Pandan leaves are a staple flavor and ingredient in Asian culinary history. Its vanilla and grassy notes pair perfectly with tropical fruits, like coconut and mango, and you’ll find it in many Asian desserts, pandan sticky rice (xôi lá dứa), and pandan waffle (bánh kẹp lá dứa). After falling in love with Academic Coffee’s pandan lattes in San Jose, we wanted to recreate a homemade pandan syrup to go with our coffees at home.
Ingredients in pandan syrup
Pandan syrup has only three ingredients: pandan leaves, water, and sugar. While you can use pandan extract for simple syrup, we don’t like using artificial flavors. Even the store-bought natural pandan extract is more bitter than homemade.
The easiest way to get pandan leaves is to buy them frozen in Asian grocery stores like 99 Ranch or Seafood City. To defrost the leaves, remove them from the packaging and submerge them in cold water. Make sure to rinse the leaves after they’ve defrosted and wipe them dry with a towel.
Before making the syrup, you’ll need to process the leaves with water in a strong blender. Cut the leaves into 3-4-inch pieces to make blending easier. Blend for only about 10-15 seconds until there are no longer any large chunks and it looks like a pulp; however, do not overblend the leaves because this causes bitter pandan water.
Strain the pandan water with a strainer and use a spatula to press out the excess liquid. It’s okay if you see some pieces of pandan settle at the bottom because this is where the flavor and aroma come from. Now you’re ready to make simple syrup with your pandan water!
Simple syrup ratio
Simple syrup is a sweetener that is made from dissolving sugar in hot water over the stove. It’s often used in cocktails like vodka sours, coffee drinks with espresso, and desserts like chè Thái. Pandan syrup is made the same way as simple syrup, except we use our homemade pandan water.
This pandan simple syrup follows an easy ratio of 1 part sugar to 1 part water. After making pandan water, measure the weight of the liquid using a scale, and then add the same amount of sugar. If you don’t have a scale, you can also use volumetric measurements, but it may be less accurate.
After dissolving the sugar in the pandan water over medium-high heat, the consistency will be very thin. Most simple syrup recipes end at this stage; however, for flavored syrups, you’ll want to continue simmering and stirring the liquid to reduce the amount by half and intensify the flavor for about 15 minutes total. Boiling off the excess water in the liquid creates a thicker syrup and a more concentrated pandan flavor, as you’re left with more of the extract.
Equipment needed
To make pandan syrup, you’ll need:
- A high-speed blender, like a Vitamix, is used to thoroughly process the pandan leaves into a pulp. We tested a small food processor, and it simply does not blend finely enough.
- A mesh strainer to separate the pulp from the pandan water. You don’t need to use a fine tea sock or even a fine-mesh strainer because you don’t want to filter too much of the pandan out of the water.
- Spatula for pressing out the excess liquid in the pulp through the strainer and stirring the simple syrup on the stove. A silicone spatula is helpful because the syrup won’t stick.
Tips for using & storage
Cool the syrup on the counter before transferring it to a syrup container. We love using OXO glass containers because they’re easy to dispense and clean. You can keep them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, and even longer if you’ve reduced the syrup. Before using, check the clarity and smell of the syrup for potential spoilage.
Our favorite ways to use pandan syrup are:
- Pandan lattes with espresso
- iced matcha green tea latte
- Korean strawberry milk
- Any boba drink, like bubble tea with/ sea salt cream or hot bubble milk tea
Pandan Syrup
Ingredients
- 100 g pandan leaves
- 400 g water
- white cane sugar equal amount to pandan water
Equipment Used
- Strainer
- sauce pot
- spatula
Instructions
- Rinse and thoroughly scrub 100 g pandan leaves under running water.
- Use a towel to wipe off the excess water off of each leaf. The main reason to wipe off water is so we are measuring the right amount of leaves without extra water weight.
- Use scissors to cut the leaves into 3-4 inch long pieces.
- Add the 100 g pandan leaves and 400 g water to a blender. Cover with a lid.
- Blend the leaves until there are no more large pieces and the pandan looks like a pulp. This process takes no more than 5-10 seconds. Do not overblend because this can cause bitter pandan water.
- Pour the pulp through a mesh strainer and use a spatula to gently press it to extract all the liquid.
- Measure the weight of liquid using a scale, and then measure out equal parts of white cane sugar using the same method. For example, 100 g of pandan leaves and 400 g of water ended up being 388 g of pandan water, so we will add 388 g of sugar.
- Combine the pandan water and sugar in a sauce pot and turn on the stove to medium-high heat.
- Stir constantly until sugar is fully dissolved, about 2-4 minutes. Continue to simmer and stir until the consistency is similar to agave, about 10-15 minutes. You’ll know that the syrup is almost done when the pandan extract debris begins to separate naturally from the clear liquid (see photo).
- Remove the pot from the stove and let it cool almost to room temperature before transferring to a new container. Keep this in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Before using, check the clarity and smell for any signs of spoilage.
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I used your recipe and it tasted great! Thank you <3
Thanks Alex!