Grilled Pineapple With Honey Lime Glaze

Grilled pineapple is one of those things that sounds straightforward but tastes better than you expect every time — the heat caramelizes the natural sugars and the char adds a smoky edge that raw pineapple doesn’t have.

This version uses a simple honey-lime glaze that goes on before and after grilling, keeping the pineapple moist while giving it something to brown against. It works as a side dish, a topping for grilled chicken or fish, or a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside.

Ingredients

Serves: 4–6

For the grilled pineapple:

• 1 large ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into rings or spears
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of cayenne (optional, for heat)
• Pinch of salt

Why You Must Try This Grilled Pineapple Recipe

Most people eat pineapple raw and never think to put it on a grill. That’s a missed opportunity. When pineapple hits direct high heat, the sugars in the fruit caramelize against the grate and the flesh softens and concentrates in flavor.

The honey-lime glaze accelerates that caramelization and adds a tartness that keeps the sweetness in check. The result is something that tastes distinct from raw pineapple — warmer, deeper, slightly smoky — and works in savory and sweet contexts equally well. It takes about ten minutes on the grill and costs almost nothing to make.

Pick and Cut the Pineapple

Start with a ripe pineapple — not underripe. An underripe pineapple is starchy and less sweet, and grilling doesn’t fix that. A ripe one smells sweet at the base, gives slightly when pressed, and has a golden-yellow skin rather than mostly green.

Peel it, remove the core, and cut it into rings about 3/4 of an inch thick or into long spears. Rings are easier to flip on the grill and look better for plating. Spears are better if you’re serving this as a side dish where people will pick them up and eat them with their hands.

Both cut sizes work with the same glaze and grill time.

Make the Glaze

Whisk the honey, melted butter, lime juice, lime zest, cinnamon, ground ginger, cayenne if using, and salt together in a small bowl. The butter helps the glaze stick to the pineapple and prevents it from sliding off into the grill.

The cinnamon and ginger add warmth without making the pineapple taste like a baked good — they stay in the background and let the fruit do most of the work. The cayenne is optional but worth trying — a small pinch adds a heat that you don’t immediately identify as spicy but that lingers pleasantly after each bite.

Taste the glaze before using it and adjust the lime or honey if needed.

Get the Grill Ready

Preheat your grill to medium-high — around 400 to 425°F. Clean the grates and oil them lightly before adding the pineapple. Pineapple has enough natural sugar that it will stick to dirty grates and tear when you try to flip it.

A grill brush and a paper towel dipped in oil rubbed over the grates is all you need. If you’re using a charcoal grill, wait until the coals have a white ash coating before you start — that’s the point of even, stable heat. A cast iron grill pan on the stovetop over high heat also works if you don’t have an outdoor grill.

Glaze and Grill

Brush one side of each pineapple piece generously with the glaze and place it glaze-side down on the hot grill. Brush the top side while the bottom is cooking. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes without moving — you want the glaze to set and the grill marks to develop before you attempt to flip. Slide a spatula or tongs under each piece and turn once.

Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes on the second side. The pineapple is done when it has deep caramel-colored grill marks on both sides and looks slightly glossy from the caramelized glaze. Brush with one final layer of glaze as soon as it comes off the grill.

Plate and Serve

Serve immediately while still warm. For a dessert plate, arrange two or three rings on a plate, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, scatter a few fresh mint leaves, and finish with a pinch of flaky salt. The salt amplifies the sweetness in the same way it does with salted caramel.

For a savory serve, use the spears alongside grilled chicken, pork chops, or fish tacos. Toasted coconut flakes sprinkled on top add crunch and work in both sweet and savory contexts. A drizzle of extra honey over the plated pineapple is an easy finish that adds shine and a little more sweetness.

How To Make This Grilled Pineapple Recipe Better

Small changes to this recipe shift the direction entirely:

Use brown sugar instead of honey. Toss the pineapple slices in brown sugar before grilling rather than using a liquid glaze. The sugar crystals create a harder caramel crust when they hit the grill — less glossy than honey but with more texture.

Add chili and tajin. Skip the cinnamon and ginger and brush the pineapple with a mix of honey, lime juice, and a teaspoon of tajin seasoning. This is the Mexican street fruit approach and it’s excellent — the tajin brings a salty, chili-lime flavor that goes especially well with the char.

Make a rum glaze. Replace the lime juice with two tablespoons of dark rum and reduce the honey slightly. The rum burns off during grilling but leaves a molasses-like flavor that works well for a dessert version of this dish.

Serve with a coconut cream drizzle. Whisk a tablespoon of honey into cold coconut cream and drizzle it over the grilled pineapple instead of plain honey. It makes the dessert version more complete without any extra cooking.

Grill the pineapple as skewers. Cut the flesh into cubes, thread onto metal skewers with chunks of red onion and bell pepper, brush with the glaze, and grill as you would the rings. It turns this into a side dish that fits naturally on a cookout spread.

Storage

Grilled pineapple is best eaten immediately. The grill marks and caramelized surface soften as it sits, and reheating doesn’t restore the texture. If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Cold leftover grilled pineapple is good chopped into a fruit salad, blended into a smoothie, or diced and stirred into Greek yogurt.

It also works well as a pizza topping or mixed into fried rice — the smoky-sweet flavor adds something that fresh pineapple doesn’t. Don’t freeze it; the flesh becomes watery and loses the caramelized quality entirely.

Can You Grill Canned Pineapple?

Yes, and it works reasonably well. Canned pineapple rings in juice are the best option — drain them fully and pat them dry with a paper towel before glazing and grilling. The drying step is important because canned pineapple holds more moisture than fresh, and surface moisture prevents proper caramelization on the grill.

The grill marks and caramelization still happen, but the flavor of the finished pineapple is milder than fresh since canned pineapple has less concentrated sweetness. Canned pineapple in syrup is too sweet and the syrup burns too quickly on the grill — stick to juice-packed if fresh isn’t available.

What Savory Dishes Go Well With Grilled Pineapple?

Grilled pineapple pairs naturally with anything that benefits from a sweet-acidic contrast. Grilled chicken thighs or pork chops are the most obvious pairing — the pineapple cuts through the fat and adds brightness. Fish tacos with grilled pineapple instead of a tomato salsa is a combination that works particularly well since pineapple and fish share a natural affinity.

Pulled pork sandwiches with a slice of grilled pineapple on top is a popular combination, especially at cookouts. It also works alongside grilled shrimp, as a burger topping, or as part of a grain bowl with rice, black beans, and cilantro. The key is pairing it with something that has enough savory depth to hold up against the sweetness of the fruit.

Grilled pineapple is one of the simplest things you can put on a grill and one of the most consistently crowd-pleasing. Ten minutes, a handful of pantry ingredients, and a hot grate — that’s all it takes. Make it once this season and you’ll find a reason to make it again every time you fire up the grill.