Today I'm sharing with you how to make powdered sugar.
I love making homemade versions of pantry staples and processed foods to save money on whole foods and to have healthier versions of packaged foods.
Recipes like:
homemade salad dressing
easy homemade ketchup
homemade chocolate chips
taco seasoning
homemade JELLO®, and
easiest coconut milk are staples in our home.
This powdered sugar substitute is another big help in this department. It costs less than store-bought powdered sugar, plus you can use healthier and even low carb sweeteners to make this Homemade Powdered Sugar, so it will easily meet your dietary needs.
You've been there, before, haven't you? You're making something in the kitchen and you….oops–run out of an ingredient that you need.
Of course, you could call your neighbor to see if they have what you need, but more often than not, sadly, we aren't as connected with our neighbors as we used to–and many of them are not at home as often, so it's hard to just run next door to borrow a few eggs, or whatever you've run out of. (Side note – it isn't just recipe ingredients that you might need from a neighbor. Here's a story about how we almost flooded our basement and how a neighborhood connection and a water alarm saved us!
So this is another great reason to know how to make powdered sugar so you can avoid a last minute trip to the store–or a ruined recipe.
Why I Learned How to Make Powdered Sugar
Years ago, I tried to find out how to make powdered sugar when we were on an incredibly strict budget. We were living off of only $14,000 a year. Yes, we were living with my inlaws, so our expenses were low, but it was still tight. Every penn
I was reminded of wanting to write this post about how to make powdered sugar when I posted this past week my recipe for Luscious Lemon Bars. I mentioned that you could top them with powdered sugar and promised that I'd post about how to make your own confectioners sugar in the near future. Well, here it is.
You are not going to believe how simple this is–you'll wonder why you weren't doing this for years.
First gather a blender (or food processor), your sweetener, and then one other ingredient and you're done.
By the way, any of the following links may be affiliate links, so if you click on them and make a purchase, I might make a commission. Your support is much appreciated and helps keep this free resource up and running.
Sweetener Options
For the sweeteners, sucanat, turbinado or coconut sugar would be typically considered to be the healthiest of the granulated sweeteners. Now Foods offers great prices on healthier alternative sweeteners.
Low Carb Options:
Xylitol and erythritol are other options that will not affect your blood sugar and they are also a help as they do not feed candida.
If all you have is regular white sugar or cane juice crystals, then that will work too, but those options are typically considered to be less healthy than the alternatives that I've listed.
This Powdered Sugar Substitute will work great in anything you would typically use powdered sugar in…and even where you wouldn't. Since it's powdered, it will make any dish where you would like to have a smoother texture that much easier to make smooth.)
Where to Use this Homemade Powdered Sugar:
- frostings
- as a dusting on desserts
- in desserts that might be “gritty” when using granulated sweeteners
- in drinks. It will dissolve more easily.
- meringues
For example, I powder my sweetener often when making my Homemade Chocolate / Carob Chips since makes the resulting chips much smoother.
You can check out the chocolate chips recipe here:
How Will You Save with this Powdered Sugar Substitute?
– homemade powdered sugar is typically more expensive than regular sugar so you'll save money that way
– no running out to the store at the last minute and wasting time and gas money (not to mention wear and tear on your car)
– buying specialty powdered sweeteners is not only hard to do, but prohibitively expensive. Make this homemade powdered sugar instead and save tons of money!
And in case this whole topic has you craving more DIY pantry basics…..
More Frugal Homemade Pantry Basics
– Aluminum and Corn-Free Baking Powder
– Homemade Taco Seasoning
– Sugar Substitute – like Truvia
– Homemade Rice Milk
– Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
How to Make Powdered Sugar | Powdered Sugar Substitute
Make your own Homemade Powdered Sugar, or Low Carb Powdered Sugar Substitute--easily. Use whatever sweetener you'd like--it even works for low carb sweeteners.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sweetener of choice (see notes above -- I typically use xylitol and / or erythritol)
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot; optional, but makes the final product more like processed powdered sugar. Omit for Trim Healthy Mama eating plan.
Instructions
- Place the sweetener and either cornstarch or arrowroot into your blender or food processor. (I highly recommend the Vitamix!).
- Blend on high continuously until the mixture is of uniform powdered consistency. In a high-powered blender like the Vitamix this will take only about 30 seconds.
- Keep the lid on the blender until the powder settles (or you might have powdered-sugar coated cabinets, depending on how much of a powdered-sugar cloud gets kicked up by your blender!)
