Maple syrup substitutes
Maple syrup substitutes — 8 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Also called pure maple syrup, real maple syrup, Grade A maple syrup, amber maple syrup, dark robust maple syrup, maple sirup, pancake syrup (not the same thing — that is flavoured corn syrup)
Use Homemade maple-style syrup
Per 1 cup maple syrup
1 cup packed brown sugar + ½ cup water
The only swap on this page that actually tastes of maple, because it borrows the flavour from a bottle of extract rather than pretending another syrup will do.
It depends on whether you are pouring it or baking with it. For pancakes and waffles, the closest thing is a syrup you make in five minutes: simmer 1 cup packed brown sugar with ½ cup water for 3 minutes, then stir in ½ tsp maple extract off the heat. For baking, 1 cup honey per 1 cup maple syrup works — add 2-3 tbsp of extra liquid, since honey is drier than maple syrup — or use 1 cup packed brown sugar plus ½ cup water.
- Verdict —
- Tweak it
- The tweak —
- Simmer 1 cup packed brown sugar with ½ cup water for 3 minutes, then stir in ½ tsp maple extract off the heat.
- Best for —
- pouring over pancakes, waffles and French toast
Checked 22 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps
But first: what’s the maple syrup doing?
Pick your caseIs the maple syrup going into a batter, or straight onto the plate?
The maple flavour is the entire point here, and no other syrup has it. Make the five-minute brown sugar syrup below with ½ tsp maple extract, which genuinely reads as maple. If you have no extract, use honey or golden syrup and accept that it is a different topping, not a maple one.
Notes on homemade maple-style syrup, honey or golden syrup
1 cup packed brown sugar + ½ cup water per 1 cup maple syrup
Here the syrup is sugar plus water and the aroma is mostly lost to the oven anyway. Honey works cup for cup if you add 2-3 tbsp of extra liquid, and brown sugar plus water is exact. There is more on the baking case at for baking.
Notes on honey, brown sugar + water or golden syrup
1 cup per cup
Any syrup browns and glazes. Honey and golden syrup are the easiest; brush it on in the last 5 minutes rather than at the start, because all of these darken faster than you expect.
Notes on honey, golden syrup or brown sugar + water
1 cup per cup
Anything that dissolves cold will do, and the maple note is not doing structural work. Agave is the most neutral; a plain sugar syrup is free.
Notes on agave nectar or brown sugar + water
¾ cup per cup
These recipes are built on maple syrup's specific sugar make-up and boiling behaviour, and nothing here replaces it. See the Do-not-swap section below.
Answer one question first: will anyone taste the maple, or is the syrup just sugar and liquid in a batter? If it is going on a plate, the flavour is the point and only maple extract gets you there — simmer brown sugar and water and stir the extract in off the heat. If it is going into a batter, work from the numbers instead: a cup of maple syrup is about a cup of sugar plus half a cup of water, so any swap has to account for both. Honey is drier than maple syrup, so add 2-3 tbsp of liquid; golden syrup and corn syrup are thicker and sweeter, so use ¾ cup and thin them.
Maple syrup is two-thirds sugar and one-third water, so it is sweetener and liquid at once. Its sugar is plain sucrose, so it is no sweeter than sugar, and nothing else has its aroma.
Moisture & hydrationprimary
The other third is water, so a cup of syrup is carrying about ½ cup of liquid into the bowl; replace it with dry sugar and the batter comes out stiff, replace dry sugar with it and the batter comes out slack.
Sweetnessprimary
About 66% sugar by weight, and mostly sucrose, so spoon for spoon it tastes roughly as sweet as dissolved table sugar rather than sweeter — which is why honey and agave swaps need scaling down and rice syrup needs scaling up.
Aroma & flavor identityprimary
The woody, faintly vanilla-caramel smell comes from compounds formed while the sap boils, and nothing else in the pantry has it — which is why the honest answer for pancakes involves maple extract rather than another syrup.
Browning & colorsecondary
Its sugars caramelise readily, so glazed carrots and roast salmon take colour quickly; on a hot grill or under a broiler it will scorch in the last minute if you are not watching.
