Get the App

Recipes

Find a Recipe Blue Ribbon Recipes Pinch It!™ Feed Browse All Recipes

Editorial

Food Bites & Articles Videos What is a Blue Ribbon? Meet the Test Kitchen

Community

Member Recipes Groups Sweepstakes Contests Shopping

homemade vanilla extract

(1 rating)
safetyjedi avatar
Recipe by
Tommy Curtis
@safetyjedi
Sharps Chapel, TN

Tired of paying between 5-10 Dollars for those little bottles of pure vanilla extract? Most people don't know how inexpensive it is to make and the flavor is much better than store bought. I started making mine last year and I won't go back to store bought.

(1 rating)
yield serving(s)
prep time 20 Min
method No-Cook or Other

Ingredients For homemade vanilla extract

  • 20
    tahitian or madagascar vanilla beans
  • 1 qt
    rum

How To Make homemade vanilla extract

  • 1
    Buy your vanilla beans. I buy mine on eBay and you can get them really cheap direct from France, Madagascar or Tahiti. Make sure you buy from a reputable seller, check out their feedback. You can usually buy about a pound or 100 beans for around 30 dollars with most sellers offering free shipping.
  • 2
    Select your bottle. I use the 1 liter glass Perrier bottles. They make the perfect size and the vanilla makes faster with these bottles.
  • 3
    Rinse about 20 beans, slice the beans lengthwise and drop down into the bottle. You can also scoop the seeds out of a few of the beans if you want it to make faster.
  • 4
    Pour rum over the beans to the top of the bottle.
  • 5
    Put the cap on and in about 6-8 weeks you will have close to a quart of the best vanilla you have tasted or used in a recipe. Shake the bottle about once a week.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
ADVERTISEMENT