- NOTES:
- - if you choose to powder sucanat, the resulting product will be light brown. But it will still work in your recipes and will taste great!
- - Cane juice crystals are almost as refined as white sugar so in my opinion they aren't as good of an option as sucanat
- - I know that xylitol and erythritol are not considered "whole foods", however I can't eat sucanat or coconut sugar, or else I would -- gladly :-). That's why I use xylitol and erythritol quite a bit in my recipes. Hopefully the coconut sugar will be in my not-too-distant future since its glycemic index is much lower! Thanks, Ricki at Ricki Heller for the reminder of this great healthy sugar alternative!
- - If you choose to use cornstarch, try to get non-GMO cornstarch please.
- - Xylitol has the same sweetening power as sugar but erythritol is only about 70% as sweet as xylitol so you might need to alter your recipes accordingly.
- For another recipe in my collection that uses powdered sweetener, try Dairy-Free Chocolate / Carob Silk Pie with Almond Crust. Yumm!
Simple, huh?
Need more convincing about how valuable a Vitamix is? Check out my posts on:
– Easiest Almond Milk Ever
– Easiest Coconut Milk
– Homemade Coconut Butter
What would you use this powdered sugar substitute for?
What about using stevia to make the powdered sugar?
Thank You
Stevia is already very fine if you mean the extract powder. If you mean a granulated sweetener w/ stevia in it then yes, that can work.
What sugar substitute can I use that isn’t derived from sugar cane??
My daughter is allergic to CANE sugar and it’s derivatives.
Xylitol and erythritol and monk fruit would be great alternatives.
When making this sweetener if you add corn starch as the base won’t that make it very high in carbs! Regular corn starch has 117 carbohydrates per cup. And I think starch will definitely effect the blood sugar. Am I wrong about this?
You can omit the starch if you like. It makes a slight difference.
Will coconut sugar give the correct consistency for powdered sugar?
Yes, it will. You can see this related post: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/homemade-unrefined-powdered-sugar/
Hey friend! Always happy to find your recipes on Pinterest!!!
How fun! :). I’m redoing a lot for Pinterest so maybe you’ll find more soon. I have some UUUUUUUGGGGGGly old photos that need redoing. UGLY! Hope you are well!
I am so glad I found your blog. This is my first week of clean eating. Can’t wait to try these recipes.
Good for you! More coming soon – I hope to have 2 really good ones up in the next few weeks. You can do it!
I don’t have a diagnosed diabetes concern but am pursuing low-carb for general health reasons. I am also on a budget and it seems low-carb means rare ingredients (as in not in my neighborhood supermarket) and expensive. For instance, in trying to make a low-carb Christmas cookie for a party I’m attending tonight, I found almond flour but it was 3-4 x the price of regular flour. And for a zero-calorie sweetener I got the store brand granulated sucralose, which from reading here is not the best option, and probably why it’s affordable.
My low-carb cookies turned out super dry and I decided to add a low-carb icing to offset the dryness but that will also harden so my cookies can be transported cleanly.
My supermarket doesn’t have zero-calorie “powdered” sweetener, so I’m hoping your method of powdering will work with the sucralose I got. Low-carb on a budget is tricky!
Yes, it is tricky. If you are baking for yourself, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are fairly reasonable bought in bulk and they grind up into flours pretty well. So that might be something to look into :). I’m sure that they sucralose will work for you. Just watch those other ingredients in Splenda as they will raise blood sugar.
I tried this but it has a ‘grainy” taste. I used erythritol and cornstarch. What should I have done differently?
Hmmm…did you blend it well enough?
Can you use the Splenda Baking Sugar It is a powder but not sure if it is to fine.
I am a new type 2 and beginning to learn, but don’t quite understand all the different types of sugars.
Thank you
Donna
I would think that it’s not quite a powder, correct? I am a little concerned about using Splenda for diabetics as it has maltodextrins in it which raise blood sugar. I have heard reports of people having diabetic reactions on it. I personally really like xylitol and erythritol and stevia better. You can find more stevia info here: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/is-stevia-safe-is-stevia-bad-for-you-stevia-infertility/
Hello! Perhaps you cover this somewhere, but I have been perusing your site for a good bit and I have yet to come across it…in using erythritol, how on earth do you prevent the cooling sensation that it produces? I have baked with it a few times, and every time there has been that unmistakable, and, for me, quite unpleasant mint-like taste. I have always used it in combination with Stevia, too, but it has not helped. As such, I gave up on using erythritol…my bag of it has sat unused for quite awhile, haha. Like you, though, I suffer from off and on recurrences of Candida, and so I really would love to be able to use something other than sugar and Stevia on the occasion that I actually do want to enjoy a treat (such as my upcoming birthday 😉 …anything to minimize the potential to feed the Candida. Thanks so much!
