Substitute Honey for Sugar | Blue Flame Kitchen (2024)

Honey is Mother Nature's original sweetener. Full-bodied flavour and made right here in Alberta, there are lots of reasons to use honey in our recipes. One of the main reasons people choose to sub honey in is because they think it's a healthier choice than sugar.

In truth, honey does have some benefits, like being less processed and having more micronutrients. But we have to be careful. Honey is sweeter and higher in calories than sugar. Plus, honey’s a liquid ingredient, while sugar’s a solid. Before you go swapping out the sugar in your Mee-maw’s famous baking recipes, there are some things you might need to consider first.

To substitute 1 cup of sugar:

1. Use 2/3 cup honey. Honey is sweeter than sugar, so you need to use less.
2. Decrease other liquids in the recipe by 1/4 cup, because there’s water in the honey too.
3. Lower the baking temperature by 25°F. Honey makes baked goods brown faster.
4. If there’s already another acidic ingredient in the recipe, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda when you use honey. Honey’s an acid, so if there’s buttermilk, molasses or banana in the recipe, you’ll need to cancel it out with some baking soda.

TIP: Spray measuring tools with cooking spray before measuring honey to help it slide out easily.