Wondering how to give drinks and desserts a deliciously sweet light floral flavor? This Lavender Simple Syrup has so many uses and is incredibly easy to make with just 3 ingredients!
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Next up in my simple syrup series is one of my absolute favorites... Lavender Simple Syrup! I published this recipe back in 2021, but after lots of feedback, I recently made some adjustments to make this syrup less perfume-y and more suitable for drinks and treats.
Lavender is one of my favorite flavors for giving drinks and desserts a unique and fun flavor, like in these lavender lemon cookies and in this lavender Frappuccino.
Some people get nervous about adding floral notes to recipes, but this simple syrup allows you to totally control the level of flavor and it's absolutely delicious!
Plus, it has a beautiful subtle lavender-colored hue. What more could you ask for in a simple syrup??
🥣 What is simple syrup?
Simple syrup is essentially just water and sugar heated in a saucepan and thickened into a syrup. Once it cools, it's an essential ingredient in many drinks and cocktails because it makes it so easy to add liquid sweetness.
Simple syrup also makes it easy to add flavoring to drinks (I've even added bubblegum flavor to one!). Lavender is a unique and wonderful flavor in so many cocktails, but you obviously don't want to drink a cocktail with bits of dried lavender in it!
Lavender simple syrup makes it easy to add the flavor in an easy-to-consume way. Follow my instructions in this post and also be sure to check out my video to see just how simple it is!
💜 Why this recipe works
It uses a restrained amount of lavender: in my initial recipe, I was using way too much dried lavender and letting it steep for too long. The result was LOTS of great lavender flavor. But a little too much for actually enjoying it in food and drink without having it be overload. Floral flavors can get to be too much very quickly.
A little salt helps bring balance: I've also added an optional ingredient, salt, to this recipe. Even a tiny amount of salt can help balance sweetness and subtly tone down sharp floral notes.
The subtle floral flavor complements without overwhelming: when used in recipes, this lavender syrup adds a delicate floral note to enhance drinks and desserts rather than dominate them. Just like floral flavors should!
Stores well in fridge: you can make this lavender simple syrup and keep it in in airtight container in your fridge for about a month, which means you can make lavender coffee, cocktails, and desserts quickly and easily whenever you want!
🗒 Ingredients
The basic simple syrup recipe only uses 2 ingredients: water and sugar. This lavender simple syrup recipe just needs one more ingredient, but also a couple optional ones (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Water
- Granulated sugar
- Culinary-grade dried lavender
- Salt: optional
- Purple or red/blue food coloring: optional to give your syrup more of a purple tint
👩🍳 What kind of lavender to use?
When you're purchasing dried lavender for this recipe, be sure you buy culinary-grade lavender.
You'll be consuming the simple syrup and want to make it with lavender that's safe to eat, rather than lavender meant for ornamental purposes or potpourri. It should be labeled "culinary-grade" or "edible."
I've had good luck with this one and this one.
🪻 Recipe tips
Like most simple syrups, making lavender simple syrup is easy to do, but here are a few tips to help!
- Use lavender sparingly. A little goes a long way and you can always infuse more lavender flavor into your syrup if you find it's not strong enough.
- Simmer the water and sugar together first. Once your syrup is made, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the dried lavender. Let steep for about 10 minutes to infuse flavor.
- You can taste the syrup after steeping the lavender to determine if you want to give it more time, but 10 minutes is generally enough for this amount of syrup.
- Once you're done steeping the lavender, strain it out of the syrup. You don't want to leave it in the mixture, even if you think it looks pretty, as the syrup will start getting very floral and bitter if the dried flowers are in it for too long.
- You can add a little bit of food coloring here if you want a slight purple tint, but take care not to add too much as it's best to keep the look natural.
- Let syrup cool completely before using.
This is one of my all-time favorite simple syrup recipes because it screams spring and makes it easy to add subtle sweet floral flavor to pretty much anything.
It's as simple as that! And the result is a wonderfully floral simple syrup that has the essence of lavender, but isn't overpowering in any way.
🍹 How to use
My favorite thing to use lavender simple syrup for is in cocktails, but there are so many ways you can enjoy it!
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Starbucks has been leaning heavily into lavender drinks in recent years, but they actually use a lavender powder instead of a syrup. However, in all my
Here are some of the best ways to use this lavender syrup:
- Lavender Lemonade Mojitos (these are one of the most popular drink recipes on my blog and a great use for this syrup!)
- Coffee sweetener: Add a light floral flavor and some sweetness to your daily coffee or make these Iced Lavender Lattes.
