Seven Ingenious Sweet Alternatives to Brown Sugar

It has happened more often than you can imagine: just as you’re about to start baking a coffee cake or chocolate chip cookies for a sweet-toothed weekend, you realize that all of your brown sugar is gone. How should one proceed? It’s easy to find a brown sugar substitute for your baked products or marinades and achieve the same sweet and intensely delicious results.

If you have all the ingredients in your cupboard, you can quickly make the switch. What what is brown sugar then? The amber color and caramel-like flavor of brown sugar are a byproduct of the refining process, which yields molasses. Brown sugar is a less refined form of granulated white sugar.

If you run out of the pre-packaged variety, it only seems reasonable that the simplest way to produce brown sugar at home is to rehydrate your granulated white sugar with molasses. However, if you’re not as keen in becoming a culinary whiz, you do have some other options.

See if you can get the advantages of brown sugar in your favorite recipes without leaving the comforts of your home by reading our guide to 7 delightfully sweet brown sugar substitutes before you head to the grocery store to grab another box.

1. White Sugar

Although brown sugar and white sugar have different looks and functions, it may seem impossible, but bear with us. If you’re out of brown sugar, you can achieve a similarly sweet outcome by substituting an equivalent amount of granulated white sugar for the brown sugar.

But since brown sugar adds moisture to recipes, you could discover that using granulated white sugar in place of brown sugar results in a different texture—for example, a crispier cookie as opposed to a chewy, soft one.

Read Also: 6 Fiery Alternatives to Paprika

2. DIY Brown Sugar

You probably never think to create brown sugar at home instead of purchasing it from the grocery store. Surprisingly, though, brown sugar doesn’t come with a lot of extra features. All you need to manufacture brown sugar at home is molasses and granulated white sugar.

Add one tablespoon of molasses to each cup of white sugar for light brown sugar and two teaspoons to each cup of white sugar for dark brown sugar. Combine the two versions thoroughly by mixing them carefully.

3. Muscovado Sugar

Like brown sugar, molasses is added to muscovado sugar to give it a deep brown hue. Nevertheless, muscovado contains even more molasses than ordinary brown sugar, which gives it a deeper hue and a flavorful, nuanced taste.

Feel free to use muscovado sugar for brown sugar in cakes, pies, fudge, coffee, or even as a sweet addition to your morning porridge. Look for a light muscovado sugar, which will add the same moisture and flavor as brown sugar, for a version that is about equal.

4. Maple Syrup, Honey, or Agave

These liquid sweeteners are more adaptable than you may expect, even if you might only think of a few applications for them. For sauces and marinades, substituting liquid sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, or agave for brown sugar works well.

However, you will need to change the amounts if you plan to use the sweetener in baked goods. To balance things out, use around ½ cup of the liquid sweetener for every cup of brown sugar called for in your recipe. You can also lower the amount of other liquids by a few teaspoons.

5. Date Sugar

Give the date some thought if you want to reduce your intake of processed sugar. These sweet dried fruits are usually served on an appetizer platter, wrapped in bacon and blue cheese, but they may be used for more than just passing out snacks during the holidays.

Dates also work well as a powder when dehydrated and powdered; they may be sprinkled on cereal or yogurt or used as an excellent substitute for brown sugar or even white sugar in baked dishes.

6. Coconut Sugar

Not only can coconuts provide some of the greatest liquid substitutes, such as coconut milk, cream, and refreshing coconut water, but they also provide a fantastic substitute for brown sugar. This natural sugar, which is made from the sap of the coconut palm, has a caramel-like taste, is low on the glycemic index, and can be used 1:1 in any baked dish that calls for light brown sugar.

But be aware that coconut sugar doesn’t retain as much moisture as brown sugar, which may impact the texture of your baked items. To increase the moisture content, try using some extra fat, such as butter or oil.

7. Raw Sugar

In your daily life, you’ve undoubtedly encountered raw sugar hundreds of times without even realizing it. Have you ever substituted the brown sugar packet for the white one in your coffee? That’s raw turbinado sugar, which has a mellow caramel flavor and a light amber hue that make it a perfect alternative to brown sugar.

Another raw sugar that works well in baking and cooking instead of brown sugar is demerara sugar, but use caution when using it in place of brown sugar:

The finished product may have a little coarser texture than usual since raw sugars are more dry and gritty. To get around this problem, you can melt the sugar in warm butter, oil, or water before adding it to the batter, or you can try grinding it finer in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.