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How to use honey instead of sugar in canning and baking recipes
If you’re avoiding refined sugar for health reasons, or if you want to bake and preserve using homegrown or local ingredients, honey is the best natural alternative. You can use honey instead of sugar in both canning and baking once you know a few simple conversion rules, and how to choose the right type for your needs.
Table of Contents
Choosing the right type of honey to use instead of sugar for canning and baking
If you want to use honey instead of sugar in baking or canning, the flavour of the honey itself is something to keep in mind.
The milder-flavoured honeys are the best to use in canning and baking. Clover, blackberry, meadow, prickly box, and other honeys that are considered to be light or mild in flavour work best.
When canning fruit it is especially important to choose a mild-flavoured honey, because you don’t want to drown the flavour of the fruit.
In baking, the flavour of honey does not matter as much as for canning. Sometimes you may want to highlight the flavour of a particular honey in a cake, but if you are simply trying to replace the sweetness of sugar with honey and don’t want it to taste like honey, choose a mild-flavoured honey.
Sugar to honey metric conversions
Converting a metric canning or baking recipe to use honey instead of sugar is really simple: simply replace the sugar with honey 1:1 by weight.
Many baking and canning recipes have too much sugar for my taste, and fruit contains its own sugar as well, so you can often get away with reducing it even further.
Most old-fashioned jam recipes contain equal amounts of sugar and fruit by weight, but in my jam recipe (which I recommend eating within 2 years, but I have eaten 4 year old jam before), I use 600g honey to 1kg fruit.
600g honey to 1kg fruit makes a jam that keeps well unopened, and once opened, it can be kept at room temperature for a few days, or it will keep for a couple of months at fridge temperatures.
Canning fruit without any added sugar (or with reduced sugar)
If you want to reduce the amount of honey even further than the 1kg to 600g conversion above, it’s best to treat the jam as if it were a sauce or fruit purée and process it in a boiling water bath for around 20 minutes for pints or half pints, or 25 minutes for quarts. It will also need to be eaten within a day or two of opening the jar.
In wartime preserving manuals, it’s mentioned that you can safely water bath can fruit without any sugar at all, but that it should be used up within a year. Sugar is used in canned fruit in syrup recipes for flavour, colour, and texture, not for safety reasons. You can definitely follow any fruit in syrup recipe and reduce the amount of honey even further, but like the jam/sauce conversion above, it will need to be eaten quickly once it’s opened, and even unopened it won’t keep for as long on the shelf.
| Sugar to honey metric conversion | Additional changes to recipe, storage, and shelf life |
|---|---|
| Replacing 1 kilogram sugar with 600 grams to 1 kilogram honey | None |
| Replacing 1 kilogram sugar with less than 600 grams of honey (or using no honey at all) | Boiling water bath can 20-25 minutes. Eat within 1 year. Once opened, eat within a day or two. |
Volume conversions for replacing sugar with honey
Converting canning recipes that measure in cups is slightly more complicated than metric, but easy once you learn the following rule: honey weighs nearly twice as much as sugar, so there is more sweetness and preserving power in a cup of honey than there is in sugar, and you’ll need to use less.
1 cup of sugar weighs approximately 180 grams, whereas 1 cup of honey weighs 340 grams.
To replace one cup of sugar with honey in canning or baking recipes, use slightly over half a cup of honey.
| Sugar in recipe | Replace with this amount of honey |
|---|---|
| ½ cup | ¼ cup |
| 1 cup | ½ cup |
| 1 ½ cups | ¾ cup |
| 2 cups | 1 cup |
Baking with honey instead of sugar
To bake with honey instead of sugar in recipes, simply keep to the metric or volume rules for canning (using the same amount, if measuring by weight, or slightly over half a cup of honey for every one cup of sugar).
Real, natural honey will vary in its consistency from year to year. Shortly after pouring, it can be liquid and easy to measure for baking, but after a while, depending on what the bees have been foraging, it can crystallise and become unpourable.