Hmmmm… have you tried combining it w/ stevia and xylitol? Perhaps that would help?
You can purchase Xylitol which I love because I can’t stand the taste of stevia even when I try to use just a little of it it’s way too sweet. Not the same with Xylitol it’s just like sugar period you can buy it powdered already or do like what I do if you own the bullet machine just put the regular granules in there and it will make powdered sugar.
You can purchase Xylitol which I love because I can’t stand the taste of stevia even when I try to use just a little of it it’s way too sweet. Not the same with Xylitol it’s just like sugar. You can buy it powdered already or do like what I do if you own the bullet machine just put the regular granules in there and it will make powdered sugar.
Hi! I was wondering, do you use this 1:1 for the granulated sugar? It seems to me that the powdering process would make it fluffier, and you’d have to use more in order to get the same sweetness in a recipe. I’m trying to do this so I can use it in trying to make your Homemade Carob Chips! I can’t wait to see how they turn out!
Hi there. You used about 1 3/4 powdered for granulated, but to make it easier, you just grind up the sweetener that you are using for the chocolate chips. Enjoy!!! (remember LOW heat!) 🙂
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! So…when you say 2 T of your homemade Truvia blend would work, for the chips, that would that be 3 1/2 T powdered Truvia blend? I’m so excited to make these! lol And, just for the record, I’d heard of Carob, but I’d never tried it before looking into your recipes, even though it had been recommended to me several times. I’m in love! I’ve been making Carob protein shakes and it is divine!
Sure! That should work. I have never made these w/ the DIY Truvia so hope they turn out! Yes, carob is fun!! Take care.
Hi. I have a stevia baking blend. Would this work using that? And do you think a food processor would be food enough to use? I also have a Ninja. Vitamix…just can’t quite bring myself to spend the money yet. Thanks a bunch!
It should work!
Wow. I just came across your site “by accident” while looking for an egg replacement substitute. Wow. Thank YOU, and Thank you, Jesus. My DH was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago, and we’ve been trying to beat it via dietary changes. Therefore, no gluten, no sugar, no dairy, grass fed lean meats only, nothing processed and lots and lots of organic veggies. Basically it’s been nuts and twigs! To say it’s been a challenge is putting it mildly. We always home cooked before, but would sometimes swap out a frozen pizza or something similar for something quick and easy maybe more often than not. Now we have to cook EVERYTHING, and we try to implement one day a week for cooking (all day long) to create grab and go breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the week, so we don’t have to cook every day. This, at times, makes us cranky and irritable because there are no ‘quick and easies” anymore. Sometimes I enjoy it, most of the time I can’t wait to go do something else, because I”ve been in the kitchen way too long.
YOU are a GODSEND. Thank you thank you thank you for your web page and for being an Angel and Encourager to those of us who still view special dietary needs as a struggle. 🙁 I know we are much better healthwise for it, and we always thank God we are able to do this. But it is so true when they say “Attitude is everything.” I cannot express my gratefulness to you for your incentive and energy to investigate and experiment for cost effective substitutes. You will not only save us time, but also lots and lots of money, which is majorly important right now, because we are on a fixed income to boot.
I cannot wait to try this powdered sugar to make frosting for the cupcakes today~!
THANK YOU and may God bless you in your health endeavors.
Hi Liz – what a joy to get this lovely comment. Thank you.
I know how hard it is. We have the same situation. We do have some packaged quick and easies in the house now and they are a problem b/c now my youngest wants them all the time :(.
I really appreciate your encouragement. Things have been very stressful around here lately so your words were much needed. I hope the cupcakes turned out wonderful and that I will see you around again!
If I use coconut sugar it would work In the same way when blending with the cornstarch right? It would just have a different color then the typical powdered sugar.
Yes, you can see the results here: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/homemade-unrefined-powdered-sugar/ Enjoy!
Can I use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar in a recipe for the custard in the bread pudding. HELP I need an answer quick
You could try 2 for 1 using more powdered sugar but your result will have a diff texture. Hope it works!