13 Best Golden Syrup Substitutes + Homemade Recipe

My favourite 13 ways to replace golden syrup in baking and cooking recipes and to use for drizzling on pancakes, oatmeal, porridge or birchen muesli.

There are plenty of different options to choose from to substitute golden syrup, including honey, molasses, maples syrup and my homemade recipes for simple sugar syrups infused with fruit or spices. I’ve also included my homemade version of golden syrup, which is very easy to make and taste delicious too.

I’m going to keep to the golden syrup substitutes that are similar liquidity (aka also syrups) to make things a little easier when you are replacing golden syrup in your baking or cooking recipes.

Golden syrup is fairly easy to buy in your local supermarket, but I’ve noticed that smaller supermarkets don’t always stock it.

So, whether you have just run out of golden syrup (or the supermarket doesn’t have one) or you are not a fan of the golden syrup flavour, I’ve got some easy golden syrup substitutes for you, which I’m sure you already have at home.

What is the simplest way to substitute golden syrup? The quick answer

The easiest way to replace golden syrup is to use honey, agave syrup or maple syrup.

There are other ways of substituting golden syrup, so I thought I’d test them for you, so that you can choose the best one to suit your recipe.

Is golden syrup the same sweetness than other sugar syrups?

Because the way how golden syrup is made it’s actually about 25% more sweeter than the same amount of honey or other sugar syrups.

The chances are that most people won’t really taste the difference, but if you wanted to keep the sugar amount at the same level, you would need to use 25% ( 1/4 ) of the total amount of golden syrup replacement more than the recipe tells you.

With some recipes, this might be very easy, but with some you might not have too much of the golden syrup replacement to bind the recipe together (for example when making traditional flapjacks).

Since I don’t think it’s a problem to have a sweets that are a little less sweeter, than the original recipe, I’ve left all ratios to 1:1 (and you may thank me later when your sugar level won’t go through the roof…)

What is golden syrup?

Golden syrup is slightly caramelised white sugar syrup with a thick runny texture and colour like honey. It was originally a by-product of sugar production discarded (and given to the animals to eat), until the manufacturer Abram Lyle realised that with few tweaks he can produce this syrup for baking and cooking too. This was back in 1883 in London, UK, when the golden syrup was invented by treating the sugar syrup (as a by product of cane and beat sugar production) with a citric acid (crystalised concentrated lemon juice). From 1921 the golden syrup is sold under the name Tate & Lyle in the UK with other countries having a similar type of ‘golden syrup’ made locally by their sugar producing companies.

What’s important to note, that golden syrup is still sugar, so it will produce a similar reaction in our bodies are sugar does. In fact golden syrup is about 25% sweeter than regular white sugar.

What does golden syrup taste like?

Golden syrup taste very sweet, almost sickly sweet and the flavour (in my opinion) is actually quite bland.

Golden syrup is a light, golden coloured thick sugar syrup, which pours easily. It has a similar consistency as a light honey.

What is golden syrup used for?

Baking cakes, flapjacks, tray bakes and other sweet treats

Making no bake snack bars and energy balls

Making traditional sweets

Adding sweetness to savoury dishes

To replace honey or other more expensive sugar syrups in cooking or baking recipes

Great for coating seeds or nuts to roast (instead of honey)

To drizzle over pancakes, breakfast porridge, birchen muesli or oatmeal

To sweeten breakfast smoothies

Replacing golden syrup in recipes

Choosing the best golden syrup substitute for your recipe depends very much on what you are cooking or baking. You need to use your judgement which golden syrup substitution will be the best flavour wise, but the consistency (thick syrup) will be the same in all substitutions.

I’ve kept my golden syrup substitution list deliberately focused on sugar syrups with similar consistency and flavour to golden syrup. This means that you can replace the golden syrup substitution with the same amount as the other syrups.

The ratio for golden syrup replacement is 1:1, for example 100 grams of golden syrup can be replaced with 100 grams of honey (or 1/2 cup of golden syrup can be substituted with 1/2 cup of honey). Use whatever measurements your recipe comes in, whether its in grams, spoons or cups.

The cheapest way to substitute golden syrup

The cheapest way to substitute golden syrup is to make your own homemade version from a few basic ingredients that you might already have at home (see the recipe at the end of this blog post) – you will only need sugar, water and citric acid (or lemon juice) to make this recipe.

Honey

Honey is an easy golden syrup replacement as it’s widely available. If you have the lighter type of runny honey (even the cheap version in squeezy bottles) the flavour is going to be very similar to golden syrup.

