What Is Grape juice and How Can I Use It?

Wondering what to do with grape juice? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 31 recipes to put it to work.

What is grape juice?

Grape juice is the pressed juice of grapes, sold sweet and ready to drink. Most bottles are pasteurized so they will not ferment, which is what keeps grape juice a juice rather than turning into wine.

The two you see most are deep purple Concord and pale green-gold white grape juice. Concord is the bold one, with that jammy "grape" flavor most people picture, while white grape juice is milder and far less likely to stain.

That color difference matters in the kitchen. Concord brings strong flavor and a purple tint, while white grape juice adds sweetness and body without coloring a pale dish.

Ways to Use It

Beyond the glass, grape juice is a quiet baking and dessert workhorse. It firms up Glorious Grape Gelatin, soaks the fruit in fruitcakes, and stirs into batters like Grape Snack Muffins and Grape Applesauce Cake for flavor and moisture.

Concord juice is the base for homemade jelly. Cooked with sugar and pectin, it sets into the classic spread, the way Refrigerator Grape Jelly and Microwave Grape Jelly do without a long water-bath canning session.

Reduced down, grape juice becomes a glaze or a sweet-tart sauce for pork or duck. White grape juice also makes a gentle poaching liquid for pears and other fruit, as in Juice Poached Pears, where it perfumes the fruit without staining it.

It freezes well into sorbet and granita, too. Because it is already sweet, you need little or no added sugar.

Just add a squeeze of lemon so the flavor does not go flat.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Grape pairs naturally with lemon, apple, cinnamon, ginger, and warm spices, and white grape juice plays especially well with peach and pear. In savory cooking it leans on vinegar and rosemary to keep its sweetness in check.

The most common mistake is grabbing sweetened grape drink or cocktail instead of 100 percent juice. The sugary blends throw off the balance in jelly and sauces and can keep a jelly from setting, so check the label for real juice.

Another slip is reducing it too hard for a glaze. Grape juice is high in natural sugar, so it goes from syrupy to scorched fast over high heat. Keep the heat moderate and pull it when it coats a spoon.

For pale dishes, reach for white grape juice on purpose. Concord will turn a poaching syrup or a light sauce an unmistakable purple, which is great in jelly and wrong on a poached pear.

Substitutes

White grape juice is one of the best non-alcoholic stand-ins for white wine in cooking. Use it splash for splash, then add a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice per cup to bring back the acidity wine would have given.

For Concord, unsweetened cranberry or pomegranate juice gives you a similar deep color and tart-sweet punch, though both run more sour, so taste and adjust the sugar.

In a glaze or sauce, apple juice works when you only need sweetness and body, not grape flavor.

It is milder and paler than Concord.

Buying and Storing

Buy bottles labeled 100 percent juice with no added sugar for the most control in cooking. Concord covers bold flavor and jelly; white grape juice covers everything pale and stands in for wine.

Unopened, shelf-stable bottles keep for many months in the pantry, well past their date if stored cool and dark. Refrigerated cartons follow their printed date.

Once opened, grape juice belongs in the fridge with the cap tight, best used within seven to ten days. After that wild yeast slowly takes over and it begins to ferment, turning fizzy and sour.

Freeze extra in an ice cube tray if you only use a little at a time.

Grape juice appears in more than 30 recipes here, from gelatin and muffins to jelly and poached fruit, which shows how easily it crosses from drink to dessert to sauce.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find grape juice: Grape juice is usually found in the beverages section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Grape juice is a member of the Fruits and Fruit Juices US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

葡萄汁

British (UK) term

Grape juice

en français

jus de raisin

en español

jugo de uva

How much does grape juice weigh?

Related

Fruits and Fruit Juices

Recipes using grape juice

There are 31 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Juice Poached Pears

Juice poached pears bathe firm fresh pears in spiced grape juice with cinnamon and allspice, then drizzle with the reduced syrup. An elegant low-calorie fruit dessert.

Refrigerator Grape Jelly

Sugar-free refrigerator grape jelly made with unsweetened grape juice, unflavored gelatin, and lemon juice. No pectin, no canning, no special equipment. Ready in 35 minutes, keeps for 2 weeks.

Grape Snack Muffins

Whole-wheat grape juice muffins with blue cornmeal, yogurt, and a pinch of nutmeg. Naturally sweetened with concord grape juice, no refined sugar. A wholesome lunchbox snack.

Christmas Memory Fruitcake

Christmas memory fruitcake steams then bakes a bourbon-soaked, dense old-fashioned fruitcake loaded with Brazil nuts, raisins, candied fruit, figs, and warming spices. Heirloom holiday recipe.

Glorious Grape Gelatin

Only 4 ingredients! Grape juice studded with banana slices makes this all-natural dessert delightfully glorious!

Cato's Grape Bread

Cato's grape bread recreates an ancient Roman recipe with feta, cumin, anise, and grape juice baked over fragrant bay leaves. A 2,000-year-old loaf with rustic Mediterranean character.

Purple Pudding

Purple pudding made with blue cornmeal and grape juice, blended smooth with yogurt. A naturally colorful no-bake dessert with a creamy, tangy finish and striking violet hue.