Every option, one card
Ranked · per 1 cup maple syrup| # | Substitute | Instead of 1 cup maple syrup | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homemade maple-style syruppouring over pancakes, waffles and French toast | 1 cup packed brown sugar + ½ cup water + ½ tsp maple extractTweak it | Tweak it |
| 2 | Honeybaking, where the maple aroma would be lost anyway | 1 cupYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 3 | Pancake syrup (table syrup)pouring on pancakes and waffles when it is what is in the fridge door | ¾ cupYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 4 | Brown sugar + waterbaking, where you can put the sugar and the water in separately | 1 cup packed brown sugar + ½ cup waterYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 5 | Golden syrupwhen a butterscotch flavour suits the recipe | ¾ cup + 2 tbsp waterYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 6 | Light corn syrupwhen you want no added flavour at all | ¾ cup + 2 tbsp water + 2 tbsp brown sugarYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 7 | Agave nectarcold drinks and cocktails, where it dissolves without stirring | ¾ cupYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 8 | Molassesdark spice cakes and gingerbread, where bitterness is welcome | ½ cup + ½ cup packed brown sugar dissolved in ¼ cup waterYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
Homemade maple-style syrup
close, and recognisably maple, but simpler
The only swap on this page that actually tastes of maple, because it borrows the flavour from a bottle of extract rather than pretending another syrup will do.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Sweetness
- Aroma & flavor identity
- Browning & color
- Amount
- 1 cup packed brown sugar + ½ cup water + ½ tsp maple extract for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Then
- Bring the sugar and water to a simmer, stirring, and hold it for 3 minutes until it thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon in a thin film. Take it off the heat, stir in the maple extract and 1 tbsp butter if you want gloss, and cool 5 minutes. It thickens further as it cools, so stop while it still pours easily.
- Best for
- pouring over pancakes, waffles and French toast, when the maple flavour is the reason the recipe calls for it, making enough for a family breakfast out of pantry staples, drizzling over ice cream or yogurt
- Taste
- close, and recognisably maple, but simpler — real maple syrup has a woody, slightly mineral background this does not
- Texture
- thinner than real syrup unless you simmer the full 3 minutes; it thickens noticeably as it cools
- Look
- a warm mid-brown, slightly cloudier and less clear than bottled syrup
- Prep
- Simmer 1 cup packed brown sugar with ½ cup water for 3 minutes, then stir in ½ tsp maple extract off the heat.
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free
- Add the extract off the heat. Boiled, the aroma compounds drive off and you have wasted it.
- Start with ½ tsp extract per cup and taste. Brands vary a lot in strength, and too much reads as artificial straight away.
- For baking, leave the extract out and just use the sugar and water; the aroma would mostly bake off anyway.
- Use dark brown sugar rather than light if you want it to look and taste closer to a dark, robust grade of maple.
1 cup maple syrup carries about 213 g of sugar and about ½ cup of water, which is exactly what this recipe rebuilds. That is why it can be used in a batter as well as on a plate.
Honey
floral and sweeter; in a cake it reads as honey cake rather than maple cake
The same thickness and roughly the same job in a batter, with a floral flavour instead of a woody one and rather more sweetness.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Sweetness
- Browning & color
- Misses
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- 1 cup honey for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Then
- Add 2-3 tbsp of extra liquid — milk, water, juice — because honey is only about 17% water against maple syrup's 33%, so the swap has quietly taken water out of the recipe.
- Best for
- baking, where the maple aroma would be lost anyway, glazes for salmon, carrots and ham, when honey is the syrup you already own, stirring into oatmeal or yogurt
- Texture
- slightly denser and stickier, and it keeps moist a day or two longer than maple would
- Look
- browns sooner, so tops and edges are darker than the recipe photo, and a glaze looks glossier
- Prep
- Use cup for cup, add 2-3 tbsp extra liquid, lower the oven 25°F.
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, vegetarian
- Add 2-3 tbsp more liquid to the recipe per cup, since honey brings less water than maple syrup did. This is the opposite correction to the one you make when replacing honey with maple syrup, and getting the direction wrong is the usual reason a swapped batter bakes dry and tight.
- Drop the oven 25°F (about 15°C). Honey is high in fructose and browns before maple syrup would.
- Honey is about a fifth sweeter than maple syrup, so if the recipe is already very sweet, cut other sugar by 1-2 tbsp per cup.
- Do not use honey in anything for a child under 12 months — see the safety note.
Best swap for anything baked, worst swap for pancakes — honey on a pancake tastes emphatically of honey. That contrast is the reason this list is ordered the way it is.
