How to Substitute Honey For Sugar in a Recipe

Honey is superior to sugar in that it has more vitamins and minerals, is sweeter, and raises one's blood sugar more slowly. It is unrefined and natural. It also will keep your baked goods moister longer. Here's how to substitute honey for the sugar in a recipe.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Recipe and ingredients
• Honey

1. 
   Banana Nut Bread is a Quick Bread

   Choose a recipe to experiment with. Quick breads or muffins are a good place to start.

2. To start with, it's a good idea to substitute up to half of the sugar in a given recipe. Once you've experimented more and have a better handle on how it works, you can try a higher percentage of honey. Here are the principles of substituting honey for sugar:

3. Up to one cup, honey can be substituted for sugar in equal amounts. For example, you can substitute 1/2 cup of honey for 1/2 cup of sugar called for in a recipe. Over one cup, use about 2/3-3/4 cup of honey for every cup of sugar. This is because honey is actually sweeter than sugar.

4. Honey is a liquid, so you'll need to reduce the liquid in the recipe a little. Do this at a rate of 1/4 cup less liquid for every cup of honey used in the recipe.

5. Honey is also a little acidic. To counter-act this, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for every cup of honey used.

6. Honey causes baked good to brown more quickly, so reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees F and watch carefully as the time gets close.

Tips & Warnings

• If you can, get your honey from a beekeeper rather than a grocery store. Local honey helps with allergies. Grocery store honey can have up to 20 percent water added and still be called "pure" honey.
• Write down the changes you make to your recipe so that you can repeat it.
• Honey should never be given to infants under 1 year.
• Honey is made of glucose and fructose. Although it is better for diabetics than sugar because it raises the blood sugar more slowly, it still must be used in moderation.

[rebeccasue]

on 6/16/2009 so informative. I am ready to start cutting down on my consuption of refined white sugars with hardly any nutrtional content, and this article helps. I will try this on my bread recipes.

[jaynalala]

on 5/28/2009 thats interesting. ill have to try and use honey. but i know its great when i drink tea. 5*

[AbbyNormal]

on 1/17/2008 Have wondered how to do this.

[bmi57]

on 11/1/2007 Great article. Thank you.