If your honey has crystallised, you will need to melt it before using it in recipes. If you have a jar of honey, you can place it in a pot of warm water (up to 40ºC/104ºF) and this will slowly soften the whole jar. If you have a bucket of honey (or if you’re in a hurry), simply scoop honey with a spoon or fork onto your weighing scale until you have the right amount for the recipe, put it in a small pot, and then melt it over low heat on the stovetop until it’s liquid.
Cakes and other baked goods that use honey instead of sugar can colour up more quickly in the oven. It can help to reduce the oven temperature by 10ºC (18ºF), so that you bake a typical cake at 170ºC (338ºF) instead of 180ºC (356ºF).
Which baking recipes work best with honey?
Honey has a higher moisture content than sugar, so you may find that for some cookie recipes, the texture can turn out different to the same recipe made with sugar. Cakes and muffins are usually the simplest to convert, but you can still make cookies, bars, and slices with honey – if you’re not sure whether it will work or not, test out a small batch first.
How to bake with maple syrup instead of sugar or honey
Pure maple syrup can be used in recipes in the same way has honey (replace the same weight of sugar with maple syrup, or use slightly over half a cup maple syrup to replace one cup of sugar).
The honey-sweet cookies from A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen work beautifully with any kind of maple syrup instead of honey. For any baking recipes where you don’t want to highlight the beautiful maple flavour, you may want to use a light variety of pure maple syrup.
How to use maple syrup instead of sugar in canning
For best results, choose a very mild-flavoured, light-coloured maple syrup. Replace sugar with maple syrup as you would for honey in the conversion tables above, replacing 1kg sugar with 600g maple syrup, or one cup sugar with slightly over half a cup of maple syrup.
How to use coconut sugar instead of white sugar
Coconut sugar is not really suitable for canning, because it has such a strong taste that can overpower the flavour of the fruit. I have used it to preserve quince though, and it works well for that. You can use coconut sugar in some baking recipes where its caramel flavour is welcome – it is particularly good in chocolate recipes. To replace white sugar with coconut sugar, just use the same amount of it (either in volume or metric) that you would for white sugar in a baking recipe.
More recipes and resources for canning and baking without white sugar
How to preserve blueberries without sugar
How to make jam without white sugar
Quinces: how to prepare, cook, and preserve them
Bosc pears poached in coconut sugar
Whole grain sourdough cinnamon raisin bread
Light and fluffy fresh milled flour pancakes
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to can fruit with honey instead of sugar?
Yes. According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation (the USDA-endorsed authority on home canning), sugar is added primarily for flavour, colour, and texture — it is not required for safety. You can safely can fruit in water, fruit juice, or with alternative sweeteners such as mild-flavoured honey.Source: NCHFP – Preparing and Using Syrups for Canning Fruit
Can I can fruit with no added sugar or honey at all?
Yes. The USDA and NCHFP confirm it is safe to can fruit in plain water or unsweetened fruit juice. No change in processing time is needed for safety. The fruit may be softer and the colour less bright, and once opened it should be eaten more quickly.Sources:
• NCHFP guidance on canning without sugar
• Penn State Extension: Canning with Less Sugar
Is maple syrup safe to use instead of sugar when canning fruit?
Yes. Maple syrup is treated the same way as honey for safety purposes. Extension food preservation specialists state that using maple syrup (or honey) to sweeten canning syrup is not a safety issue — it is a matter of personal preference for flavour and texture. Choose a light, mild-flavoured maple syrup for best results.Sources:
• Oregon State University Extension / Ask Extension responses confirming maple syrup is safe for flavouring fruit canning syrups
• Consistent with NCHFP principles that sweeteners are not required for safety in high-acid fruit products
Does reducing or replacing sugar change the processing time?
For fruit in honey syrup, follow the standard tested processing times for that fruit, as you would for a sugar syrup.When you reduce the sweetener significantly or omit it entirely and treat the product more like a fruit purée or sauce, longer processing times (similar to those used for fruit sauces) are recommended for the best quality and shelf stability. Always process in a boiling-water bath according to current USDA guidelines for the specific fruit and jar size.
