How to Soften Brown Sugar (6 Ways!)

Clumped hardened brown sugar in a clear mixing bowl

How to Soften Brown Sugar (6 Ways!)

Course: Sweet

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20

Total Time: 20

Servings: cup (or as much as is needed)

Finding yourself with a big hard block of brown sugar is the worst! This post covers how to soften brown sugar five different ways, explains why brown sugar gets hard, and how to store your brown sugar so it's always soft and ready for your recipes.

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Equipment

Instructions

How to soften brown sugar in the microwave

Place your clumps of brown sugar into a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a damp paper towel, and heat for 15-20 seconds.
Give it a fluff with a fork or whisk and if it seems like there are still parts that haven't quite softened enough, remove the parts that have and heat the hard portion again for 15 seconds.

How to soften brown sugar in the oven

Preheat your oven to 250˚F and put your brown sugar clumps on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Place it in the oven and keep an eye on it until you see it start to soften, and then immediately remove it from the oven.
However, you need to measure out what you need and use it immediately. The sugar is now hot and once it starts to cool it will harden again.

How to soften brown sugar with terracotta

Soak a terracotta disk (also known as brown sugar bears) in water for at least 20 minutes.
Place your hardened brown sugar in a tightly-sealed container, and add the terracotta disk, ensuring it is touching the sugar.
The great thing about this method is that if you have some lead time, you can just let the disk do the work for you - and you can re-soak the disk and add it to your usual container of brown sugar so that it can help maintain the already soft sugar's integrity.

How to soften brown sugar with bread

Place your hardened brown sugar in a tightly-sealed container, and add a slice of bread to the top.
Check it after 24 hours and the sugar should be soft - toss the bread, and enjoy your newly softened brown sugar.

How to soften brown sugar with apples

Place your hardened brown sugar in a tightly-sealed container, and add a couple slices of apple to the top.
Check it after 24 hours and the sugar should be soft - toss the apple slices, and enjoy your newly softened brown sugar.

How to soften brown sugar with marshmallows

Place your hardened brown sugar in a tightly-sealed container, and add a couple jumbo or regular sized marshmallows to the top.
Check it after 24 hours and the sugar should be soft – toss the marshmallows, and enjoy your newly softened brown sugar.

Notes

How to store brown sugar to keep it soft: The key is to keep it in a cool area in an airtight container. I store mine in one of the medium-sized OXO food storage containers along with one of the soaked brown sugar bears, and it works wonderfully. I just resoak the bear every couple weeks.