What is this honey powder we use so frequently? Here is everything you want to know about powdered honey/honey powder!
Note: Please see our Natural Sweetener Guide for a look at all the natural sweeteners we use!
What do you need to know about Powdered Honey?
Powdered honey is literally dehydrated honey. You can find this dry honey under the names “honey crystals”, “honey powder” or “dried honey”. While all these names are similar, products differ greatly. The difference is quality (some are organic, others are not), the way they process it and how fine the product is “powdered”. Some products have other ingredients add to it. Other products have thicker, bigger “grain” textures while others resemble the consistency of baking soda.
Why we love Honey Powder:
- First: Honey is great sugar alternative. It contains many vitamins and minerals. It is also a natural sugar that has a lower glycemic index than regular white sugar. Powdered honey is especially great for long term storage and preserves treats very well. While powdered honey does not have the same health benefits as raw honey, it is a healthier option when baking.
- Second: Commonly referred to as honey powder, it creates delicious baked goods! Powdered honey is an easy sugar substitute because it creates that sweetness while creating the same “bulk” as white sugar in a recipe. You can use it cup for cup. It is perfect for creating nice flaky pie crusts to super soft tasty cookies! It has a pretty light consistency so it even works well for frosting. Once baked, end products stay soft, moist and delicious for quite a while! Some sweeteners can dry out goodies within a day or two, but with most desserts, we’ve found powdered honey to be a positive contributor to taste and moistness.
- Third: Powdered honey is one of the least expensive natural sweeteners! Let’s face it, whole foods are always more expensive than processed, sugary ones. Powdered honey can be found for a pretty reasonable price (especially non-organic, if that is the only way you can find it or want to use it) and if used with other sweeteners, can go a long way.
Drawbacks to Dried/Powdered Honey
Due to the many different sources of powdered honey, you would think it would be really easy to find a brand or product that you like. The problem is that many companies use a variety of other ingredients in their honeys to keep the honey from reverting back to a liquid and being able to bake easily and keep it free-flowing. This often means other sweeteners like sucrose are added. It might be possible to find honey with absolutely no other ingredients or fillers, but it is very difficult because we have found companies will change their products once we find a good source or the company has gone out of business/no longer sells dried honey. We combat these problems in three ways:
- We use products that list honey as the first ingredient and use sucrose, fructose or fillers like cornstarch or flour as the second ingredient.
- We try to use organic
- We combine honey with other sweeteners to minimize the use of any other ingredients. This is done for other reasons to create the best tasting treats!
Powdered honey doesn’t caramelize exactly like regular sugar and won’t create an extra chewy texture in some recipes. Depending on the recipe, we might add another sweetener to achieve this chewiness like in these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies
We also have found that it improves the taste of unbaked goodies with other sweeteners added to it.
In this instance, we will use part honey powder and part xylitol or stevia. These sweeteners are our favorite for creating light, white frostings, creams or sauces like for these Naturally Sweetened Sugar Cookie Bars.
vegan lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
Powdered honey (and raw honey for that matter) can create amazing desserts. To maximize it’s versatility, sometimes it’s best to combine it with another sweetener to create a truly lovely flavor with no honey taste. My husband personally hates honey so when he enjoys a dessert with powdered honey in it without knowing it’s in there, I know it’s a big success!
Where to Buy Honey Powder:
Amazon carries a variety of products like this and this.
Food Storage Websites: this one and this one
Natural Health Foods Stores like Whole Foods often carries it.
(Be sure to ask your own local natural foods stores. You may be surprised at what they carry or what they can help you find).
If you happen to live in the UT/AZ/ID areas, places like Walmart, Macey’s and Costco often sell them in their food storage sections (and for great prices!).
Favorite Honey Powder Recipes:
Fresh Fruit Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream
Naturally Sweetened Chocolate Chip Cookies
Naturally Sweet Cinnamon Rolls
A few last notes:
- When buying honey powder, take caution. Make sure to check out the ingredients before purchasing! (Please refer to our Natural Sweetener Guide). It is difficult to find pure honey and many products will include fructose or cane sugar.
- Honey is a little more sensitive to heat and requires less baking times than most other sweeteners. Some of our recipes may also call for less rising agents. Please read recipes and baking times carefully so treats don’t burn!
- Honey will naturally help enhance flavor and color. Since it is not as white as refined sugar, it will give a more golden hue to some dishes.
We hope you get a chance to enjoy naturally sweetened desserts with powdered honey!