Pancake syrup (table syrup)
sweeter and simpler
Corn syrup with maple flavouring and thickeners. On a pancake it does the job it was built for; in a batter its extra sweetness and gums show up.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Aroma & flavor identity
- Browning & color
- Misses
- Sweetness — not covered
- Amount
- ¾ cup pancake syrup for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Then
- Taste before you add more. It is much sweeter than real maple syrup, and ¾ cup is usually plenty.
- Best for
- pouring on pancakes and waffles when it is what is in the fridge door, when you want maple flavour with no cooking at all, sweetening breakfast for children who prefer it anyway, milkshakes and iced coffee
- Taste
- sweeter and simpler, with a slightly artificial maple note that is obvious in anything delicate and unnoticeable on a stack of pancakes
- Texture
- thicker and more clinging than real syrup, because of the added gums
- Look
- darker and glossier in the bottle; in a bake, a slightly gummy, shiny crumb
- Prep
- Use ¾ cup per cup of maple syrup, tasting as you go.
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free, nut-free
- Use ¾ cup per cup and taste; most brands are noticeably sweeter than real syrup.
- In baking, cut other sugar in the recipe by 2 tbsp per cup and do not reduce the liquid — the gums in it already thicken the batter.
- Do not boil it down for a glaze; the thickeners break and it turns stringy.
Listed high not because it is good but because it is the bottle most people actually have, and for its intended job — pouring on breakfast — it works. Check the label: 'syrup' and 'breakfast syrup' mean this; 'pure maple syrup' means the real thing.
Brown sugar + water
caramel and toffee rather than maple; less complex, and about as sweet
Numerically the most exact swap here — a cup of maple syrup really is about a cup of sugar plus half a cup of water — with none of the maple aroma.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Sweetness
- Browning & color
- Misses
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- 1 cup packed brown sugar + ½ cup water for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Then
- For a pourable syrup, simmer 3 minutes until it thins into a syrup and coats a spoon. For a batter, you can skip the pan: add the brown sugar with the dry ingredients and the ½ cup water with the wet ones.
- Best for
- baking, where you can put the sugar and the water in separately, when there is no syrup of any kind in the house, barbecue sauces and marinades, when you want to control the thickness yourself
- Texture
- the same once baked; as a pouring syrup, thinner unless you simmer it properly
- Look
- mid-brown rather than the amber-gold of maple syrup, and slightly cloudy
- Prep
- Simmer 1 cup packed brown sugar with ½ cup water for 3 minutes, or add the two separately to a batter.
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free
- Use packed brown sugar, pressed firmly into the cup, or you will be 25-30 g short.
- In a creamed butter cake or cookie, add the sugar dry rather than as a syrup — the crystals cut air into the butter, which a syrup cannot do, and you get a better rise.
- Simmer for the full 3 minutes if you want a pouring syrup. Under-simmered it is sugar water and runs straight off the pancake.
Because this rebuilds maple syrup from its parts, it is the swap to use when you want to be precise. Add ½ tsp maple extract and it becomes the top row on this page.
Golden syrup
butterscotch and caramel, sweeter than maple and rounder; no woodiness at all
Pale inverted cane syrup with a butterscotch flavour. Thicker and sweeter than maple syrup, so it needs thinning and scaling back.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Sweetness
- Browning & color
- Misses
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- ¾ cup golden syrup + 2 tbsp water for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Then
- Whisk the water in so it pours as thinly as maple syrup does.
- Best for
- when a butterscotch flavour suits the recipe, flapjacks, granola bars and steamed puddings, when you want gloss and stickiness in a glaze, British recipes where it is the native ingredient
- Texture
- stickier and chewier, especially in bars and flapjacks
- Look
- paler and clearer than maple syrup, closer to pale gold than amber
- Prep
- Whisk 2 tbsp water into ¾ cup golden syrup.
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free
- Use ¾ cup, not a full cup — golden syrup is sweeter than maple syrup and much thicker.
- Add the 2 tbsp water, or a pancake syrup made from it will be too thick to pour and a batter will be too stiff.
- Warm the tin in hot water before measuring so it comes out of the cup cleanly.
Not to be confused with black treacle, which is dark and bitter, or with corn syrup, which has no flavour of its own. Golden syrup does taste of something, which makes it a better pancake syrup than corn syrup and a worse neutral swap.
