Blackberry Simple Syrup
Easy to make and refreshing, this homemade blackberry simple syrup recipe is sweet, tart, and ready in less than 15 minutes. It's a delicious addition to summer drinks, baked goods, and more. Unlike many recipes, this version uses organic sugar to keep it vegan-friendly and offers tips for the leftover blackberries to keep it low waste.
easy • sweet • vegan • low waste
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Jump to:
- 📝 quick recipe overview
- ❤️ why I recommend making this version
- 🥣 ingredient notes
- 🔪 equipment notes
- Recipe
- 🧑🏽🍳 instruction notes
- 💡option for more clear liquid
- 🍽️ ways to use homemade blackberry syrup
- 🧊 storage
- ✅ acceptable substitutions and variations
- ♻️ sustainability tips
- waste
- ❓ frequently asked questions
- 💜 more blackberry recipes
- 🍶 more simple syrup recipes
- 🕰️ the latest
Blackberries are a true summer berry, in season during warmer months and offering delicious sweet-tart flavor to every dish. Making homemade blackberry simple syrup is easy to do using fresh or frozen berries, water, sugar, and optional fresh lemon juice. The final result is a refreshing, sweet, and slightly tart syrup you can add to cocktails, mocktails, lemonade, tea, baked goods, oatmeal, and more.
If you love simple syrups, you might also enjoy this strawberry top simple syrup using leftover strawberry tops.
Our neighbor recently gifted us with heaps of blackberries from her patch, and I've enjoyed making everything from smoothies to blackberry powder. I hope you'll enjoy this classic homemade blackberry syrup as a treat for your summer taste buds!
📝 quick recipe overview
- Skill level: Easy
- Taste: Sweet, tart, with a hint of caramel
- Waste: Low
- Sustainability: High
- Cleanup: Easy
- Ingredients: Common, easy to source
- Equipment: Common, easy to source
- Time: Fast, ready in about 15 minutes
- Consistency: Thick and syrupy
- Kid-friendly: Yes
❤️ why I recommend making this version
Delicious sweet-tart flavor. Blackberries are one of summer's best flavors. Deep, fruity flavor with a tart finish, the berries are a wonderful choice for syrup to be used in drinks, stirred into oatmeal, or poured over pancakes.
Syrupy consistency. While you can increase the sugar ratio for a thicker syrup, this recipe (as written) creates a pourable syrup with enough body to easily stir into drinks or drizzle over dishes. A typical pancake syrup is 2 parts sugar to 1 part liquid, while a standard simple syrup is 1 part sugar to 1 part water/liquid.
Vegan friendly. If enjoying this in the U.S., use organic sugar to keep it vegan (free of bone char).
Low waste. Most other recipes tell you to discard the blackberries. I'll give you ideas to reuse the leftover berries, or pulp, so you get the most from your ingredients!
Technique. Adding the sugar after straining the berries keeps the sugar-to-liquid ratio more accurate while allowing you to reuse the blackberry pulp instead of throwing it away.
Quick to make. From start to finish, this blackberry syrup is ready in less than 15 minutes. It's a perfect go-to recipe if you need a quick refreshment for entertaining or just beating the summer heat!
🥣 ingredient notes
Fresh or frozen blackberries. Make sure the blackberries are washed, if using fresh. I recommend using the thermotherapy technique. If using frozen, pre-washed berries, you can skip this step. If buying from the store, choose organic if you can to mitigate pesticide exposure.
Water. I recommend using filtered water to prevent any off flavors that can infuse the syrup when using tap water. Distilled works as well, but takes more resources to make.
Organic granulated sugar. We use organic granulated sugar to keep it vegan (non-organic sugar in the U.S. can have bone char). The sugar adds sweetness, but also depth of flavor with subtle hints of caramel.
Fresh lemon juice. A small amount of lemon juice enhances the flavor of berries. This is an optional addition.
🔪 equipment notes
- Saucepan
- Electric kettle (optional, to speed up heating process)
- Spoon or spatula
- Fine mesh strainer
- Lemon juicer
- Airtight container for storage
- Measuring cups and spoons
If you'd like to take a peek at my recommended equipment, here's a curated low-waste kitchen list I update frequently with tried-and-true tools. They've been a huge help to me, so I hope the same for you!
Recipe
Blackberry Simple Syrup
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Boil 1 cup water in an electric kettle and pour over 1 cup blackberries in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, bringing to a gentle simmer. The electric kettle helps the blackberries simmer faster.1 cup water
- Stir occasionally. After a few minutes of simmering, use a potato masher or back of a utensil to mash the blackberries for their juice. Stir and allow to simmer for a few more minutes.1 cup blackberries
- Using a fine mesh strainer, separate the blackberry pulp from the liquid and allow the liquid to fall into a liquid measuring cup. Confirm amount of liquid and adjust sugar amounts, if needed. See notes about repurposing pulp. Rinse the saucepan if any bits are stuck to the sides or bottom.
- Return the saucepan and blackberry liquid to low-medium heat.
- Add ¾ cup granulated sugar, stirring for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves.¾ cup granulated sugar
- Stir in ½ teaspoon lemon juice before removing from heat and enjoying or store in an airtight container.½ teaspoon lemon juice
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!🧑🏽🍳 instruction notes
Heat blackberries and water in saucepan. Use an electric kettle with boiling water to jump-start the simmering process. Stir occasionally and cook for about 5 minutes.
