How to Make Amazing Vanilla Sugar for Baking and Sugar Scrubs (2024)

Learn how to make vanilla sugar with two ingredients: whole vanilla beans and granulated sugar. It is sweet & fragrant and delicious in cookies and cakes.

I mentioned last week that 2022 was the year of the vanilla bean. I stumbled across a couple of groups on Facebook that are filled with people cRaZy about all things vanilla beans: pure vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, vanilla salt and even vanilla paste. Real vanilla extract is so much better than imitation vanilla.

If like me you have a batch of real vanilla extract started but want to add a kick of fresh vanilla to your recipes now, this homemade vanilla sugar is for you. It makes a great gift, too.

What is vanilla sugar?

It is common in boutique gift shops and specialty food stores. It is most commonly granulated sugar infused with vanilla flavor. You’ll find thousands of different techniques and “recipes” to make your own, but today I’m sharing our favorite method.

Our homemade vanilla sugar has just two ingredients: granulated sugar and vanilla bean pods. Granulated sugar can be whatever brand you love, but the vanilla beans should be quality beans in order to have the best flavor.

This leads to our next question.

What is the most common type of vanilla bean?

The most common is the Madagascar Vanilla Beans. I just bought some through Vanilla Bean Kings that were gourmet, Grade A and they smelled amazing. Other popular beans are Mexican vanilla beans. Mexico is known for their vanilla!

Grade B vanilla beans are drier and thinner than Grade A, but they still are loaded with flavor and perfect for extraction and sugar.

How do you make your own vanilla sugar?

• Start by drying the vanilla beans. This takes some attention because you don’t want to burn the vanilla beans, so watch them closely. Set the oven to 175ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then lay out the vanilla beans with space in between each bean on the baking sheet.

• Bake in 30 minute increments. Bake the beans at that very low temperature and check them every 20-30 minutes. The exact time it takes will depend on how large the vanilla bean you have, but plan about 2 hours for this process.
• Bake the beans until they snap. You’ll know the beans are completely dried when the snap like a twig when you try to break them. Again, watch them closely and take them out as soon as they are done so that you don’t burn the vanilla beans.
• Allow the beans to cool. Let them come to room temperature.

• Snap the beans in pieces and grind them. For this step, you’ll need a coffee grinder. Snap the vanilla beans into small pieces, then process them in a coffee grinder on the finest setting it has. Vanilla powder does not dissolve, so you want that powder as fine as possible to have smooth sugar.

• Once the beans are a powder, mix them into the sugar. In a bowl, mix the two evenly and your sugar will have beautiful tiny black specks throughout. Seal it in an airtight container and you are ready to use it for all of your baking.

Can i stick fresh vanilla beans in sugar?

Many people like to use this sugar in their coffee, but end up with vanilla powder floating in the top since the vanilla powder will not dissolve.

A second method for vanilla infused sugar is to stick fresh vanilla pods in a container, Ziplock bag or or jar of regular sugar. Seal and allow the sugar to be a desiccant and absorb some of the moisture from the beans. Shake every so often to distribute the sugar evenly. The sugar won’t “extract” the vanillin from the beans, but it will add aroma to the sugar.

Let the beans sit in the sugar for several weeks or a month.

This method will make the sugar a little clumpy since vanilla beans have a high moisture content, so you may need to run it through a food processor to break up any clumps before baking with it.

Remove the beans from the sugar and use them to make vanilla paste or allow them to dry for vanilla powder. Then substitute vanilla sugar for normal in your favorite dessert.

See Also

Vanilla Sugar Recipe (strong like store-bought) - The Hungry BitesHomemade Vanilla Sugar - The Baked CollectiveHow to Make Homemade Vanilla SugarHomemade Vanilla Sugar - Sally's Baking Addiction

How to Use Vanilla Sugar

Try one of these:

• Sugar Cookies. Sugar cookies made with this sugar will look so pretty cause they give a blank canvas to see those pretty little specks.
• Strawberries. Sprinkle the sugar over strawberries for strawberry shortcake.
• Cinnamon rolls. Add this sugar to our popular cinnamon roll dough.
• Vanilla ice cream. Homemade ice cream or custard is so, so good!
• Vanilla cupcakes and buttercream.

Frequently Asked Questions