10 Delicious Ways to Cook With Rum – From Chicken to Desserts
Rum might live in the drinks cupboard, but there’s absolutely no reason it has to stay there.
I’ve always thought some of the best ingredients in the kitchen are the ones that can do more than their obvious job. Rum is a perfect example. Beyond cocktails, a splash can bring sweetness, warmth and depth to marinades, sauces, glazes and desserts.
Dark and spiced rums are particularly interesting for cooking because their caramel, vanilla and spice notes work beautifully with everything from sticky chicken and pork to pineapple and chocolate.
You don’t need much, either. In most of these dishes, rum isn’t there to make the food taste strongly alcoholic. It’s being used in much the same way you might use wine, cider or brandy: to add another layer of flavour.
So, if you have a bottle languishing at the back of the cupboard, here are ten genuinely delicious ways to start cooking with rum.
1. Sticky Rum and Jerk Chicken
Rum and Caribbean-inspired spices are natural partners, making this a very good place to start.
For a simple marinade, combine a splash of dark rum with lime juice, brown sugar, garlic, thyme, spring onion, allspice, chilli and a little oil. Coat chicken thighs or drumsticks and leave them to marinate in the fridge before roasting or grilling.
As the chicken cooks, the sugar and rum help create a sticky, deeply flavoured exterior while the lime keeps everything from becoming overly sweet.
Serve with rice, grilled corn, slaw or a simple green salad.
Crave tip: Chicken thighs are particularly good here because they’re difficult to dry out and cope well with the strong marinade.
2. Rum-Glazed BBQ Ribs
If you like sticky barbecue ribs, adding rum to the glaze makes perfect sense.
Start with your usual barbecue sauce base — tomato ketchup or passata, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and spices — then add a small measure of dark or spiced rum.
Cook the sauce gently until it becomes glossy and slightly reduced.
Brush it over slow-cooked pork ribs towards the end of cooking, adding another layer or two as they caramelise.
The result should be sticky, smoky, sweet and slightly spicy rather than obviously boozy.
Crave tip: Don’t add all your glaze at the beginning. Sugary sauces can burn, so build up those glossy layers during the final stage of cooking.
3. Spiced Rum Pulled Pork
Pulled pork loves sweetness and spice, which makes spiced rum an easy addition.
Rub a pork shoulder with smoked paprika, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper and brown sugar before cooking it slowly with onion, stock and a modest splash of rum.
By the time the pork is tender enough to pull apart, the alcohol’s harsher edge will have mellowed and the cooking liquid will be packed with flavour.
Shred the meat and mix some of the reduced juices back through it.
Pile it into brioche buns with crunchy slaw, serve it in tacos or use leftovers on loaded fries.
4. Rum and Chilli Prawns
This is one of the quickest ideas on the list.
Heat a little oil or butter in a frying pan and cook garlic and finely chopped chilli for a few seconds. Add raw prawns and cook until they’re almost done before adding lime juice and a small splash of rum.
Let everything bubble briefly so the flavours come together, then finish with coriander and another squeeze of lime.
Sweet prawns work particularly well against chilli, citrus and the caramel notes of dark rum.
Serve with crusty bread to mop up the juices, or spoon them over rice.
Important: If you’re flambéing alcohol, take particular care around naked flames. You don’t need to flambé the rum to make this dish work — simply allowing it to cook in the pan is enough.
5. Rum-Glazed Salmon
Rum can work surprisingly well with oily fish.
Mix dark rum with soy sauce, honey or brown sugar, lime, garlic and a little grated ginger. Brush it over salmon fillets before baking or use it as a short marinade.
The sugars create a glossy glaze while soy provides saltiness and lime cuts through the richness of the fish.
Serve with steamed rice and greens for an easy midweek dinner that feels considerably more interesting than another plain salmon fillet.
Crave tip: Keep marinades containing plenty of acid relatively short when using fish, as prolonged marinating can alter its texture.
6. Caribbean-Inspired Rum Beef Stew
A little dark rum can add depth to a slow-cooked beef stew without turning it sweet.
Brown chunks of stewing beef properly first — don’t rush this bit — then soften onions, garlic and peppers in the same pan.
