Passion Fruit Syrup substitute

Best substitute

Passion fruit pulp or puree plus sugar

Equal volumes pulp and sugar, warmed until dissolved; use 1:1 with the syrup

Best for Hurricanes, Jungle Birds and tiki drinks

Close match

The genuine article, and by far the best option. Frozen passion fruit pulp is sold in Latin and Asian groceries as maracuya, and six or eight fresh fruits scooped out will do the same job.

Other passion fruit syrup substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Passion fruit nectar or juice, reduced with sugar
Different taste
Simmer 2 cups nectar with ½ cup sugar down to about 1 cup; use 1:1
Bottled passion fruit nectar is widely stocked but far too thin and dilute to stand in for syrup directly, so you concentrate it.
What changes
Twenty minutes on a low simmer does it.
Best for
cocktails, when only the nectar is available, batching a whole bottle at once, glazes for chicken and pork
Rounder and sweeter than a pulp-based syrup, with a slightly cooked, jammy edge from the reduction, so the drink loses a little of the bright top note. Most nectars are already sweetened, so taste before adding the full amount of sugar. If you skip the reduction and use nectar straight, the drink comes out watery and under-sweetened and you will need to add syrup separately.
3Mango or guava syrup plus lime juice
Different taste
Use the same amount plus ½ tsp lime juice per ½ oz of syrup
The nearest tropical neighbours.
What changes
Neither has passion fruit's sharpness on its own, which is exactly what the lime is there to supply.
Best for
tiki drinks with several other ingredients, rum punches, frozen and blended drinks, mocktails
Rounder, softer and considerably sweeter, tasting warm and mellow where passion fruit is sharp and perfumed, so a Hurricane made this way drinks like a pleasant tropical punch rather than the specific drink. The lime restores the acid and about half the brightness. Mango leans creamy and heavy; guava is a touch closer because it carries its own faintly musky perfume.
4Pineapple juice with lemon juice and simple syrup
Taste and texture differ
3 parts pineapple juice, 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts simple syrup; use 1:1 with the syrup
The all-supermarket rescue, and better than it sounds because pineapple shares some of passion fruit's tropical ester character while lemon supplies the acid.
What changes
Best for
rum drinks and punches, when no passion fruit product is available at all, large batches, marinades
Clearly pineapple rather than passion fruit, so anyone who knows the drink will notice, but it lands in the right flavour neighbourhood and keeps the sweet-and-sour balance intact. It is thinner than syrup, so the drink loses a little richness in the mouth; using rich syrup made with 2 parts sugar to 1 part water fixes that. A few drops of orange blossom water adds a perfumed note that helps considerably.
5Passion fruit jam or jelly, thinned
Taste and texture differ
2 parts jam to 1 part hot water, whisked and strained; use 1:1
Actual passion fruit, already sweetened, and shelf-stable, which makes it a genuinely good option that people overlook.
What changes
Best for
single cocktails, shaken drinks, where the jam breaks up properly, desserts and fillings, yoghurt and porridge
Cooked and jammy rather than fresh, with the bright aroma dulled by the boiling that set the jam, and it carries pectin, so the result is thicker and slightly gluey compared with syrup. Strain out the seeds unless you want them. Shake hard rather than stirring, or you will find a lump of jam at the bottom of the glass.
6Passion fruit soda, reduced
Different taste
Simmer 3 cups soda down to about 1 cup; use 1:1
An improvised route using the passion fruit sodas sold in Latin and Caribbean shops, which contain real flavouring and a lot of sugar already.
What changes
Best for
emergencies, punches, when a corner shop is your only option
The bubbles die immediately and the result is sweet, bright orange and one-dimensional, tasting of confectionery rather than fruit, with a slightly artificial finish. It is sweet enough that you should not add sugar. A good squeeze of lime and a pinch of citric acid or a drop of lemon juice makes it much more usable by putting back the sourness the soda lacks.
7Orange and lime juice with simple syrup (the honest least-bad option)
Different taste
2 parts orange juice, 1 part lime juice, 2 parts simple syrup; use 1:1
Stated plainly: there is no substitute that delivers passion fruit's aroma without some form of passion fruit.
What changes
This replaces the structure only, and it is what to do when nothing else is available.
Best for
keeping a cocktail balanced when the flavour cannot be matched, punches with many ingredients, last resort
The drink will be sweet and sour in the right proportions and will not taste broken, but the specific perfumed tropical note is simply absent, and it drinks like a generic citrus cocktail. A drop of orange blossom water or a tiny piece of star anise steeped in the syrup adds back some of the floral complexity. Be honest with yourself about which drinks can survive this: a Hurricane can, a passion fruit martini cannot.

