10 Best Vanilla Extracts for Baking and Beyond in 2025
The best vanilla extracts are a baking staple that many take for granted. They’re in everything from cookies and cake to custard and even cocktails. This means that those who frequently spend their weekends up to their elbows in flour are likely to go through high-quality vanilla extract like savory chefs go through salt.
And as any avid baker will tell you, choosing a good vanilla extract is easy, since there are plenty on the market to choose from. However, finding the best vanilla extract for your needs is easier said than done. Fortunately, we’re here to help!
Whether you’re looking for the best vanilla extract for baking or need to replace your usual bottle with one of the healthiest vanilla extracts, this carefully curated guide to the best vanilla extracts has you covered.
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The 10 Best Vanilla Extract Brands
1. McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract
Strong, assertive and requiring a mere few drops to make itself known in your home bakes, this product earns McCormick a place on this guide as one of the very best vanilla extract brands. We found that this vanilla extract delivers a sweetness that’s free of any kind of chemical aftertaste. It’s also sure to last, since a little goes a long way.
Whether you’re baking popular desserts like cakes and cookies, tasty breakfast bakes like cinnamon roll casserole or just want something in the cupboard to open and smell for the heck of it, grab a bottle of McCormick!
There’s also a small batch version of this vanilla extract. Made with 100% premium Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans, it offers a more intense flavor than the regular pure vanilla extract, which is ideal if you’re making a dish where you want the vanilla flavor to be the star, such as vanilla cupcakes.
2. Beyond Good Vanilla Extract
When a product claims to go beyond being a mere “good vanilla extract,” it has to be worth a try. Now, we’ll say that while this is one of the best vanilla extracts, it’s unlikely to be a favorite for the purists out there.
We loved the notes of salted caramel and marshmallow that came through when we tasted the bakes we made with it (it’s especially delicious when used to make banana pudding brownies). But if you’re on the hunt for the best vanilla essence — one that’s purely and simply “vanilla” — this probably isn’t the one for you.
3. Rodelle Alcohol Free Vanilla Flavor
Setting itself apart from other vanilla extracts with a bold, unmissable flavor, Rodelle’s alcohol-free product earns itself a spot on the list of the very best vanilla extracts. Just be sure to use this one with caution.
Most high-quality vanilla extracts go a long way, only requiring a few drops to make themselves known. But this one is on another level. It’s unapologetically vanilla — and not in the boring, mundane, everyday sense of the word.
In other words, if you want to take your bakes to full-on flavortown, this is up there with the best vanilla extracts on this list.
4. Nielsen Massey Everyday Gourmet Vanilla Extract
The point of the best vanilla extracts is to do more than just elevate vanilla-forward desserts. In fact, they can also be used to elevate other sweet treats, like frosting, coffee syrups like vanilla coffee syrup, and even fruit-and-nut-based dishes like granola.
This is where Nielsen Massey’s Everyday Gourmet extract shines. It’s zippier than other contenders for the title of best vanilla essence. By that, we mean it has a hint of sharpness.
It’s not citrusy, but it’s not totally mellow, either. It brings out the best in anything that vibes with vanilla.
5. Watkins Pure Vanilla Extract
This contender for the title of best vanilla extract earns its spot on this guide with an authentic vanilla flavor that does away (almost entirely) with the chemical aftertaste. That’s no small feat. Given that we are talking about extracts here (as opposed to pure vanilla bean), minimizing, nay, nearly eliminating such aftertastes is nothing short of chemical wizardry!
How Watkins manages it, we don’t know. But we’re there for it. If you don’t have the cash to splash on real vanilla beans, this is up there with the best vanilla extracts with which to replace them.
6. Penzeys Pure Vanilla Extract Single-Strength
Tasting closer to real beans than you would expect from even the best vanilla extracts, this next item fetches a slightly higher price tag than others on this list. Its warm, almost caramel-like flavor lights up even the most lackluster bakes with genuine, bonafide vanilla flavor.
Sure, you’d be splashing out by buying a bottle of this. But we believe that this is one of those products for which you get what you pay for.
7. Simply Organic Pure Madagascar Vanilla Extract
Available in grocery stores around the nation, Simply Organic’s Pure Madagascar Vanilla Extract is one of the easiest to find on this guide to the best vanilla extracts. And don’t think for a second that just because it’s widely available, it’s not as good as others.
That’s simply not the case. Sure, it’s mild, but it also delivers delightful floral notes that promise to elevate your bakes. In other words, given the money you’ll pay for it, this is one of the best vanilla extracts with which to line your pantry on a budget.
