How to Make Homemade Vanilla Extract

Today’s post is all about vanilla. I have an easy recipe for making your own homemade vanilla extract, but also lots of information on various types of vanilla, where you can buy vanilla beans, and which type of vanilla to use in your baking.

Looking for more posts like this one? Don’t miss how to stack, fill, crumb coat and frost a layer cake, how to make flaky all-butter pie dough, and how to make perfect American buttercream.

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What is Vanilla?

So first, what is vanilla? Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids, of the genus Vanilla. Vanilla beans or pods aren’t even beans, really, but rather the fruit of the orchids. Madagascar produces the majority of the world’s vanilla orchids, but other countries such as Mexico, Uganda, Indonesia and Tahita produce vanilla as well. The beans will have different flavor profiles depending on their place of origin.

Why is Vanilla so Expensive?

Vanilla extract and vanilla beans are notoriously expensive. The price reflects their rarity and the labor involved in growing them. Orchids are finicky plants that are difficult to grow. On top of that, the flowers must be hand-pollinated during a short flowering period by experienced farmers. Then after harvesting, the beans must be treated and cured. The entire labor-intensive process takes a full year from growth to export. Not surprisingly, vanilla is the world’s most expensive spice, second only to saffron.

In 2017, the island of Madagascar was ravaged by storms, which devastated their vanilla crop, driving the price up to more than $300 per pound. The prices have started to drop a little since then, but good quality vanilla continues to be expensive.

Types of Vanilla for Baking

Pure Vanilla Extract

To make pure vanilla extract, vanilla beans are soaked in alcohol to extract their flavor and infuse it into the alcohol. According to the FDA, pure vanilla extract must be at least 35% alcohol with a minimum of 100 grams of vanilla beans per liter. It should not contain any additives like sugar or artificial flavors or colors. When making homemade vanilla extract, you can use high-proof liquor such as bourbon, vodka or rum. The alcohol not only extracts flavor from the vanilla beans, but increases the extract’s shelf life.

Vanilla extract is the most popular vanilla option for baking since it’s easy to find and use. It’s a favorite spice with bakers for all kinds of baked goods and sweet treats, like cakes, cookies, ice cream and custard.

Imitation Vanilla Extract

Synthetic vanillin is a chemical which mimics the flavor of real vanilla without using beans. Food scientists create the chemical in a lab to produce imitation or fake vanilla extract. It can actually have a more concentrated flavor than pure extract, and, depending on the recipe, imitation vanilla extract can be a decent substitute for the real thing.

Reach for the good stuff when making desserts like white cake or vanilla cake, shortbread cookies, vanilla ice cream and custard. But for other baked goods where the vanilla flavor is masked by other more dominant flavors (think chocolate chip cookies, brownies, banana bread and chocolate cake) imitation extract works perfectly fine.

Whole Vanilla Beans

When shopping for vanilla beans, you’ll find Grade A (or Premium) and Grade B. The Grade A beans will be thicker and longer, as well as more expensive, but they’ll contain more seeds. The teeny tiny black seeds inside a vanilla bean are a baker’s gold, sometimes called vanilla “caviar”. Be sure to look for beans that are plump, glossy, moist and fragrant, avoiding any that are dry or brittle.

To extract the seeds, simply split the bean lengthwise with a paring knife and scrape out the seeds. Use vanilla beans when the flavor of the vanilla will be prevalent in your recipe (such as custard, vanilla bean ice cream and vanilla cake). Not only will your desserts taste better, but those tiny black specks throughout look beautiful.

Vanilla Bean Paste

If you don’t want to fuss with splitting vanilla beans, vanilla bean paste is an easy and less expensive alternative. The paste has a consistency like a thick syrup, and is made of vanilla beans, sugar and a natural thickening agent.

You can add vanilla bean paste to any recipe that calls for a whole vanilla bean, using about 1-2 teaspoons of paste to replace 1 bean.

Ground Vanilla

Another interesting product derived from vanilla beans is ground vanilla. This is simply vanilla beans or pods that have been dried, then ground into a powder. You can add the ground vanilla to baked goods, or sprinkle it on top as a finishing spice, which looks gorgeous and tastes delicious.