What is Passion Fruit Syrup?

Passion Fruit Syrup is Passion fruit syrup is a thick, sweetened passionfruit concentrate, often labelled maracuya syrup, used by the half-ounce in tiki drinks and cocktails to add sugar and intense tropical aroma in one pour.

Cooking tips

Do not boil passion fruit hard when making syrup. The aroma sits in volatile compounds that a rolling boil drives straight off, which is why homemade syrup made over gentle heat tastes vivid and reduced-in-a-pan versions taste like jam. Warm just enough to dissolve the sugar, then cool.
Passion fruit is genuinely acidic, roughly in lemon territory, so a passion fruit syrup does part of the job of the citrus in a cocktail. When you swap in a sweeter, less acidic substitute like mango syrup, add lime juice or the drink will feel flabby even though the sweetness is right.
One fresh passion fruit yields only about 2 tablespoons of pulp, so a cup of homemade syrup needs eight or so fruits. Frozen pulp is far cheaper and, because the fruit is processed ripe, often more aromatic than what you can buy fresh.
For tiki drinks, make a rich syrup with 2 parts sugar to 1 part liquid rather than the usual 1:1. Tiki recipes are built around lots of crushed ice, and a thin syrup gets diluted into nothing by the time the drink is served.
Strain, or do not, deliberately. Passion fruit seeds are edible and crunch pleasantly, and some bartenders leave them in for looks. In a shaken drink they will float on the foam; in a stirred or long drink they sink and get in the way of the straw.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the passion fruit syrup out?

Not without changing the drink substantially, because it is both the sweetener and the dominant flavour. If you omit it, at minimum add an equal amount of simple syrup so the drink stays balanced against the citrus and spirit, and accept that it will taste like a plain rum sour rather than a tropical drink. In a dessert where it is the only flavouring, there is nothing left, so choose a different dessert.

Is passion fruit syrup the same as passion fruit puree?

No, and mixing them up will unbalance a recipe. Puree or pulp is unsweetened fruit, sharply acidic and much thinner in sugar; syrup is that fruit blended with roughly its own volume of sugar. If a recipe calls for syrup and you use puree, add an equal volume of sugar. If it calls for puree and you use syrup, cut the recipe's other sweeteners substantially.

How do I make passion fruit syrup from scratch?

Scoop the pulp from six to eight ripe fruits, or measure out half a cup of frozen pulp. Stir it together with half a cup of sugar in a small pan over low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved, no more than two or three minutes, then take it off the heat. Strain if you want it seedless. It keeps about two weeks in a sealed bottle in the fridge, or freeze it in an ice cube tray.

Can I use passion fruit liqueur instead?

Only with adjustments. Passion fruit liqueur such as Passoa is alcoholic and less sweet than syrup, so swapping it in 1:1 makes a stronger, drier drink and will throw the balance of a carefully built cocktail. Use about the same volume but add a teaspoon of simple syrup per ounce, and reduce the base spirit slightly. In a non-alcoholic recipe or a dessert it is not a suitable swap at all.

What is the best substitute for a passion fruit martini?

This is the drink where substitutes struggle most, because the entire point is the aroma. Frozen passionfruit pulp with sugar, or a good passion fruit nectar reduced down, are the only swaps that really work. If you have neither, mango puree with a squeeze of lime plus a couple of drops of orange blossom water makes a genuinely nice drink, but it is a mango martini and worth calling one.

Related substitutes

More sweeteners substitutes

Passion Fruit Syrup substitute

Other passion fruit syrup substitutes

2Passion fruit nectar or juice, reduced with sugar

3Mango or guava syrup plus lime juice

4Pineapple juice with lemon juice and simple syrup

5Passion fruit jam or jelly, thinned

6Passion fruit soda, reduced

7Orange and lime juice with simple syrup (the honest least-bad option)