6 Vegan Honey Alternatives (And a Bonus Recipe!)

By Published On: 8 September 2016Last Updated: 7 October 2020

September is National Honey Month and I thought that it would be the perfect time to talk honey. More specifically, how to avoid honey as a vegan.

vegan honey alternative

What's in this post

September is National Honey Month and I thought that it would be the perfect time to talk honey. More specifically, all the great alternatives to honey.

As vegans, we cannot and should not ignore the ethical implications and environmental consequences of the bee husbandry industry. Doing so reduces our credibility as a serious movement trying to effect real-life change. Honey isn’t some magical ingredient no one can avoid. It’s an animal product that has been mass marketed and mass-manufactured for generations, and it’s been tested on animals.

With so many vegan alternatives available, honey is not only exploitative, it’s unnecessary.

Don’t worry: Finding a replacement for honey is simple. There are plenty of vegan alternatives to help satisfy that sweep syrup craving you may have.

FAQ: Are you really trying to say we should care about bees? That makes vegans look extreme.

Some well-intentioned vegans overlook the use of honey because of the widely spread myth that honey and bee products are all-natural by-products of the necessary pollination of our food crops. Some vegan bloggers and organizations have made matters more confusing by claiming that only extreme vegans avoid honey.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is, consuming honey is not only detrimental to bees, but it also’s damaging to the environment and has dangerous consequences for our food supply. And honey is tested on animals such as cats and dogs, among others.

Sure, it may seem extreme to avoid products made from insects. But offering respect to the littlest members of our world seems logical when thinking about caring for those who are perceived inconsequential or weaker than ourselves.

We can avoid honey and bee products for our survival. So, we should.

Learn more about why honey is not vegan.

Six Plant-Based Alternatives to Honey

While some of these options are more similar to the taste and consistency of honey than others, all of them come from plants.

1. Agave Nectar

Agave nectar is a sweetener commercially produced from several species of the agave plant. That’s right, the same plant that produces tequila, which explains why agave pairs so beautifully in tequila cocktails.

Most agave comes from Mexico and South Africa. Agave is sweeter than honey and tends to be less viscous. Like honey, agave nectar comes in various styles ranging from dark amber to light, each with their distinct flavor. Dark agave has a caramel taste, while the lighter agave is more reminiscent of delicate honey.

» Shop Now for Agave Nectar

 

2. Coconut Nectar

Made from the reduced sap of coconut palms, coconut nectar has a sweet, tangy taste with no coconut flavor. It is high in amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. The nectar also is low-glycemic.

» Shop Now for Coconut Nectar

 

3. Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species.

In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in the spring.

» Shop Now for Maple Syrup

 

4. Molasses

Molasses is made by refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Interestingly, the word comes from the Portuguese melaço, ultimately derived from mel, the Portuguese and Latin word for “honey”.

Perhaps your only experience with blackstrap molasses has been in gingerbread or baked beans. You probably never gave much thought to it, but blackstrap molasses is an excellent source of iron and calcium. Like other plant syrups, molasses has several varieties and flavors. Barbados molasses, for example, is lighter and sweeter than blackstrap and goes perfect in a warm bowl of oatmeal.

» Shop Now for Molasses

 

5. Barley Malt Syrup

Comes from sprouted barley, roasted and cooked down to a syrup with a malt-like flavor. Substitute 1:1 for honey.

» Shop Now for Barley Malt Syrup

 

6. Brown Rice Syrup

Brown rice syrup is a sweetener made by exposing cooked rice to enzymes that break down the starches and turn them into smaller sugars. Then all the “impurities” are filtered out and all that is left is a thick dark syrup with a caramel-like flavor.

» Shop Now for Brown Rice Syrup

 

Make Your Own Vegan Honey

Skip the stores and learn to make vegan honey at home! Here are two recipes to get you started:

BONUS! Vegan Date Paste Recipe

Date paste could almost be the ultimate all-natural sweetener that goes perfect in almost every recipe. It’s smooth and silky and just a bit like caramel. You might think it’s a strange replacement for honey, but it works just as well as honey in any baked good you can dream up. So, goodbye refined sugar and hello healthy one-ingredient easy to make date paste!

A glass dish full of homemade date paste sitting on top of a colorful tea towel.

Simple Date Paste

Prep Time: 1 hour
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Date paste is the ultimate all-natural sweetener that goes perfect in almost every recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pitted Medjool or sweet pitted dates
  • 2/3 cup hot water

Instructions

  1. Place dates into a bowl.
  2. Pour hot water directly over the top until all the dates are fully covered. Let soak for one hour or until soft.
  3. Drain water from the dates and place into a food processor or high-speed blender.
  4. Blend 6 – 8 minutes until completely smooth and creamy.

Notes

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Will keep up to six months.

Let’s talk. What’s your favorite vegan honey alternative? Let me know in the comments!

Disclosure: This guide contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. See my Affiliate Policy for more details.

7 Comments

  1. susan keskin July 8, 2020 at 4:46 pm - Reply

    I got inventive and have made a Jasmin flower,Rose petal and lavender vegan honey,an experiment which is absolutely delicious.sending it as gifts for all my vegan friends.I also have Honeysuckle and Evening primrose growing in the garden and will be giving it a whirl with these this week

  2. […] not about giving anything up. Love dairy? Look for plant milk and plant cheeses. Sweet tooth? Get honey alternatives. Want meat? Grab yourself some tofu, seitan, tempeh, or meat analogues. Want to be fashionable? […]

  3. […] molasses, barley malt syrup, or brown rice syrup. (List of vegan honey alternatives courtesy of Your Daily Vegan […]

  4. Fran November 18, 2018 at 9:08 am - Reply

    Thank you for the date paste recipe, how long will this keep for in the fridge?

    • KD Angle Traegner November 21, 2018 at 11:37 am - Reply

      If you put the date paste in a sealed jar in the fridge, it should last 1-2 weeks. Some people have said that it can keep much longer than that, but it’s never lasted that long in my house to test the theory!

  5. honey vegan - WhoopWellness June 28, 2018 at 11:24 pm - Reply

    […] others, you can rest easy knowing that they are all sustainably sourced from plants. According to an article written for YourDailyVegan.com by KD Angle-Traegner (a Vegan lifestyle blogger), there are six main honey substitutes that will work well for a vegan […]

  6. Shreemayee Chattopadhyay January 30, 2017 at 12:35 am - Reply

    Date paste.

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HELLO! I'm KD Angle-Traegner.

Writer, activist, and founder of Four Urban Paws Sanctuary. I’m on a mission to help people live a vegan life. Read more about KD…

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