What Is a Substitute for Brown Sugar?

What's the best brown sugar substitute?

Mix 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon of molasses for light brown sugar (1:48 ratio), or 2 tablespoons of molasses for dark brown sugar (1:24 ratio). Stir thoroughly until the molasses is evenly distributed. The result is functionally identical to commercial brown sugar. For best blending, use a fork to break up molasses clumps. Or pulse in a food processor for a minute. The mixture should be slightly damp and clumpy, just like brown sugar from the store.

What 1-to-1 substitutes work without making brown sugar from scratch?

Coconut sugar is the closest 1-to-1 substitute and has a similar caramel flavor. Use 1 cup of coconut sugar for 1 cup of brown sugar. Maple sugar (crystallized maple syrup) is another 1-to-1 swap with a more pronounced maple taste.

Turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar or Sugar in the Raw) works in a pinch but has larger crystals that don't dissolve as fully in baked goods. Date sugar is grainy and doesn't melt like brown sugar, so it works in some recipes (cookies, granola) but not in cakes or sauces.

Can you use plain granulated sugar if you skip the molasses?

Yes, but the result will be different. Brown sugar adds moisture (from the molasses) and a caramel flavor. Plain granulated sugar makes baked goods drier and lighter in flavor. For some recipes (sugar cookies, simple syrup, sweetened tea), granulated sugar works fine as a substitute. For recipes where brown sugar is structural (chewy cookies, sticky buns, butterscotch), the substitution changes the texture noticeably. The cookies will be crisper and less chewy; the syrup will be thinner.

When does the brown sugar substitute fail?

For recipes that rely on the molasses flavor (gingerbread, molasses cookies, BBQ sauce, baked beans), the granulated sugar plus molasses substitute works fine because you're adding back the molasses anyway. For recipes that depend on brown sugar's specific moisture content (chewy chocolate chip cookies), the DIY mix gets close but isn't identical. Dark brown sugar's flavor is hard to replace if you don't have any molasses. Maple syrup gives a different (lighter) flavor; honey is too floral. For dark brown sugar specifically, the DIY method with molasses is the only way to match it.