Vegan Apple Honey (Easy 4-Ingredient Recipe)

Vegan apple honey is a golden syrup with the same thick consistency as you expect from bee honey. You make this vegan honey substitute using apple juice, sugar, lemon juice, and chamomile tea. The finished syrup is easy to use in place of honey with your morning toast or pancakes, stir it into tea, or turn it into vegan hot honey.

When I Learned Honey Was Not Vegan

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I first learned that honey was not vegan during a 60 Minutes interview with the then-president of PETA. At the time, it seemed like an extreme position. However, over the last 20 years, I have evolved and believe that honey is not vegan. And I understand why. The good news is that you can easily make homemade vegan honey with just a few simple ingredients.

I like to make this recipe in the fall, when the weather changes and I am in a baking mood. Bee-free honey is perfect when it’s paired with vegan scones and vegan clotted cream.

Eat sinfully, live kindly ❤️
Ruth

What is Vegan Honey?

Vegan apple honey is a simple apple-based syrup that is made by reducing apple juice with sugar, fresh lemon juice, and chamomile tea. In other words, it is not honey produced by bees. Homemade vegan honey is a plant-based alternative with the same sweetness and consistency as traditional honey.

Why Honey Is Not Vegan

Bees produce honey as food they need to maintain their colonies. When the honey is taken, the bees no longer have food and their colony is at risk of collapsing. Because veganism avoids all animal products and animal exploitation, we do not eat honey. This apple-based version provides a similar sweetness and texture without using honey from bees.

Ingredients Needed to Make This Recipe

Apple Juice

You want to use 100% apple juice instead of an apple juice cocktail. Look for unsweetened juice with no added flavors. A clear or filtered apple juice will give you a clearer-looking honey. You can use a cloudy apple juice; just know the syrup might be darker and less transparent.

Sugar

Look for organic cane sugar that has been certified as a vegan sugar to avoid bone char. White sugar will give you the lightest and most honey-like color.

Lemon Juice

Fresh lemon juice will balance out the sweetness and keep the apple syrup from tasting flat. Always use fresh lemon juice; the bottled stuff just isn’t the same.

Chamomile Tea

Chamomile tea balances out the sweetness and gives this recipe a slight floral flavor. You want to remove the tea bags after ten minutes; if you leave them in longer, your honey might taste bitter.

See the recipe card for a complete list of ingredients and measurements.

How to Make Vegan Honey

Step One: Combine the ingredients

Start by adding the apple juice, sugar, and fresh lemon juice to a medium saucepan.

Step Two: Bring to a boil

Heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves and the apple juice mixture begins to boil gently.

Step Three: Simmer and infuse

Once gently boiling, reduce the heat and simmer. Add the chamomile tea bags after ten minutes and then steep for ten minutes. Remove the bags without squeezing them.

Step Four: Check the consistency

Continue simmering until the syrup lightly coats a spoon and falls from it in a slow stream. You want to remove the honey while it is slightly thinner than traditional honey. As it cools, it will thicken.

Watch How to Make This Recipe

Hot Honey Variation

Hot honey tastes like cinnamon candy. You have the sweetness from the candy and the heat from the red pepper chile flakes. You only need to take a few extra steps, and if you like the sweet and spicy flavor combination, you’re going to love vegan hot honey!

Vegan Hot Honey Ingredients

• 1 cup of vegan honey
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of dried red chile flakes

Vegan Hot Honey Instructions

• In the final five minutes of the honey simmering, add the red chile flakes.
• Stir, cool, and store as you would vegan honey.