Simple Syrup Recipe
- Preparation 2 min
- Cooking 5 min
- Servings 375 ml
- Freezing Absolutely
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🍸 The must-have in every home bartender’s fridge!
If you make cocktails at home, simple syrup is the foundation. Period. Make it once, pour it into a bottle in the fridge, and it’s there every time you need it. No more sugar stuck at the bottom of the glass, no more crunchy crystals. Just sugar that’s already dissolved and mixes in two seconds!
🍋 Cocktails, lemonade, iced coffee and cakes
It’s good for EVERYTHING. In a mojito, a margarita, a mocktail, homemade lemonade or iced coffee. And in baking, you brush it on a cake to keep it moist. While you’re at it, make a whole bottle, it’ll go faster than you think.
🔥 A gentle simmer, nothing more
Sugar, water, a saucepan. That’s it. The only secret: don’t let it boil hard. A gentle simmer, just long enough for the sugar to dissolve. If it boils too much, it reduces and picks up a caramel flavour, and you don’t want that in a cocktail.
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♨️ A gentle simmer, never a rolling boil
It should simmer gently, just enough to dissolve the sugar. If it boils hard, the water evaporates, the syrup reduces and you end up with a caramel taste. As soon as the liquid is clear and there are no crystals left, it’s ready.
🌿 Herbs, always cold-infused
I infuse mint, basil and rosemary cold, 12 hours in the fridge. Heat brings out darker, bitter flavours, and that’s not what you want. Think lavender or lemon zest too: you can flavour it with all kinds of things.
🍯 Flavour ideas
Rich simple syrup (2:1): 2 cups (400 g) sugar to 1 cup (250 ml) water. Sweeter and thicker, perfect for an Old Fashioned. Brown sugar simple syrup: swap the white sugar for brown sugar. It has a hint of caramel and molasses, amazing in iced coffee or a bourbon cocktail. Honey syrup: ½ cup (125 ml) honey and ½ cup (125 ml) warm water, mixed well without boiling. No heat, so the honey keeps its aroma. Maple syrup version: half maple syrup, half water, heated for 1 minute. A Quebec twist for a sour or a lemonade.
🍶 A bottle with a pour spout
If you have one, a bottle with a pour spout is ideal for measuring into cocktails. Otherwise, an airtight jar does the job, it’s not the end of the world.
🧊 How to tell if it’s still good
Plain simple syrup keeps about 2 months in the fridge in an airtight container. Flavoured syrups don’t keep as long. If it turns cloudy, has strands or mould, or smells off, toss it. To keep it fresh, make small batches.
📅 Make-ahead prep
This is THE make-ahead prep for every party. Make your syrup the day before, or even the week before, and keep it in a labelled bottle in the fridge. On the day, all that’s left is squeezing your citrus and measuring. Another idea: freeze it in an ice cube tray and pull out just the cubes you need.
✅ How to use my simple syrup recipe
In my cocktails, to start: my kiwi mojito, my hibiscus margarita and my blood orange and elderflower Tom Collins. For an alcohol-free version, try my cranberry amaretto sour (alcohol-free). And the rich version is perfect in my classic bourbon Old Fashioned.
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Syrup
- 1 cup (200 g) white sugar
- 1 cup (250 ml) water
To flavour (optional)
- Zest of 1 lemon, a few sprigs of lavender or a handful of fresh herbs (mint, basil, rosemary)
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Preparation
- In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water.
- Heat over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Keep it at a gentle simmer: if it boils hard, the syrup reduces and takes on a caramel flavour.
- Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
- For a flavoured syrup, add the zest, lavender or herbs to the cold syrup. Cover and let infuse in the fridge for 12 hours, then strain.
- Pour into a clean, dry, airtight bottle or jar. Refrigerate.
One part sugar to one part water: 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water. That’s basic simple syrup. For a rich simple syrup, thicker and sweeter, use 2 parts sugar to 1 part water.
A 1:1 simple syrup works in most cocktails: mojito, margarita, sours, Tom Collins. A rich 2:1 syrup is better in stirred drinks served over ice with little liquid, like an Old Fashioned, because it dilutes less.
Let your cake cool slightly, poke it in a few spots with a skewer, then brush the syrup over the top of each layer. Go easy: you want a moist cake, not a soggy one.
About 2 months in the fridge in an airtight container for plain syrup. Flavoured syrups don’t keep as long. If it turns cloudy or smells off, toss it.
Yes. Pour it into an ice cube tray and take out just the cubes you need. The sugar keeps it from freezing as hard as water, so the cubes stay a little soft. That’s normal.
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