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Homemade Vanilla Coffee Syrup: With only a few ingredients, you can make delicious homemade vanilla syrup to flavor your coffee, tea, sodas, and cocktails.
MAKING FLAVORED COFFEE AT HOME: SO EASY!
Guys, I love Starbucks. I really do.
But if I’m being honest, I don’t love forking over a minimum of five bucks a visit for a latte. I mean – really, it’s just steamed milk and espresso.
I work from home, and if I’m keeping it real, that translates to yoga pants, t-shirts and Birkenstocks until at least 11 am everyday, so making coffee in my own kitchen is totally the way to go.
There are lots of flavored syrups you can buy at the store or from Amazon. But what happens if you run out and forget to buy more?
I know I do not want to be left without my iced coffee before I have to get the kids up and ready for the day. I am not about that life.
So instead I make my own vanilla syrup at home! Perfect for flavoring both hot or iced coffee and I promise that it couldn’t be easier.
If you make your own cold brew concentrate at home, you can grab your homemade vanilla syrup and have a whole coffee shop experience without getting out of your slippers.
HOW TO MAKE VANILLA SYRUP
This vanilla coffee syrup recipe couldn’t be easier to make. It only takes a few simple steps:
- Boil water, sugar and a vanilla bean for about 5 minutes
- Add in a little vanilla extract
- Let it cool, bottle it and store it in the fridge
You could even make a big batch of this homemade Vanilla Coffee Syrup and gift some to any coffee lover in your life! Pour it into a pretty bottle or jar and package it up with some locally roasted coffee for a special gift.
OTHER WAYS TO USE HOMEMADE VANILLA SYRUP
This vanilla syrup is great for flavoring coffee, but it can do so much more than that!
Stir it into tea or add it to sparkling water for a homemade vanilla soda.
You could even keep a small bottle of it stocked as part of your bar cart. Add it to pineapple vodka for a delicious cocktail, or use it to add some vanilla flavor to holiday wassail.
You could even add a splash to homemade strawberry lemonade.
I know you’ll find all kinds of ways to use this vanilla syrup and it will quickly become a recipe you make over and over.
FAQS
How do I store this vanilla coffee syrup?
Store the syrup in a jar or bottle in the refrigerator.
How long will it last?
Here’s the thing: Vanilla coffee syrup is basically a fancy simple syrup, and simple syrups don’t really go bad if they’re kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
In the recipe card notes I tell you that it will last for at least 2 weeks out of an abundance of caution. But if you don’t touch the syrup with your hands or any dirty utensils and keep it sealed in the fridge, it should last a really long time.
Be sure to discard the syrup immediately if you notice that it doesn’t smell right or if you see anything growing on the surface or the sides of the bottle/jar.
What if I don’t have a vanilla bean?
If you don’t have any vanilla beans handy, you can still make this vanilla coffee syrup. Simply omit the bean and use 1 tablespoon of vanilla bean paste in its place, adding it at the same time as the vanilla extract.
Homemade Vanilla Coffee Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups water
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 vanilla bean split in half
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together water, sugar, and vanilla bean.
- Bring to a boil and reduce heat.
- Simmer for about five minutes – the sugar should be completely dissolved.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Once simple syrup has cooled, remove the vanilla bean and pour the syrup into a glass jar or bottle.
- Store in refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What does it mean to split a vanilla bean? Do you remove seeds or not?
Thanks
Hi LA – In this case, you’d use a knife to cut the bean in half lengthwise, but you don’t need to remove the seeds for this recipe. Hope that helps!
-Jamie
Nice tip on the vanilla source. Now to find an extract method.
I’d like to add that Penzey’s offers a double-strength extract – and recommends no adjusting in baking (you get double-vanilla). We tried this and report that it seems to work well and conclude it’s difficult to over-vanilla baked goods.
Double vanilla invites less syrup, which may appeal in coffee drinks.
Thanks so much for your input, Jahn.
I’ll go farther than Christina to say Refrigeration is unnecessary.
I’ve been making simple syrup for about five years – call it bar syrup.
Embury, in his Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, recommends a very rich 3-to-1 sugar-water ratio. 3 cups in 1 cup water perfectly fills a 750ml bottle.
However, this results in crystals, so I’ve cut back the sugar to 2:1 or 3:2. I’ve never used brown sugar and have never refrigerated. That much sugar is hostile to foreign growth – refrigeration is unnecessary.
I just finished off my last batch of vanilla syrup – it took three months to exhaust a 16-oz, reused Toriani Vanilla bottle. I suggest some room temp experimenting and reporting back.
Let’s all just enjoy the vanilla coffee experience,and not worry about calories and sugar content (unless of course if you are diabetic or on dialysis) in today’s world we tend to over analyse and disrupt the enjoyment of it all I wonder what a scoop of ice cream would be like on a steaming cuppa….hmmm
Sounds delicious to me, Jane! Happy Holidays to you and yours!
-Jamie
This is a great recipe.
In bartending and commercial kitchens having simple syrup on hand is a must.
A 1:1 simple syrup will keep in the refrigerator for one month.
A 2:1 (2 parts sugar, 1 part water)will keep in the refrigerator for two months. That’s closer to what you have her.
They never last that long without being used up though. :)
Thank you for the tips, Christina!
Does it taste bad after a week in the fridge?
Hi, Juliana! I usually use it within the week, so I’m not sure if it tastes bad or not. My recommendation is to use it within a week for best results. I hope you enjoy it!
What is the calorie content per tablespoon? thanks!
Hi, Dgal! I’m not sure exactly what the calorie count is, but you could plug the ingredients into this nutrition calculator if you like. I hope you enjoy the syrup!
Love this recipe, I’ve made a ton of it (I can never find vanilla bean so I just use a whole tablespoon of extract). I was wondering if this would work with hazelnut, just replacing the vanilla extract with a hazelnut extract?
Hi, Helen! I would think that could work. If you give it a try, please let me know!
Has anyone ever made this with dark brown sugar? It’s my new favorite thing! I’ve been trying to sub it in place of light anytime that I can! Just wondering if it would work here…
Rob: I think it would be great, probably giving it a richer flavor. Let me know how it turns out!
If you want the syrup to last longer just add a touch of citric acid to so the simple syrup so the suspended sugar doesn’t begin to crystallize.