Healthy Homemade Vanilla Bean Syrup
This Healthy Homemade Sugar-Free Vanilla Bean Syrup has all the flavor of real vanilla beans but without the high fructose corn syrup, granulated sugar, artificial food flavorings and preservatives… just pure vanilla goodness!
This all-natural, low-calorie Vanilla Syrup is incredibly versatile.
Swirl it into plain yogurt to give it some oomph.
Drizzle it over boring oatmeal to make it less… boring. 😉
Add it to smoothies, milkshakes, frostings and more!
Don’t you just love seeing all those tiny black speckles? It’s like a sweet tooth’s “caviar”
This Sugar-Free Vanilla Bean Syrup is just as sweet and comforting as regular storebought vanilla syrup, but without the calories, sugar-rush and sugar-crash.
This syrup is sweetened with all-natural stevia rather than high fructose corn syrup, granulated white sugar, sucralose or aspartame, so you can feel good about making (and serving) this. Try finding a storebought version without corn syrup or sugar as its primary ingredients!
Healthy Sugar-Free Vanilla Bean Syrup
Ingredients
- 3½ cups Water
- 2 tbs Vanilla Paste
- 2 tsp Liquid Stevia Extract or 2 cups Stevia in the Raw
- ¾ tsp Xanthan Gum
- ⅛ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender and puree until smooth and even. Give it a taste and add more stevia if you like.
- Pour into serving bottles and refrigerate to store.
As a comparison, here is the nutrition label for Torani’s Vanilla Syrup.
Compared to Torani, my Sugar-Free Vanilla Bean Syrup has a fraction of the calories and carbs, with none of the sugar. But the goodness doesn’t end just there! My recipe doesn’t contain any sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate (preservatives) either… most of Torani’s syrups do, unfortunately.
To use this syrup in coffee, add the syrup to your cup/mug/glass first and then whisk in a splash of coffee. Once it’s thoroughly mixed in, stir in the rest of your coffee. For me, the sequence goes:
- Add a little syrup (about 2-3 tablespoons) along with some Truvia
- Add a little bit of coffee
- Whisk
- Pour in the rest of my coffee (like, a gallon of it, since I’m a caffeine addict, mwahaha)
- Then stir in unsweetened vanilla almond milk
Deee-lish-us.
Surely not as sinful as it looks and tastes!
Mmmm… vanilla-flavored coffee here I come! 🙂
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
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This looks so delicious!! Is it ok if I eat several spoonfuls straight up? 😀
This sounds wonderful! I’ve made syrups with stevia before, but of course they’re very thin and watery. Using xanthan is such a smart idea! Lovely photos, too. 🙂
Aw thanks Ricki!! 🙂
Yup, Xanthan gum is definitely the trick here. I mean, storebought syrups use the same thing!
Wow, this looks so good! I actually am making some extract now since I ran out and decided I should just create my own. I should give this a go once the extract is done. ^^
-Aya
Thanks so much Aya! I hope you get a chance to make this syrup once your extract is done. DIY Vanilla Extract is so much fun to make 😀
How long will this last in the refridgerator? Thanks!
I’m not sure exactly how long it lasts, but since it doesn’t require any cooking, I would say ~1-2 months 🙂
I hope you like the recipe!
Hello! I am ur fan! Just read this entry tho. I will definitely come back n browse for more.
Xantan gum is hard to find around here can i substitute with anything else?
Thank you for the recipe!
I’m afraid xanthan gum is a key ingredient in this recipe. Guar gum might be able to substitute the xanthan, but xanthan gum is more popular. I buy mine online from Amazon because grocery stores don’t carry it that often.
Love it! Do you think it could work with vanilla essence if I can’t find the real thing to make the paste?
And have you ever tried using cornstarch instead of xhantam gum for your syrup recipes??
I wouldn’t recommend using vanilla essence because it’s usually an artificial/imitation flavoring… and it might make the syrup taste a little strange. Corn starch usually requires cooking in order to thicken, and it could make the syrup bland or even gritty. I’d recommend keeping the recipe as is 😀
I hope you like it Mary!
Just wondering if you could use his on pankakes or waffles?
Absolutely! This is amazing on pancakes and waffles. My favorite is putting this on waffles because the little “dips” in the waffles allow them to hold more syrup 😉
Hope you like the recipe! 😀
Hi, I’m wondering if this could be used to replace maple syrup/honey in recipes where those are the sweetener used, but you can’t substitute it with reg stevia because of the volume/liquid difference. Does this make sense?
It really depends on the recipe you need to replace syrups in… I think it would work just fine in smoothie recipes or even no-bake recipes, but it might not work in baked goods like muffins and cakes. I haven’t tried it though, so if you’re up for some recipe-testing, feel free to give it a shot! 😀
You, dear lady, are a culinary genius! I was so excited to add you to my “Reading List” after spending a better part of the week reading through all of your recipes. I am going to definitely be making many of these goodies in the upcoming weeks as I’m trying to also jump on the healthier path. This recipe will be first. I’ve been looking for a replacement for my normal sugar-laden coffee creamer and am going to give this a shot with some Almond Milk! It’ll probably also end up on my protein pancakes. Thanks for sharing, and keep up the great posts… I’ll be copying most of them! 😉 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
You are awesome!! So glad you found my blog and recipes 😀
I hope you love love love all the recipes you try. I like adding this syrup to blended coffees, like a Coffee Milkshake. It’s also yummy on pancakes 😉
Merry Christmas!
