I know how crucial it is to have the right ingredients for each recipe. Brown rice syrup is a commonly used ingredient in baking, as it adds a mild sweetness and enhances the flavors of other ingredients.
However, there may be instances where we run out of brown rice syrup or need to accommodate dietary restrictions. Don’t worry, as there are several substitutes that can provide similar results in our baking.
Below, we’ll explore some of the best brown rice syrup substitutes to use in your baking adventures. So, let’s dive into the wonderful world of alternative sweeteners!
What Is Brown Rice Syrup?
First, let’s clarify, What brown rice syrup is. In short, brown rice syrup is a sweetener made from whole grain brown rice. It has been cooked and then treated with enzymes to break down the starches and convert them into simpler sugars, resulting in a syrup-like consistency.
It is an alternative to traditional sweeteners like sugar, honey, and corn syrup, and is often used in natural and organic foods.
Brown rice syrup has a mild sweetness and a characteristic nutty flavor that can enhance the taste of other ingredients in baking and cooking.
Top 12 Brown Rice Syrup Substitutes
Honey
Honey is the first selection on the list. With its signature sugariness, honey can substitute for brown rice syrup in many recipes. Let’s see how compatible they are.
First, honey provides the intense sweetness that no other sweets can. Besides, its texture is quite thick and adhesive, which is similar to the rice syrup. With 100% compatibility in texture and flavor, honey serves well as an alternative to brown rice syrup.
So, which is the best way to use honey in cooking? Honey is a “gentle” food. It can be applied to any mixture, with any cooking method like steaming, boiling, sautéing, etc. However, based on our experience, the best cooking approach is to mix it with raw greens to make salads.
Maple Syrup
Molasses is the thickest and most intensively sugary sweets used in cooking. Made from refined sugarcane with a high purity level, this composition provides the highest level of “pure” sweet, as there are not many additives in it.
To add in, molasses has a thick, adhesive texture, just like honey but with higher density. It has a dark brown color, similar to caramel after burning. Sometimes, people even feel slight bitterness when tasting molasses.
With such a texture, the molasses cannot blend well with other ingredients. Its intense sugariness also makes it quite hard to mix and match. Therefore, there are just a few recipes with molasses available, like granola bars, brownies, etc.
If you are substituting this brown rice sweetener with molasses, we advise using about 1 cup of molasses per 2 cups of rice syrup. Try to add a bit per pour because it will be difficult to adjust the taste when you have added molasses.
Golden Syrup
Golden syrup is the thick, golden-colored extraction from sugar cane with a high density. From first sight, the golden syrup impresses us with a unique buttery aroma and caramel flavor.
Given that fact, the golden syrup is significantly sweet with a thin texture. Thus, the golden syrup can blend well with most recipes, from boiling, steaming to baking and stirring.
However, when comparing golden syrup and rice syrup’s sweetness, the golden syrup is slightly stronger. So, you can substitute golden syrup with rice syrup with a ratio of 3/4.
Molasses is the thickest and most intensively sugary sweets used in cooking. Made from refined sugarcane with a high purity level, this composition provides the highest level of “pure” sweet as there are not many additives in it.
To add in, molasses has a thick, adhesive texture, just like honey but with higher density. It has a dark brown color, similar to caramel after burning. Sometimes, people even feel slight bitterness when tasting molasses.
With such texture, the molasses cannot blend well with other ingredients. Its intense sugariness also makes it quite hard to mix and match. Therefore, there are just a few recipes with molasses available, like granola bars, brownies, etc.
If you are substituting this brown rice sweetener with molasses, we advise using about 1 cup of molasses per 2 cups of rice syrup. Try to add a bit per pour because it will be hard to adjust the taste when you have added molasses.
Brown Sugar
Brown sugar is the most distinctive selection on this list since it is not liquid but solid. However, is brown sugar compatible with replacing brown rice syrup? In our opinion, it can.
In terms of flavor, brown sugar is sweeter than rice syrup. The syrup is made from rice, compressed, and extracted into liquid so that its sugariness drops during the process. Meanwhile, the brown sugar is “pure,” not going through much preparation.
Based on our experience, brown sugar can blend well with any kind of cooking. Through boiling, steaming, stirring, sauteing, the sugar can season other ingredients, making the overall taste better.
There is no perfect ratio to exchange from syrup to brown sugar to add in, so just add sugar as you want to and adjust later.
