Get two new free healthy recipes each week. Sign Up

Rainbow Homemade Sprinkles!

Homemade sprinkles!

Homemade Sprinkles with NO corn syrup

Somewhere over the rainbow…

Above, rainbow homemade sprinkles on my Healthy Vanilla Ice Cream.

I was surprised at how easy—and fun—it is to make healthy sprinkles from scratch, with none of the artificial ingredients, dyes, or corn syrup. Today’s recipe is the creation of Hannah Kaminsky, a girl almost too good to be true. A gifted writer, recipe developer, and photographer, Hannah is also a former VegNews columnist and has published three cookbooks… all before graduating from college!

When asked if I’d like to review her newest cookbook, Vegan à la Mode, of course I jumped at the chance. The stunning photos (included for every single recipe) overwhelmed me. Tiramisu, Double Fudge, Sour Apple, Buttered Popcorn Ice Cream… How could I choose which one to try first? Then I saw the homemade sprinkles.

You know I have a thing for sprinkles.

vegan sprinkles

I will be reviewing the actual ice cream recipes in Hannah’s cookbook, later this month. I’ll also hold a giveaway so that one of you will be lucky enough to win a copy of this delectable book for your very own. In the meantime, you can buy it on Amazon. (This is not an affiliate link. I don’t receive any money from sales of the book and am recommending it simply because I enjoyed it.)

Rainbow Homemade Sprinkles

(Reprinted with permission)

Rainbow Homemade Sprinkles!

Yield: 1/3 cup
Print This Recipe [mrp_rating_result show_count="false" show_rich_snippets="false"]

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla, lemon, or almond extract
  • 2-3 tsp vodka (for alcohol-free options, see below the next photo in this post)

Instructions

Sift the sugar and cornstarch together, being scrupulous about getting out any and all lumps. Add the extract of your choice, and slowly drizzle in the vodka, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the mixture becomes a smooth, very thick paste. Transfer the sprinkle paste into a piping bag fitted with a very small, round tip. (CCK note: I used a plastic bag and just cut a tiny hole in the side.) Pipe out long lines across either a silpat or piece of parchment paper, spanning the whole length of the surface. Let dry undisturbed in a cool place, for a full 24 hours, until dry to the touch. Colored sprinkles (see below the next photo in this post) made without the vodka may take longer, so be patient. Gently break the lines into short pieces, and store these vegan sprinkles in an airtight container for up to three months.

View Homemade Sprinkles Nutrition Facts

healthy sprinkles

Color Variations:

For each additional color, make a full batch of white vegan sprinkles, and add the following:

  • Yellow sprinkles: 1/8 tsp tumeric
  • Green sprinkles: 1/4 tsp matcha or spirulina powder
  • Red sprinkles: 2 tsp red beet juice in place of the vodka
  • Blue sprinkles: 2 tsp red cabbage juice in place of the vodka (simmer 1/2 a red cabbage for an hour in a covered pot with a little water. Use the resulting liquid as the “cabbage juice.”) Add a tiny pinch of baking powder and stir well.
  • CCK note: If you want a more vibrant result than is shown in the photos, you could also just use–in the original base– a few drops of food coloring, or natural food colorings for all-natural healthy sprinkles.

Link of the Day:

funfetti blondies

Secretly Healthy Funfetti Blondies

Published on August 7, 2012

Meet Katie

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of the top 25 food websites in America, and Katie has been 
featured on The 
Today Show, CNN, 
Fox, The 
Huffington Post, and 
ABC's 5 O’Clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

Learn more about Katie

Get Free Recipes

Don’t Miss Out On The NEW Free Healthy Recipes

Sign up below to receive exclusive & always free healthy recipes right in your inbox:

Chocolate Covered Katie The Healthy Dessert Blog Recipes

Popular Right Now

Reader Interactions

129 Comments

Leave a comment or reviewLeave a rating
  1. Ashley Dodge says

    I’ve had a chocolate-covered potato chip flavored ice cream before, and it was delicious! You should try toasted marshmallow!

  2. Nikki says

    Oh my gosh. I have been searching FOREVER for healthy sprinkles that contain no artificial flavorings and dyes. You have no idea how excited this makes me . . . now I can make my own!
    These would look soooo pretty on your healthy vanilla cupcakes. 🙂

  3. Janae @ Bring-Joy says

    This is a recipe my kids would love to make! The “healthy” sprinkles at my natural foods store are PRICEY, this looks much more cost-effective (& fun!).

    Definitely toasted marshmallow. How I miss marshmallows since going veg.

  4. Samantha says

    How fun! You must be loving trying this out. Who wouldn’t want to review a book like this? OK, how about toasted marshmallow. 🙂

    I can see why you jumped on the sprinkles by the way.

  5. Laura Miller says

    Toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow, toasted marshmallow….

    Okay, so I may or may not be obsessed with the toasted marshmallow flavor. 🙂

    • Eileen says

      I love the idea of toasted marshmallow. For a brief period, when I was a teen, Dairy Queen served a S’more Parfait. It was so good.
      I love anything marshmallow. It would be better if these recipes had the homemade marshmallows in them. Mmm…
      Oh, I also would love to smell like toasted marshmallows, is that strange?

