I never realized how ridiculously EASY it is to make homemade vanilla extract; an official recipe isn’t even really needed! I followed some very basic directions, and I’m so excited about how they turned out! The result was delicious and frugal — but high-value — Christmas gifts!
Homemade Vanilla: One of My 2025 Goals
At the beginning of 2025, I set a goal to try making 12 new-to-me things that I’d never made before. (See my list here.)
A number of you told me I should start with vanilla since it’s so easy to make and would need to sit for at least 6-12 months before it could be used.
I’ve learned that if a bunch of people suggest the same thing, I should listen. So I did as I was told and started with vanilla.
Where Do You Get the Supplies for Homemade Vanilla Extract?
Since making homemade vanilla extract was all new to me, I had to research multiple recipes and details online to feel confident enough to do it (those of you who have made it before can go ahead and laugh now because I had no idea it was so easy!!).
I bought my vanilla beans from Amazon. I priced a number of different places and ended up getting these Grade A vanilla beans because they had 12k+ ratings and so many 5-star reviews!
And then Jesse picked up the Vodka from a local store (and was very disappointed he didn’t get carded… he came home and said, “I had my license out ready and they didn’t even ask for it! I guess that means I’m getting old!”)
Does It Actually Save Money to Make Homemade Vanilla?
All told, it was around $80 for the vanilla beans and the Vodka. It ended up making around 150 ounces of vanilla. That comes out to be around $0.53 per ounce — which is definitely less expensive than what you would pay buying it at the store. In fact, I searched at my local stores and all the vanilla I found was at least $3 an ounce!
When I shared pictures of my vanilla on Instagram, quite a few people said I could have used fewer beans to save money. So if you want to make it even less expensive per ounce, you could try that! People also said that once the vanilla is made, you can put the vanilla beans in sugar and it will make vanilla sugar!
How To Make Homemade Vanilla Extract (It’s ridiculously easy!)
It’s so, so easy to make homemade vanilla! I realized I’d been over-complicating the idea for years and can’t believe it took me this long to try it!
In fact, if you’re looking for a homemade vanilla extract recipe, you don’t even really need one. All you do is slice the vanilla beans down the middle, put them in a jar, and pour vodka over them. (You can also use rum or bourbon.)
Then, you just let the jar sit in a cool, dark, room temperature place for six to 12 months. Pick up the jar and give it a shake every few weeks and make sure that the beans are submerged in liquid.
That’s it! You can use the homemade vanilla in as soon as a few months or wait 12 months or longer.
For more details and pictures on making homemade vanilla, check out Sally’s Baking Addiction.
This would make such great gifts for Christmas if you made it now and then set it aside until December!
Homemade Vanilla Extract Success!!
The vanilla turned out SO well! The kids loved transferring it to the bottles with me.
I gave homemade vanilla for gifts for Christmas and it was a HIT! We used these bottles to gift them and I think people may have been more excited about the adorable bottles than the vanilla itself!
I still cannot believe how easy this is and how long I waited to try it! Highly, highly recommended!
FAQs About Making Homemade Vanilla Extract
Pure homemade vanilla extract will last indefinitely! Simply remove the beans and store it in a cool, dark place, and it should be good for many years.
It takes 5 minutes to combine the ingredients, but they’ll need to sit for 6-12 months to fully infuse the flavors.
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Have you tried making homemade vanilla before? Have you made any new-to-you recipes or done any new DIY projects recently?
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Thank you for your amazing tutorial!
Question, if using alcohol then don’t you have to be careful using it in non-baked ways because you will be effected by the alcohol not being cooked off? I hope this isn’t a silly question. I’m just thinking about using it for kid’s, recovering alcoholics, liver/medical diseased people’s food/drink. I haven’t been able to find an answer anywhere else 🙂
Thank you!
All vanilla has very high alcohol content so homemade vanilla is no different than storebought vanilla. However, because you usually use such a small amount in things that you don’t usually need to worry about it.
Another excellent resource is Indri Vanilla, they do group orders (currently $6.00 per oz Madagascar beans) and have tons of recipes. I’ve been making vanilla for about 4 years now and figured out my favorite bean/alcohol combo (1 cup 35 proud coconut rum per oz of beans for single fold, 2 oz beans for double fold which is what I usually make). The longer I leave it the better it gets! I do usually also split my beans. It’s a fun rabbit hole of a hobby! I use my extracted beans for paste and vanilla sugar as well.
What size jar do you use? And how many vanilla beans and how much vodka for that jar?
What proof of vodka?
What amount vodka/ beans?
minimally 80 proof vodka. i think 8oz vodka to an ounce of beans. (i think thats like 8 beans)
i get beans off amazon from Vanilla bean kings. Very good quality and good prices
We have been making our own vanilla for YEARS! We use 1 1/2 beans to 375 ml brandy and wait three months. The other half bean goes into sugar for vanilla sugar. Keep it in a dark location and it lasts forever! We only do vodka vanilla when a recipe calls for clear vanilla as I prefer the brandy version.
Currently we are attempting lemon extract using peels from organic lemons. Hoping it will be ready in time for holiday baking!
Please give an update when your Lemon extract is finished.
I’ve always heard that homemade vanilla is stronger than store bought, so you can use less in recipes. More savings!
Oh! I can’t wait to see if that’s true!
Thank you for the great idea at just the right time. I’ve been wanting to make homemade vanilla for years to give as Christmas gifts but never remember to make it early enough in the year. Now I can!
YAY!
I started making homemade vanilla about two years ago and I love it! In the process of making vanilla, I also take the left over beans and make vanilla paste with them and when I tell you it’s delicious 😋 I mean delicious 😋
I cannot wait to try it!
Would you mind sharing your process for making Vanilla Paste? I would love to do that also. Thank you.
I’ve been making vanilla for quite a few years. I also get the vanilla beans from Amazon and I use organic vodka that is made in Minnesota (which is where we live). Whenever I pour some out of the bigger jar into a smaller one that we use it from, I just add more vodka to the bigger jar. That way we always have some going for the next time we need to refill our smaller jar! I also write the date on the jar so I know when I started it and whenever I refilled it 😊
Oh! Thanks for sharing these tips!!
Thanks so much for sharing!!
I did this last April and my whole family has mentioned that we are almost ready to use the vanilla (I chose to wait the full year, just to see what the flavor would be). It’s so cute that all of them (three girls in their late teens/early 20s, as well as my husband) are so excited about homemade vanilla. Such a fun, easy little project and if it ends up tasting good – what a money saver! Especially for those of us who bake a lot!
Yay! Let us know how it turned out! -Jordan, MSM Team
Yes! I couldn’t believe how easy it was!!!
An easier way to make it is to put vanilla beans in vodka jars then let sit. I think 6 months is a long time, we let it sit about 6 -8 weeks and it was fine.
Thanks for sharing! I researched a bunch of different things and it seemed that glass jars with a longer cure time meant higher quality vanilla… so I decided to go for that!