What Are Figs and How Can I Use Them?

Here's everything worth knowing about figs and how to pick them, what they are, how to store them, and what to use instead, plus 155 recipes to cook tonight.

What are figs?

Nutrition

Where found

Figs are usually found in the produce section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group

Figs are a member of the Fruits and Fruit Juices US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

How much do figs weigh?

Related

Fruits and Fruit Juices

Recipes using figs

There are 155 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Opal Deneke's Fig Jam

Opal Deneke's fig jam with ripe figs, pineapple, lemon juice, and warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Old-Southern hand-me-down preserve perfect for biscuits, cheese boards, or holiday gifting.

Grilled Figs, Prosciutto & Arugula Salad

Caramelized grilled figs and smoky prosciutto are a delicious pair, and you can find both of them in this salad, mixed with some peppery arugula, gouda cheese and tossed with a basil-roasted bell pepper vinaigrette.

Rhubarb & Fig Jam

Old-fashioned rhubarb and fig jam, sugared overnight then boiled down with chopped candied peel for a deep, jammy preserve. Yields about 9 pints, perfect for canning season and homemade gifts.

Sarah's Fig-Strawberry Preserves

Fig strawberry preserves use mashed fresh figs, sugar, and strawberry Jello for an old-fashioned three-ingredient preserve. Tastes like both fruits at once.

Fig or Strawberry Jam

Fig or strawberry jam cooks fresh figs and sugar with strawberry-flavored gelatin for an easy two-step preserve with a soft, spreadable set without traditional pectin.

Fresh Fig, Olive Tapenade Pizza with Goat Cheese

Give your pizza a new twist by using fresh figs, olive tapenade and goat cheese. It's delicious, serve it as a main dish or an appetizer.

Chewy Granola Bars

Chewy granola bars packed with crisp cereal, wheat germ, coconut, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and dried figs. A high-fibre snack bound by a brown sugar and honey syrup, ready in 45 minutes.

Fig Jam

Homemade fig jam with fresh figs, sugar, and lemon juice. A classic four-ingredient preserve, water-bath canned for shelf-stable storage. The Mediterranean breakfast staple.

Grilled Figs Arugula Salad with Roasted Pepper Vinaigrette

Fresh figs are all over the market right now. This grilled figs arugula salad is ideal for you to enjoy these sweet seasonal figs.

Port Wine, Fig & Bleu Cheese Sauce

Port wine, fig, and blue cheese sauce: a glossy reduction of caramelized aromatics, ruby port, and orange that melts tangy blue cheese into a velvety pour for pork roast or meatballs.

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.

Fig Marmalade

Fig marmalade pairs ripe summer figs with chopped oranges and tender lemon slices for a glossy, jewel-toned preserve. Just four ingredients, no added pectin needed. Spreads beautifully on toast, brilliant on a cheese board.

Dark Christmas Cake

Dark Christmas cake is the real, old-fashioned fruitcake: dense with raisins, currants, figs, dates, and almonds, deepened with brown sugar, prune juice, and brandy, then aged in brandy-soaked cheesecloth. Make it now, slice it at Christmas.

Fresh Fig Cake

Every year around summer, this recipe always pops out. Finally made the words into the cake, and it actually turned out moist and delicious. Just finished the final piece earlier this morning for breakfast, with freshly brewed coffee. Very good. Do you like figs and what's your favorite way to enjoy it? Please share your great ideas with us :-)

Ricotta Figs & Macadamia Nuts

Grilled figs filled with a lemon myrtle and ricotta cheese filling.

Rocks

Old-fashioned oatmeal cookies loaded with figs, nuts, and warm spices create hearty, chewy treats perfect for holiday baking or lunchbox snacks.

Pineapple Rhubarb Marmalade

Old-fashioned pineapple rhubarb marmalade with chopped figs and lemon. A spring preserve that captures peak rhubarb season in jars. Sweet, tart, and built for biscuits or buttered toast.

Saltbush Lamb with Sweet Potato Smash

Saltbush Lamb backstraps served with sweet potato mash, broccolini, grilled figs and finished with Lamb jus.

Heavenly Sauce

Heavenly sauce folds egg yolks and powdered sugar into whipped cream with dried figs, toasted almonds, and crystallized ginger. A no-cook dessert topping for ice cream or cake.

Black Beauty Pie

No-bake chocolate pudding pie layered with stewed California figs, a hint of coffee and cinnamon, toasted almonds, and vanilla whipped cream. A showstopper dessert that comes together without turning on the oven.

Bran Bread

Bread machine bran bread loaded with raisins, figs, and walnuts creates a hearty, fiber-rich loaf perfect for toast, sandwiches, or healthy breakfast spreads.

Fig Delight

Fig preserves made with ripe figs, strawberry gelatin, and pectin for a thick, spreadable jam that seals in sterile jars. A Southern classic with only 5 ingredients.

Muzurkas

Mazurka cookie bars with an almond shortbread base topped with a fruity filling of apricots, figs, raisins, walnuts, and candied orange peel, finished with powdered sugar icing.

Thyme-Fig Fruitcake

Thyme-fig fruitcake is a rustic, barely-sweet cornmeal cake studded with apple-juice-plumped figs, fragrant thyme and toasted pine nuts. An Italian-style tea cake that leans savory more than sugary.

Raspberry & Fig Gratin

Raspberry and fig gratin with sour cream and broiled brown sugar crust. Four ingredients, 15 minutes, and the caramelized sugar cracks like creme brulee over warm fruit.

All 155 recipes