Vanilla Powder

Don’t confuse ground vanilla (black or dark brown) with vanilla powder (white). Vanilla powder is just vanilla flavored sugar, and you shouldn’t waste your money on it.

Where to Buy Vanilla

Your local grocery store will have a few options for imitation and pure vanilla extract, and they might carry a few whole vanilla beans, too. But I rarely buy vanilla at my grocery store, since it tends to be more expensive there. You can often buy pure vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste (think brands like Nielsen Massey and Rodelle) in the gourmet food aisle at stores like Marshalls and Home Goods for about half the price. Target carries imitation vanilla extract that only costs about $1.00. You can also check local spice shops for extract, paste and whole beans.

I also love the Kirkland brand of vanilla extract, available at Costco. You can get a big bottle for less than you’ll pay for smaller bottles elsewhere.

And of course, there’s Amazon, where I do a lot of ingredients shopping. These are the ones I buy most often:

• Nielsen Massey Pure Vanilla Extract
• Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste
• Rodelle Pure Vanilla Extract
• Rodelle Vanilla Bean Paste
• Mexican Vanilla Bean Paste
• Kirkland Vanilla Extract
• Grade A Tahitian Vanilla Beans
• Grade B Tahitian Vanilla Beans

How to Use up Vanilla Beans

After scraping the seeds out of whole vanilla beans, there are a number of ways to use up the leftover pod.

Make your own homemade vanilla extract.

To make your own homemade vanilla extract, you can soak the beans in alcohol to infuse the alcohol with their flavor.

Dry and grind the beans.

Let the beans air dry for several days until they feel very dry and brittle. Use a coffee grinder or spice grinder to grind them into a powder. Use in baked goods, or sprinkled on top of desserts.

Make vanilla sugar.

Place the bean into a canister of sugar to perfume it with vanilla flavor.

Make vanilla coffee creamer.

Add the bean to a bottle of cream or whole milk to infuse it with vanilla flavor, then use the cream in your coffee.

How to Make Homemade Vanilla Extract

Ingredients  

• 8-10 vanilla beans
• 16 oz good quality, high-proof vodka, rum or bourbon

Instructions 

• First, split the vanilla beans lengthwise with a sharp paring knife. You can either scrape out the seeds to use them in a recipe, or leave the seeds in, which will give your extract even more flavor.
• TIP: If you only have 1 or 2 beans to start, that’s totally fine. Use what you have, and as you use more beans in your baking, you can add those beans to the jar. The more beans you add to the vodka, the darker and more flavorful your extract will be.
• Place the beans in your glass jar, and fill the jar with alcohol.
• Screw the lid on tightly, label the jar with the date, and place in a cool, dry place to rest. Homemade vanilla extract needs at least 3 months (6 months is even better, though) to steep and develop flavor. As noted in the first step, you can continue to add more beans to the jar over time.
• When your extract is ready, pour it into pretty glass apothecary bottles.
• You can keep the old beans in the jar, and just add more fresh beans and alcohol for a new batch of extract.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use vanilla extract and vanilla beans interchangeably in recipes?

You can use vanilla extract in everything, but if a recipe for ice cream, custard or white cake calls for vanilla beans, you really should use beans or paste for the best flavor. You’ll want the best flavor in recipes where the vanilla is prominent.

In general, you can substitute 1 whole vanilla bean with 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or 1-2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste.

How should I store vanilla beans?

First, you should avoid buying more vanilla beans than what you’re able to use up within 3-6 months. To maintain their freshness, store them in an airtight container or bag and keep them in a cool, dry, dark place (like your pantry). They will dry out eventually, so it’s best to use them within a few months. Even if they dry out, making them too brittle to scrape out the seeds, you can still use them to make ground vanilla or homemade extract.

What is French vanilla?

French vanilla is a flavor, not an ingredient, like a creamy, egg-based vanilla custard or ice cream. It’s not an extract that you can use in place of pure vanilla extract.

Where did you get your vanilla extract bottles and labels?

I use these glass amber bottles. The labels I have are similar to these vanilla extract labels.

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