Have No Fear! It’s Incredibly Easy To Substitute Honey Into Your Recipes

Published on October 2, 2020

honey jar with honey dripping off a spoon

Honey makes everything taste better.

See that golden substance? That’s honey. Use it in all of your recipes!

With an ongoing pandemic and the increasingly autumnal weather, it’s no wonder we’re all baking up a storm. Baking and cooking have become a respite from the stressors of the world, and for good reason. Baking is detail-oriented, requires you to use all of your senses, and you get to enjoy the end product right away, a moment of pure doughy happiness in a sea of uncertainty. So, how can you make that experience even better? Substitute honey in any of your recipes to pay homage to your bees and enjoy the amazing flavors honey imparts with nearly any ingredients.

Time to get sweet.

Delicious Sweet and Savory Honey Recipes

Looking for tested, guaranteed tasty honey recipes? Our recipe book has our top picks.

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Are Honey and Sugar The Same?

Of course not. Honey is far superior. If you don’t want to listen to me, take it from the honey bees. We have honey bees to thank for the success of our agricultural system, so we should follow their lead.

They create honey from the nectar they slurp up from flowers in order to feed their numbers and keep propagating their colony. They need honey, and we need them. Therefore, it would behoove us to show our respect for the bees by cherishing the liquid gold they work so hard to create.

This magical substance is not the same as sugar at all. First of all, honey is made of glucose and fructose whereas sugar is glucose and fructose bound together to form sucrose. Additionally, honey has a lower glycemic index than sugar. That means it doesn’t spike your blood sugar as much.

Finally, honey contains beneficial vitamins and minerals such as magnesium and potassium. It brings more to the table than sugar. Because of the enzymes that honey bees add to the honey during processing, it’s a known treatment for wounds and upper respiratory issues. Additionally, it’s a commonly used treatment for allergies due to the pollen content. But we’re here because it’s darn tasty.

While we don’t advise eating gobs upon gobs of honey (or sugar for that matter), it’s still a wonderful pantry item to swap into your recipes for the reasons listed above. Go ahead and substitute honey into your recipes with reckless abandon.

How Do You Substitute Honey for Sugar In Recipes?

Honey makes everything taste better.

Let’s get to the good stuff. It’s fairly straightforward to swap honey for sugar in any of your favorite fall recipes – pumpkin pie, apple muffins, cranberry walnut scones. With a couple of tweaks in the kitchen, you can enjoy all of the amazing benefits (and flavors) honey offers.

Since honey is sweeter than sugar, you will need to reduce the amount of sweetener called for in the recipe by ¼ to ½. So, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, use a ½-¾ cup of honey. You can swap the honey for sugar equally, but your recipe may turn out sweeter than you intended.
Honey is comprised of up to 18% water, so you will need to reduce the amount of liquid you use in the recipe by about 1/4. If your recipe calls for 1 cup of milk, pour in ¾ cup instead.
The slight acidity of honey can work against it in recipes. Add a pinch of baking soda to offset this quality, since it can contribute to over-browning.
Because honey browns faster than sugar, keep your baked goods golden brown by reducing the temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
Not all honey is created equal. Keep in mind the flavor profiles of your honey varieties and plan accordingly when using them in your favorite recipes. If you need some tips for how to pair honey with certain flavors or ingredients, check out our blog about honey pairing.

Keep these five tips in mind and you will set yourself up to substitute honey successfully.

Final Thoughts

With fall officially here, it’s peak baking time, and we want you to enjoy it as much as possible. Our recipe book, Recipes and Remedies: Using Honey and Other Bee Products to Sweeten Your Life has fall recipes with all your proportions and temperatures already sorted out for you. All you have to do is follow the recipes to create succulent, honey-filled recipes. The pumpkin pie recipe with cream, honey, and baking spices is essential fall baking. With the health benefits of honey and the vitamins in pumpkin, you have our full permission to eat a slice for breakfast, with a dollop of whipped cream for calcium, of course.

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Caitlin Knudsen

Caitlin Knudsen is a content writer for Beepods with a passion for lifelong learning and psychology. She is an avid gardener, grower of houseplants, and does recipe development and food photography in her spare time.