You can of course use any kind of honey, but the darker the honey is the deeper the flavour will be. Not that that matters that much, but some recipe’s flavour might be altered because of the honey flavour.

Honey is not a suitable substitute for golden syrup if you are following a vegan diet, as it’s considered to be a product made by animals. Honey is also usually more expensive than golden syrup, so if you are on a budget choose basic honey.

If the golden syrup is originally used for baking or cooking (instead of sugar), then use the cheapest honey you can buy. If the honey is baked or cooked (treated with heat) it reduces any health qualities the honey has, so you don’t need to use the best quality. Keep a good quality honey for drizzling on pancakes, puddings or breakfast porrridge.

How to use – Use honey to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio

Agave syrup

Agave syrup is widely available in supermarkets and the cost is comparable to maple syrup, so slightly more expensive than golden syrup.

You can use agave syrup as a sweetener in baking, cooking and also for drizzling on breakfast pancakes or baking healthy granola bars or muffins.

Agave syrup is the perfect replacement for golden syrup as it’s light and has only a slightly darker colour and flavour to golden syrup.

How to use – Use agave syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio

Date syrup

Although you probably won’t find date syrup in regular supermarkets, they are usually stocked by Mediterian food shops, where date syrup is a quite common sweetener.

As you can imagine, date syrup is thick, sweet and has a very rich flavour. This might suit some recipes, but if you want to achieve a similar flavour and colour as golden syrup, I’d suggest diluting the date syrup with corn syrup, glucose or honey to get a slightly milder flavour similar to golden syrup.

How to use – Use date syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio. If you prefer a milder taste, dilute date syrup 1/3 date syrup to 2/3 glucose, corn syrup or light honey

Maple syrup

Although maple syrup is a great replacement for golden syrup as it’s natural, less sweet and suitable for people with IBS, it’s also fairly pricey.

A lot of maple syrups are blended with cheaper syrups, such as carob, golden syrup or honey, which is great if you are looking after your money, but if you want the real maple syrup, the prices can be quite high.

How to use – Use maple syrup to substitute golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio. If you have a dark maple syrup and you prefer a milder taste, dilute the maple syrup with honey, agave or corn (glucose) syrup) with 2/3 maple syrup and 1/3 of the lighter syrups.

Rice Syrup

Rice syrup has a mild flavour, and whilst it’s a little less sweet than golden syrup, it’s a very good replacement as it has a similar flavour and thickness.

I don’t always see rice syrup in supermarkets, but when I do, I’ve noticed that the price is very similar to agave syrups and definitely cheaper than maple syrup, so I think it’s a good substitution all round.

Rice syrup is plant based, so it’s suitable for vegan and vegetarian diets.

How to use – Use rice syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio

Stevia syrup

The syrup version of stevia is also very versatile. It’s light in colour and flavour, which looks and taste very similar to golden syrup.

It’s also a lot less sweet and with fewer calories than regular sugar syrups, so it’s a great substitution for golden syrup.

How to use – Use stevia syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio

Pancake Syrup

Pancake syrup is a cheaper version of maple syrup, usually made from corn syrup (glucose – inverted sugar) and flavoured with brown sugar and a small amount of real maple syrup or maple syrup flavouring.

Pancake syrup is mainly used for drizzling on a pancakes, but you can also use it for general cooking and baking.

Whilst pancake syrup is less common in the UK (and you might not always find it in your local supermarket), it’s a staple syrup in the USA and Canada. I thought I’d mention pancake syrup in case you’ve seen it on the supermarket shelves in the UK and wondered whether it can be used instead of golden syrup.

How to use – Use pancake syrup (or diluted maple syrup) to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio

Molasses syrup

Molasses syrup is very thick and rich in flavour, in fact on it’s own is probably too flavoursome to replace golden syrup as it is.

If you have the extra ingredients, I would suggest to blend molasses syrup with honey, glucose or other lighter-coloured syrups to get slightly lighter syrup. 1/3 of a portion of molasses syrup to 2/3 portion of the lighter syrups should give you a good well balanced substitution for golden syrup.

How to use – Use molasses syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio. If you prefer a milder taste, dilute molasses syrup with these ratios: 50% molasses syrup and 50% of glucose, corn syrup or light honey for fairly strong flavour or 1/3 molasses syrup to 2/3 of glucose, corn syrup or light honey, agave or other light syrups, including homemade sugar syrups to make a lighter version of molasses

Carob Syrup

Similarly to date syrup, carob syrup is not something you’ll find in a regular food shop.

