8 Savory Desserts To Switch Up Your Regular Sweet Treats

There's nothing quite like something sweet to finish off a meal. It's the perfect way to satiate our appetites and jumpstart digestion. That said, sometimes, after a larger meal, you may not want the intense sugar rush of a cloyingly sweet treat. Or, if you're like me, you may not love super sugary desserts, preferring ones with a more salty bite. That's when a cake, pie, or bar made with savory ingredients is needed.

From desserts made with salty bacon or spicy chili peppers to those incorporating sharp Cheddar cheese or vegetables like zucchini, there are a number of less sugary recipes out there that can be the perfect capstone to a meal without the dessert delirium of a double chocolate cake or a syrupy flan. Read on to discover the ultimate savory desserts to switch for your regular sweet treats the next time you're preparing dinner for friends and family.

While apple pie is as all-American as it gets, this twist featuring green chiles and grated Cheddar cheese shakes things up a bit. The heat and a salty punch of flavor perfectly juxtapose the traditional sweet and spicy filling. 

Granny Smith apples are perhaps the best option for this pie, as they have a firm texture and tart flavor. If you plan to use store-bought jarred green chiles, make sure to drain them thoroughly before adding them to the filling so that they don't make the pie crust soggy.

Recipe: Green Chile Apple Pie

If you're searching for a recipe to shake up your Thanksgiving festivities this year, look no further than this recipe for pumpkin maple bacon cheesecake. Before the salty bacon is incorporated into the crust, it's cooked together with maple syrup, effectively candying it.

These savory bacon crumbles are blended together with almond-flavored amaretti cookies or biscotti for a nutty, yet umami-rich, bite that balances the sweet, creamy filling perfectly. For an added savory kick, top this with more of the candied bacon as a garnish.

Recipe: Pumpkin Maple Bacon Cheesecake

This popular Southern dessert gets a rich makeover with the addition of candied bacon. For a more intense flavor, try using applewood-smoked bacon. With its inherent sweetness, earthiness, saltiness, and distinctive fruity undertones, this type of bacon acts as the perfect vehicle for fusing the sweet and savory elements within this dessert.

To ensure that the bacon doesn't sink to the bottom of your pie, don't add it until after the filling has started to set in the oven for several minutes. This will give the finished pie a much more pleasant mouthfeel.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Pie With Candied Bacon

The featured savory ingredient in this recipe is extra virgin olive oil. This provides not just moisture and a delicate texture to the finished cake, but also imparts a distinctive flavor. This is not the time to skimp on quality oil. 

For the best results, I recommend using a single-origin oil that's produced according to PDO standards. Consider playing with oils that have different flavor profiles. Some tend to be fruitier, while others are more bitter. Still others will have grassy, earthy, and spicy notes that lend complexity to this cake and play beautifully off the lemon extract, juice, and zest.

Recipe: Lemon Olive Oil Dump Cake

Though this dessert recipe doesn't involve any baking, it does require some time and effort to execute. What makes it a delightful savory dessert alternative is the tahini paste. 

Tahini, which is made from pulverized sesame seeds, has a rich texture and nutty flavor that's ideally paired with the bittersweet notes of dark chocolate. When using store-bought tahini, stir it well before combining it with the remaining ingredients in this recipe, as it has a tendency to separate in the jar, the way natural peanut butter does.

Recipe: Salted Tahini-Stuffed Cho

This bundt cake also features the dynamic duo of lemon juice and zest paired with a fruity olive oil. These are augmented with tangy yogurt for a cake that's decidedly moist and delicately sweet. 

While any type of plain yogurt will suffice, Greek yogurt is especially well-suited to baking. It lends moisture to the cake while its natural acidity will also interact with the baking soda that makes up the baking powder. This helps to leaven the cake, making it impossibly light and fluffy. Don't forget to cool this cake thoroughly before icing it, otherwise the glaze will not adhere to the top of the dessert.

Recipe: Lemon Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Perhaps it's my Eastern European heritage, but I'm a sucker for dumplings of any kind, sweet or savory. This recipe perfectly fuses the two with the use of apples and shredded Cheddar cheese.

While you can use any kind of Cheddar, a sharp, aged variety will lend more complexity to this recipe. It tends to have a more robust flavor and a firmer texture, which makes it easier to shred. While you can eat these dumplings as-is, I recommend serving them with a lightly sweetened sour cream or crème fraîche topping for a tangy taste and a velvety mouthful.

Recipe: Cheddar-Apple Dumpling

Squash skeptics often look at zucchini bread recipes with disdain, but I can assure you that these taste less vegetable-forward than you might imagine. This recipe, in particular, fuses zucchini with chocolate, lending a bittersweet element that perfectly blends the sweet and savory components.

The zucchini not only adds texture and a slightly nutty flavor to the bread, but also helps to moisten it, giving it an unmatched tender mouthfeel. If you happen to have a bumper crop of yellow squash, these can easily be substituted for the zucchini.

Recipe: Chocolate Zucchini Bread