It’s a holiday and you’re finally in the mood to bake but you reach for the brown sugar in your pantry only to find it’s turned into a rock-hard lump. How did that happen? Well, in this article we take a look at learning how to soften brown sugar PLUS tips on how to ensure it never happens again! 

Indeed, with a little planning, you can easily keep your brown sugar ready when you go into your baking mode! After all, it’s not rocket science to learn to add a little moisture back to your brown sugar for it to be ready to use! There are so many amazing options for those looking to bake in the next 30 minutes, in the next 3 hours, or in 3 days! Here are 6 foolproof ways to soften your brown sugar up so that it’s fluffy and as good as new.

Here’s How To Soften Brown Sugar: Microwave, Terra Cotta, Bread, Oven, Apples And A Towel! 

Method 1: Soften brown sugar in the microwave.

• Place the lump of brown sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. 
• Next, lightly wet a paper towel and wring it out so it’s slightly damp. 
• Cover the bowl which has your brown sugar with the towel and microwave in 10-second bursts until the sugar is crumbly again. 
• Poke the brown sugar with a fork in short bursts  to help break up the lump. 
• Handle with caution because the sugar might be very hot and if you microwave it for too long, the sugar will melt for sure. 

Method 2: Soften brown sugar inside the oven.

• Preheat the oven to 250° F. 
• Place the hard sugar in an oven-safe bowl and stick it in the hot oven. 
• If you’re in a hurry, turn the oven on and check every couple of minutes and crumble with a fork until the sugar is soft. 
• Handle with caution because the sugar might be very hot and you’ll need it to cool down before usage. 

Method 3: Soften brown sugar with bread.

• Place a slice of fresh bread(make sure it’s fresh and not too old) in an airtight container.
• Place the lumpy brown sugar with the bread. 
• After about 12 hours, the sugar will have absorbed enough moisture from the bread to become fluffy, soft and crumbly once again. 
• Once done immediately remove the bread so it doesn’t mold.

Method 4: Soften brown sugar with an apple slice.

Follow the bread method above. 

You’ll need to leave it on for 12 hours or atleast 8 hours. 

Do remember to remove the apple afterwards, so it doesn’t mold. 

Method 5: Soften brown sugar with terra cotta.

The other methods described will soften hardened brown sugar, but the terra cotta method is the ultimate to keep your brown sugar soft for the longest overall time. 

Hardened brown sugar has been such a common problem for ages, that some clever people who love clay have come up with a very clever age-old solution. 

• Simply soak a piece of terracotta (clay) in water for about 20 minutes.
• Now place the terracotta in an air-tight container with the dried-out sugar lump.
• Place your brown sugar in an airtight container that’s not too big so there is as little excess air space as possible. 
• Add a store-bought terracotta disk, and you’ll easily be able to keep that sugar nice and soft.
• In about 12 hours, the terra cotta revives the sugar and prevents it from lumping up again by maintaining an ideal moisture level. 

If you’re online shopping, you can find terra cotta sugar savers that look like adorable bears leaves, flowers, birds or other small shapes.

Method 6: Soften brown sugar with a dampened towel.

• Lightly wet a kitchen towel or thick paper towel. 
• Wring it out thoroughly  to remove as much excess water as possible. 
• Place the brown sugar in a bowl, and cover the bowl with the dampened towel so that the opening is 100 percent covered.
• Make sure that the towel is not touching the brown sugar. 
• Leave the covered bowl on your countertop throughout the night or until the brown sugar has softened.

If you store your brown sugar in an airtight container or canister, you can also cover the top surface with aluminum foil or plastic cling wrap. Then you can place the dampened towel on top of the foil or plastic wrap. Shut the lid of the container and leave this overnight or until the brown sugar has softened.

What not to do when it comes to softening brown sugar:

Some people recommend the use of a blender or a food processor to soften hardened brown sugar. 

Others suggest using a box grater. 

Some people even suggest going crazy beating it into submission until it’s no longer a hard lump. 

Warning! Stop! Grinding brown sugar only breaks the sugar into smaller pieces, and doesn’t add back the moisture that’s been lost. So even if you may get that brown sugar brick broken down, you’ve not actually fixed the underlying issue. 

FAQs

How do you soften hard brown sugar without a microwave?

No microwave? Use the oven.

Preheat the oven to 250° F. 

Place the hard sugar in an oven-safe bowl and stick it in the hot oven. 

If you’re in a hurry, turn the oven on and check every couple of minutes and crumble with a fork until the sugar is soft. 

Handle with caution because the sugar might be very hot and you’ll need it to cool down before usage. 

No microwave? Use bread.

