Blackberry Vanilla Syrup: A sweet, fruity, and bold blackberry syrup that’s just perfect in iced coffee drinks and cocktails, and on pancakes, waffles, and ice cream.
I guess you can consider this the Summer of Syrups for me! Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared 3 other syrup recipes for iced coffee drinks:
- a classic vanilla syrup that would be perfect for your homemade iced vanilla lattes,
- a cinnamon brown sugar syrup that is a copycat of the Starbucks cinnamon dolce syrup and which tastes like a cinnamon roll in a glass, and
- an almond toasted coconut syrup that tastes like you’re drinking an Almond Joy bar on a beach under a palm tree.
I’ll always love my toasted coconut syrup too! It’s aaaamazing in cold brew and iced lattes alike!
But for now, we’re going with this blackberry vanilla syrup. Because it’s officially summer and it’s time to bust loose with all things berry-related, isn’t it?!
And this syrup is a doozy! It’s the perfect sweetener for cocktails and mocktails, and it adds a bit of a fruity and floral flavor to cold brew and iced coffee.
And on pancakes and waffles?! Oh my gosh YES!!
So let’s get down to how to make this blackberry vanilla syrup.
How to Make Blackberry Vanilla Syrup
Ready all of your tools and ingredients before you start making this syrup.
Tools:
- a 1-quart sauce pan
- a small funnel (optional but useful and highly recommended to reduce messes)
- a silicone spatula
- a fine mesh sieve
- a glass bottle or jar with an airtight lid
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cup of granulated/white sugar
- 1 ½ cup of water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 9 oz fresh blackberries, roughly chopped
Not Your Normal Simple Syrup Process
All you need to do to start making this blackberry syrup is bring the sugar and water to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the vanilla, and mix in the chopped blackberries. Then you’ll let the blackberries steep for 30 minutes to allow their flavor to infuse into the simple syrup.
At this point, the process to make this syrup is a little different than the other syrups I’ve made. It’s not a difficult recipe to make by any means, but it does take a little extra time to pull together. Have no fear though! I’m going to walk you through the process.
There are two changes to the cooking process that make this syrup different from making a traditional simple syrup-based syrup:
First, this syrup is full of blackberry flavor but because there’s seedy fruit involved, you’ll need to strain off the fruit and seeds.
You’re going to let a slew of chopped blackberries steep in a simple syrup first for about 30 minutes. Then you need to strain the liquid out of the fruit. This removes all those chunky seeds and leaves you with a smooth and gorgeous purple liquid.
Second, the blackberries also add a lot of extra water to the syrup.
So after the fruit and seeds are strained off, the syrup will be extra loose. It’s not even close to being a syrup at this point! You’re going to clean out the sauce pan and return the liquid to the pan to reduce down into a thick syrup. This will take another 15 to 20 minutes or so.
Now, What to Do with this Blackberry Vanilla Syrup?
What you’re left with is the most beautiful syrup imaginable! The deep purple hue continually reminds you of those perfectly plump blackberries you used, no matter how you use this syrup.
It’s truly a stunning sight when you layer the syrup at the bottom of a bright and fizzy cocktail. Oh how I love an icy gin cocktail and this syrup just took it up a few notches!
I’ve also made blackberry lemonade with this syrup and if you’re a lemonade lover like I am, you NEED to add some of the syrup to your next glass!
The blackberry syrup also rounds out iced coffee drinks and hot lattes too with its bold but not overly fruity flavor. It even turns cold brew a light purple color when it’s mixed with a little half and half!
On pancakes, this syrup is the perfect way to layer flavors without any of them dominating. Plain buttermilk pancakes will always benefit from a syrup like this one. But more amped up pancakes, like these toasted coconut chocolate chunk pancakes, will be taken to an entirely different level!
Blackberries and chocolate just work so well together and adding the flavor and texture of toasted coconut to the mix just knocks these pancakes out of the park!
And on ice cream?! OMG YES!! Vanilla, cinnamon vanilla, or milk chocolate with brownie chunks would all be excellent companions to this blackberry syrup!
This syrup would even be a beautiful and delicious addition to some vanilla-spiced poached pears along with a little whipped cream.
As you can imagine, these ways you can use blackberry syrup are almost endless. Seriously, I could go on an on here!
So how about you go on and make this syrup and come back to let me know how you used it! I would love love love to hear your creative ways!
Blackberry Vanilla Syrup
Blackberry vanilla syrup is made with fresh blackberries and makes for a sweet and bold syrup. It's utterly perfect in iced coffee drinks and cocktails, and on pancakes, waffles, and ice cream too!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups water
- 9 oz blackberries, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar as the water heats. Boil for 5 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and blackberries to pot. Let steep for 30 minutes, smashing them up a little with a fork after they have started to soften. With a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl, strain out the blackberries.
- Return liquid to pot (discard the blackberries) and return the heat to medium-high. Boil for about 15 minutes, until the syrup has reduced by half.
- Let the syrup cool for a few minutes and then transfer it to a 16 oz (or larger) glass bottle or jar. The syrup will thicken a little more as it cools.
Notes
Add a couple tablespoons of the syrup to your favorite coffee drink (hot or cold) or to ice tea, lemonade or cocktails. You can also use this syrup on pancakes, waffles, and ice cream.
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