Candied Ginger Recipe
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Make your own homemade candied ginger, also known as crystallized ginger! The flavor is WAY better than store-bought, much fresher and more vibrant. It will bring your baked goods to life, plus they’re fabulous just to snack on! PLUS there’s the additional bonus of an amazing ginger simple syrup you’ll get at the end of the cooking process that is phenomenal in drinks!
Have you ever come across a recipe calling for candied ginger but passed because you didn’t have any, couldn’t find any in the store, or just didn’t want to bother trying to find it? Or have you thought about making it yourself but weren’t sure how or figured it would be too much work? Well this is for you!
If you like candied ginger just wait until you’ve tried homemade. The flavor is worlds better – so much fresher with a stronger, more vibrant flavor. And if you don’t care for candied ginger, you’ll be converted once you’ve tried it in a few recipes. It adds such a great to a variety of baked goods.
Because it’s so fresh, and you know the source, you can also reap the health benefits of ginger, something that’s been used medicinally for centuries. And while you obviously want to eat candied ginger in moderation because of its sugar content, if you’re going to indulge your sweet tooth this is a much better alternative than straight up candy, right?
How to Use Crystallized Ginger
Candied ginger (aka crystallized ginger) is not only a yummy snack on its own, it’s a versatile ingredient that will liven up so many dishes. Here are just a few ways that you can use your homemade crystallized ginger:
- Added to banana bread, and Lemon Zucchini Bread
- Baked into cakes, cupcakes and muffins (see my Preserved Lemon Ginger Pound Cake)
- Added to Scottish Shortbread, ginger snaps, sugar cookies, Whole Grain Molasses Cookies, and Cornish Fairings
- Added to pear and apple crisps (see my Pineapple Mango Coconut Crumble with Candied Ginger)
- Baked into waffles and pancakes (see my Whole Wheat Sourdough Waffles)
- Stirred into Healthy Homemade Granola
- Stirred into Homemade Greek Yogurt
- Sprinkled over ice cream
Candied Ginger Recipe
Let’s get started!
Generally you want to use young, small ginger roots because they’re less woody/more tender. But medium-sized will work just fine as well. I recommend organic if possible.
Peel the ginger and slice it thinly and evenly. You can either do it by hand or use a mandolin. I highly recommend the Swissmar Borner Mandolin.
If you slice it paper thin the result will be crunchy crystallized ginger, but you also don’t want it too thick. 1/8 is thick is about right. You’ll need about 1 pound of sliced ginger.
Place the sliced ginger in a medium-sized pot and cover with water and just a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
Reserve 1/2 cup of the ginger water and then drain the sliced ginger (you can also keep the ginger water for tea or a tonic).
Place the reserved ginger water and sugar in the pot.
Add the sliced ginger, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer uncovered for about 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The mixture will become somewhat thickened as the sugar turns to a syrup. Simmer until a candy thermometer or instant read thermometer reads 225 degrees F. You don’t have to use a candy thermometer but it sure makes it a lot easier than guesswork.
Once the ginger mixture has reached 225 F drain the ginger immediately while hot. Use a colander over a bowl so you can collect the drained syrup. Don’t discard that syrup. This recipe produces a delicious by product: GINGER SIMPLE SYRUP! Add a teaspoon or two to your drinks for a refreshing ZING!
Lay the ginger slices out on a large cooling rack over a cookie sheet, separating the individual slices the best you can (this is the more tedious part of the process). Let the ginger sit for 2 hours so they’re sticky but not wet (you want the sugar to be able to adhere without dissolving).
Toss the pieces in a bowl of sugar to coat all sides. Lay the crystallized ginger back on the cooling rack to sit overnight to dry. Note: If you’re in a place with high humidity you can also dry these in a food dehydrator or in the oven on the very lowest temperature setting (you may need to keep the oven door cracked open).
Store the crystallized ginger in an airtight container in a dark, cool place. Because it’s cooked and sugar and then coated with sugar, it will keep for several months.
This makes roughly 2 cups of homemade candied ginger.
Enjoy!
Be sure to also try my Homemade Candied Orange Peel (or lemon, grapefruit and lime)!
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Candied Ginger Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh ginger root , preferably young/smaller roots, sliced about 1/8 inch thick (by hand or use a mandolin – it's much easier)
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- extra sugar for coating
Instructions
- Place the sliced ginger in a medium pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the ginger water and then drain the ginger slices.
- Place the sliced ginger back in the pot with the reserved ginger water, sugar and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer uncovered for 35-40 minutes or until the temperature on a candy thermometer reads 225 degrees F.Drain the ginger in a colander over a bowl to catch the syrup (see Note).
- Lay out the ginger slices on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet, separating the slices the best you can. Let cool for 2 hours (you want them sticky but not wet so that the sugar will adhere without dissolving).Toss the ginger slices in a bowl of sugar so they are coated all over. Place the ginger slices back on the cooling rack to sit overnight. Note: If you're in a very humid area you can dry the candied ginger in a food dehydrator or in the oven set to the lowest temperature (you may need to crack the oven door open.)
