While honey is a delicious ingredient in everything from cocktails to salad dressings, its consistency isn't always right. This Honey Simple Syrup makes it easy to add honey to all of your favorite drinks, dressings, and treats. And it only takes 2 ingredients to make!
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I almost always have at least 4 different types of honey in my cabinets. I use it for everything from stirring into yogurt and oatmeal to adding to cocktails for a bit of sweetness. Sometimes I even take a spoonful of Manuka honey for the antibacterial properties.
But honey is often thick and sticky and it isn't always ideal for adding to drinks and food. Sometimes it globs up and sometimes it even hardens. The solution? Honey simple syrup!
This syrup is so easy to make and ensures you'll always be able to add delicious honey and it's health properties to recipes whenever you desire.
🍬 What is simple syrup?
Simple syrup is essentially just water and sugar that's been boiled together to form a thick, sweet liquid. It's a key ingredient behind many bars as it gives drink makers an easy to way to add sweetness to drinks in liquid form.
You can add almost any ingredient to the water and sugar to flavor your syrup however you want... I've used blueberries, bubblegum, jalapeños, and so much more.
But because honey is already made up of so much sugar, for this honey simple syrup, you don't need to add any additional sugar to the recipe. You just need honey and water!
The process for making it is a tiny bit different than the typical simple syrup. I don't like to bring the mixture to a full boil since boiling raw honey can get rid of some of its antioxidant properties. So, we'll just be simmering it a bit instead.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
You'll love this recipe because it will let you add honey flavor and all of honey's healthy antibacterial properties to pretty much anything you want. No clumping or hardening to worry about!
It's also very easy to make and you can keep a jar of the syrup in your fridge for about a month.
🍯 What kind of honey to use
There are thousands of varieties of honey available and what kind you use in this syrup is totally up to you!
I like using raw and unfiltered honey as it has a lot more health properties than honey that's been processed and filtered. However, you are going to be heating this honey syrup to make it, some of the health properties may be damaged in the process. That's why we go low and slow.
If you just care about the honey flavor, you can use a processed and filtered honey (like the kind that typically comes in the little bear squeeze bottles).
I don't recommend using a high-end honey, like Manuka honey, as it's quite pricy with lots of great antibacterial properties, which may be damaged during the heating process. Plus, it's just not the best use for Manuka honey.
Note that all honeys have a bit of a different flavor profile. Some are more floral and some can even have a bit of a spicy flavor profile. Depending on what kind you use, it will change the flavor of this syrup... So, make sure you're using one you like!
This is the one I typically use:
🗒 Ingredients
Like I mentioned, you just need two ingredients to make this simple syrup. You can probably guess what they are:
- Water
- Honey
That's all you need!
👩🍳 How to make honey simple syrup
The process of making honey simple syrup is incredibly easy. I think the toughest part about working with honey is that it's so sticky and often gets stuck to my measure cups when I try to pour it out.
The solution? I recommend brushing a light layer of cooking oil in your measuring cup before adding the honey.
Then the honey will just glide right out of your measuring cup. It's a thing of beauty!
If you don't feel like adding honey to a measuring cup, you can guesstimate how much to use... You don't really need to be super exact in your proportions when making this syrup.
Now that your honey is in a medium-sized saucepan, add the water in, too, and mix together.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over low heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until syrup has thickened.
It won't be as thick as honey, but will be more of a syrup... Nice and easy to pour.
Remove saucepan from heat and pour the syrup into a heat-proof bowl or mason jar.
Place bowl or jar in fridge to cool completely before using.
And now you can use this honey simple syrup however your heart desires!
🥤 How to use
And there are SO many ways to use this homemade syrup... Really, you can use it however you would typically use honey. But it will be much easier and smoother to add, especially to drinks.
Here are some of my favorite ways to use it:
- Cocktails: This is the main way I use my honey simple syrup. Honey is delicious with everything from vodka to bourbon to rum and this syrup easily blends into any cocktail, especially when added to a shaker with ice.
- Homemade honey soda: Honey can get gloopy when added to cold water, but this honey syrup blends into soda water perfectly and allows you to make the most delicious honey soda.
- Tea and coffee: Everyone knows honey added to tea is the perfect solution to a sore throat, but this syrup blends in even better. It can also add a sweet, floral flavor to your coffee. It makes for delicious iced and hot lattes, too! Starbucks makes a delicious honey oatmilk latte.
- Salad dressings: Add this syrup to salad dressing for a little added sweetness and yummy flavor.
- Pancake, Waffle, and French Toast Topping: Drizzle this syrup over your favorite breakfast items instead of maple syrup. It would also be delicious drizzled over this honey cake.
- Oatmeal and Yogurt Topping: Add a little sweetness and honey flavor to your healthy breakfast.
- Ice Cream Topping: Drizzle a little honey syrup over any flavor ice cream. Add nuts of a honey nut ice cream sundae!
- Cake Moistener: Lots of bakers use simple syrup as a way to add moistness and a little sweetness and flavor to baked cakes. This syrup will add a great honey flavor any flavor cake from vanilla to chocolate to strawberry to lemon.
- Meat Marinade: This syrup makes an excellent addition to marinades for anything from chicken to steak and more.
⏲️ How to store
When stored in an airtight container in your fridge, this should stay good for about a month.
You can store it in any type of airtight container, but I highly recommend storing in mason jars. I like to use these small 8 oz. jars or a larger 16 oz. jar. This recipe does make slightly more than a cup, so you'll need more than one 8 oz. jar if using the smaller jars.
💡Variations on recipe
Honey makes for a very complementary flavor with so many other things! Here are some ideas of what else you can add to your syrup for a delicious spin on flavor. Just add the additional ingredients as your syrup is simmering:
- Lavender (or make this lavender syrup with honey instead of granulated sugar)
- Lemon
- Mint
- Ginger
- Jalapeño or habanero
- Rosemary or thyme
- Cinnamon
🛍 Where to buy
This recipe couldn't be any easier, but I totally understand if you prefer to purchase a bottle of shelf-stable honey syrup instead of making your own. Here are some recommendations for purchasing:
- Monin Honey Syrup
- Torani Honey Syrup
- BG Reynolds Honey Syrup
- GloryBee Honey Syrup
- Proof Honey Cocktail Syrup
🥣 More simple syrup recipes
I'm always adding to my collection of simple syrup recipes and you can view them all here.
With recipes from everything to jalapeño simple syrup to caramel syrup and strawberry simple syrup, I have a syrup recipe for every person and every occasion. And as always, more are coming!
I hope you enjoy this honey simple syrup and find lots of great uses for it!
📖 Recipe
Honey Simple Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup honey
Instructions
- Put water and honey in a medium saucepan and stir to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer over low heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until syrup has thickened.
- Remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl or mason jar. Place bowl or jar in fridge to cool completely before using.
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