Place a slice of fresh bread(make sure it’s fresh and not too old) in an airtight container.

Place the lumpy brown sugar with the bread. 

After about 12 hours, the sugar will have absorbed enough moisture from the bread to become fluffy, soft and crumbly once again. 

Once done immediately remove the bread so it doesn’t mold.

No microwave? Use an apple slice.

Follow the bread method above. 

You’ll need to leave it on for 12 hours or at least 8 hours. 

Do remember to remove the apple afterwards, so it doesn’t mold. 

No microwave? Use a dampened towel 

Lightly wet a kitchen towel or thick paper towel. 

Wring it out thoroughly  to remove as much excess water as possible. 

Place the brown sugar in a bowl, and cover the bowl with the dampened towel so that the opening is 100 percent covered.

Make sure that the towel is not touching the brown sugar. 

Leave the covered bowl on your countertop throughout the night or until the brown sugar has softened.

How do you keep sugar from hardening?

To keep brown sugar properly moist and ready to use, you need to store it shut. For this, you need an air-tight container in a dry pantry. Why dry the pantry and not the fridge? Well, the fridge is too moist for proper sugar storage. 

The second trick and the MOST efficient overall trick is to use the terra cotta or clay method (mentioned above) to maintain moisture. 

If you did a bulk buy on brown sugar at a fantastic price or you bake a lot, you could break it down into smaller packages, squeeze out all the air, and freeze it. For this third method, the only drawback is that it could take a couple of hours to thaw.

How do you Unclump brown sugar?

If you have 2 to 3 days use the bread, or damp towel method. 

Shift your brown sugar into an airtight container and try re-fluffing it with something that can add moisture, like a slice of bread (see above) or a couple of damp tea bags or the damp towel method ( see above). 

Some people have recommended fixes like marshmallows — which had no effect. 

Also, we haven’t mentioned terracotta here because it’s highly LIKELY that you have bread lying around your house rather than those terracotta disks which you’ll have to order online to ensure this doesn’t get repeated. 

If you only have 2 to 3 minutes, just use the microwave. 

Most frequently, cooks are caught off guard by rock-hard brown sugar, so advanced planning isn’t an option. For the quickest method of softening brown sugar, place a lump of hardened sugar in a small microwave-safe bowl and cover it with a moist paper towel. 

Quickly heat the sugar in the microwave, on high in 20-second increments, breaking up any large clumps with a fork as you go. Ensure that you dont let the sugar start to melt or it will harden into a caramelized mess when it cools. 

How to store brown sugar?

For Frequent Users:

To keep brown sugar properly moist and ready to use, cooks and bakers have to store the sugar in an air-tight container in a dry pantry. Why the dry pantry and not the fridge? Well, the fridge is too moist for proper sugar storage. 

The second trick and the MOST efficient overall trick is to use the terra cotta or clay method (mentioned above) to maintain moisture. 

If you did a bulk buy on brown sugar at a fantastic price or you bake a lot, you could break it down into smaller packages, squeeze out all the air, and freeze it. For this third method the only drawback is that it could take a couple of hours to thaw.

For Irregular Brown Sugar Users:

It’s inevitable that brown sugar will eventually lose it’s moisture and be hard if stored long enough. If you don’t use brown sugar frequently enough to avoid hardening, store it in your freezer. Why the freezer? 

Because air exposure is the culprit in hardening brown sugar, the sugar needs to be in an airtight container like a zip-top bag with the excess air removed. By placing the sugar in a zip-top plastic bag and squeezing out the extra air, there’s also the option of making extra sure that your sugar storage is airtight. 

Next, place that bag inside an airtight container. Before you’ll need to use it, just remove the container from the freezer two or three hours

Why Does Brown Sugar Go Hard?

Unlike other types of sugar, brown sugar crystals are coated with molasses molecules (try saying that 5 times). When the brown sugar gets exposed to air, the moisture in the molasses evaporates, causing the sugar crystals to stick together.

Brown sugar becomes hard simply as its natural moisture evaporates. Unless you store it properly, what was a soft, fluffy package of brown sugar granules will become a dense brown lump you could break windows with. 

Brown Sugar is still safe to eat as a lump, in fact in Indian sweet recipes, we melt the whole thing in boiling water to make payasam for a family, but there’s no way you can measure it accurately for a recipe until it’s soft and grainy again.

Here’s what you can do: Plan ahead by keeping brown sugar soft.

Prevent petrified rock-hard brown sugar by storing it in an airtight container (squeeze every last bit of air out), decide if you are a frequent user or if you’re just going to use it once a year, and plan according to our guidelines above.