A Beginner’s Guide to Cooking with Honey
Honey is considered a kitchen staple, but how many honey uses do you actually know? In this blog, we will explore seven different ways to cook with the honey — some traditional and some surprising. Here are both new and old ways to use honey in drinks and meals:
No list of honey ideas would be complete without mentioning its most classic use: sweetening hot beverages. The heat melts the honey, immediately incorporating it seamlessly into the drink. Honey is most often used in tea, but it is also a great addition to lattes and other hot beverages. If you do not keep a jar of raw honey next to your tea or coffee station, you are really missing out. Choose a light, floral honey, like our California orange blossom honey, for teas. Coffee drinks, on the other hand, are where a more robust, savory honey, like our Kauai wildflower honey, can shine.
Not only is honey the star ingredient of many baking recipes, it can also be used as a substitute for both white and brown sugar. Honey is sweeter than sugar, so you should use less of it. You only need one-half to two-thirds of a cup of honey for each one cup of sugar. You should also reduce the other liquids in the recipe by one-fourth cup for every cup of honey that you use. This is because honey itself contains water. If you do not reduce the other liquids, the batter will be runny and your cooking time will be off.
If you are looking for a new flavor element to add to cheese and charcuterie boards, then consider adding a honey dipping sauce to your next board. The sweetness of the honey is a fantastic complement to the salty, savory flavors of cheese and cured meats. (This is also why honey makes such an excellent topping for plain Greek yogurt.) You can drizzle the honey over the cheese and meats directly, or put it in a separate dipping bowl so the guests can add some according to their preferences.
We just mentioned that honey is an excellent complement to cured meats, and this is true for roasted meats as well. Try incorporating flavored honey to your next homemade glaze or marinade to elevate your roasting or grilling experience. Honey is also a great ingredient to add to marinades for non-meat proteins, including tempeh and tofu. Since most marinades are mixed from cold ingredients, stir it very well to make sure that the honey is evenly incorporated. You do not want lumps of honey in some areas and no honey in the rest of the marinade.
Meat is not the only thing that you can cook with honey — vegetables and even fruit are worth roasting as well. Honey will deepen that sweetness that comes from roasting, which occurs because the heat of the oven causes the natural sugars in the produce to caramelize. If you want to amp up that flavor even more, then drizzling the vegetables with both olive oil and honey prior to roasting will turn them into the highlight of your dinner instead of a side dish.
If your sauce or salad dressing is missing a little something, you might want to add honey to it. Honey will add a note of sweetness without the drawbacks of sugar, helping to balance out more sour or bitter notes such as vinegars. Be sure to shake the dressing up really well just before serving to distribute the honey evenly. With sauces, you can heat them up a little to fully melt the raw honey and mix it into the rest of the ingredients.
Hot beverages are not the only drinks that honey tastes great in. Honey is actually a must-have addition to your home bar and it can elevate your cocktail game to the next level. For cold cocktails, put it in a shaker so the honey will be evenly distributed throughout the drink. If you just stir it into a cold beverage, it has a tendency to sink to the bottom of the glass. Start exploring honey cocktail recipes and you might be surprised to find your new favorite drink.
Raw honey is a much more versatile ingredient than you might think, and every cook deserves to have a jar or two of raw honey in their pantry. Our set of raw honeys are made on small family farms in the U.S., which allows us to closely oversee production and ensure the highest quality product. Try out our raw honey today!
Sweeten hot beverages.
Use it for baking.
Incorporate it into your cheeseboard.
Put it in a glaze or marinade.
Try roasting vegetables with it.
Add it to sauces and dressings.
Make a cocktail with it.
