Roasted Grapes Two Ways

How many times in your life have you had red grapes? Yes, they go great on a cheese plate, or as a quick snack, or even a healthy frozen treat, but have you ever thought about roasting them??

Well, I am here to tell you...do it! It is a wonderful, sweet, yet savory surprise. I am going to share both an appetizer and vegetable side dish that both include roasted red grapes. 

My friend Meg and I started chatting about yummy dishes we could make for our girls weekend. We both had seen this recipe on Pinterest for a baked sweet potato topped with goat cheese and roasted grapes. Meg had not ever had roasted grapes before, but was willing to try! I had roasted grapes several times, but only as a tapenade for appetizers. We both LOVE sweet potatoes and were determined to try the recipe. 

For an appetizer, we roasted red grapes with thyme and topped Cracked Pepper crackers with fresh goat cheese from the Farmer's Market and the grapes. This would also be great on baguettes with brie or other favorite cheese.

As for the baked sweet potato, we were inspired by a recipe from How Sweet It Is - one of my favorite sites to follow. Of course, I tweaked the recipe a bit to my liking.

I encourage you to at least try the roasted red grape appetizer because it is quick, healthy and delicious with cheese and crackers. This will just add to your repertoire of quick and healthy recipes!

Roasted Red Grapes

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes


Red grapes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Dried or fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the grape halves with the olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme. Roast the grapes in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until softened and wrinkly. Set the grapes aside to cool until room temperature for the appetizer. If using for the baked sweet potato, use right away while still warm.

This can easily be made ahead of time for the appetizer (great for dinner parties). 

Here is a link to the Roasted Red Grape and Sweet Potato recipe (here is a preview though...)

The changes I made to the recipe were:

• Halved the grapes instead of leaving them whole
• Add the goat cheese on the top of the potato instead of mixing in
• Half the sweet potatoes once finished baking (a whole sweet potato is a lot for a side dish)
• Add thyme to the grapes while roasting