This post may include affiliate links; see our disclosure policy.

There are several options if you’re all out of honey or need a vegan option! Here’s the best honey substitute to use in baking or recipes.

Honey substitute
Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

In the middle of making a recipe and don’t have honey on hand? Or need to replace honey with a vegan option? Here are all the best honey substitutes! Honey is a natural liquid sweetener with a nuanced flavor. It adds gentle sweetness to baked recipes and a subtle honey flavor.

No refined sugar recipes have become quite popular, so you’ll find many online recipes that use honey (we love using honey in desserts and even as honey syrup to sweet cocktails). If you’re fresh out or need a vegan sub, here are your best options.

Best honey substitute

Note that how these options work depend on the type of recipe and how the honey is used.

1. Maple syrup

The best honey substitute? Maple syrup. Maple syrup has a similar texture to honey, and it’s the perfect vegan substitute! In fact, we prefer maple syrup for its more neutral sweetening flavor. It works great in recipes like no bake cookies, banana blueberry muffins, granola, salad dressings, smoothies, and sauces. Use maple syrup as a 1 for 1 substitute for honey.

2. Sugar of any type

Often honey is used in recipes to replace sugar. So you can simply replace sugar for honey! Sugar actually makes a much better texture in baking recipes like cookies. You can also use it as a replacement in sauces and salad dressings. In small quantities, you can use sugar as a 1:1 replacement for honey. If it’s in larger quantities like in cookies, you can do a 1:1 replacement and you may need to add a little liquid to account for the moisture that honey adds.

Related recipes

Here are some honey recipes:

About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi there! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of two cookbooks, busy parents, and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share simple, seasonal recipes and the joy of cooking. We now offer thousands of original recipes, cooking tips, and meal planning ideas—all written and photographed by the two of us (and tested on our kids!).

Leave a Comment