- Store in an airtight container in a dark, cool place. Will keep for several months. It can also be frozen for at least 6 months.This makes roughly 2 cups of candied ginger.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet June 5, 2015
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
I made ginger syrup yesterday, and decided to candy the remaining slices of ginger. I skipped the “processing” part of the recipe and went straight to the candy. I added back about 3/4 cup of my ginger syrup, and the remaining ingredients. It worked wonderfully!
As a bonus, I now have some really thick ginger syrup (I may just cook it further to make chews)!
Thanks for the recipe!
Fantastic, Glenn, thank you so much for the feedback!
I am shocked by the difference between this and packaged! It was worth 2 hours for 2 cups😊
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Donna, thank you! :)
I made this to serve as a garnish for pumpkin bread with pumpkin spice whipped cream. Only had a couple ounces of ginger as that is all i needed for dessert and scaled down other ingredients accordingly. I made some slices and some small cubes. Directions are easy to follow, but I wandered away from the pot thinking it would be 30-40 minutes for the second boiling step. When I came back after about 8 minutes, my candy thermometer was at 250 degrees. I quickly removed from the heat and tried to strain (which didn’t happen because it was practically hard ball stage) and turned out onto a paper towel. I did not have to put them in sugar because they are nicly coated and pleasantly crunchy. Happy mistake! Thank you for this recipe!
Awesome, Carol! :) Yes, a small quantity is going to reach the targeted temp a lot faster. I’m glad it all worked out in the end!
I am just eating the last bit of store-bought ginger and decided I really need to make my own.
This recipe seems awesome and I’m happy to make it as is, but am also wondering if I could substitute some of the sugar for Monk Fruit (Erythritol) or Xylitol?
Thanks!
Hi Kari, I haven’t tried but perhaps someone else has and and can chime in…
Could you make chocolate-covered ginger by dipping in melted chocolate once the ginger has dried instead of coating sugar while still wet?
Also, how would you modify the cooking process if you want to cut the ginger into 1/2″ cubes instead of slices, particularly if you want to store it in syrup or make chocolate-covered ginger?
All of the required qualities of the final product were there – flavor, texture, it turned out really good and tasty but the color didn’t remain vibrant yellow. Do you have nay suggestions as to how to preserve the color as well, like shown in the pictures in this recipe, or have an idea what might have happened (too high heat for cooking, too long..)?
Hi Iris, I’ve had mine turn out anywhere from pale yellowish to a light brown. A spectrum is perfectly normally with homemade candied ginger. It greatly depends on the ginger itself – its age, whether it’s more young and tender or more mature, where it was grown, etc. It’s nearly impossible to get consistent results across batches without the use of sulfites, which is what most commercially-sold candied ginger uses. And yet another reason why homemade is better!
Fantastic! And though it takes a bit of time, was very easy. I used these as a “chaser” for my Szechuan dumplings.. helps soften the burn.. thank you so much!
Hi — thank you so much for this! May I ask how much syrup this yields at the end?
Hi Kimberly. I’d like to try making this but, l don’t like the idea of the crunchy sugar on it at the end. Do you think it would be possible to make it but actually store it in the syrup rather than drain and dry it? A lot of high end candied ginger here is sold like that but, l don’t know if they use a special process. I have no problem storing it in the fridge. Thanks.
That’s a great question, Niki. I see no reason why you couldn’t keep the ginger stored in the syrup (yes, I would store it in the fridge). The only reason that could pose a problem is if you over-cook the syrup (like to soft ball or hard ball candy stage) and then you end up with ginger that’s cemented in a really firm and goopy syrup that’s near impossible to extract from the jar. But again, that would only be if the syrup is cooked too long. Otherwise I think it will be fine to store it in the syrup.
Kimberly, I’m going to try to make your mincemeat for my sister-in-law for Christmas this year. She loves the stuff and hasn’t had any since my grandmother passed. So thanks for that recipe, as well as the candied citrus peel recipe; I’ll be using both. For Thanksgiving I plan to make a Pumpkin cake roll with a mascarpone and ginger cream filling. The filling calls for candied ginger, but it need to be fine and the last time I tried to chop the stuff, of course it was a mess because it’s so sticky. So my real question is this — how fine can you chop the ginger before it goes into the water? Ideally, I wouldn’t want a hunk in my dessert any larger than 1/8 inch and even smaller would be better. Thanks!
Hi Sandy, I’m happy you’ll be trying the mincemeat and the homemade candied citrus peel is a real game changer. For this candied ginger there really isn’t a minimum size per se, you just need to be able to strain it from the syrup (use a fine mesh sieve) and lay it out onto something that will enable the excess syrup to drip off (a fine mesh wire rack of sorts?). Tossing the small pieces in the sugar can easily be done in a ziplock bag.
Can I use honey instead of sugar?
Hi Lanette, I haven’t tried honey but my guess is that it would result in a very sticky mess with all the ginger pieces getting stuck together.
I thought the last dusting of sugar could be caster sugar rather than ordinary granulated sugar.
You can use either.