8. Spice Islands Pure Vanilla Extract
If you prefer your vanilla straight-up and unadorned, this product from Spice Islands might just be the best vanilla extract for you. It comes out of the bottle looking every bit like liquid gold, and just one sniff is enough to confirm your suspicions.
As for the taste, well, it’s about as close to the real deal as extracts get, just without the price tag that comes with bona fide beans. Expect a smooth and mild vanilla flavor that delivers to your bakes exactly what it promises on the bottle.
9. Singing Dog Pure Vanilla Extract
While we love the unmistakable label that adorns the bottle, that’s not the reason we’ve picked Singing Dog’s as one of the best vanilla extracts. Nor is it that we thought it worked brilliantly in baked goods. In fact, the flavor profile is not as noticeable in baked goods as others on this list.
Where it really comes into its own as one of the best vanilla extracts is in raw applications. Especially in craft cocktails, smoothies and flavored coffees like Irish cream cold brew, we found each sip was elevated beautifully with the mellow vanilla flavor and the bright floral notes that infuse this bottle.
We were also fans of the price point — perfect for regular bakers who need to be mindful about their spending. What we love most, however, is that it’s a Fair Trade product and the profits are shared between Singing Dog’s farmers.
10. Spice House Pure Madagascar Vanilla Extract
Only available online and in Spice House stores, it isn’t this product’s wide availability that earns it a place among the best vanilla extracts. Instead, it’s the balance it strikes between quality and cost-efficiency.
It’s unlikely to break the bank (and would therefore make a fantastic, cost-effective gift for your favorite baker), yet it tastes every bit like a more expensive commodity. It’s sweet, floral and with hints of bourbon.
Use it to elevate a birthday cake, cookies — you name it! And if you like this Spice House product, the brand also has Mexican and Tahitian vanilla varieties, offering more of the best vanilla extracts for adventurous bakers.
What Is the Best Vanilla Extract?
The best vanilla extract for you really comes down to personal preference. Those included in this guide are some of the very best vanilla extracts on the market, but no two are the same.
Some bring floral notes to your favorite baked goodies and some even carry notes of bourbon and salted caramel. What’s more, your decision on which is the best vanilla extract will depend on how you intend to use it.
For example, if you want punchy vanilla that’s sure to take your baking to Flavortown, Rodelle’s Alcohol Free Vanilla Flavor would be a solid choice. But if you tried to do the same with Singing Dog’s Pure Vanilla Extract, you’d probably find that the flavors disappeared with baking.
On the contrary, if you’re buying one of the best vanilla extracts for raw applications, such as cocktails and smoothies, Singing Dog’s Pure Vanilla Extract would be a better choice, whereas Rodelle’s Vanilla Flavor would likely overpower the other raw ingredients.
What Is the Healthiest Vanilla Extract?
The best vanilla extract for those with health in mind is that labelled “pure” or “organic.” Why? These products contain only vanilla beans and alcohol, with no artificial additives like sugar, flavors or colors.
You’ll have noticed a few of these listed in this guide, so take your pick! Our personal choice would be Nielsen Massey’s Everyday Gourmet Vanilla Extract. But you would be just as well served by McCormick’s Pure Vanilla Extract and Simply Organic’s Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract, depending on your palate’s preferences.
What Is the Best Vanilla Extract for Baking?
Again, the best vanilla extract for elevating your baked goods, in many ways, comes down to personal preference. However, there are a couple of things to look out for to ensure you buy the most appropriate product for your baking adventures.
The first is to ensure you buy a pure vanilla extract, as opposed to an imitation vanilla product. You can check out the rigorous standards for what constitutes a genuine vanilla “extract” on the FEMA website.
Another is to look for darker-colored extracts. A darker color usually means a higher concentration of vanilla, which is key to ensuring the flavor survives the baking process and continues to shine through when your goods are golden. From the above list of best vanilla extracts, bottles from McCormick, Nielsen Massey and Simply Organic will all put you in good stead.
Choosing the best vanilla extract for your baking is a matter of personal choice, however, we hope this guide has helped you narrow down your options. What’s more, we hope you’ve gleaned some insight into what helps set the best vanilla extracts apart from other, lesser-quality products on the market.
Whether you’re baking a cake, whipping up some homemade ice cream or taking your cocktail night to new heights of deliciousness, the best vanilla extract has the power to make or break your creations. In other words, you need to choose wisely. Fortunately, thanks to this guide, doing so has never been easier.
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