What’s the Difference Between White Sugar and Brown Sugar?

White sugar and brown sugar: surely you know both of these ingredients well. They’re the two main types of sugar that are constantly used in all of our favorite treats and baking recipes, and chances are they each take up regular residence in your kitchen cabinets. 

Obviously one sugar is white and one is brown, but is their color all that differentiates the two? Or is there more to it? The main difference is subtle, yet significant: brown sugar is simply white sugar with molasses in it. But the presence of molasses causes a domino effect of several differences. 

Let’s dig into how exactly white sugar and brown sugar differ – including how they’re made, their nutritional values, what they taste like, and how to use each of them. 

White sugar vs brown sugar: how they’re made

White sugar goes through several steps to become sugar. First, the sugary liquid that’s produced and stored inside a sugar cane or sugar beet plant is extracted. Then that sugar juice is purified and heated to create molasses, which is essentially a concentrated sugar syrup that’s dark brown in color. From there, the molasses is crystalized and then processed, refined, and filtered so that the molasses is removed and only small white sugar crystals remain.

Brown sugar is produced the same exact way up until this point, but once it’s refined white sugar, another step takes place: some of the molasses that’s been removed gets added back in. A small amount is added back for light brown sugar, and close to twice the amount is added for dark brown sugar. This gives the sugar its brown color, and also results in slightly different nutritional and flavor profiles. 

When we see ‘white sugar’, it usually refers to granulated sugar or table sugar. But white sugar can be processed slightly differently to make several different kinds of sugar, like caster sugar and powdered sugar, for example. Brown sugar most often refers to light brown sugar, but it too encompasses several variations, like dark brown sugar, demerara, muscovado, and turbinado. 

White sugar vs brown sugar: nutritional value

At their core, both white sugar and brown sugar are simply sugar crystals that are produced from the same type of plant – either sugarcane or sugar beet – so they don’t differ drastically when it comes to nutritional value. 

However, the presence of the molasses in brown sugar does cause some very minor nuances to its nutritional makeup. Where white sugar is a little over 16 calories per teaspoon, brown sugar contains slightly less calories at 15 per teaspoon. And because of the molasses, brown sugar has slightly higher amounts of calcium, potassium, and iron.

The differences are so minute and the overall vitamin and mineral content is insignificant in either case, so one is not necessarily “better” or “healthier” than the other. For all intents and purposes, white sugar and brown sugar are considered the same nutritionally speaking. 

White sugar vs brown sugar: what they taste like

The overall flavor profile is where white sugar and brown sugar differ more significantly, because the molasses comes into play a bit more. 

Both colorless and odorless, white sugar has a very sweet yet neutral taste to it. Brown sugar has a deeper flavor that’s a little less sweet than white sugar and more rich, with notes of caramel or toffee. This is true of all types of brown sugar, but the caramelized flavor profile will be intensified more with more molasses, so dark brown sugar will have an even deeper flavor.

White sugar vs brown sugar: how to use them

Because of these nuances in color and flavor, white sugar and brown sugar are used slightly differently in cooking and baking – and each can play many different roles depending on what other ingredients are present.

White sugar, because of its neutral flavor, is extremely versatile, so it’s used in many different types of recipes. It’s not only used as a main ingredient in sweet desserts like pastries, sponge cakes, and more delicate baked goods, but also as a neutral sweetener for more savory recipes like sauces and soups. When white sugar is paired with soft or melted butter in a baking recipe, it helps dough or batter spread to create a thinner, crispier outcome. It can also aerate dough, helping it rise and making for a light or fluffy final product – so it’s often used in items like meringues, souffles, and mousses. 

Brown sugar, on the other hand, is often used in richer desserts and baked goods with more dimension, like chocolate cake or spice cake, dense breads, and cookies – anything that will benefit from those caramelized, butterscotch-like flavor notes. It can also be used in many meat dishes, as an ingredient in things like marinades, barbeque sauces, and rubs. The molasses in brown sugar is acidic, so it reacts with baking soda to make baked goods thick and soft. It also retains moisture, so it’s used to keep dough moist and results in a chewier or denser final texture. 

While you can technically substitute white sugar for brown sugar (and vice versa) in most recipes, swapping or combining the two will ultimately affect the product’s texture, flavor, and color, so it’s important to consider the other ingredients and how each sugar will behave. 

You can reference the handy table below to sum up all of the main differences between white sugar and brown sugar.

	White Sugar	Brown Sugar
Production	Juice from sugarcane or sugar beet plant extracted, purified, heated, and crystalized – then further processed, refined and filtered to remove molasses	Processed until it becomes white sugar, then some of the removed molasses is added back in and sugar crystals are re-dried
Nutrition	-385 calories per 100 g	-380 calories per 100 g -Slightly higher in calcium, iron, and potassium
Taste	Sweet and neutral	Deep, rich flavor with notes of caramel, toffee, or butterscotch
Usage	-Sweet desserts and baked goods that are airy, light, or fluffy -Sauces, soups, and other savory recipes -Pastries and delicate desserts, sponge cakes, meringues, mousses, souffles, and cookies	-Richer or more deeply flavored baked goods and desserts that are soft, chewy, or dense -Marinades, barbeque sauces, and meat rubs -Chocolate cakes, spice cakes, gingerbreads, dense breads, and cookies

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