Homemade Blackberry Simple Syrup is an easy recipe, featuring fresh juicy blackberries, granulated sugar and water, that adds bright and sweet flavor to your favorite cocktails, mocktails, iced tea, lemonades and other drinks.
Bright and fruity blackberry simple syrup is perfect for cocktails like a blackberry gin fizz or a blackberry mojito. Blackberry syrup comes together incredibly fast and keeps a good while in the refrigerator. Plus, you can even make it with frozen blackberries and add in your favorite herb, making this recipe an incredibly versatile berry syrup.
Why You'll Love Making Blackberry Syrup
- Basic grocery store ingredients
- Plenty of uses, from mocktails, ice tea, cocktails and even ice cream
- Easy to customize with fresh herbs or spices
- Store a couple weeks in the refrigerator
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Ingredients that Matter
Making a simple syrup is, well, quite simple! It's literally a one to one ration of water to sugar. To flavor a simple syrup, add fruit, herbs or spices and allow the mixture to simmer briefly and steep. Here are the ingredients you'll need to make blackberry simple syrup:
- Blackberries. Use fresh, very ripe blackberries to make this simple syrup. The berries should be as ripe and juicy as possible for maximum flavor. You can also use frozen blackberries, but note the flavor may be a bit muted compared to using fresh berries.
- Granulated Sugar. Regular granulated sugar is exactly what you should use when making a simple syrup.
- Water. Tap water will do just fine for this recipe.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make blackberry syrup
Making blackberry syrup for cocktails or mocktails is incredibly easy. Below I'll walk you through the process of how to make this recipe:
Start by rinsing your blackberries well. If using frozen berries, there's no need to thaw them first. Add the blackberries, sugar and water to a small nonreactive saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a low simmer over medium heat and cook until the liquid turns the same color as the berries. The berries should turn very soft. Allow the mixture to just barely simmer for 4-6 minutes. Do not allow the mixture to come to a rolling boil or the liquid will evaporate too quickly and the syrup may crystalize.
Allow the mixture to steep for at least 10 minutes (preferably 30 minutes) off heat. Slowly transfer the mixture to a strainer into a bottle or jar.
Allow the mixture to slowly strain into the storage container then cover. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Hint: If you don't mind your blackberry syrup being a bit cloudy, you can mash the berries once they are fully cooked. However, if you prefer a more translucent syrup, do not mash the berries.
Substitutions
While simple syrups use very basic ingredients, there are a couple small tweaks you can make to this recipe, including:
- Sugar - Using regular granulated sugar will give the syrup the cleanest flavor and clearest color. You could use another sugar like Demerara sugar, turbinado, coconut sugar or other more "natural" sugars. You could even use brown sugar, but it will make a more caramel flavored blackberry syrup, which we happen to love in our Brown Sugar Simple Syrup recipe. DO NOT use powdered sugar when making simple syrup as the cornstarch can make the final product gummy.
- Blackberries - As mentioned, you can absolutely use frozen blackberries for this recipe. Frozen berries are typically not as bright and vibrant compared to fresh, so you should expect a more muted flavor. If using frozen berries, try finishing the syrup with a splash of lemon juice to brighten the berry syrup.
How to use homemade blackberry simple syrup
Simple syrup is used as a sweetener for cocktails and mocktails because it adds sweetness without the grit of sugar. Flavored simple syrups are also used in lattes to enhance the flavor of steamed milk coffee drinks. You can use this blackberry flavored simple syrup as you would other syrups, including:
- Make bright and fresh blackberry drinks by stirring into sparkling water or club soda
- Add it to lemons and water for homemade blackberry lemonade (try our Homemade Blueberry Lemonade recipe)
- Make a blackberry bramble cocktail
- Make a blackberry gin fizz or other blackberry gin cocktails
- Add it to vodka for a delicious blackberry vodka martini
- Drizzle over vanilla ice cream
- Stir into cold brewed tea for a summery fresh blackberry ice tea
- Brush the syrup on freshly baked cake to moisten the cake with sweet blackberry flavor
Equipment
Making simple syrup only requires some basic equipment. First, you'll want a funnel to with a strainer, like this Norpro 5 ½-Inch Stainless Steel Funnel with Detachable Strainer, to make it easier to strain and add the syrup to a storage container. I also recommend using a syrup bottle, like this Tablecraft home Glass Syrup Bottle, which makes storage and dispensing super easy.
Storage
This recipe makes about 1 ½ cups of blackberry syrup. When serving, I recommend starting with 1 tablespoon of the syrup to flavor your drinks. You can easily double this recipe if you want to make more syrup.
Store the blackberry simple syrup in an airtight container, such as a syrup bottle or mason jar, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. I don't recommend leaving the syrup on the counter as it could spoil.
You can even freeze this berry syrup by transferring the mixture to an ice cube tray. Freeze the tray then break out the cubes and store in a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to 3 months.
Top tip
The quality of any flavored simple syrup rests in the ingredients. Use fresh, very ripe blackberries for the best flavor. You can enhance the flavor once cooked with a splash of lemon juice, though note that will make for a brighter red syrup rather than a dark red, almost purple syrup.
FAQ
Yes, you can absolutely use frozen berries in place of fresh berries when making flavored simple syrups. Note that frozen fruit in general loses some of its brightness, so the flavored syrup made with frozen berries may taste a bit muted. Try adding a splash of lemon juice to brighten the syrup.
Be sure to store homemade simple syrups, especially flavored syrups, in the refrigerator for up to a couple weeks. You can freeze syrups for up to 3 months.
You should store simple syrups, including flavored syrups, in the refrigerator to extend their shelf life.
Use blackberry simple syrup in cocktails like a Moscow mule or gin fizz, or in cocktails, lemonades, ice teas or sparkling flavored waters. You can also use to to flavor freshly baked cakes or pour over ice cream.
Simple syrup is quite watery, which is ideal to use in drinks. If you want to make flavored syrup for pancakes or waffles, try making a rich syrup, which is a ratio of two parts sugar to one part water instead of a one to one ratio.
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Recipe
Blackberry Simple Syrup
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 ½ cups 1x
Description
Homemade Blackberry Simple Syrup is an easy recipe, featuring fresh juicy blackberries, granulated sugar and water, that adds bright and sweet flavor to your favorite cocktails, mocktails, iced tea, lemonades and other drinks.
Ingredients
- 6 oz. blackberries (about 1 ½ cup)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Wash the blackberries well then transfer to a small nonreactive saucepan along with the sugar and water. Bring the mixture to a low simmer over medium-high and reduce heat to maintain a very low simmer (do not bring the mixture to a rolling boil or the syrup may crystalize). Cook the berries until the water turns a deep reddish purple and the berries are very soft, 4-6 minutes.
- Remove the syrup from the heat and steep for 10 minutes (or 30 minutes). Strain the mixture into a glass syrup bottle or mason jar (see note about straining below). Cool completely to room temperature, cover and refrigerate up to 2 weeks. Use the syrup in cocktails, mocktails, lemonade, ice tea or on vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- When straining the mixture, do not press on the blackberries if you want a translucent syrup. If you don't mind a cloudy syrup, feel free to mash the berries before straining.
- Use fresh, very ripe blackberries, if possible.
- You can also use frozen blackberries, though note the flavor may be a bit muted. Try enhancing the flavor with a splash of lemon juice.
- Try using the syrup for a flavored lemonade, like our Homemade Blueberry Lemonade.
- Try our other simple syrups, like our Blueberry Simple Syrup and our Brown Sugar Simple Syrup.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Category: Drinks
- Method: simmering
- Cuisine: American
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