Homemade vanilla sugar with 2 ingredients

A few weeks ago I told you how to make your own vanilla extract and that was such an easy recipe! Making your own homemade vanilla sugar is almost easier than that! No complicated things to do, it’s more a good tip than anything else. Personally I never buy the store-bought vanilla-infused sugar from the grocery store anymore. Making it yourself is so much tastier! And you need only two ingredients for making it. Regular sugar and whole vanilla beans.

I love being able to see the little specks of vanilla in a product. It’s a good sign that real vanilla has been used for making it.  I’ll let you know how I make my own vanilla sugar and will give some tips on how to make the most out of those expensive vanilla bean pods. It also makes for a great gift.

What is vanilla sugar

To start with the basics. Vanilla sugar or vanilla bean sugar is sugar mixed with vanilla. I guess the name explains it all! Pretty simple ingredients and takes no time at all to make. You can use it as a sweetener in baked goods or desserts. It’s one of my favorite flavor enhancers!

How to make vanilla sugar

You can make vanilla sugar in two different ways. The first one involves the whole pod and the second one is made with pure vanilla extract. I’ll explain both below.

Using vanilla pods

The first method involves using fresh vanilla beans and granulated plain sugar. Slice the whole pods open lengthwise with a sharp knife. You scrape the vanilla seeds out of the beans and the empty vanilla pods are also used in the sugar. The seeds are mixed with the white sugar.

It helps to rub it between your fingers to prevent a clump of vanilla forming. I usually place it in a glass jar. I add half of the sugar, stick the empty pods inside the sugar and add the rest of the sugar on top. You close the lid of the jar and put it away for 1-2 weeks. The longer you let it stand the better the vanilla taste will be.

If the sugar is almost finished you can refill the jar with fresh sugar. The vanilla will continue to release flavor of vanilla into the sugar but you won’t be able to do this endlessly. At some point you will need to remove the empty vanilla bean pod and replace it with a fresh one.

You can also use pods that you used for something else as well and stick the empty ones in the glass jar. That way it keeps fresh and delicious. Once the ‘old’ vanilla pods are no longer giving of their flavor you can grind them in a coffee grinder or food processor and add the fine powder to the sugar again. That’s a great way to re-use them again.

Using vanilla extract

You can also mix some vanilla extract (about a teaspoon of vanilla extract to 1 cup of sugar) with the sugar and let it dry. If it forms clumps due to the high moisture content you can break it up with your fingers. Once dried you can keep it in a jar.