Light corn syrup
sweet and completely plain — nothing behind the sweetness at all
A clear, thick glucose syrup with no flavour and less sweetness than maple syrup, so it needs both thinning and a little sugar added to be a fair swap.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Browning & color
- Misses
- Sweetness — not covered
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- ¾ cup light corn syrup + 2 tbsp water + 2 tbsp brown sugar for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Then
- Warm gently to dissolve the brown sugar, then cool.
- Best for
- when you want no added flavour at all, candy-style bakes, pecan pie and caramel corn, keeping fillings and frostings soft and glossy, when a neutral syrup is a feature, as in a fruit sauce
- Texture
- stickier and chewier than maple; it keeps baked goods soft for days
- Look
- clear to pale gold, noticeably lighter than maple syrup in a finished glaze
- Prep
- Warm ¾ cup corn syrup with 2 tbsp water and 2 tbsp brown sugar until dissolved.
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free
- Add the 2 tbsp brown sugar. Corn syrup is less sweet than maple syrup and a straight swap tastes thin.
- Do not lower the oven; with no fructose it browns less than maple would, not more.
- Add ½ tsp maple extract if you have it, and this becomes a reasonable pancake syrup.
Light corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup are not the same product; the baking-aisle bottle is a glucose syrup. Dark corn syrup has caramel colour and some flavour and is a better match for colour, a worse one for a delicate recipe.
Agave nectar
clean, simple sweetness with nothing behind it
Thin, nearly flavourless and sweeter than maple syrup. Best where you want sweetness and nothing else, and worst where the maple was the point.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Sweetness
- Browning & color
- Misses
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- ¾ cup agave nectar for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Best for
- cold drinks and cocktails, where it dissolves without stirring, salad dressings and marinades, when you want no competing flavour, vegan baking that should not taste of honey
- Taste
- clean, simple sweetness with nothing behind it; on a pancake it tastes like sugar water
- Texture
- thinner in the bottle, and a slightly softer, stickier crumb
- Look
- much paler than maple syrup, and surfaces darken quickly in the oven
- Prep
- Use ¾ cup per cup of maple syrup and lower the oven 25°F.
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free
- Use ¾ cup per cup; agave is sweeter than maple syrup.
- Drop the oven 25°F. Agave is high in fructose and browns fast — faster than maple syrup and faster than honey.
- In a glaze, brush it on in the last 3 minutes rather than the last 10.
We make no health claim for agave; it is a sugar syrup like the rest. Its real advantage is that it stirs into cold liquid instantly.
Molasses
bitter and mineral instead of woody-sweet; unmistakably a different recipe
Included because it is often the only other bottle in the cupboard. It is bitter and only about two-thirds as sweet as sugar, so on its own it takes the recipe somewhere else entirely.
- Covers
- Moisture & hydration
- Browning & color
- Misses
- Sweetness — not covered
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- ½ cup molasses + ½ cup packed brown sugar dissolved in ¼ cup water for 1 cup maple syrup (320 g)
- Then
- Whisk together until smooth. Do not use molasses on its own at a full cup.
- Best for
- dark spice cakes and gingerbread, where bitterness is welcome, barbecue sauces, rubs and baked beans, when the maple syrup was 1 tbsp or less of the recipe, when it is genuinely the only syrup you have
- Texture
- denser and moister, and it keeps very well
- Look
- near-black rather than amber; a maple loaf becomes a dark gingerbread by sight
- Prep
- Whisk ½ cup molasses with ½ cup packed brown sugar dissolved in ¼ cup water.
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free
- Cut it half and half with brown sugar syrup as above, or the result is bitter and under-sweet.
- Do not use it as a pancake syrup. Poured on a waffle it is unpleasantly bitter.
- In a soda-leavened recipe, remember molasses is acidic where maple syrup was neutral, so the batter will rise more — expect a slightly more open crumb.
Only for baked, spiced things. This is the one row on the page where you should ask whether you would rather make a different recipe.
Don’t swap it here
4 cases- Poured over pancakes, waffles or ice cream, where the maple flavour is the whole experience.Make the brown-sugar syrup with ½ tsp maple extract, which genuinely reads as maple. If you have no extract, use less of another syrup and treat it as a different breakfast rather than a maple one.
- Maple candy, maple cream, maple butter, maple fudge or maple taffy on snow.Wait until you have real maple syrup. There is no way to improvise these, and the failed batch wastes a lot of sugar.
