What Is Vanilla bean and How Can I Use It?

Vanilla bean rewards a little know-how: how to choose it, cook it, store it, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 103 recipes to cook with it.

What is vanilla bean?

Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron, due to the extensive labor required to grow the vanilla seed pods. Despite the expense, it is highly valued for its flavor.

Despite its high cost, vanilla is widely used in both commercial and domestic baking, perfume manufacture and aromatherapy.

Where found

Vanilla bean is usually found in the baking supplies section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

In Chinese:	香草豆
British (UK) term:
en français:	Les gousses de vanille
en español:	vainas de vainilla

Recipes using vanilla bean

There are 103 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Blueberry & Rum Milkshake

Fresh or frozen blueberries macerate in dark rum and vanilla bean seeds, then blitz with ice cream into a grown-up milkshake with berry-booze swirls and creamy vanilla richness.

Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vanilla bean chocolate chip cookies with real vanilla bean seeds scraped into buttery dough. The vanilla beans create flecked, fragrant cookies with sophisticated flavor and optional walnuts for crunch.

Vanilla Bean Banana Bread

A welcome twist on the classic banana bread recipe. It incorporates the rich, aromatic flavor of vanilla beans to elevate the taste of the moist and tender banana bread. The vanilla bean adds a depth of flavor and a subtle sweetness that perfectly complements the natural sweetness of the ripe bananas.

Kiwi Sorbet

Kiwi sorbet made with puréed fresh kiwis, a vanilla bean simple syrup, and a squeeze of lemon. Optional Cointreau for grown-up flavor, plus a Champagne variation.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Custard-base cinnamon ice cream infused with whole cinnamon sticks and a real vanilla bean. Egg yolk-thickened French style with heavy cream finish. Makes 12 servings.

Chocolate Vanilla Hazelnut Ice Cream

We have been making several ice cream this summer, this chocolate hazelnut ice cream tastes heavenly delicious. Creamy, nutty and vanilla-y, you can find chunks of chocolate in every bite.

Vanilla Bean & Pomegranate Parfaits

Creamy and rich custard on top. Sweet and sour pomegranate compote at the bottom. One spoonful of this parfait has all the deliciousness with great texture you are looking for.

Christmas Pudding With Vanilla-Bean Custard

This Christmas pudding has plenty of delicious fruit and nuts, but it's really simple to make - just plan ahead and then make the warm vanilla-bean custard on the day.

Cherry Vanilla Bean Milkshake

Creamy cherry milkshake made with frozen cherries, vanilla ice cream, and real vanilla bean. This lighter version uses low-fat ice cream and skim milk for guilt-free indulgence.

Orange Marmalade Vanilla Bean Bread Pudding

Just like the name, this bread pudding is buttery, creamy and it looks beautiful as well. I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay magazine. If you love bread pudding, give it a try and you will love it.

Coffee Liqueur

This is the best "Kahlua" recipe I've found. I added about 1/4 cup brandy to the recipe.

Vanilla Bean Tapioca Pudding

Creamy and very vanilla! Vanilla beans are infused into milk and tapioca, during the long and slow simmering, all the delicious vanilla flavor completely goes into the pudding. A light and tasty dessert to end the meal!

Buttermilk Custard Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

A rich vanilla frozen yogurt. The rich custard taste and mouth feel come from the egg yolks with a smooth vanilla flavor from the vanilla bean.

Mascarpone Vanilla Ice Cream

Silky and rich. This mascarpone ice cream is absolutely delicious, it's so easy to be addicted.

Star Anise Poached Pears In Red Wine

Poaching pears in red wine is a classic way to make pears into a dessert. Pears are poached in red wine with star anise, cloves and cinnamon sticks infused, which makes the pears tender, soft and tasty. Serve the warm pear with the syrup sauce and some good quality ice cream.

Christmas Marshmallow Snowflakes

Make your own marshmallows, then cut out shapes into snow flakes; elegant looking with delicious flavour will definitely impress your family and friends at your Christmas party!

Pannacotta with Blueberry Coulis

Pannacotta is a bit like like very creamy "Jello", this one is sweetened slightly with sugar and gently flavored with a real vanilla. Panna cotta has roots as an Italian dessert. It is eaten all over Italy typically being served with fresh berries, caramel and chocolate. This recipe was inspired by a recipe in one of Gordon Ramsay's cookbooks.

Vanilla Bean Blancmange

Literally means "white food". Blancmange is a delicate, quivering snow-white pudding that goes back to the 16th century that was extremely popular in the Victorian age.

Baked Creamy Rice Pudding

Creamy, smooth and light. It's an easy yet delicious pudding that ends the meal with an abundance of joy.

Jack Daniel's Chocolate Ice Cream

Jack Daniel's chocolate ice cream folds whiskey into a French custard base with vanilla bean and melted chocolate. Boozy, smooth, scoopable Tennessee whiskey dessert.

Vanilla Custard Macarons

These vanilla custard macarons are loaded with vanilla flavor, the custard filling is made with milk, egg yolk and vanilla beans. If you love vanilla, you will for sure love these vanilla custard macarons.

Almond Vanilla Ice Cream

This is a real ice cream that can beat Hagen daz. It's silky and creamy, toasted almonds infused custard has a rich and delicious almond taste. Toasted almond chunks being added at the end of the churning give the ice cream another layer of nutty and rich almond flavor and a little crunchiness when you have it in your mouth. A pure indulgence and enjoyment.

Caramel Pastry Cream

Rich and creamy custard style pastry cream perfect for eclairs or any other dessert use. Part of the sugar is carmalized and it infuses a rich caramel flavor throughout the cream.

A1 World's Best Tomato Sauce

This recipe is based on the one from Jean Christoph Novelli's grandmother Louise's recipe. He call's it "The Most Amazing Tomato Sauce on the planet" I agree. This is not the exact recipe (I tweaked it very slightly and made some educated guesses on the amounts of various ingredients but based upon the taste I believe it is probably very close.