Stevia substitutes
Stevia substitutes — 7 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Also called stevia extract, stevia leaf extract, stevia sweetener
Use Monk fruit sweetener
1 packet for every 1 packet stevia
Monk fruit sweetener is the closest swap: use it packet for packet, since both are zero-calorie and one packet of either matches about 2 teaspoons of sugar. If you have neither, use 2 teaspoons of sugar per stevia packet, which adds about 8 grams of sugar. In baking, check which stevia the recipe means: a cup-for-cup baking blend swaps with any other cup-for-cup sweetener, while a recipe built on a teaspoon of pure extract has no bulk to replace.
- Verdict —
- Works
- The tweak —
- Match the form: packets for packets, drops for drops, cup-for-cup blend for cup-for-cup blend.
- Best for —
- coffee, tea and cold drinks
Updated 8 Oct 2026 · no sponsored swaps
But first: what’s the stevia doing?
Pick your caseWhich form of stevia does the recipe use?
Use a monk fruit or sucralose packet for each stevia packet. If sugar is fine, use 2 teaspoons of sugar or 1 ½ teaspoons of honey per packet. Add it to taste; this is the forgiving case.
Notes on monk fruit sweetener, sucralose (Splenda), granulated sugar or honey
1 packet per packet
Swap in any other cup-for-cup sweetener at the same measure. A monk fruit and erythritol blend, Splenda Granulated or regular sugar all replace it 1 cup per cup, because the blend was built to match sugar's volume and sweetness. Some baking blends are twice as sweet as sugar and say to use ½ cup per cup of sugar; for one of those, use 2 cups of the replacement per cup.
Use pure monk fruit extract in the same small amount and taste the batter. The recipe gets its bulk from something else, such as fruit puree or extra flour, so adding a cup of sugar or erythritol in its place changes the batter.
Notes on monk fruit sweetener
1 packet per packet
Use allulose or erythritol, starting with 2 ½ teaspoons per packet. Neither has stevia's bitter, licorice-like finish; erythritol has a cooling note and allulose has none.
Notes on allulose or erythritol
2 ½ tsp per packet
Stevia does one job: it sweetens, at 200 to 300 times the strength of sugar, with no calories and no sugars. It adds none of the other things sugar brings to a recipe, such as bulk, browning, moisture or food for yeast. Packets and baking blends are stevia extract diluted with a carrier, usually erythritol or dextrose, so they can be measured; the carrier makes up nearly all of the packet's weight. The right substitute depends on which form the recipe uses and whether the recipe has to stay sugar-free.
Every option, one card
Ranked · per 1 packet stevia| # | Substitute | Instead of 1 packet stevia | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monk fruit sweetenercoffee, tea and cold drinks | 1 packetWorks | Works |
| 2 | Sucralose (Splenda)coffee and tea | 1 packetWorks | Works |
| 3 | Erythritoldrinks and oatmeal | 2 ½ tspTweak it | Tweak it |
| 4 | Allulosecold drinks and iced coffee | 2 ½ tspTweak it | Tweak it |
| 5 | Granulated sugarcoffee, tea and lemonade | 2 tspTweak it | Tweak it |
| 6 | Honeytea | 1 ½ tspYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 7 | Xylitolcoffee and tea | 2 tspTweak it | Tweak it |
| Not a swap | Aspartame (equal), in baking | not a swapNot for this | Not for this |
Monk fruit sweetener
close, less bitter aftertaste
Another zero-calorie plant extract, also far sweeter than sugar and sold in the same forms: packets, drops, pure powder and baking blends.
- Best for
- coffee, tea and cold drinks, yogurt and oatmeal, recipes written for stevia packets or drops
- Texture
- no change
- Prep
- Match the form: packets for packets, drops for drops, cup-for-cup blend for cup-for-cup blend.
- Suits
- keto, vegan, gluten-free
A monk fruit packet is made to match 2 teaspoons of sugar, the same as a stevia packet. Many people find it has less of the bitter, licorice-like aftertaste. Monk fruit blends bulked with erythritol, such as Lakanto Classic, measure like sugar and are not packet-strength; read the label for the sugar equivalent.
Sucralose (Splenda)
sweet, no licorice note, its own aftertaste
The yellow packet. An artificial zero-calorie sweetener that holds its sweetness in hot drinks and in the oven.
- Best for
- coffee and tea, baking with Splenda Granulated in place of a stevia baking blend, sweetening fruit and sauces
- Texture
- no change
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- keto, vegan, gluten-free
One Splenda packet also equals the sweetness of 2 teaspoons of sugar. Splenda Granulated measures cup for cup like sugar and can replace a cup-for-cup stevia baking blend. It is not plant-derived, which matters if that is why the recipe chose stevia.
Erythritol
clean with a cooling note
A zero-calorie sugar alcohol about 70 percent as sweet as sugar. It is a spoonable sweetener, so it takes far more volume than stevia.
- Best for
- drinks and oatmeal, baking where some bulk is welcome, anyone who dislikes stevia's aftertaste
- Texture
- adds bulk
- Prep
- Start with 2 ½ teaspoons per packet and add more to taste.
- Suits
- keto, vegan, gluten-free
Erythritol has a cooling aftertaste and dissolves slowly in cold drinks. In a baking recipe written for pure stevia, it adds dry bulk the recipe did not plan for; that is harmless in small amounts and changes the batter in large ones.