- Swapping dry sugar for maple syrup, or the reverse, without changing the liquid.Use the brown-sugar-plus-water row, which accounts for both. Going the other way, remove ½ cup of the recipe's other liquid for each cup of dry sugar you replace with a cup of syrup.
- SafetyA pickle, relish, chutney or barbecue sauce you are canning from a tested recipe.Follow the tested recipe exactly, with the sweetener it names. See the safety note below.
Safety
2 notes- Canning
Do not change the sweetener in a tested canning, pickling or fermenting recipe. Sweeteners differ in water content and acidity, and in a sealed jar the acidity is what keeps the food safe rather than merely palatable. Follow the tested recipe exactly as written.
Source — National Center for Home Food Preservation (opens in a new tab)
- Infant
If you swap in honey, honey must not be given to children under 12 months, including baked into food. Use the brown sugar and water syrup instead for anything an infant will eat.
Source — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (opens in a new tab)
If it went wrong
5 fixes- The homemade syrup is thin and runs straight off the pancake.It was not simmered long enough, so too much water is still in it.Put it back on the heat and simmer 2-3 minutes more, until a spoon lifted out is coated in a thin film rather than a watery one. Remember it thickens a lot as it cools, so stop while it still pours easily.
- The homemade syrup set hard or went grainy in the jar.It was boiled too long and the sugar concentration went too high, or it crystallised as it cooled.Add 2 tbsp water, warm it gently and stir until it is smooth and pourable again. Adding 1 tsp corn syrup or ½ tsp lemon juice per cup at the start stops it crystallising next time.
- The cake made with a syrup swap is gummy or sunken in the middle.Too much liquid. Maple syrup is a third water, and swapping in a drier or wetter sweetener without correcting the recipe's other liquid throws the balance off.Bake it 10 minutes longer with foil over the top if it is still in the oven. If it is out and sunken, serve it as a pudding with cream. Next time follow the liquid correction on the row you used.
- The maple flavour tastes fake and sharp.Too much maple extract, or it was added while the syrup was still boiling.Stretch it with more plain brown sugar syrup until it tastes right. Next time use ½ tsp per cup, stirred in off the heat.
- There is mould on the surface of the bottle of real maple syrup.It was kept at room temperature after opening. Pure maple syrup has no preservatives.Discard it. Do not skim the mould and use the rest. Keep opened syrup in the refrigerator, or freeze it in a plastic container if you buy in quantity.
Measure it
8 measures- 1 cup maple syrupabout 320 g = 11 ozOf that, roughly 213 g is sugar and about ½ cup is water. Every swap on this page comes out of those two numbers.
- 1 tbsp maple syrupabout 20 gHandy when the recipe uses a spoonful or two and you are converting to honey or sugar.
- Maple syrup compositionabout 66% sugar, about 33% waterLegally it must be at least 66% sugar, which is why bottles are so consistent from brand to brand.
- Sweetness against sugarabout as sweet as dissolved table sugarMaple sugar is mostly plain sucrose, unlike honey and agave which are fructose-rich and taste sweeter. This is why honey and agave swaps use ¾ cup rather than a full cup.
- Acidityaround pH 6.5 — essentially neutralIt will not react with baking soda. If a recipe uses soda and calls for maple syrup, the acid is coming from somewhere else, like buttermilk or brown sugar.
- The four gradesGolden Delicate, Amber Rich, Dark Robust, Very Dark StrongThe same product picked at different points in the season; darker means stronger flavour, not thicker. Use Dark or Very Dark for baking and Golden or Amber for pouring.
- 1 cup honey340 g, about 17% waterHalf the water of maple syrup, which is why the honey swap tells you to ADD 2-3 tbsp of liquid — and why replacing honey with maple syrup tells you to take the same amount out.
- Storagecupboard unopened, refrigerator once openedReal maple syrup has no preservatives and will grow mould on the surface at room temperature. If it does, that bottle is finished — do not scrape it off.
Questions
7 questionsWhat is the best substitute for maple syrup on pancakes?
A syrup you make in five minutes: simmer 1 cup packed brown sugar with ½ cup water for 3 minutes until it coats a spoon, then stir in ½ tsp maple extract off the heat (and 1 tbsp butter if you want it glossy). The extract is what does the work — nothing else in the pantry has maple's aroma. Without extract, honey or golden syrup are both good toppings, but they taste of honey and butterscotch, not maple.
