Canned Fruit Recipes

Canned pineapples and chicken make the most divine Hawaiian chicken, canned cherry pie filling makes the most deliciously easy cherry cobbler recipe, and fruit cocktail is the secret ingredient to Dolly Parton’s cuppa cuppa cake.

What all these recipes have in common is that they start with a humble background: canned fruit.

From fruit cocktail to Pie Filling

Easy Recipes with Canned Fruit

Nearly all of us have cans in our pantry that collect dust. But with today’s grocery prices hitting an all-time high, using up what we have is so much more appealing than going out to buy something new. We have gathered all of our favorite canned fruit recipes so you can find the perfect breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert in an unlikely place– a can.

Canned Cherry Pie Filling Recipes

Without a doubt, canned cherry is the sweetest of them all. The beautiful cherry wrapped in its sweet thick red sauce, makes up our reader favorite cherry cobbler recipe.

However, pie filling is not just for pies – its a fantastic topping for sweet dips, vanilla ice cream and tastes divine right out of the can.

What is the difference between canned fruit and canned pie filling?

There are many differences between canned fruit and canned pie filling. Canned fruit is usually just the fruit packed in its juices, syrups, or water. It can be sweetened or unsweetened.

Canned pie filling, however, almost always has sweeteners, is often flavored (like pumpkin and apples), and the fruit is usually cooked through. Canned pie filling is generally used in dump cakes and cobbler recipes.

Canned Mandarin Oranges Recipes

While maybe not as popular as apple or pineapple, mandarin oranges have their place in the canned fruit gallery. Often seen in pasta and fruit salad recipes, mandarin oranges are a sweet peeled orange (close to a clementine) that brings not only flavor but lots of bold color to a dish.

Here are our top ways to use canned mandarin oranges.

Ginger Honey Fall Fruit Salad

marshmallow fluff salad with colored marshmallows.

Fruit Salad Fluff with Cool Whip

Asian Pasta Salad

Hawaiian Cheesecake Salad

Canned Apple Pie Recipes

Apples in general can be very finicky when fresh. Once cut, they have to be use almost instantly in order to not oxidize.

Canned apple pie filling makes quick work of apple recipes and comes in a variety of pre-made seasonings like cinnamon and nutmeg.

Canned apples work great for apple dump cake, fluff salads, cobblers, and as sweet breakfast casserole toppings.

white plate with apple pie filling and ice cream.

Slow Cooker Apple Pie Filling

Apple Pie Fluff Salad

apple pie breakfast bake in a white casserole dish.

Apple Breakfast Bake

Apple Dump Cake (Crockpot)

Canned Pumpkin Recipe

Before you ask, yes, pumpkin is a fruit. Canned pumpkin comes in its natural form and pre-spiced form listed as canned pumpkin pie on the label.

Without canned pumpkin there would be a lot less pumpkin pie recipes out there as most people do not have the patience to cut and cook a real pumpkin before getting started. I, for one, am grateful for pureed pumpkin year round!

Here are our top recipes that use canned pumpkin.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Casserole

GET RECIPE Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Casserole

Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake

GET RECIPE Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake

Pumpkin Fluff Recipe with Cool Whip

GET RECIPE Pumpkin Fluff Recipe with Cool Whip

FEATURED CANNED FRUIT RECIPE

Canned Peaches * Slow Cooker

Canned Peach Cobbler

Incredibly nostalgic, peach cobbler is an old fashioned dessert that deserves a new light in 2024 recipes. Very simple to make with canned peaches, this dump and go dish pairs deliciously with vanilla ice cream.

Peach Cobbler Dump Cake

Is canned fruit healthy?

As with all foods, especially in the American food system, canned fruit can be a part of a balanced diet.

There are many things to consider when purchasing canned food, including salt and sugar intake, preservatives, and fake dyes.

That said, canned fruit in its own juice over sugary syrups has been a lot more prevalent with shopping and works well with recipes.

Another benefit is that canned fruit allows you to use out-of-season fruits.

When working with canned fruit regarding recipes, it is typically dumped into desserts, so nutrition is not usually the entire goal.

Canned Pineapple Recipes

Canned pineapple comes in crushed, tidbits, chunks, or rings. This is one fruit that goes from dessert to dinner quite easily.

Used in old fashioned recipes as well as savory dinners, canned pineapple is one fruit you should keep stocked up.

This easy 3 ingredient pineapple chicken just takes crushed pineapple, barbecue sauce, and chicken breast to a perfectly easy slow cooked result. Serve with pineapple rice for a truly delicious meal made easy with canned fruit!

Pineapple Chicken

Canned pineapple is a pantry staple!

Canned pineapple can be found in recipes from dinner to desserts.

Pineapple Casserole

Watergate Salad

Ambrosia Salad Recipe with Cool Whip

Who doesn’t love throwing a mere three ingredients in a slow cooker and having the result be so tasty.”
Elaine – reader on Hawaiian Chicken

Canned Blueberry Pie Filling Recipes

Berries are very common in canned pie fillings.

With blueberry, blackberry, and mixed berries available, these canned blueberry pie filling recipes can easily be adapted in a variety of flavors.

Blueberry Jello Salad

GET RECIPE Blueberry Jello Salad

Blueberry Lemon Fluff Salad Recipe

GET RECIPE Blueberry Lemon Fluff Salad Recipe

blueberry dump cake is a top ranked dump cake.

Blueberry Dump Cake Recipe

GET RECIPE Blueberry Dump Cake Recipe

What fruits come in a can?

While you cannot find everything in a can (hello, no canned bananas), there are many fruit options in cans, jars, and individual cups for serving.

The most common canned fruits are peaches, pears, tropical fruit salad, mandarin oranges, cherries, and grapefruit, but you can find a huge variety at most stores.

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