Date Syrup
Along with molasses, date syrup is one of the sweetest ingredients ever produced in cooking. Made from date palm fruit, the date syrup contains a high amount of vitamin A, K, C, tannins, magnesium.
The date syrup is not yet famous as other selections on this list. You still cannot find date syrup in local stores. However, if you want to afford a bottle of date syrup, go to Middle Eastern cuisine stores, and you can find it.
In fact, the date syrup is made from many different types of date palm fruits. Thus, the syrup also comes in with various textures and flavors. Some products are runny, some are dense, some look dark, and some look shiny.
Like molasses, the date syrup is intensely sugary, so there is a limit of recipes suitable for the syrup. We prefer applying date syrup in baking, in general.
Barley Malt Syrup
Barley malt syrup is another good substitute for rice syrup. Made from malted barley, the syrup contains the signature sweetness that you could never forget.
Compared to brown rice syrup, this ingredient is sweeter. The texture is also thicker and denser. The color is darker than brown rice syrup, either. You must consider these factors when applying barley malt syrup in foods.
Typically, barley malt syrup is preferred in baking bread. Its dark color coats the bread and creates a dark shade for the food. Sometimes, the dark shade makes the bread look tastier.
If you intend to alternate the brown rice syrup with barley malt syrup, use only 3/4 cup of barley for a cup of rice syrup to balance the taste. However, if you misuse the syrup and the taste is too intense, quickly heat the syrup to make it runnier.
Agave
Agave, also called agave nectar, is a sweetener made from the agave plant. To be specific, the agave is condensed from juice extracted from the core of the agave plant. The juice, going through filtered and pressured to break the original composition, leaves the simple sugar compositions in the mixture. Thus, the agave nectar is less consistent and thin than honey.
Based on the compression level, the agave juice can have a wide range of colors: from dark to light brown, sometimes even yellow. The flavor varies, too: agave nectar with light brown is quite “bland,” while the amber brown nectar provides sugariness intensely. The dark brown agave syrup has significantly sweet but also bitter, just like caramel.
Compared to the brown rice syrup, agave is much sweeter, but the texture is quite similar. Thus, if you are replacing the agave with brown rice syrup, then we advise using the 1:2 ratio with the one that belongs to agave.
You may wonder, “What is the best method for cooking agave?”. In our opinion, agave when coating the food, or blending with the mixture, works best.
Stevia
You may not know about stevia, but it has been the national sweetener of Brazil and Paraguay for a long time. Made from the leaves of native Brazillian perennial plants, stevia offers the sweetness that you will fall in love with it.
Distinct from other sweets in this list, stevia is mildly sugary with zero-calorie and zero-carbohydrate. The stevia is also quite runny and easy to blend. Therefore, it can be used as a brown rice syrup substitute with the same amount.
Typically, stevia can perform well as a sweetener in drinks, bread, boiling, steaming, or sautéing. It is suitable for any form of cooking.
Glucose Syrup
Glucose syrup is the last choice on the list. You may not know about this seasoning, but in fact, it has been widely used in commercial foods as a thickener agent and sweetener.
Since the name “glucose,” we can know that this syrup is a combination of glucose-abundant plants, such as starch, wheat, potatoes, or even brown rice.
With such origin, the glucose syrup provides mild sugariness, just like corn syrup. Its texture is thin, easy to blend and mix, too, so there is no problem cooking with glucose syrup.
You can use glucose syrup for the product’s slight sweetness, with the same amount as you use for rice syrup.
How Does Brown Syrup Taste?
After going through all the brown rice syrup alternatives, let’s discuss one of the most important factors that you must consider before choosing any replacement mentioned above: how does brown syrup taste?
With the caramel scent, the brown rice syrup is usually judged as intensely sugary. However, in fact, this nectar is mildly sweet, less than honey and brown sugar. From the first encounter, this rice syrup offers the butterscotch reminiscent, which is quite impressive.
Nutrition Breakdown
Break down the rice syrup nutrition facts; brown rice syrup contains quite low calories in a serving. To be specific, there are 62.5 calories, 0-gram fat, and protein in one tablespoon of serving.
Meanwhile, a cup of rice syrup offers 15 mg sodium, 11g sugar, 20 mg calcium, and 0.6 mg vitamin C. There is 0.2 mg iron to add in.
In short, the brown syrup is quite gentle with mostly healthful nutrition and necessary elements for the body. Compared to other sweeteners, which are typically called “harmful” for the body, brown rice syrup is preferred for casual usage.
