Vanilla Simple Syrup

Susannah Brinkley Henry

Sweeten your coffee, tea and cocktails with this easy, 3-ingredient vanilla simple syrup. It's easy to double if needed!

Course Simple Syrup

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 5

Total Time 10

Servings ounces

Calories 68kcal

Author Susannah Brinkley Henry

Ingredients

½ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract see note

Instructions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Do not boil.
Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract.
Store in a mason jar for up to one month.

Notes

Sugar: You can use any type of sugar for your vanilla syrup. I typically use cane sugar or granulated sugar, but brown sugar will also work. Feel free to use honey, demerara sugar or even a sugar substitute like stevia in lieu of sugar.

Brown sugar will impart a caramel-like flavor and darker color, whereas white sugar will have a sugary sweetness and a clear color. For coffee and tea drinks, the color doesn’t matter as much, but for lemonade or cocktails, it might.

Vanilla: There are four main types of vanilla that you can use in this recipe:

Vanilla pods: You can soak a whole vanilla bean — sliced down the middle first — in your warm simple syrup for 30 minutes to impart the flavor of the vanilla beans tucked inside. However, keep in mind vanilla bean pods are expensive and sometimes hard to find.
Vanilla paste: With a dense vanilla flavor, delicious (albeit expensive) is made of vanilla beans. You can use half as much paste as you’d use extract.
Vanilla extract: Common in many baking recipes, most people have vanilla extract on hand in their pantries.
Imitation vanilla: A colorless liquid, imitation vanilla is simply a vanilla-flavored extract.

I find vanilla extract to be the simplest in this recipe so I reach for this most often, but I like using vanilla pods when I have them. (Once used in syrup, you can add them to vodka to make your own vanilla extract.)

Using vanilla pods or vanilla paste will leave behind the little black flecks of vanilla beans, which will float to the top of a beverage. It’s not a huge deal and can be quite pretty, but it’s something to keep in mind if you don’t like this look.

Nutrition

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