Mash the berries to release their juices. You should be able to mash easily after a few minutes of cooking. From the time you started cooking to the end of mashing, you should hit 7-8 minutes of cook time.
Strain and rinse the saucepan to remove any leftover blackberry bits. You're going to reuse the pan.
Add the strained liquid. Reheat over low-medium heat.
Stir in sugar until dissolved. Dissolving the sugar should only take a few minutes and it will start thickening immediately.
Stir in lemon juice before enjoying. This step is optional and only to enhance flavor.
💡option for more clear liquid
If you decide you want a more clear liquid, you can skip mashing the berries. It's not my preferred method because I like getting as much juice from the berries as possible. If you leave the berries intact, please use them for another recipe.
🍽️ ways to use homemade blackberry syrup
What I love about simple syrup is how versatile it is! Here are just a few ideas:
Drinks
- Add to a glass with seltzer water and ice for a simple blackberry soda! (My personal favorite)
- Infused in cocktails or mocktails to add sweet fruit flavor
- As the base for lemonade, iced tea, or stirred into hot tea
- Stirred into hot or iced coffee or vegan homemade lattes
Breakfast and Baked Goods
- Stirred into oatmeal
- Folded into baked goods like muffins, cakes, or quick bread batters
- Poured over pancakes (might want to add sugar to thicken consistency)
Sauces
- Whisked into homemade vinaigrettes for a delicious, fruity salad dressing
- Drizzled over desserts as a sauce (like vegan ice cream), or added to the base (mix with ice cream ingredients before freezing or churning)
- Infused into vegan bbq sauces for a sweet twist
🧊 storage
Refrigerate. Add blackberry syrup to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two weeks.
Freezing isn't ideal because it changes the consistency of the syrup, creating more of a slush than a liquid that can be infused in drinks. However, if you plan to use it in smoothies, the syrup can last for several months frozen.
✅ acceptable substitutions and variations
Berries. You can generally swap the blackberries for other fruit or herbs to create a completely different flavor, but with similar consistency.
Exclude lemon juice. The lemon juice is optional and simply enhances blackberry flavor. You can omit this and still have a delicious syrup.
Tap water in place of filtered. Just be prepared for off-flavors if the water from the tap is hard water, or has a specific taste.
Method. If you prefer a clear syrup, you can avoid mashing the blackberries. Instead, leave them intact and strain as you would if they were mashed. Follow the same recommendations to reuse and get the most from your berries (discussed in more detail below).
♻️ sustainability tips
sourcing
Use organic berries when possible. Fruit is commonly found on the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list. Opt for organic, or ask the grower if they use pesticides when purchasing at a local farmer's market. Of course, growing your own blackberries is the best, more eco-friendly option!
Choose organic granulated sugar from regenerative farms. Organic sugar is the vegan option in the U.S. and farms that use regenerative practices are better for soil health and local ecosystems. Traditional sugar cane production and harvesting is damaging to the environment.
waste
Blackberry pulp. Most recipes tell you to discard the blackberries. Don't do this! You can either save and blend them into a smoothie, dehydrate and turn into blackberry powder, or add to your home compost system. Regardless of what you choose, the leftover blackberries shouldn't wind up in your trash can.
Grab more tips for a sustainable kitchen by visiting the complete guide to low-waste cooking!
process
Electric kettle and saucepan. Conserve energy during the cooking process by boiling the water in an electric kettle (if you have one) and making sure your saucepan matches your burner size, if your stove has various burner sizes. Smaller saucepans go on the smaller "eyes" and the larger saucepans on the larger "eyes" to prevent heat (energy) from escaping from under the pot.
❓ frequently asked questions
How far in advance can I make simple syrup?
You can make and store simple syrup in advance, but how far in advance depends on the type of syrup you make. A traditional sugar-water syrup should last up to a month in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If infusing with fruit, it can spoil faster, so should be made no more than two weeks in advance.
Do I need to refrigerate homemade fruit syrup?
Yes, once a syrup is infused with fruit juices, it becomes more perishable. It needs to be kept at colder temperatures (in the refrigerator) to inhibit mold or bacterial growth. If you notice spoilage, it's best to discard. You should be able to see mold growth, or smell a rancid odor. Freezing is only recommended if you don't need to maintain the consistency of the syrup in the future. Don't freeze if you plan to use it in liquid drinks, but you can if the syrup will be blended into smoothies.
How to tell if syrup is thick enough?
Use a spoon to scoop and drip the simple syrup back into the saucepan or in a small bowl. The drop should have "body" to it and not immediately spread back into the mixture or bowl. Remember, a simple syrup should create a heavy stream of liquid, while a pancake syrup consistency should move slowly, not runny. If you need to thicken the syrup, allow to simmer longer, add more syrup, or add a cornstarch or arrowroot powder slurry until dissolved.
What can I use to make blackberry syrup without a strainer?
To strain the blackberry pulp from the rest of the liquid without a strainer, you can use a cheesecloth, coffee filter, or thin flour sack towel. Just remember that the blackberries will stain the towel. You can use a slotted spoon to remove the blackberries whole (if not mashing) or the pulp once mashed. If the berries have broken down, just be prepared for some pieces to slip through a slotted spoon.
💜 more blackberry recipes
🍶 more simple syrup recipes
- Thyme Simple Syrup (Sugar Free)
- Hibiscus Simple Syrup (No Sugar Added)
- Strawberry Top Simple Syrup (No Sugar Added)
- Strawberry Basil Simple Syrup (No Sugar Added)