Can I use honey instead of maple syrup?
Yes, cup for cup, with two corrections. Add 2-3 tbsp of extra liquid, because honey is only about 17% water where maple syrup is 33% and the swap has taken water out of the recipe, and drop the oven 25°F, because honey's fructose browns early. Honey is also about a fifth sweeter, so in an already-sweet recipe cut other sugar by 1-2 tbsp per cup. Do not use honey in anything for a child under 12 months.
How do I substitute sugar for maple syrup in baking?
Use 1 cup packed brown sugar plus ½ cup water per 1 cup of maple syrup — that is genuinely what a cup of maple syrup is made of. In a batter you do not even need to make a syrup: add the brown sugar with the dry ingredients and the water with the wet ones. In a creamed butter cake or cookie this is actually better than a syrup swap, because the dry sugar crystals cut air into the butter and give you a better rise.
Is pancake syrup the same as maple syrup?
No. Pancake syrup, breakfast syrup or table syrup is corn syrup with maple flavouring and thickeners; pure maple syrup is boiled tree sap and nothing else. On pancakes the difference is mostly one of quality. In baking it matters more: pancake syrup is sweeter, so use ¾ cup per cup and cut other sugar by 2 tbsp, and its gums thicken the batter, so do not reduce the liquid as well.
What is a vegan substitute for maple syrup?
Maple syrup is already vegan — it is tree sap. If you are looking for a bee-free stand-in because you only have honey, use the brown sugar and water syrup, golden syrup, agave nectar, date syrup or corn syrup. All are plant-based. Use brown sugar and water at 1 cup plus ½ cup, golden syrup and corn syrup at ¾ cup plus 2 tbsp water, and agave at ¾ cup.
Does the grade of maple syrup matter for substituting?
For flavour, yes; for chemistry, no. All four grades — Golden Delicate, Amber Rich, Dark Robust and Very Dark Strong — are the same 66% sugar and 33% water, so they behave identically in a batter. Darker grades are picked later in the season and taste much stronger, which makes them the ones worth using where the syrup competes with spices or chocolate.
Can I substitute maple syrup for sugar in a recipe?
Working the other way round, use 1 cup maple syrup per 1 cup of sugar and remove ½ cup of the recipe's other liquid, since that syrup brought roughly half a cup of water with it. If the recipe has not got half a cup of liquid to remove — most cookie doughs have not — use ¾ cup syrup and remove 6 tbsp instead, and expect a slightly less sweet result. Two warnings. Do not do it in a dough that creams butter and sugar, because syrup cannot aerate butter and the cookies bake flat. And maple syrup is neutral, so it will not help a recipe leavened with baking soda the way honey or molasses would.
Tips for substituting maple syrup
8 tips- A cup of maple syrup is about a cup of sugar plus half a cup of water. Keep those two numbers in mind and most substitutions become arithmetic rather than guesswork.
- For a pourable syrup that actually tastes of maple, simmer 1 cup packed brown sugar with ½ cup water for 3 minutes, then stir in ½ tsp maple extract off the heat. Boiling the extract drives the flavour off.
- Maple syrup is close to neutral in acidity, around pH 6.5, so it does not react with baking soda the way honey or molasses do. If a recipe uses soda, the acid is coming from something else.
- Maple syrup is mostly plain sucrose, so it is no sweeter than table sugar. Honey and agave are fructose-rich and taste sweeter, which is why you use ¾ cup of them rather than a full cup.
- The grades — Golden Delicate, Amber Rich, Dark Robust, Very Dark Strong — differ in flavour strength, not thickness. Use the dark grades for baking and the light ones for pouring.
- Pancake syrup is not maple syrup: it is corn syrup with maple flavouring and thickeners. It works on pancakes and behaves differently in a batter, where its gums make the crumb slightly gummy.
- Refrigerate real maple syrup once it is open. It has no preservatives and will grow surface mould at room temperature, and a mouldy bottle has to be thrown away rather than skimmed.
- Brush maple glazes on in the last 5 minutes of roasting or grilling. Its sugars caramelise fast and go from glossy to black in about a minute under a broiler.
Sources — National Center for Home Food Preservation (opens in a new tab), U.S. Food and Drug Administration — honey and infants (opens in a new tab), USDA FoodData Central (opens in a new tab)