-Jess
Hi, I love vanilla and this syrup looks amazing. My problem is I can’t get stevia in the raw here (Brazil) and the import costs when buying from, for example Amazon, are prohibitive. The only things you can get here are the tiny packets of stevia (like you use in coffee etc). But it seems that I can’t substitute as that would be an awful lot of packets for the required 2 cups! I’m not entirely sure what the difference is, but do you think I could make the syrup with stevia from the packets and if so, any idea how much. It is so frustrating not being able to get the ingredients for so many amazing-sounding recipes! Thanks!
Usually, 1 packet of sweetener used for coffee is as sweet as 2 tsp of sugar… so, you’d probably need about 48 packets! You could always cut the recipe in half for a smaller batch?
I hope this helps Fiona! 😀
-Jess
Thank you for this recipe! It is delicious in coffee. 🙂 Have you ever tried modifying this to make a chocolate syrup? (like for making a mocha macchiato?)
Hi Connie! Thanks so much for coming back to tell me how you liked the recipe 🙂
I haven’t tried making a chocolate version but that’s definitely on the to-do list now!
Can you use vanilla extract instead of the paste?
Absolutely! Just note that the syrup will just be a vanilla syrup then, not a vanilla bean syrup. You won’t get any of those pretty black flecks throughout. But it’ll still be good! 🙂
Is there a sweetener you can use that will not give it that artificial sweetener aftertaste? I trying to stay away from sugar but HATE the aftertaste.
Hey, I don’t know if you’ll see this since it’s been like 6 months, but I substituted 1 cup of erythritol instead of the stevia and it turned out great! I bought the erythritol at my local bulk food store, it was very inexpensive.
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Hi Jessica 🤗..
You mentioned lemon flavor in your post but somehow I couldn’t find it mentioned in the recipe. Does that mean the recipe above is now updated to omit lemon flavor as an ingredient?
I also went on reading the maple syrup recipe and in there too was a mention of lemon flavor in the post and comments but not as part of the ingredient list.
Thanks Jess, you are awesome as usual.😚
Oops! Yeah, I recently updated the recipe because I found that the lemon flavor, although it helped brighten up the flavor, was totally optional. I’ve made this syrup countless times with and without it, and it’s honestly good either way 🙂
I updated the post — thanks so much for bringing this to my attention! If you try the recipe, I hope you love it! <3
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Hi Jessica, so I substituted the 2 tbls paste with 2 tbls of extract. The alcohol flavor is overpowering. Do you know if I can substitute, and if so, should I use less extract?
That’s the exact reason why I used vanilla paste in this recipe and not vanilla extract. I’m not really sure if there’s anything you can do because you can’t get rid of an alcohol flavor. I guess you could try cooking it over the stove for a little bit, but I haven’t tried that. Good luck!
Just curious how long this will last without a preservative? Do you store in the refrigerator? I’m concerned since water is a breeding ground for bacteria how this is “preserved”. Looks interesting and would love to try if you can let me know about the issue of preservatives.
Cheers,
I store my syrup in a mason jar in the fridge. The longest it’s lasted for me is a month, because I will finish it by then or before that 🙂
Hi,
What is the purpose of the xanthan gum? Is it only used to thicken the syrup? Or are there other reasons you have it in your recipe? I would prefer a thin consistency because I would use it primarily as a coffee flavoring. Do you think the recipe would work without the xanthan gum?
Thanks
Yep! The xanthan fun thickens the mixture, and it also helps keep it mixed so you don’t have to shake it every time you use it. The recipe would taste the same without the xanthan gum but it would be very watery and you’d need to shake it before using 🙂
Hello! Mine is very thin and watery yet i followed the directions! Any suggestions?
You can simply add more xanthan gum to thicken it 🙂
Would monk fruit work?
I haven’t tried it but if it’s the same brand then I’m sure it would work just fine!!
Hi, I’m loving this recipe. Do you think I could sub coconut sugar for the Stevia? I know that you use a lot less stevia than sugar. Coconut sugar you use the same amount as sugar. What do you think the ratio would be?
Thank you!
I made this as the recipe recommends and It didn’t come out that great. I’m wondering if the type of vanilla paste used is important? Mine had a strong alcohol flavor to it that stuck around in the end recipe (I never bought a vanilla paste before and could only find one in the baking aisle of Michaels). I also used a liquid stevia/monk fruit blend which might have affected the end sweetness? I’m going to try adding another tsp of liquid sweetener and doing a short simmer on the stove to see if maybe the alcohol burns off.
For anyone saying theirs is coming out too liquidy, let the mixture setup in the fridge for a few hours. It thickens up a lot. At first I thought mine was way too watery as well.