How to Make Simple Syrup (4 Unique Flavors)

When we make cocktails or mocktails at home, we love adding our own simple syrups, especially flavored ones. There’s something about making our own flavored syrups that makes us feel like mad scientists, watching as the sugar melts into the water and the flavor additions (like fruits or spices) turn the clear liquid into different colorful tones. Dark purple, vibrant red, bright orange, or even pale yellow-green. It seems like it should be much harder, but this simple recipe will show you exactly how to make simple syrup at home.

Why We Love Making Our Own Simple Syrups

• Simple ingredients with unique flavors. A basic simple syrup is made with 2 ingredients: water and sugar. But we like to add fresh fruits, herbs, and sometimes spices to ours too for additional flavor.
• Easy to make and easy to store. Making a flavored simple syrup is as easy as adding fruit to the sugar and water mixture while it cooks. Extra simple syrup can be stored in the fridge for a few weeks, or frozen for up to a year.
• Completely customizable. Instead of being limited by what flavors you can find at the store, when you make your own, you can play around with whatever flavor combinations you like.
• Useful in multiple different ways. We like to add our simple syrups to Italian sodas, mocktails, or cocktails, but you can also use these to soak cakes or top ice cream or shaved ice.

What is Simple Syrup?

If you’ve ever tried to mix granulated sugar with water or another liquid only to notice that all of the sugar has settled to the bottom of the glass, then the simplest solution (science pun intended) is simple syrup. Simple syrup is a mixture of 1 part water to 1 part sugar in volume. In other words, if you have a cup of water then you’ll need a cup of sugar to mix with it. When you heat the sugar and water together, the sugar dissolves into the water and you’re left with a thick, sweet syrup that easily mixes with other liquids.

Why You Should Be Making Your Own Simple Syrup

Simple syrups are so useful and so much fun to customize. They’re best used when you’re wanting to increase the sweetness level in other liquids. Think iced tea, homemade lemonade, or cocktails. Unlike mixing in plain granulated sugar, simple syrups will immediately blend with and spread into other liquids and you won’t be left with any sugar granules at the bottom of your glass. Because of their liquid form, you can mix them into cold or hot drinks easily.

Ingredients in Our Flavored Simple Syrups

Simple syrups typically use a ratio of 1 part water to 1 part sugar. For these syrups, we use basic filtered water and granulated sugar, but you can also use brown sugar or even honey to make simple syrups.

Blueberry Lemon Simple Syrup

• Water + sugar – filtered water and granulated sugar here. No fancy stuff. 
• Fresh blueberries – you could also use frozen, but we like to use fresh whenever possible for maximum flavor. 
• Lemon – we use lemon juice and some lemon peel (just the rind, not the pith) to bring out the flavor of the blueberries.

Strawberry Mint Simple Syrup

• Water + sugar – the standard ratio of 1:1. 
• Strawberries – we love using fresh strawberries here. We slice them up so that they can break down more easily into the syrup. 
• Mint – fresh mint goes so nicely with strawberry. For best flavor, we add this about 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

Carrot Ginger Simple Syrup

• Water + sugar – the same ratio as before. 
• Carrot – for best results, we suggest grating the carrot so that its fresh flavor can fully infuse into the sugar and water mixture. 
• Ginger – you can either slice the ginger (no need to peel it first) or grate it for this recipe. Grating will provide a stronger flavor, which we prefer.

Pineapple Jalapeño Simple Syrup

• Water + sugar – the same basic ratio.
• Pineapple – we use a can of unsweetened crushed pineapple (with the liquid), but you can use fresh pineapple too. 
• Jalapeño – a couple of slices is all you need to give this a little heat and peppery flavor. If you don’t like much heat, be sure to remove the seeds and membrane first. For less heat, only cook the jalapeño in the syrup for a couple of minutes.

How to Make Simple Syrup

STEP 1: Add the ingredients to a medium pot/sauce pan. Put the water, sugar, and any fruits or other flavorings into the pot and stir together. 

STEP 2: Cook the mixture. Turn the heat to medium-high (between your stove’s medium and highest setting), and cook the water/sugar/fruit mixture, while stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low (between the midpoint and lowest settings on your stove), and let it lightly simmer (just below boiling) for 20 minutes. This will amplify and concentrate the fruit flavors in the syrup. 

STEP 3: Strain the syrups. Pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl to get rid of the fruit solids. Be sure to press down on the fruit with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to get all of the fruit juice out. If your syrup is really thick (like the blueberry lemon syrup), you may need to strain it twice to remove the fruit pulp. 

STEP 4: Cool and store the syrup. Before adding the syrup to cold drinks, you’ll want to cool it to room temperature at least. At that point, you can use some if it right away or store the rest in a jar or container with a tight fitting lid. These flavored simple syrups can be stored in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks, or placed in a freezer safe container (or even poured into ice cube trays) and frozen for up to a year.