Halloween Witch's Brew

Halloween witch's brew, a kid-friendly non-alcoholic Halloween punch made with grape juice and soda water, garnished with halved grapes that look like floating eyeballs. Ready in 10 minutes.

Turkey Scallopine

Turkey scallopine pounded paper-thin, seared in butter and oil, then finished with a grape juice or vermouth pan sauce and double cream. A 20-minute weeknight answer to schnitzel.

Cato's Grape Bread (Mustaceus)

An ancient Roman bread recipe from Cato the Elder: grape juice, feta, lard, cumin, and anise baked on bay leaves. A fascinating taste of history you can bake at home.

Rosy Grape Jelly

Rosy grape jelly: easy freezer jelly made with cranberry and grape juice, pectin, and sugar. Bright ruby color and bold fruit flavor without cooking down fresh fruit.

Grape & Walnut Candy Rolls

Soutzoukos, traditional Greek and Cypriot grape-walnut candy rolls made by dipping strung walnuts into thickened grape must, then drying for days. An ancient, chewy, fruit-leather classic.

Berkshire Fruit Cake

Berkshire fruit cake packed with raisins, currants, and citron in a spiced molasses batter with cinnamon, cloves, and mace. Baked low and slow for 4.5 hours.

Fruit Cake with O Nuts

Old-fashioned nut-free fruitcake with candied cherries, pineapple, grape jelly, and warm spices. Baked low and slow in three pans. Safe for nut allergies.

Port Wine Jelly

Port wine jelly made with port, fresh grape juice, sugar, and liquid pectin. A jewel-toned preserve that pairs with cheese boards, roasted meats, and holiday gift giving.

Walnut Spread

Ancient Roman walnut spread made with ground walnuts, liquamen (fish sauce), grape juice, olive oil, and cumin. A historical appetizer shaped like a fish and served with bread or crackers.

Orange or Grape Blocks

Orange or grape juice blocks set unsweetened fruit juice with unflavored gelatin into firm, sliceable squares. A sugar-free, diabetic-friendly homemade alternative to gummy candy.

Grape Nut Roll (Soutzouki)

Soutzouki, the traditional Greek grape-and-walnut candy. A chewy grape-juice gel thickened with pectin, studded with whole walnuts and rolled into a log to slice. Naturally fruit-sweet, no candy thermometer needed.

Grilled Sesame Chicken Breasts

Grilled sesame chicken breasts marinate in soy sauce, white grape juice, sesame seeds and ginger, then grill over medium-hot coals. A sweet-savory Asian-inspired summer dinner.

Baked Apples with a Twist

Baked apples stuffed with oats and brown sugar, dusted in cinnamon, and baked in a splash of grape juice until tender and bubbling. A cozy fall dessert with no butter and a warm, spiced finish.

Welch’s Concord Grape Cider

Juice from Concord grapes is packed with potent polyphenyls and research shows that the consumption of Concord grape juice can help promote a healthy heart and may help prevent heart disease and other chronic diseases by improving the body’s ability to deal with oxidative stress.

Old Fashioned Fruit Cake #4

Old fashioned fruit cake with blackberry jam, fig preserves, watermelon rind preserves, candied cherries, pecans, and cocoa. Baked low and slow in a cast iron skillet.

Not Yo' Mamma's Red Beans

Louisiana-style red beans and rice with a bold spice mix and an unexpected addition of grape juice for sweetness. No meat, all flavor, cooked from dried beans.

Sweet Fruit Soup

A chilled Scandinavian-style fruit soup simmered with prunes, raisins, apples, cherries, and citrus, thickened with tapioca and finished with grape juice. Serve cold as a refreshing starter or light dessert.

Citrus Marinated Fruit

Fresh cantaloupe, blueberries, grapes, and strawberries soaked in an orange juice and white wine marinade. Fat-free, naturally sweet, and gorgeous on any brunch or potluck spread.

Liquamen

Liquamen, an ancient Roman fish sauce made from anchovies, oregano, salt, and grape juice. A quick stovetop recreation of the fermented condiment that flavored nearly every dish in ancient Rome.

Microwave Grape Jelly

Microwave grape jelly made in 30 minutes with four ingredients. No canning kettle needed, just grape juice, sugar, pectin, and a quick lemon juice brightener.

Pheasant with Grapes & White Wine Sauce

Oven-braised pheasant in a white wine and stock sauce with peeled grapes stirred in at the end. A classic European game bird dish with an elegant, fruity finish.

Wild Grape Dumplings

Tender buttermilk dumplings steamed in bubbling wild grape juice with whole grapes. An old Appalachian tradition that turns foraged fruit into a warm, purple-stained comfort dessert.

Grape Applesauce Cake

Moist Bundt cake made with applesauce, grape juice, dates, and pecans, spiced with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger. A nostalgic, butter-free cake dusted with powdered sugar.

Heirloom Fruitcake

Heirloom fruitcake packs candied cherries, pineapple, citron, dates, raisins and pecans into a spice-laden batter, baked low and slow then aged a month with wine before serving.

All 31 recipes