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 1.5 kg (about 12 small) Gieser Wildeman stewing pearsHard to find? 1.5 kg small, very firm, underripe Conference or Bosc pears - they cook in about 45 minutes and colour less deeply, so the red comes mostly from the wine
- 500 ml red wine
- 250 ml water
- 75 g sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 3 cloves, optional
- 1 strip of lemon peel, optional
Instructions
- 1Peel the pears thinly with a vegetable peeler, leaving them whole with their stalks on. Stand them close together in a heavy pan.
- 2Add the wine, water, sugar, cinnamon and the cloves and lemon peel if using. The pears should be just about covered; top up with water if needed.
- 3Bring to the boil, cover and simmer very gently for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, turning the pears once or twice, until they are soft right through and deep red.✎ Chef’s noteReal stewing pears need the long cooking time to turn red; do not rush them.
- 4Lift out the pears, then boil the liquid uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes until syrupy. Return the pears to the syrup.
- 5Serve warm beside game, beef stew, roast pork or stamppot, or cold. They keep for several days in the fridge in their syrup.
Dutch tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Gelderland. The provincial item is the sausage, not the mash. Gelderse rookworst is smoked over the oak and beech the province had in quantity, with the method written down in a Dutch cookbook of 1756 named for the Gelderland kitchen maid, and the national contest for the best one is held in Arnhem.
🗺️
Netherlands. Dutch food is hearty and unpretentious, stamppot mash, split-pea snert, herring eaten by hand, and an epic love of cheese. A colonial past brings Indonesian rijsttafel and sweet treats like stroopwafels and hagelslag.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Netherlands
Stamppot BoerenkoolKale mashed straight into potatoes with a well of gravy and smoked sausage, the Netherlands’ winter engine.
WentelteefjesStale bread turned in cinnamon-sugar custard and fried in butter until golden, the classic Dutch way to use up an old loaf.
UitsmijterFried eggs over ham and cheese on buttered bread, the Dutch open-faced lunch plate served any time of day.
Browse all Netherlands recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Netherlands meal
Advocaat (Dutch Egg Liqueur)Drink
PoffertjesDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears)?
Hard Gieser Wildeman cooking pears stewed for hours with red wine, sugar and cinnamon until they turn deep ruby red, the sweet side for game, stews and winter stamppot.
Where does Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears) come from?
Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears) is a Dutch dish from Gelderland, Netherlands.
Can Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Stoofpeertjes (Dutch Red Wine Stewed Pears) take to make?
About 200 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 180 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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