- Starbucks drinks: Some of my favorite lavender
Starbucks drinks are the Iced Lavender Cream Chai, Iced Lavender Oatmilk Latte, Iced Lavender Cream Oatmilk Matcha, Lavender Crème Frappuccino, and Lavender Oatmilk Chill.
- Mocktails: Add a little of this syrup to some lemonade or sparkling water for a sweet floral drink or a lavender soda.
- Pancake topping: Drizzle a little over pancakes or waffles instead of maple syrup.
- Ice cream topping: Drizzle over vanilla ice cream or lemon sorbet for a unique dessert.
- Yogurt or oatmeal topping: Drizzle a bit over your healthy breakfast for a bright start to the day. The lavender syrup also pairs really well with honey.
- Cake moistener: Lots of people brush simple syrup on cakes after they cool to make cakes extra moist. Flavored simple syrup will also add flavor to the cake and this lavender version would be especially delicious on lemon cake.
- Tea sweetener: Add lavender simple syrup to tea instead of sugar or honey for a yummy light floral flavor and some sweetness.
- Salad dressing addition: Adding a little lavender syrup to salad dressing will turn any salad into a spring delight. Just be careful not to go overboard.
🎉 How to make more
This recipe makes about 1 ¼ cups of simple syrup. But if you're planning to use the simple syrup in a big batch cocktail or just know you're going to go through it quickly, you may want to make more of it.
Luckily, it's easy! Simply double the ingredients and use the same method for cooking. If you want 2 ½ cups lavender simple syrup, you'll need 2 cups water, 2 cups sugar, and 4 teaspoon dried lavender
I recommend storing bigger batches in a large mason jar, like a 32 oz one.
⏲️ How to store
Be sure to store your simple syrup in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge.
This syrup should stay good in the fridge for about a month when stored properly.
🛍️ Where to buy
Though making your own lavender simple syrup is super duper easy, it's also possible to purchase it if you're just not in the mood to make it!
Note that some store-bought lavender simple syrups will be all-natural and some will contain dyes to make them more vibrantly purple. Here are some great options for purchasing:
- Pink House Alchemy Syrup
- Monin Lavender Syrup
- Collins Lavender Syrup
- Torani Lavender Syrup
- 1883 Maison Routin Syrup
🍓 More simple syrup flavors
Once you try this recipe, you're going to want to make simple syrups in every flavor possible! And the options really are endless when it comes to making flavored syrups.
Here are some of my absolute favorites:
Do you like drinks with lavender in them?
📖 Recipe
Lavender Simple Syrup
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Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon dried lavender (culinary-grade)
- Pinch salt optional
- 1-2 drops purple or red/blue food coloring optional
Instructions
- Put water, sugar, and salt (if using) in a medium saucepan, stir, and bring to a boil.
- Lower to a simmer and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until sugar has completely dissolved and syrup has thickened a bit (it will continue thickening as it cools).
- Remove saucepan from heat and stir in dried lavender. Cover saucepan and let steep for about 10 minutes to infuse lavender flavor.
- Push syrup through a mesh sieve to strain out lavender buds and into an airtight container like a mason jar or bowl. Stir in food coloring if desired.
- Let syrup cool completely before using. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.
Barrie says
Delicious! So easy to make too! I made a double batch. For my own personal preference, I decreased the lavender to 1 1/2 c (for the double batch) and I added another 1 1/4 c sugar (for a total of 3 1/4 cups for the doubled batch. ( I have a sweet tooth, LOL) . I also added 1 Tbls of Acai powder to the syrup mix just before steeping. Mmmm! So glad I found your site!
Will be trying some of your other recipes as well! Thank you for posting!
Eddy says
I made a double batch using 1.5 cups of lavender, but it came out way too strong. What did I do wrong? It is inedible. Maybe I should have added extra sugar like the other commenter did.
Sues says
Hi Eddy- this is definitely a lavender-forward recipe, but some of it could depend on the brand of lavender you use. Instead of adding more sugar and water, you can cut down on the amount of lavender used and the steeping time. I've had a couple people say this is strong, so I'm going to re-make it with a few different brands of lavender and update accordingly. Thank you!
Eddy says
I tried again following the recipe for a single batch. I let it drip drain without pushing it down. I ended up with 1/2 cup of dark purple brown syrup that was severely overpowering. I then added more water and sugar to total 4 cups water, 2 cups sugar, and 1 cup lavender. This made it lighter purple brown, but nowhere near as light as your photos. I am not sure the end product is close to what is expected. I suppose I could keep experimenting.