I first tasted carob syrup in Malta, where carob trees are grown and the carob trade was fairly common back in medieval times as carob powder was a cheaper alternative to dark chocolate.

Carob syrup doesn’t taste much like chocolate, but it’s thick, sweet and rich in flavour. If you happen to come across it in your health shop or online it’s worth using, although since it’s fairly pricey, I wouldn’t use it for baking, but drizzling over puddings, pancakes or adding to baked fruits.

How to use – Use carob syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio. If you prefer a milder taste dilute carob syrup with these ratios: 50% carob syrup and 50% of glucose, corn syrup or light honey for fairly strong flavour or 1/3 carob syrup to 2/3 of glucose, corn syrup or light honey, agave or other light syrups, including homemade sugar syrups to make a lighter version of carob syrup.

Corn Syrup

This one is for my American friends – if you have a corn syrup at home, than you can easily use it to replace golden syrup. You can use it as it is for baking or cooking – the texture of corn syrup is perfect for this and the flavour won’t spoil any recipe.

Slight problem is that corn syrup doesn’t have much of a flavour – well it taste like a thick sugar syrup with no flavour at all.

To add flavour and colour, I use 1-3 teaspoons of brown, light brown or molasses sugar (or other coconut sugar substitutes ) dissolved in a small amount of hot water.

Add a tiny pinch of salt and mix this with 1/2 – 1 cup of corn syrup (depending on how much flavour you want to add) to achieve a very good replacement for golden syrup!

How to use – Use corn syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio. If you prefer to add more flavour to corn syrup see notes above.

Glucose

Glucose is slightly thicker than corn syrup and it’s also white ‘see through’ thick syrup, that’s usually used in baking, cooking or making traditional sweets.

I use glucose for my chocolate making, so I do have a stock at home all the time and use it for other purposes, like thinning down date, carob or molasses sugar syrups to replace golden syrup.

You can find glucose syrup in the baking section of any large supermarket.

You can use glucose for cooking and baking instead of golden syrup. It will add the sweetness that golden syrup has, but not the flavour.

How to use – Use glucose syrup to replace golden syrup in a 1:1 ratio. If you prefer to add more flavour to glucose syrup see notes above for corn syrup.

Flavoured sugar syrups

To replace golden syrup you can also use most sugar syrups. The closest ones in colour and flavour are going to be made from light or brown sugar.

You can also use my homemade syrup recipes which will also work as replacements for golden syrup. Only use them if the syrup flavour complements your recipe, although the syrup flavours are not overpoweringly strong.

All of these homemade sugar syrups are perfect for drizzling over pancakes, oatmeal or breakfast porridge and you can also use them for making hot or cold drinks and also to sweeten breakfast smoothies.

• Brown Sugar Syrup (most versatile type of sugar syrup) >>
• Earl Grey Sugar Syrup >>
• Pear Simple Sugar Syrup >>
• Cardamom Infused Sugar Syrup >>

Homemade golden syrup

Sugar, water and lemon juice are the cheapest way to replace golden syrup and the chances are you probably have all of these ingredients at home already!

Making golden syrup at home is actually very easy. The key ingredient here is the lemon juice (or citric acid if you have it), which helps to invert the sucrose into fructose and glucose, keeping the golden syrup nice and runny (and not return back to crystalisate state – like the sugar at the beginning of the recipe.).

The golden colour is achieved by simmering the sugar mixture to slightly caramelise and thicken the sugar mixture.

Ingredients for homemade golden syrup recipe

Sugar – white granulated or caster sugar

Water

Tiny pinch of salt

Lemon juice

How to make golden syrup recipe at home 

Measure out the water and sugar and place together in a medium sized saucepan.

Add a small pinch of salt.

Leave to dissolve the sugar on a very low heat.

Once the sugar is completely dissolved, bring the sugar to boil as rapidly as you can by increasing the heat.

Once the sugar is boiling, add the lemon juice and reduce the heat so that the sugar is only simmering.

Leave the sugar to continue to simmer on a very low heat for another 5-10 minutes or until the sugar syrup thickens a bit and the colour changes from white to light gold or amber in colour. Don’t stir or leave the boiling sugar unattended.

Take the sugar off the heat and leave to cool down for 5 minutes before pouring it into a large jam jar.

Keep stored in a kitchen cupboard and use within 2-3 months.

If you don’t use your homemade golden syrup within few months, you might notice that it will start to crystalise. You can easily re-vert this by placing the jar (opened) in a saucepan with a small amount of water. Keep on a very low heat and let the golden sugar to get back to it’s liquid state.

This blog post was originally written on 22 February 2023 and last updated on 12 March 2023