Have you tried powdered honey before?
We’d love to hear from you!
Vanilla Gold Macarons
Birthday Cake Batter Bars
Peanut Butter Protein Blondies
French Lavender Macarons
Vanilla Triple Berry Pancakes
Barbara Gesualdi says
Could this be used as a sugar substitute in coffee?
Alberto says
I ´m a spanish beekeeper. In my country powdered honey is not used at all, but I am interested in learning more. I like the idea of baking with this honey powder.
Thanks for your post.
Natalia says
Hello, great honey article. I love honey and will try to make more of these recipes. Love sugar free!
Ann says
Does anyone have an idea on how to make powdered honey into powdered sugar? Trying to make royal icing for sugar cookies. I typically use 2 pounds of powdered sugar. Thanks!
Alexander Zuberbuhler says
Hello !!
I recommend you to try SoulBee honey powder. Best honey powder ever with no added sugar, kosher, dairy free, tree nut free and wheat free. They have also outstanding blends with Matcha, ginger, cinnamon and something called flakes. The flakes have a cereal toasted taste great to add as extra topping to yogurt, caramelize onions, oatmeal and so on,
Here is the link, check it out by yourself!
http://www.soulbeehoney.com
Simon says
Another place to look for Honey Powder is Asian specialty stores. I live in a smaller city with fewer specialty health stores and no Costco membership, so I called around to about 10 places before I found honey powder at a store that specializes in Asian ingredients. So if you’re having trouble finding it, look there! (PS – to the writers, I would add this to the list of places to look.)
Susan Falzone says
What are the nutritional values for Honey Power? How many calories, carbs, etc.?
Betty Sandoz says
I used to get Packets of Dried Honey from Honey Sweet International of Portland ME but apparently they are out of business.
Is there any company that sell packets of dried honey…???
Honey tastes. Much better that Stevia andi their natural sweeteners
Natural Sweet Recipes says
Hi Betty,
We share where we like to buy all our sweeteners on the Natural Sweetener Guide Unfortunately, we’ve run into similar problems! Some of the powdered honey products we have tried in the past are using cane sugar with the honey or seem to be completely out of business. We are reevaluating the use of dried honey now since we are having a hard time finding a pure product. From what we’ve seen, it’s probably better to use sucantant, maple sugar or coconut sugar since those are way easier to find. Or of course, use raw honey when possible. You can check out the companies we’ve purchased sweeteners in the past on the guide. Thanks!
Alexander Zuberbuhler says
Check out http://www.soulbeehoney.com
They have different blends like cinnamon honey, turmeric honey and ginger honey as well as a new honey flakes flavor. All of them are high recommend.
Best luck!
Linda Taylor says
I need a natural dried honey for skin products? Any suggestion?
Natural Sweet Recipes says
Hi Linda! Any organic honey powder should work great. We personally love regular raw honey for our skin!
Michael Barbato says
Honey has Zero Nutritional value. No vitamins and zero minerals. Simply read label of powdered Honey.
Dezi Williams says
I’m wanting to know dried honey and liquid honey compare to weight. is 3lbs dried honey more honey then 3 lbs liquid honey? This is for food storage purpose. Thanks
Annie says
Hi Dezi, we can’t give exact measurements but 3lb dried honey will be a lot more than 3lb liquid honey. Liquid honey has a higher water content whereas dried honey does not have any liquid in it at all and all the water has been taken out. Hope that helps you! Thanks!
Donna says
Is there a standard conversion for sugar to honey powder? For instance, if I have a muffin recipe that calls for 1/2 cup sugar, do I substitute an equal amount of honey powder?
Annie says
Hi, Donna. Thank you for asking about this. Regular honey is a tiny bit sweeter than sugar, so the standard conversion is about 3/4 cup for 1 cup sugar. Powdered honey is still a bit sweeter than sugar but for ease, equal substitutions work great. If a recipe calls for 3/4 cup of sugar, you could use only 2/3 of powdered honey but it will still taste great if using the 3/4 cup. Powdered honey is a dry sweetener like sugar so it’s easier to play around with to suit tastes and preferences. Also, if you are new to powdered honey, you may find the taste more distinctive, and therefore, may want to follow the liquid honey substitution standard so you don’t create too strong of a “honey” flavor. Thanks!
Kara says
This is one natural sweetener that I have been meaning to try. Thanks for the information. I just wish some of these were not as expensive.