Allulose
like sugar, no aftertaste
A rare sugar with almost no calories, about 70 percent as sweet as sugar, that dissolves and tastes like sugar with no aftertaste.
- Best for
- cold drinks and iced coffee, sauces and syrups, soft baked goods
- Texture
- adds bulk; browns in the oven
- Prep
- Start with 2 ½ teaspoons per packet and add more to taste.
- Suits
- keto, vegan, gluten-free
Allulose dissolves easily, even cold, and has neither stevia's bitterness nor erythritol's cooling note. In the oven it browns faster than sugar. On a US label it counts toward total carbohydrate but not toward sugars.
Granulated sugar
rounder, no aftertaste
The sweetness a stevia packet is designed to match. The plain answer when the recipe does not have to be sugar-free.
- Best for
- coffee, tea and lemonade, sauces and dressings, baking in place of a cup-for-cup stevia blend
- Texture
- adds bulk, browning and moisture
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free
Two teaspoons of sugar is about 8 grams of sugar and about 30 calories; stevia has neither. For a cup-for-cup stevia baking blend, use 1 cup of sugar per cup. For a recipe that uses only a teaspoon of pure stevia extract, swapping in sugar means adding about a cup of dry ingredient, so use a recipe written for sugar.
Honey
floral, clearly honey
A liquid sugar that is a little sweeter than granulated sugar by volume and brings its own flavor.
- Best for
- tea, yogurt and oatmeal, smoothies, dressings and marinades
- Texture
- adds a little liquid
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegetarian, gluten-free
This is a sugar, not a sugar-free swap: 1 ½ teaspoons of honey has about 8 grams of sugars. Maple syrup works at the same amount. Both add a recognizable flavor and a little liquid. Honey is not vegan and should not be given to children under 1 year old.
Xylitol
close to sugar
A sugar alcohol as sweet as sugar, spoon for spoon, with a mild cooling note.
- Best for
- coffee and tea, baking where bulk is welcome
- Texture
- adds bulk
- Pantry
- Special trip
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free
Xylitol is toxic to dogs even in small amounts, so keep it and anything made with it away from them. It is not calorie-free: it has about 40 percent fewer calories than sugar and counts as carbohydrate on the label.
Aspartame (equal), in baking
loses sweetness when heated
The blue packet works in a cold drink, packet for packet, but it is the one common sweetener that does not survive the oven.
- Best for
- cold drinks only
- Texture
- no change
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
Aspartame breaks down with prolonged heat and loses its sweetness, so a cake or a long-simmered sauce sweetened with it comes out barely sweet. Stevia is heat-stable, so a recipe that bakes with stevia needs a heat-stable replacement: monk fruit, sucralose, erythritol or allulose.
Don’t swap it here
2 cases- A baking recipe written for sugar, with pure stevia swapped back in for the sugar.Use a cup-for-cup sweetener, or a recipe developed for stevia.
- The sugar that feeds yeast in bread dough, or the sugar in jam, jelly or other preserves.For bread, use the small amount of real sugar or leave it out and allow a longer rise. For preserves, follow a tested low-sugar or no-sugar recipe and the pectin it names.
Questions
6 questionsWhat is the best substitute for stevia?
Monk fruit sweetener in the same form: packet for packet, drops for drops, or cup-for-cup blend for cup-for-cup blend. It is also a zero-calorie plant extract, and many people find the aftertaste milder.
How much sugar equals one packet of stevia?
Two teaspoons. One stevia packet is made to match the sweetness of 2 teaspoons of sugar, which is about 8 grams of sugar and about 30 calories.
What can I use instead of stevia powder?
It depends on the powder. For packets, use a monk fruit or sucralose packet, or 2 teaspoons of sugar each. For pure stevia extract powder, measured in fractions of a teaspoon, use pure monk fruit extract in the same amount and adjust to taste. For a cup-for-cup stevia blend, use another cup-for-cup sweetener at the same measure.
What can I substitute for stevia in baking?
If the recipe measures stevia in cups, it is a baking blend: replace it with a monk fruit and erythritol blend, Splenda Granulated or sugar, 1 cup per cup. If the recipe uses a teaspoon or less of pure stevia, replace it with the same amount of pure monk fruit extract. Do not use aspartame, which loses its sweetness in the oven.
Can I use honey instead of stevia?
Yes, where sugar is acceptable. Use about 1 ½ teaspoons of honey per packet of stevia in tea, yogurt, oatmeal or a dressing. That adds about 8 grams of sugars and a honey flavor.
Is Truvia the same as stevia?
Truvia is a stevia product. The packets and spoonable jar are stevia leaf extract blended with erythritol, which gives them volume. Other brands use different carriers; Stevia In The Raw packets use dextrose. All are made so that one packet matches about 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Tips for substituting stevia
5 tips- One stevia packet matches the sweetness of 2 teaspoons of sugar. That is the conversion printed on the major brands' boxes.
- Liquid stevia strength varies by brand, from about 4 to 10 drops per packet. Check the label, start at the low end and add drops 2 at a time.
- Before swapping in a baking recipe, look at how much stevia it uses. Cups mean a baking blend; a teaspoon or less means pure extract.
- Add any concentrated sweetener in halves and taste. Too much monk fruit or sucralose tastes harsh in the same way too much stevia does.
- Erythritol dissolves slowly in cold liquid. Stir it into a hot drink first, or use allulose for iced coffee and lemonade.