How to Make Vanilla Powder

Making vanilla powder at home using real vanilla beans not only saves you money, but it also enables you have add a lovely, true vanilla flavour to your baking.  Learn how to make vanilla powder in less than 10 minutes for immediate use or for storage. This wonderful powder also makes the perfect edible gift.

Vanilla Products

Vanilla products at the grocery store are not only expensive, they often contain a lot of additives such as sugar, flavourings, preservatives and more. When using good quality vanilla beans, and no additives, you will have an end product with a pure and rich vanilla flavour.

Vanilla extract is a product that is made using vanilla beans and vodka.

Made by infusing sugar with vanilla beans, vanilla sugar is a different product altogether.

Vanilla powder is simply whole vanilla beans ground into a fine powder. It has a stronger flavour than vanilla extract and tastes sweeter. This powder is great for when you want to emphasise the vanilla flavour in a recipe. It can also be used as a natural sweetener.

Storing Vanilla Beans

To make vanilla products, you need high quality vanilla beans. If you buy a bulk lot of fresh vanilla beans and need to store them, add them to a bottle of vodka. 

The alcohol does a great job of preserving the beans so that they never go bad.

Using Vanilla 

Vanilla is a key ingredient in many baking and dessert dishes. It is added to:

• Add to cakes and muffins
• Mix into biscuits / cookies
• Stir into coffee, tea, hot chocolate and other hot beverages
• Sprinkle on fruit
• Add to custard
• Mix into icing / frosting
• A pinch of vanilla powder mixture with a little sea salt is a great topping for biscuits / cookies or caramels
• Add a small amount to homemade jams
• A small amount of powder tastes great when mixed into homemade ice cream or whipped cream
• Blend it into smoothies and shakes
• Combine a little powder with your ground coffee

Substituting Vanilla Products 

• 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract can be replaced with 1 teaspoon of vanilla powder
• 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract can be replaced with 1 teaspoon of vanilla seeds
• 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract can be replaced with 1 whole vanilla bean
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract can be replaced with ½ teaspoon of vanilla powder

Making Vanilla Powder

To make vanilla powder, you will need:

• 4 large vanilla beans
• unbleached baking paper
• coffee or herb grinder or food processor

To make this powder, you will first need to dry the vanilla beans. This can be done by placing them on baking paper and bake in the oven for around an hour and a half to two hours at 77˚C (170˚F). Check on the beans every 30 minutes to see if they are hard. They are ready when they are brittle and break easily. If they are not dry enough, they will not grind, so make sure they are completely dry moving onto the next step.

The beans could also be dried in direct sunlight for a few hours or in a dehydrator.

Once the beans are dried, break them up into small pieces.

Place the broken up pieces into a coffee or herb grinder and grind for 30 – 45 seconds. Check to see how they are, and grind in short bursts until there are no more chunks.

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place until ready to use.

This recipe will make a few tablespoons of vanilla powder. Depending on how much powder you need, you can use more or less vanilla beans.

More Syrup & Extract Recipes

• Vanilla Extract
• Orange Syrup
• Rosella Syrup
• Lime Syrup
• Elderberry Syrup
• Orange Extract
• Lemon Extract
• Mint Extract