With just three ingredients, this Easy Saffron Syrup recipe is perfect for pudding, tea, ice cream, and anything else you decide to drizzle it on! It takes just 10 minutes to make, and can be prepared at any time of year.
Try it in my warm ginger milk or stir it into your favorite tea.
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✔️ Why this recipe is great
Easy to Make & Batch: with just 3 ingredients and ten minutes, making this saffron drink syrup couldn't get much simpler. It's also very easy to make a thicker version for kheer or adding small amounts to ginger tea.
Long-Lasting: this saffron simple syrup recipe makes just over 1 cup of syrup that would be great stirred into a cup of tea, and keeps for up to 6 months in the freezer.
Various Uses: this can be enjoyed as a sweetener for any number of warm or cold beverages, as well as a drizzle for rice pudding or even on ice cream!
🍯 Ingredients
Strands of Saffron: these are the tiny red stigma of a flower, also commonly known as saffron threads, which are responsible for the syrup's delicate floral flavor and light orange tint. If your threads are broken into pieces, measure them by volume, as noted in the recipe card.
However as the most expensive spice in the world, I know saffron isn't the easiest thing to get your hands on. So you could also use saffron water to make saffron syrup, but the final flavor and color will be less concentrated.
Sugar: you can really use any granulated sweetener that's a 1-to-1 swap for white cane sugar, but here I use an allulose & monk fruit blend that acts the same as cane sugar, but mkaing it possible to make saffron syrup without lemon juice as a preservative.
Water: this helps to make this homemade saffron cocktail syrup liquid enough to pour.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🧂 Substitutions and variations
Sweetener: while you can use almost any granulated sweetener in this recipe, I've made it here with allulose-monk fruit sweetener, a sugar-free FDA-approved sweetener that's a direct swap for sugar. But other great sweetener options include honey, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or even erythritol for a saffron syrup without sugar.
- Rose Saffron Syrup - you can add ½ teaspoon of rose water to your mostly-cooled saffron syrup to add depth and florality to the syrup, but it's not necessary.
- Honey Saffron Syrup - using an equal amount of honey in place of the sugar would add a caramel sweetness to your saffron simple syrup, while also making an even more naturally floral and thicker saffron syrup for desserts
- Saffron Vanilla Syrup - adding either half of one whole split vanilla pod, the vanilla seeds from half a pod, or ⅛ teaspoon vanilla paste to the infusion when you add the saffron, or ¼ teaspoon high-quality vanilla extract right after filtering out the saffron threads would make a delicious vanilla saffron syrup.
- Gulab Jamun Syrup: to make the typical syrup for gulab jamun, add half tablespoon of crushed cardamom seeds at the same time as the saffron threads.
- Saffron Cream - mix equal parts heavy cream and saffron syrup for a buttery saffron milk syrup that stays good in the fridge for up to 5 days if kept airtight. I've only tried this with high quality organic dairy cream, and it tastes even better when you've made the saffron syrup with honey or other flavors.
See the lavender version of this recipe on my website!
📋 How to make saffron syrup: step-by-step instructions
Step 1. Heat the water and sweetener in a metal-bottom pan until just simmering (image 1), then lightly stir the water until everything dissolves (image 2).
Step 2. Once your sugar water is gently simmering, add your pinch of saffron (image 3), stirring them in until each thread is wet (image 4). If using saffron water, don't add it until you turn off the heat.
Step 3. Heat the saffron simple syrup mixture on low for 4-5 minutes (set a timer), never letting it get above a simmer, stirring only if the saffron starts to all rise to the top.
Step 4. When your timer goes off, remove the mixture from the heat and let everything sit on a cool burner for 20-30 more minutes (to infuse further). This is when you should add any rose water or vanilla, or saffron syrup (if using).
Once the timer goes off, strain the mixture (images 5 & 6) and preserve your saffron simple syrup in a closed container in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months (image 7).
⭐ Storage and freezing
Fresh saffron simple syrup will stay good in the fridge for up to 7 days, but will stay good frozen for 6+ months without losing any flavor (if stored in an air-tight bottle). For low histamine readers, freezer storage is recommended after a few hours cooling air-tight in the fridge.
👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
Can I use saffron water?: though I haven't tried it myself, other recipes have recommended ½ to 1 tablespoon of saffron water per cup of finished saffron syrup.
Corn Allergies: If you have any issues with corn, make sure to buy your allulose from a company which specifically doesn't source their allulose from corn, as much allulose is manufactured from corn. However it's also found in small amounts in figs, raisins, wheat, maple syrup and molasses.
At roughly five times the price of white sugar, allulose can be a hard sell. But for those who choose to splurge for it, allulose has none of the inflammatory effects, doesn't cause tooth decay, has no calories, and has no effect on insulin.
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
Saffron has a complex taste that is best described as slightly sweet, floral, and earthy with honey-like undertones and a hint of bitterness. Its unique flavor is subtle yet distinctive, adding depth and complexity to various dishes.
Saffron syrup is used as a flavoring agent in beverages, desserts, and confections, offering a unique saffron taste to sweets and drinks at a fraction of the price of using whole saffron.
Saffron pairs well with flavors such as citrus, vanilla, cardamom, rose, cream, cinnamon, and seafood. It is also commonly used in dishes with rice, like paella and risotto, where its flavor complements the other ingredients.
Yes, you can mix saffron with alcohol; it's unique flavor can infuse spirits to create aromatic and flavorful cocktails, offering a luxurious twist to traditional drink recipes.
It's generally recommended to soak saffron in hot water or another warm liquid before cooking, as this helps to release its color and flavor more effectively into the dish, but this isn't necessary when making homemade saffron syrup, since you infuse it over 20 minutes.
Saffron is expensive because it's labor-intensive to harvest; it takes approximately 75,000 saffron crocus flowers to produce a single pound of saffron spice. The process is done by hand, and the stigmas must be carefully collected and dried.
❓ Saffron syrup uses
- Drizzle it over pancakes or waffles
- As an ingredient in cocktails or mocktails
- When topping for frozen yogurt
- To sweeten smoothies or milkshakes
- For flavoring and sweetening whipped cream
- As a sweet glaze for pastries
- Use it to soak a freshly-made cake
- Flavor your favorite mousse, custard, or pudding
- Make your own saffron milk
- For drizzling over cooked fruits like grilled peaches
- Blend some into cream for a fruit salad dressing
- Thin some out with selzer water to create a homemade saffron soda
- Mix one teaspoon of this and one teaspoon of rose syrup to use this saffron syrup for lattes or teas
😋 Other easy simple syrups
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📖 Recipe
Easy Saffron Syrup (+ 13 Ways to Use it)
Equipment
- small pot
Ingredients
- 1 Cup sugar alt. granulated sweetener
- ¾ Cup water
- 12-15 saffron threads ~½ teapsoon
Instructions
- Heat the water and sweetener in a metal-bottom pan until just simmering, then lightly stir the water until everything dissolves.
- Once your sugar water is gently simmering, add your pinch of saffron, stirring them in until each thread is wet. If using saffron water, don't add it until you turn off the heat.
- Heat the saffron simple syrup mixture on low for 4-5 minutes (set a timer), never letting it get above a simmer, stirring only if the saffron starts to all rise to the top.
- When your timer goes off, remove the mixture from the heat and let everything sit on a cool burner for 20-30 more minutes (to infuse further). This is when you should add any rose water or vanilla, or saffron syrup (if using).
- Finally, once the timer goes off, strain the mixture and preserve your saffron simple syrup in a closed container in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Notes
-
- Drizzle it over pancakes or waffles
-
- As an ingredient in cocktails or mocktails
-
- When topping for frozen yogurt
-
- To sweeten smoothies or milkshakes
-
- For flavoring and sweetening whipped cream
-
- As a sweet glaze for pastries
-
- Use it to soak a freshly-made cake
-
- Flavor your favorite mousse, custard, or pudding
-
- Make your own saffron milk
-
- For drizzling over cooked fruits like grilled peaches
-
- Blend some into cream for a fruit salad dressing
-
- Thin some out with selzer water to create a homemade saffron soda
-
- Mix one teaspoon of this and one teaspoon of rose syrup to use this saffron syrup for lattes or teas
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