Learn how to make simple syrup at home. An essential kitchen knowledge to have in your back pocket to sweeten your cocktails, iced tea, iced coffee, fruit juice and more.
Simple Syrup (also called the sugar syrup) is a basic sugar-and-water solution commonly used for making cocktail drinks such as mojito, mint julep, daiquiri, sangria, fizz and so on. As the name suggests, simple syrup is one of the easiest ingredients you can make at home. It is very useful when it comes to making all kinds of beverages aside from cocktails. Because the sugar is already dissolved into the water, you don’t need to worry about tasting the grainy texture of sugar in your drinks.
The ratio of Sugar and Water for Simple Syrup
Generally, the ratio of sugar to water can range anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1. It all comes down to how rich you want your syrup to be. The richer syrup will require more sugar. With more sugar as a preservative, the syrup can be kept longer in the refrigerator. I use granulated sugar to make my syrup, but feel free to try different sugars. Each sugar may take different time to dissolve. If you use brown sugars such as turbinado or demerara sugar, they will be more complex in flavor because of the molasses but it may yield a brownish syrup. It works great with iced coffee, homemade ginger-ale and cocktails made with brown spirits.
I usually use my simple syrup as a sweetener for iced tea, lemonade, green tea matcha latte and fruit juice like Watermelon Juice. If you know you will be using the simple syrup for your iced beverages throughout the summer, I recommend making a larger batch. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month.
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- 1 cup water
- 1-2 cups sugar
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Bring the water to a boil and dissolve the sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly. Once sugar is dissolved completely, remove from the heat. Let it cool and then store in a glass jar/bottle.
The syrup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
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Hi, these simple syrup with a few teaspoon vinegar can be use as substitute for mirin right? Also, some people said that mirin can be substitute with honey is it true?
Hi Nizam! Mirin is basically sake + sugar. So it’s not the same (for both taste and effect) if you mix simple syrup with vinegar.
I always say 1 Tbsp. mirin can be substitute with 1 Tbsp. water + 1 tsp. sugar. I tasted both, and it tastes different (of course) but the sweetness is about the same.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Made the 2:1 ratio… turns out great! Next time I think I’ll try turbinado for a change.
Hi Kaye-Lani! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