Food & Cooking Recipes Ingredients Fruit Rhubarb Syrup This gorgeous pink syrup makes delicious drinks and is a fabulous topper for ice cream. Close Credit: Jason Donnelly Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 5 mins Total Time: 15 mins Servings: 18 Yield: 2 1/4 cups Jump to recipe Our rhubarb syrup is a delicious, sweet-tangy delight that takes 15 minutes to make and only calls for three simple ingredients: rhubarb, sugar, and vanilla. With its stunning color and fresh flavor, it provides a unique way to incorporate rhubarb into cocktails, non-alcoholic drinks, desserts, and more. Making it is similar to whipping up any other simple syrup: You’ll combine equal amounts of sugar and water, plus the chopped rhubarb and vanilla bean, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the rhubarb is tender. After straining, it’s ready for drizzling on ice cream, folding into whipped cream, and stirring into cocktails or lemonade. Simple Syrup Is the Most Versatile Sweetener: Here's How to Make and Use It Ingredients for Making Rhubarb Syrup Sugar: Granulated (white) sugar is our pick for this recipe as it has the most neutral flavor, dissolves easily, and lets the flavor of the rhubarb shine through. If desired, you can use a less refined sugar like demerara, but the color of the syrup will be darker and the flavor a bit richer. Rhubarb: You'll need six ounces of rhubarb, or about three medium-sized stalks, for this recipe. When shopping for rhubarb, look for shiny, firm stalks free of blemishes. Color is not an indicator of sweetness, so feel free to grab whatever looks best, whether bright green, pink, or deep red. Vanilla: If you can obtain a vanilla bean for this recipe, it will give the syrup the best, most pure vanilla flavor. You can easily swap in a teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste instead, just do it after the mixture has come off the heat to avoid cooking off the vanilla flavor. How to Make Rhubarb Syrup In 3 Easy Steps Chop: To get your rhubarb ready for this recipe, rinse it well, then trim and discard any leaves that may still be attached—they contain a toxic compound that can be harmful to humans and animals if consumed. Chop rhubarb into small, quarter-inch pieces, which will help it cook down more quickly and release the most flavor. Simmer: Once your rhubarb is prepped, you'll combine it and the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan, then bring it up to a boil over high heat, stirring or whisking constantly to dissolve sugar. Once it reaches a boil, let it cook until rhubarb is fully tender, which should only take a few minutes. Strain and cool: Before your syrup is ready to use, you'll want to remove the cooked-down pieces of rhubarb as well as the vanilla bean. If you have a fine-mesh strainer, place it over a clean, heatproof bowl and pour the syrup through it. (A double layer of cheesecloth set over a bowl will work just as well here.) Let the syrup cool completely, then transfer it to a jar or bottle and refrigerate until you're ready to use it. Think twice before tossing the cooked rhubarb and vanilla bean. You can reserve the rhubarb for spooning over yogurt or ice cream. The vanilla bean can be rinsed and dried, then tucked into a container of sugar for homemade vanilla sugar or popped into a bottle of vodka for a subtle infusion. It won't have the same punch as if you'd used a fresh pod, but it still contains quite a bit of flavor and is worth hanging onto. Directions Credit: Jason Donnelly Make syrup: Combine sugar, water, vanilla bean and seeds, and rhubarb in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Simmer until rhubarb is tender, about 3 minutes. Credit: Jason Donnelly Strain then let cool: Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain syrup into a bowl, pressing gently on rhubarb to release as much liquid as possible. Let syrup cool completely, then transfer to a jar and refrigerate until ready to use. Credit: Jason Donnelly Credit: Jason Donnelly How to Store Rhubarb Syrup Rhubarb syrup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one week. How to Use Rhubarb Syrup There are so many ways to enjoy this sweet-tangy syrup, including: Incorporating it into a springy cocktail, like this rhubarb fizz Combining it with lemonade, iced green tea, or seltzer for a refreshing non-alcoholic sipper Drizzling it over ice cream, yogurt, or baked goods like pound cake Folding it into whipped cream instead of sugar for a touch of sweetness Whisking it with Dijon mustard, olive oil, and white-wine vinegar for a special spring vinaigrette Using it in place of maple syrup on pancakes and waffles 5 More Rhubarb Recipes to Try Rhubarb Custard Tart Rosé-Poached Rhubarb Chilled Rhubarb-and-Raspberry Soup Rhubarb-Buckwheat Scones Rhubarb Compote Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.