Add tomato purée, thyme, allspice, stock and a splash of dark rum before returning the beef and cooking slowly until tender.
Sweet potato works particularly well added towards the end, while Scotch bonnet can provide heat if you like things spicy.
This is the sort of dish that’s often even better the following day.
7. Rum Butter Steak Sauce
Steak and rum might not be the first combination that springs to mind, but a dark rum pan sauce can be excellent.
Once your steak is cooked and resting, use the same pan to soften finely chopped shallot. Add a small splash of dark rum and allow it to reduce before adding beef stock.
Reduce again until concentrated, then remove from the heat and whisk in a knob of cold butter.
Black pepper works particularly well here.
The result is a glossy, rich sauce with a subtle caramel sweetness that works beautifully with beef.
Crave tip: Add the butter at the end rather than boiling it aggressively. That’s what helps create the silky finish.
8. Rum and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Now we’re entering more familiar rum territory.
Pineapple, brown sugar and rum are a brilliant combination, and adding a little dark or spiced rum gives the traditional upside-down cake extra warmth.
Create the sticky base with butter and brown sugar, arrange your pineapple and then add the cake mixture.
Rum can be incorporated into the sponge or used sparingly in the caramel layer.
Turn the finished cake out while it’s still warm to reveal the glossy pineapple topping.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard.
9. Dark Chocolate and Rum Brownies
Chocolate can handle bold flavours, and dark rum is particularly good with it.
Add a small amount of rum to a rich brownie mixture alongside dark chocolate. You’re not looking for a huge alcoholic hit; it should sit behind the chocolate and make the finished brownies taste deeper and more complex.
Spiced rum can work particularly well because vanilla, cinnamon and other warm spice notes naturally complement chocolate.
For an adult dinner-party dessert, serve a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream and a little caramel sauce.
10. Caramelised Bananas With Rum
This might be the easiest rum dessert of them all.
Melt butter and brown sugar in a frying pan until bubbling, add halved bananas and cook briefly until golden.
Add a small splash of dark rum and allow the sauce to bubble until glossy.
A pinch of cinnamon works beautifully, as does a squeeze of lime if you want to cut through some of the sweetness.
Spoon the warm bananas over vanilla ice cream, pancakes, waffles or French toast.
It’s ridiculously simple, but it tastes like you’ve made far more effort than you actually have.
Which Rum Is Best for Cooking?
You don’t need to buy an expensive sipping rum specifically for the kitchen.
Dark rum is probably the most versatile option for cooking. Its deeper caramel and molasses flavours work particularly well with pork, beef, barbecue sauces, chocolate, banana and pineapple.
Spiced rum is useful when you want additional notes of vanilla and warming spice. Try it in sticky glazes, cakes, brownies and marinades.
White rum has a lighter flavour and can work well with seafood, citrus and lighter sauces.
The important thing is to choose a rum you actually like the flavour of. Cooking can mellow alcohol, but it doesn’t magically turn a spirit you dislike into something delicious.
Does Alcohol Completely Cook Out of Food?
It’s often assumed that alcohol disappears as soon as it hits a hot pan, but that’s not necessarily the case.
How much remains depends on factors including the cooking method, temperature, surface area and how long the dish is cooked. A sauce simmered for a long period will behave differently from rum added briefly at the end of cooking.
That’s worth remembering if you’re cooking for children, pregnant guests, anyone avoiding alcohol for health or religious reasons, or somebody who simply doesn’t want to consume it.
In those circumstances, the safest approach is to make an alcohol-free version rather than assuming cooking has removed every trace.
A Bottle of Rum Is More Useful Than You Think
Once you start cooking with rum, it becomes much easier to see why it deserves a place beyond the cocktail cabinet.
Its natural sweetness and warm, caramel-like flavours make it particularly suited to sticky marinades and barbecue glazes, but it can also add depth to slow-cooked meat, seafood and pan sauces.
And then, of course, there are the desserts.
Chocolate, pineapple, banana, caramel and warming spices all have a natural affinity with rum, which means that half-forgotten bottle at the back of the cupboard could be responsible for quite a few excellent dinners.
Just remember: a splash is usually enough. Rum should make the food taste better — not make dinner taste like a daiquiri.
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