How to Make Brown Sugar

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Making brown sugar is so easy – you’ll need just 2 ingredients and 5 minutes! Whip up a batch of soft light or dark brown sugar for all your favorite recipes.

Spoonful of homemade brown sugar. Text overlay reads, "How to Make Brown Sugar".

Have you ever started a recipe, pulled out everything you needed, and didn’t realize until halfway through you were missing a key ingredient?

I wish I could say that doesn’t happen to me, but it does every now and then and it drives me CRAZY!

Several years ago, I was in the middle of creaming butter, getting ready to make cookies. It wasn’t until AFTER I added the white sugar and rummaged through the pantry that I realized we were completely out of brown sugar. YIKES!

That’s the first time I learned how to make brown sugar, and I’ve honestly never purchased it again!

WHY MAKE BROWN SUGAR

I started making brown sugar myself and I haven’t stopped, because:

It’s cheaper than buying it.
You only need two ingredients (both of which are shelf-stable).
It is SUPER easy to make…
And much more convenient!
It’s no more extra work.
You can make it HEALTHIER than pre-packaged.
You can make it either light or dark, depending on what you need.
It works the same in every recipe!

That last one would have been a deal-breaker. If this homemade brown sugar didn’t work the same in my recipes, there would be no point in making it, right?

Except that it DOES work – in every recipe I’ve ever made – so it makes sense to keep on making brown sugar myself!

Measuring cup of sugar and a small bowl of molasses on a cutting board.

HOMEMADE BROWN SUGAR RECIPE INGREDIENTS

You only need two ingredients to make brown sugar:

White sugar
Molasses

I should mention here that we want to start with better-quality white granulated sugar. This can be Turbinado (also known as raw sugar or Demerara) or coconut palm sugar, both of which are less processed than typical granulated sugar.

The Harvard School of Public Health says that it’s important to limit sugar, so while we’re being mindful of how much sugar we consume, we can choose the best ingredients for those times that we make special recipes like this yummy Apple Slab Pie!

HOW DO YOU MAKE BROWN SUGAR WITHOUT MOLASSES?

Molasses is a key ingredient in brown sugar, so I don’t recommend skipping it… however, if you’re REALLY in a pinch, you could skate by using maple syrup as a substitute.

Be sure to add a jar of molasses to your shopping list though. It adds an incredible depth of flavor, it’s shelf-stable, and will last you FOREVER! Look for unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap.

Find dark molasses at either Thrive Market (Click here to see the Exclusive Offer for Crumbs readers!) or Vitacost (which offers great deals and discounts).

So how do you make brown sugar? It’s just two easy steps!

Step 1. Combine granulated sugar and molasses in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Large bowl of sugar and molasses. A whisk is nearby.

Step 2. Use the paddle attachment to combine until the sugar looks brown and soft.

Pretty simple, right? And of course, if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a large bowl and a whisk. I don’t recommend a food processor or blender for this recipe since that will cut the sugar crystals too small.

Whether you use a stand mixer or mix it by hand, there will be a phase when the molasses brown sugar looks clumpy and wet, as if it will never come out looking just right.

Keep stirring and it’ll soon look the perfect texture. Trust me!

Large bowl of homemade brown sugar with a whisk stirring.

HOMEMADE BROWN SUGAR: LIGHT AND DARK

The best part about making this homemade brown sugar is that you can make it both light AND dark with the exact same ingredients!! The main difference between the two is the amount of molasses.

To make light brown sugar, use 2 Tablespoons of molasses for every cup of granulated sugar.
To make dark brown sugar, use 4 Tablespoons of molasses for every cup of granulated sugar.

This is a HUGE time and money saver in the long run. Plus, I hardly ever bought dark brown sugar in the first place, and I even avoided recipes that called for it because I knew I didn’t have it on hand. Now I can whip up a batch whenever I need it!

BROWNING SUGAR RECIPES

When I have a recipe calling for browning sugar, I just measure the white sugar and molasses together into the mixing bowl and keep going. Unless you specifically need JUST brown sugar for something, you don’t need to mix it up separately to add to a recipe. This works well in recipes like these:

You can also use your homemade brown sugar for these purposes:

Stir it into a bowl of Instant Pot Oatmeal
Sprinkle it onto a sliced peach
Top a Baked Sweet Potato
Make a crumble topping, like the one on these Banana Nut Muffins
Whip up a batch of Homemade Barbecue Sauce or Sweet and Sour Sauce
Spoon it on a slice of bread with butter!
Use it in a variety of marinades, crumbles, crisps, and sauces!

Large glass bowl with homemade brown sugar and a whisk.

BROWN SUGAR FAQS

How do you store homemade brown sugar?

You can store homemade brown sugar in an airtight container at room temperature for at least 1 month.

Does brown sugar go bad?

On its own, brown sugar should last indefinitely, although it may harden as it loses moisture and will eventually become less flavorful. However, other contaminants can cause brown sugar to grow mold or go bad. If your brown sugar looks or tastes off, toss it and start again.

What are the dark pieces in brown sugar?

Sometimes you’ll see small darker chunks in your store-bought brown sugar. Those are simply bits of molasses that didn’t get mixed in all the way.

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