13 Substitutes You Can Use For Powdered Sugar

The easiest and most effective substitute for powdered sugar is a combination of granulated sugar and cornstarch, as these are the two ingredients that make up most store-bought powdered sugar anyway.

To make this substitute at home, combine 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 cup of powdered sugar and add it to a high-speed blender (like a Nutribullet or Vitamix), blending until very fine and powdery. Be patient! It may take several minutes to achieve the chalky texture you're looking for. If you don't have a high-powered blender, a spice grinder or coffee grinder can do well in a pinch. But keep in mind that it may be quite time-consuming and messy due to their small size.

Once you've achieved a powdery texture, sift it with a fine sieve if you see any clumps or large granules. While you're unlikely to achieve quite the same powdery texture you'll find at the store, you can get pretty close. And you can feel free to use your homemade powdered sugar in nearly any recipe — though extra-sensitive recipes like French macarons are usually best with the store-bought stuff.

Tapioca starch is another excellent option for making powdered sugar at home. In fact, store-bought, organic powdered sugar often contains tapioca starch in lieu of cornstarch because the cornstarch often doesn't meet organic standards.

This popular starch is made by extracting the starch from cassava root (also known as yucca), a tuber native to South America and a common food in countries across Africa, Asia, and South America. The cassava root is crushed to release starchy liquid; once the water is evaporated, you're left with a powdery starch that works similarly to cornstarch or potato starch. Because tapioca starch granules are smooth and round, powdered sugar made with it is particularly good for making creamy, smooth icings and glazes. But because tapioca absorbs liquid more quickly than other starches, it may struggle when dusted over moist desserts like lemon bars.

To make it at home, you'll use the same ratios. Combine 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch with 1 cup of granulated sugar and blend on high until you achieve a very fine and powdery texture.

Whether you're out of granulated sugar or you're looking for a less-processed form of powdered sugar, coconut sugar makes a great substitute when combined with popular starches like cornstarch, arrowroot, tapioca, or potato. Coconut sugar comes from the sap of the coconut palm tree and is harvested from coconut blossoms.

The sugar undergoes minimal processing — unlike cane sugar, which is often bleached and refined — which maintains some of the nutrients from the sap and gives it a slight caramel-y flavor and a light brown color. It can be used as a 1:1 swap in most baked goods, including homemade powdered sugar. Just keep in mind that it will taste slightly different from standard powdered sugar, which can actually be quite pleasant depending on the recipe. Its slight tropical flavor makes it particularly good for dusting over banana pancakes. To make it into powdered sugar, combine 1 cup of granulated coconut sugar with 1 tablespoon of the starch of your choice — then blend on high until fine and powdery. 

If you're looking for a keto-friendly or calorie-free alternative to powdered sugar, use a combination of monk fruit sweetener and a starch, such as potato, corn, tapioca, or arrowroot. Monk fruit sweetener is derived from the monk fruit plant, a gourd-like fruit native to China, which contains chemical compounds known as mogrosides (via Scientific Reports). These mogrosides supply high levels of sweetness without the calories or blood glucose boost associated with cane sugar.

To use it as a powdered sugar substitute, you'll want to combine 1 cup of monk fruit sweetener with 1 tablespoon of starch. Blend until powdery and sift out any chunks if necessary. Because monk fruit sweetener is sweeter than sugar — about 100 to 250 times sweeter — you'll want to use about 75% of the powdered sugar required for your recipe. In other words, you should use ¾ cup powdered monk fruit sweetener for every 1 cup of powdered sugar.

This common coffee sweetener makes another decent powdered sugar substitute when ground and combined with a little bit of starch. Free of both calories and carbohydrates, Stevia is an excellent option for those looking to cut down on carbs or control their blood sugar.

According to Healthline, stevia is naturally derived from the leaves of the stevia plant; the leaves are harvested, dried, and steeped in hot water to extract the glycosides — the chemical compounds that give stevia its sweetness. Stevia is sold in many different forms, but it's best to use its powdered or dried forms when you're substituting powdered sugar. For best results, combine 1 cup of powdered Stevia with 1 tablespoon of starch and blend until very fine.

Like Splenda, Stevia is much sweeter than cane sugar, so you'll need to use a bit less to achieve the same sweetness in any given recipe. For that reason, avoid using this substitute in sensitive recipes like cookies, cakes, and meringues that require an exact amount of powdered sugar and stick to using it for dusting over desserts or supplementing sugar in a batch of buttercream frosting.

Another surprising substitute for powdered sugar? Cocoa powder! This chocolate powder is made by pulverizing cacao particles after the cocoa butter is extracted from the beans, resulting in a deeply-flavored powder that resembles the texture of powdered sugar. Cocoa powder is commonly dusted over desserts like tiramisu and flourless chocolate cakes, and would make a great substitute for powdered sugar in everything from waffles toppings to rolling Italian wedding cookies — so long as you're looking for a chocolate-y result.

Because cocoa powder is unsweetened, it won't add sweetness to recipes like powdered sugar does. If you're looking for a sweet substitute, blend cocoa powder with granulated sugar or any other sweetener of your choice. Or try using hot cocoa mix, which is typically made with cocoa powder, sugar, and dry milk powder. This substitute is best used for dusting over desserts or flavoring frostings and won't do so well in meringues, icings and glazes as it doesn't contain any cornstarch.

If you're looking for another calorie-free alternative for powdered sugar, then look no further than xylitol. This increasingly-popular sugar substitute has a fine, powdery texture that resembles powdered sugar and is made even more powdery by blending it for a few minutes in a high-speed blender.

Xylitol is a type of sugar alcohol that naturally occurs in some plants, and it looks and tastes very similar to real sugar in its granulated form, but with significantly fewer calories and carbohydrates (40% fewer, according to Healthline).

Although xylitol is designed for being used as a 1:1 substitute in recipes, when it comes to texture, flavor, and browning the exact results will certainly vary. When using xylitol as a powdered sugar substitute, it's best to use it for recipes that don't require powdered sugar as a texturizing agent. We suggest using it for dusting, sprinkling, and rolling in lieu of adding it to frostings, icings, and meringues. And if for any reason you're making something for your pets, keep in mind that xylitol is not safe for both dogs and ferrets and can be lethal if consumed, according to the FDA.