      • Laura says

        Not at all weird! My mom actually makes lip balm(so its also free organic lip balm for me!) and she makes a toasted marshmallow flavor. It’s sooooooo good!

  6. Lauren says

    Anything with marshmallows takes precedence! This is such an inventive recipe! Really nice, considering all the typical dyes and waxes in store-bought sprinkles.

  7. Therese says

    I think if you want a lower, sugar free option this might work with powdered soy or rice milk and stevia. I might try that, but I am so happy to see this! Trans fat in sprinkles was always my biggest reason not to buy them, but the corn syrup and dyes are definitely not welcome ingredients either.

  8. Anonymous says

    You’re awesome, Katie! Oh, wait. You got the recipe out of a cookbook. Oops! But I don’t care. You’re still awesome.

    I’ve been wanting a recipe for sprinkles (without raw egg white–yuck!) for a while, so I’m super-glad you found a good one. I Have one question, though. Would water work in place of the vodka?

    Thanks! Can’t wait to try it out! I PROMISE it’ll be today, and I’ll let you know how it goes!

    • Anonymous says

      I forgot. I think you should try chocolate-covered potato chip (just because it sounds fun) first, and then make toasted marshmallow two minutes later 🙂 OR you could send me the recipe for one of them, and we’ll each make a different flavor.

      The last idea sounds way better to me. PLEASE!!?!

  9. Sarah the official CCK drooler says

    natural sprinkles. from scratch. seriously? SERIOUSLY?
    oh yeah, and i vote hot chocolate. or toasted marshmallow. hey, you could TOTALLY mix the two, right? Cuz we do put marshmallows in our hot chocolate! I dunno, you’re the cook- you deal with it 🙂

  10. The Blissful Baker says

    These are so fun! I need to try them ASAP! And…my vote is Chocolate Covered Potato Chip-I bet the sweet/salty combo is AMAZING!

    Check out my latest recipe, review & giveaway @ Baking Blissful

  11. B @ Crags and Veggies says

    I can’t wait to try Katie! I love the color and fun sprinkles add, but the crazy additives in store bought scare me! Thanks for giving me something different to add to my food to make it fun! Can’t wait to make cupcakes with pink sprinkles!

  12. Tamalyn says

    This is really weird, but where it says what website you have in a tab (REALLY bad explanation) instead of saying “Rainbow Sprinkles… homemade!” on my computer it says “Rainbow Sprinkels… homemade!” I don’t know if you’d want to fix that, but I thought I’d let you know, just in case. 🙂

    P.S. Sorry about the other comments, I think I got a little carried away. Pre-teens and teens do that sometimes, right? Forgive me, please. I’m learning.

  13. Hannah says

    I’m ecstatic to see your post not only because it’s an hugely flattering feature, but also because I thought for sure no one would ever touch that sprinkle recipe! Thank you so much for proving me wrong and really utilizing that book. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the ice creams themselves- Happy churning! 🙂

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      Hannah, I feel like a celebrity just wrote to me :).
      Thank you for being such an incredible superstar in the vegan world. I really don’t know what recipe to try first; you’ve made them all look so good!

  14. Maddie says

    A vegan toasted marshmallow ice cream?! That sounds amazingly improbable! (in all the right ways.) 😛 My vote is for the marshmallow ice cream obviously. Sprinkles look fantastic!

    • Jessica says

      Me too! I went earlier today and was really bummed that my Barnes and Nobles didn’t have it. But they are going to order it for me!

      You sold me on the sprinkles, but I really want to know about this Tiramisu ice cream as well!

  15. Joanne @ threeunderthree says

    These look fantastic. My children are huge fans of sprinkles on just about anything, in fact my 3 year old daughter told me today that anything looks pretty if it’s got sprinkles on it! I don’t really like giving them the store bought ones too often as they are so young so these would be ideal. Thank you so much for this post.
    I think the Toasted Marshmallow ice cream would be great to try.

  16. Michelle says

    Awesome! Can’t wait to try this recipe! But omg your vanilla ice milk looks so good! I use almond milk for mine and it never turns out looking like that! Wow!

  17. Liz says

    GENIUS!
    I’m checking out the book for sure. If I don’t win your giveaway, I’m definitely buying a copy for myself. Chocolate Potato Chip ice cream needs to get in my belly!

  18. Carey says

    Amazing. I never even considered making my own sprinkles! I think I need a video demonstration of this. I just can’t image piping it out skinny enough to make these!

  19. Katie Henderson says

    I think I’m going to try to make these using rum. I have plenty of that and it’s been sitting around forever…but no vodka!

  20. Mo says

    You are officially my hero! My 4 year-old LOVES sprinkles but I hate using the store bought ones. Definitely trying these. Thanks!

  21. Stephanie @ Legally Blinde says

    Oooh, I think you should try the chocolate-covered potato chip ice cream first. I love sweet + salty combos, so that sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing the sprinkles recipe – I never even considered making my own. Very cool!

