Easy Homemade Vanilla Bean Sugar Recipe (3 Ways)
Homemade vanilla sugar is one of the easiest infusing projects and a great way to add extra vanilla flavor to your coffee drinks, bakes, and more! You just need 2 simple ingredients (and a little patience). Your effort will be rewarded handsomely, though.
Equipment
- 1 Pint mason jar
- 1 Sharp knife
- 1 spoon or food processor
Ingredients
- 2 cups cane sugar
- 2 whole vanilla beans (or 2 TBS vanilla extract or 2 TBS vanilla bean powder)
Instructions
How to Make Vanilla Sugar with Fresh Vanilla Bean
- Add the sugar to your jar.
- Use a sharp knife to slice along the side of your vanilla bean pods. Scrape out the seeds inside and make sure they make it into the jar!
- Cut the emptied vanilla pods in half to help them fit in the jar. Use a spoon to mash the caviar into the sugar crystals (skip this step if you use the food processor).
- Seal the jar and shake very well every day for at least 5-7 days.
- Then, store the bottle in your pantry indefinitely. I prefer to let the mixture sit for 2-3 weeks, but it'll taste good within the first week! Shake every 1-2 weeks to minimize clumps.
- Serve or use as desired.
How to Make Vanilla Sugar with Vanilla Extract
- Combine the sugar and extract together in a bowl and stir well.
- Spread the mixture on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and place in the oven at the lowest temperature possible (usually about 170F).
- Place the tray in the oven and bake for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Remove the tray from the oven, allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, then either crush the clumps by hand or quickly pulse the mixture in a food processor.
- Transfer to an airtight container and use as desired!
How to Make Vanilla Sugar with Vanilla Bean Powder
- Add the sugar and vanilla bean powder to a small jar.
- Shake to incorporate and let the mixture rest for a few days for the flavor to develop.
- Use however you'd like!
Notes
To minimize clumps, shake the bottle every 1-2 weeks. You can also bake or dehydrate the sugar at a low temperature to remove excess moisture (see tips in the post).
There's no need to remove the beans. Just let them keep infusing!
- Use leftover extract beans. I love making homemade vanilla extract, and I never waste vanilla beans. Let them dry out really well on a kitchen towel, then add them to sugar. You'll likely need to add more beans than normal since the oils have already been extracted in the extract-making process.
- Speed up the process. This method works pretty quickly, but I sometimes like to hurry things along! If you need vanilla sugar ready sooner than later, try blending the sugar and vanilla beans together in the food processor. Keep going until the beans are small chunks. This will increase the surface area and you'll get a strong vanilla flavor faster.
- Make vanilla powdered sugar: If you have a high-powered blender, blend the vanilla sugar (1 cup) with cornstarch (1 tablespoon) until it turns into a fine powder for your own homemade flavored powdered sugar.
- Store it in a shaker bottle. Love to add vanilla sugar to your lattes? Store it in a shaker bottle for easy use!
Cost: $2.50