How to Use a Vanilla Bean: Your New Vanilla Bean Pantry

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You may have purchased our Bourbon Vanilla Beans to bring big floral flavors and depth to one of your favorite recipes. But most recipes that call for vanilla beans only use the seeds scraped from the inside of a vanilla bean, not the pod itself, which still has the potential to bring tons of flavor to future dishes.

(Click here for a very quick rundown on how to use the seeds of a vanilla bean.)

Vanilla beans have a high upfront cost for something that you might not already consider a kitchen staple, but if you use them to create infused pantry items, either from the start or with the pod that remains once you’ve used the caviar, you can stretch that one time purchase into many months of recipe enhancement and experimentation. 

Here are three potential uses of your vanilla bean pod that will add depth and diversity to your spice rack and pantry: 

Vanilla Sugar

Either split a fresh vanilla pod or take one you’ve already used the seeds from and put it into a jar and fill it two thirds full with sugar, and leave it in a place where you’ll see it daily. Shake it once a day for the first week or two.  

The sugar will extract vanilla flavor and aroma, and after a couple of weeks you’ll have a much more complex sweetener that you can use as a partial substitute in a dessert recipe, or to stir into a hot beverage.

Be creative and use it wherever you’d normally use sugar where a hint of vanilla might be welcome.

When your jar runs low, fill it back up with sugar and shake again. Keep on using the same bean until it’s truly exhausted, and feel free to add multiple pods into the same jar.

There’s no requirement that you use white sugar. Substitute your favorite powdered sweetener for the same effect. Coconut palm sugar and maple sugar are two favorite replacements that add additional flavor, not just sweetness to your dish. 

Vanilla Salt

Either split a fresh vanilla pod or take one you’ve already used the seeds from and put it into a jar that you fill two thirds full with a flaky finishing salt.

In the same method as the vanilla sugar, shake it once a day for a couple of weeks. In the end, you’ll end up with a delicious, salty ingredient that you can use in rubs for meat and fish, or to finish any savory dish where a hint of vanilla would fit.  

Use it to top your morning bowl of oatmeal, or try it on roasted sweet potatoes to make a simple dish something truly special

Vanilla Oil

Warm up some light, neutral vegetable or olive oil in a sauce pan. The word warm is important, don’t make this hot enough to cook or fry anything, you just want it warm enough to help the vanilla bean infuse.  

Place a fresh, split open vanilla pod or one that you’ve already used the seeds from into a heat resistant glass jar.  

Once warm, pour the oil into the jar over the pod. Wait until the oil has reached room temperature before putting the lid on.

Use this infused oil is a flavorful partial substitute in dressings or marinades, to finish fried or sauteed dishes, or in recipes where fat is necessary but not in large quantities.

Tell us how you use your new pantry staples at lenny@beyondgood.com or @eatbeyondgood!