  22. nikki says

    someone else asked, too, but i don’t see the alternatives to vodka under the picture as you stated. what can be used instead? thanks in advance! 🙂

  23. Sam @ Better With Sprinkles says

    Chocolate covered potato chip ice cream definitely catches my attention.

    I need to make those sprinkles! Clearly. 🙂

  24. Ulya says

    Wow really interesting recipe! Normally, I don’t eat store-bought sprinkles, but I’ll definitely try this one! Thanks for sharing

  25. narf7 says

    I am waiting on my copy of Hannah’s latest book to arrive in the mail. You just made me drool on my keyboard! Sorry Hannah…I can’t wait for your book…I am off into the kitchen to cook me up a batch of sprinkles and slowly dissolve myself into a diabetic coma!

  26. another Katie says

    Wow, she really does sound too good to be true! Thanks for the heads up about the book. I just checked it out on Amazon and am really excited about it. I went vegan a few months ago and am missing ice cream like crazy, so I think this book will help a lot!

    Amd now I’m off to make your Secret Peanut Butter Cookies for the third time this week :).

  27. Michelle @ Eat Move Balance says

    Definitely try the toasted marshmallow! That sounds awesome!

    And I have to say, chocolate covered potato chip ice cream sounds terrible. Who thought of that?!? Eeek.

  28. Sarah says

    Chocolate covered potato chip! I imagine it’s similar to the chocolate covered salted pretzel I tried once. Yum-my!

    Also, don’t crucify me but I’m curious… am I the only one who doesn’t get the whole sprinkle craze? They don’t actually taste like anything. Maybe I would like them with vodka. I do like vodka 🙂

  29. Jen E says

    Oh my I’ve been searching for a vegan sprinkle recipe. They all have egg in them yuck! Where is the alcohol free option? I don’t see it or am I blind lol. I vote Chocolate-Covered Potato Chip have you ever tried a actual Chocolate-Covered Potato Chip they are the bomb!

  30. Ellen says

    Oh, please, please try the chocolate-covered potato chip! Just sounds fun and snack-o-licious. I’ve only recently found your blog and your fun-filled spirit and great recipes inspired a whole new board on my Pinterest account. Thanks so much!

  31. Anonymous says

    Def choco-covered potato-chip! Bc it’s strange! And bc I’d want to try it with a positive reccomendation/your opinion

  32. Bek @ Crave says

    I vote toasted marshmallow- and so does my bf who is sitting next to me not reading the screen or realising that he even voted haha. Wow the sprinkles recipe is really interesting- why vodka is added I’ll never know. How cool, I love it!

  33. Claire says

    Great post! I was just wondering about how to make home-made sprinkles with natural ingredients then I saw this post. Thanks for the info!

  34. Jessica says

    The easiest way I’ve made sprinkles, since we can’t have sugar on the candida diet, is to dehydrate different fruits like raspberries, lemon, orange, and lime peels, and blueberries. Then you just crush them after they’re dehydrated and sprinkle to your hearts content! No chemicals in the colors and NO sugar! Thanks for all your recipe ideas and SO many using stevia. You rock!

  35. Ishliv says

    Hey katie….
    Ur a miracle
    I wanted a recipe jst lyk dis…..
    Thx…
    I just wasnt able to see d alcohol free options
    I now its written below d pic
    But i cant rly see it…
    Can u plz reply n tell me
    ill by rly grateful to ya….

  36. Anna says

    Ohmygod! This website looks set to be my new addiction! The homemade sprinkles have reeled me in – can’t wait to try some recipes x

  37. Amanda B. says

    Is there a way to keep these longer than 3 months? I wouldn’t think I’d use them all up too quickly and I’d love to be able to store them.

  38. April says

    I love this idea! My only concern is that there is artificial colour in the recipe. The confectioner’s sugar contains red dye. I know…I know…I know…but it’s white. Red dye is used as a whitening agent in some products.

    I have only learned of this recently as our 3 children suffer from an allergy to artificial colours.

  39. Teghan says

    If I use natural food coloring in this recipes do I still need the vodka? I am making these for a child’s party and would prefer not to use alcohol in the recipe. Thanks

  40. Paige says

    I want to make these, but I would make them to enjoy at parties where there are little kids. Do you think I could bake them instead of letting them cool on their own to cook out the alcohol? Or would they lose all of their color and go brown. Also, the alcohol is probably just to help them dry, so if I baked them the alcohol wouldn’t even be necessary, would it?

    Thank you!!!

  41. Claire Rostron says

    Hi what could I use instead of corn flour? My daughter is corn free as she’s allergic. Thank you!

  42. Hailey says

    Hi! I’m super excited about making these for my girls! Can you tell me, with making these with homemade food for coloring, such as beet juice and cabbage juice, how long is the shelf life? Do we need to worry about them growing bacteria or anything since there are no preservatives or are they fine?
    Thank you!

Leave A Reply

Get Free Recipes

Don’t Miss Out On The NEW Free Healthy Recipes

Sign up below to receive exclusive & always free healthy recipes right in your inbox:

Chocolate Covered Katie The Healthy Dessert Blog Recipes