What Is Vanilla extract and How Can I Use It?

Wondering what to do with vanilla extract? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 7,290 recipes to put it to work.

Key Points

Pure extract holds 250-plus flavor compounds; imitation is essentially vanillin alone.
Blind tastings show imitation works fine in hot-baked goods; save pure for custards and frostings.
By US standard, pure extract is at least 35 percent alcohol, so it keeps for years uncooled.
One split vanilla bean stands in for about 2 to 3 teaspoons of extract.

What is vanilla extract?

Vanilla extract is cured vanilla beans steeped in alcohol until their flavor moves into the liquid. By US federal standard, the pure version must be at least 35 percent alcohol and made with a set minimum of beans, which is why the real bottle smells boozy and the price stings.

More than 8,000 recipes on Recipeland reach for it, mostly a teaspoon at a time.

Pure extract carries over 250 flavor and aroma compounds. Imitation vanilla carries essentially one, vanillin, usually synthesized rather than extracted.

That sounds like a rout, but it is not the whole story.

Pure, Imitation and When Each Wins

Here is the uncomfortable result from blind tastings: in cookies and other oven-baked goods, imitation vanilla performs about as well as pure, because high heat drives off the delicate compounds you paid for. The expensive bottle's advantages literally evaporate.

So split the job. Use imitation, or the cheaper pure brands, in anything baked hot, like Apple Black Walnut Cake.

Save the good bottle for custards, frostings, whipped cream and anything uncooked, where all 250 compounds make it to the spoon. The cream layer in Nova Scotia Blueberry Cream Cake is exactly the kind of place pure vanilla earns its price.

In stovetop custards, stir the vanilla in off the heat at the end. The aroma compounds are volatile, and a simmering pot sends them into the kitchen air instead of the dessert.

Getting the Most Out of It

A teaspoon is 5 ml, and a teaspoon per batch is the usual dose for cookies and cakes.

More is not better past a point. Extract is bitter on its own, and doubling it chasing flavor lands a boozy, harsh edge in delicate desserts; if you want more vanilla presence, add a scraped bean or switch to paste instead.

Vanilla rounds and connects other flavors rather than standing out. It makes chocolate taste fuller and brown sugar taste warmer, which is why so many recipes include it without the result tasting like vanilla.

Swaps That Work

Vanilla bean paste trades 1:1 for extract and brings the seeds, useful where you want the look of specks in ice cream or panna cotta.

One split and scraped vanilla bean stands in for about 2 to 3 teaspoons of extract, depending on the bean's size and freshness, with more aroma and more cost.

Vanilla powder keeps white icings white and survives dry mixes; start at 1:1 for extract and adjust to taste. Vanilla sugar is sweetener first; if you swap it in, pull back the recipe's sugar accordingly.

You can also just make extract. Five or six split grade B beans in a cup (240 ml) of plain 80-proof vodka, capped, shaken every week or two, and parked in a dark cupboard for six months, beats most store bottles.

Buying and Keeping It

Read the label for the word "pure" and an ingredient list of vanilla bean extractives, alcohol and water. "Vanilla flavoring" with sugar, corn syrup or artificial vanillin in the list is a different and cheaper product, fine only if you are buying it on purpose.

Store the bottle capped in a cool, dark cupboard. The alcohol preserves it for years, and pure extract does not meaningfully expire.

Skip the fridge and the freezer. Cold does nothing for it, and repeated temperature swings invite condensation into the bottle, which slowly waters down the contents.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 cup (208g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 599Calories from Fat 1

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 0.1g 0%

Saturated Fat 0.0g 0%

Trans Fat ~

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 18mg 1%

Total Carbohydrate 26.3g 9%

Dietary Fiber 0g 0%

Sugars 26.3

Protein 0.1g

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 2% • Iron 1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your caloric needs.

recipeland.com/nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find vanilla extract: Vanilla extract is usually found in the baking supplies section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Vanilla extract is a member of the Spices and Herbs US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese: 香草精
British (UK) term: vanilla essence
en français: extrait de vanille
en español: extracto de vainilla

How much does vanilla extract weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 cup	208 grams
1 tbsp	13 grams
1 teaspoon	4 grams

Spices and Herbs

Allspice 904 Allspice berries 37 Star anise 178 Aniseed 23 Bay leaves 2049 Caraway seeds 321 Cardamom pods 100 Cardamom seeds 317 Celery seeds 283 Chervil 65

Recipes using vanilla extract

There are 7290 recipes that contain this ingredient.

List of all ingredients

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