Easy Homemade Vanilla Extract | Inherited Recipes

This is actually a recipe that my uncle taught me! He is a tremendous baker and has made his own vanilla extract! He even got jars for Christmas, that’s how much vanilla he makes! I knew making vanilla extract at home was a cheaper way to get pure vanilla, but I did not realize how easy it was! So while this is not one of my Grandmother’s recipes, I did learn this easy homemade vanilla extract from my uncle, who is a vanilla-making pro!

What you need for this recipe

Like I said before, this recipe is so easy to make, it only takes two ingredients!

Cost breakdown of vanilla extract.

To make easy homemade vanilla extract, all you need are vanilla beans and vodka! My uncle buys his vanilla beans in bulk and gets them directly from the Madagascar Vanilla Company’s website.

Madagascar Vanilla is one of the most popular brands, so you know you are getting a high-quality product. When he showed me how to make it, we split a quarter pound of vanilla beans. There were 41 beans in that quarter-pound, and it cost $50 dollars.

So I paid $25 dollars and received 21 vanilla beans.

I also paid $19 for a fifth of vodka. Now, you do not have to pay that much, you can make vanilla with bottom shelf vodka as long as it is at least 80 proof. You can easily get a fifth of bottom-shelf vodka for less than $10. I paid a little extra because I liked the look of the bottle! Lol

A fifth of vodka is 750 mL( about 25 ounces). So I paid $44 dollars for about 25 oz of vanilla extract equalling $1.76 per ounce. Doing a quick search on Amazon, pure vanilla extract will cost around $25 for 8 oz, which is $2.75 per oz.

Now I did save money on jars, I choose to make the vanilla in the actual vodka bottle, but you can for sure spend money on cute jars that you could use for personal use or yourself! My uncle gave me homemade vanilla in a jar, and I will most likely just re-fill the jar!

Making vanilla at home is clearly the cheaper option, and it is so easy to make!!!

How to make homemade vanilla extract

Purchase vanilla beans and vodka. I chose to buy a fifth of vodka because a fifth of vodka needs 20 beans to make the extract. So all I did was drain a little of the vodka and put the beans directly into the vodka. I did cut one of the beans in half, because then the little vanilla bean spots will soak around, I tried to take a picture here.

Now for reference, the jar my uncle gave me was 6 ounces and had about 6 or 7 beans.

Now the “soaking” timeline has easily over 100 different answers if you google it, there is probably no right answer, but my uncle explained to me that when you open the bottle and smell it, if you smell the vanilla beans, and no longer really smell vodka, then it is probably ready to be used. I will let mine sit for 3-4 months, shaking the jar every week. He gave me the little jar right after he made it, and I just started using it last week!

Overall, this is a very simple recipe to make, and will definitely save you money in the long run!

Print Pin

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 20 Vanilla Beans
• 1 fifth Vodka (at least 80 proof) (25 oz)

Instructions 

• Drain a little bit of vodka to make room for the vanilla beans.
• Add vanilla beans to the 5th of vodka.
• Let it sit for 1-3 months, shaking every week.
• Fill small containers will ready vanilla if desired.

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: olofson, vanilla, vanilla extract

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