If you want to follow current USDA guidelines always use tested processing times from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning or the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Can I feed honey-sweetened canned foods and baked goods to babies under 12 months?
It’s best to avoid anything with honey in it (raw or cooked) for babies under 12 months — use maple syrup or coconut sugar instead, or feed the baby egg yolks instead!How do I convert a recipe that uses cups if I only have a scale (or vice versa)?
Use the weight conversion whenever possible: replace sugar with the same weight of honey (1:1 by weight). If the recipe is written in cups, use slightly over half a cup of honey for every 1 cup of sugar. One cup of sugar weighs about 180 g and one cup of honey weighs about 340 g, which is why the volume amount is roughly halved.Can I use the same conversion for brown sugar or other types of sugar?
Yes. Treat brown sugar, raw sugar, or coconut sugar the same way as white sugar for the purpose of these conversions (1:1 by weight or roughly half by volume when replacing with honey).Why does the volume conversion use only about half a cup of honey for one cup of sugar?
Honey is denser and contains more sweetening power per cup than granulated sugar. It also has a higher moisture content, so using a full cup-for-cup volume replacement would make the recipe too sweet and too wet.Will my cookies turn out the same texture when I use honey instead of sugar?
Not always. Honey has more moisture than sugar, so cookies can spread more or turn out softer/chewier. Cakes and muffins usually convert more easily. If you’re unsure, test a small batch first.Do I need to change anything else in the recipe besides the sweetener?
Often yes. Because honey is a liquid, you may need to reduce other liquids slightly in some recipes. Honey also causes baked goods to brown faster, so lowering the oven temperature by about 10°C (18°F) is helpful.Why do honey-baked goods brown faster, and how much should I reduce the oven temperature?
Honey caramelises more readily than sugar. Reducing the oven temperature by 10°C (18°F) — for example baking at 170°C instead of 180°C — usually prevents over-browning while still allowing the centre to cook properly.How do I measure crystallised honey accurately?
Gently warm the jar in a pot of warm water (no hotter than 40°C / 104°F) until the honey softens, or scoop the crystallised honey onto a scale and then melt the measured amount over low heat before adding it to the recipe.What’s the best mild-flavoured honey if I can’t find clover or blackberry?
Look for any light-coloured, mild honey such as meadow, alfalfa, orange blossom, or local “wildflower” honey that is described as mild. Avoid very dark or strongly flavoured honeys (buckwheat, manuka, etc.) if you don’t want the honey taste to dominate.Will strong-flavoured honey ruin my jam or cake?
It won’t make it unsafe, but it can overpower the fruit or other flavours. For canning fruit and most everyday baking, mild honey is preferred. Strong honeys work better when you specifically want the honey flavour to shine (for example in certain cakes or gingerbread).Can I mix honey and maple syrup in the same recipe?
Yes. You can use them interchangeably or in combination using the same weight or volume conversions.Is coconut sugar a 1:1 substitute by volume as well as by weight?
Yes. Coconut sugar can replace white sugar cup-for-cup or gram-for-gram in baking. It is less suitable for canning because of its strong caramel flavour.How long will honey-sweetened jam or canned fruit keep once opened compared to sugar versions?
Honey-sweetened versions (especially those with reduced sweetener) generally need to be eaten more quickly once opened — usually within a few days at room temperature or a couple of months in the fridge, depending on how much honey was used.Which types of recipes convert most successfully to honey?
Cakes, muffins, quick breads, and many pan loaves convert very well. Cookies, bars, and recipes that rely on sugar for crispness or structure can be more variable and may need small adjustments or small batch testing.
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About Kate Downham
Kate Downham has been growing, preserving, and cooking real food since 2007. She is the author of four books on homestead skills: A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen, Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking, Backyard Dairy Goats, and Sourdough Without Fail.
Off-grid with her family of nine in the Tasmanian forest, Kate milks her own goats, makes all their cheese, mills all her own grain, and bakes fresh sourdough bread daily.
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