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Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is a moist or dry sweetener used in baking, desserts, sauces, and beverages.

Brown Sugar — illustrative ingredient image

About Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is crystallized sucrose containing molasses, either retained during processing or added to refined sugar. It sweetens cakes, cookies, puddings, confectionery, sauces, glazes, marinades, drinks, and other preparations. Its molasses content distinguishes it from ordinary white granulated sugar.

The flavour is sweet with a mild to pronounced molasses note. Moist brown sugar packs together and gives baked goods a softer, chewier texture, while drier crystals pour more freely and may dissolve differently. Darker grades generally have a stronger molasses character than lighter grades.

It ranges from pale golden brown to deep brown and is sold as soft, moist crystals or a drier, free-flowing product. Brown sugar may be mixed, pressed, dissolved, or baked; heating encourages browning, while its moisture helps cohesion in doughs, sauces, and glazes.

Ingredient type
sweetener

Forms & related ingredients

  • Sugarcontains · Brown Sugar → Sugar

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Where brown sugar appears

13 linked foods

Find foods to recognise by country and type. Recipes and products vary; these are recorded ingredient connections.

Showing 13–13 of 13

Desserts

Ingredient connections awaiting review · Coverage is still growing, including packaged snacks.

Name examples awaiting language review. Confirm the specific food or product.

Local names for brown sugar

Names and romanised forms to recognise on menus and labels.

English

brown sugar

English

brown sugar (light)

Search alias · Not a confirmed translation

Available names only. Languages may be spoken in other countries; a name alone does not identify every ingredient in a dish.

Brown Sugar nutrition & diet

Brown Sugar nutritional value

Sugar, brown

Per 100 g of the edible portion in the stated food form.

Calories
370.9kcal
Protein
0.2g
Carbs
96.8g
Fat
0.0g

Reference values apply to the named food form, not every preparation, variety or brand. © Food Standards Australia New Zealand. AFCD Release 3, food F008969. Available carbohydrate excludes sugar alcohols; energy converted from kJ to kcal (÷4.184). Australian data may not be appropriate for use in other countries. There are limitations associated with food composition databases. Food composition data used in the database or databases may represent an average of the nutrient content of a particular sample of foods and ingredients, determined at a particular time. The nutrient composition of foods and ingredients can vary substantially between batches and brands because of a number of factors, including changes in season, processing practices and ingredient source, and methods of calculation. Data licensed under the FSANZ Data User Licence Agreement, based on CC BY-SA 3.0 AU: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science-data/monitoringnutrients/afcd/datauserlicenceagreement.

Portions & preparation

Brown sugar should be identified as a moist or dry granulated sugar product and recorded by the amount used in the recipe or beverage. Molasses content, packing, dissolving, baking, and mixing with fats or syrups affect the final preparation, while the sugar itself remains a sweetening ingredient.

Compare the right form: Match the reference to packed or loose brown sugar, moist or dry product, and the recipe or beverage amount rather than a finished dish.

Diet considerations

Brown sugar is plant-derived sugar, usually from sugarcane or sugar beet processing, but the exact product should be established. Compatibility changes when blended into dairy, egg, cereal, or animal-fat recipes. Its carbohydrate pattern is strongly portion-dependent, and baked or coated foods add other ingredients.

AI-authored reading notes · Awaiting editorial review. Measured values, where available, have a separate source above.

Dietary compatibility

  • Vegan
    Depends on the version
  • Vegetarian
    Depends on the version
  • Pescatarian
    Depends on the version
  • Keto
    Typically incompatible
  • Paleo
    Typically incompatible
  • Low-carb
    Depends on the version
  • Halal
    Not established
  • Kosher
    Not established
What these diet assessments mean
Vegan · Depends on the version
Check the refining process and processing aids for the particular producer.
Vegetarian · Depends on the version
Check the refining process and processing aids for the particular producer.
Pescatarian · Depends on the version
Check the refining process and processing aids for the particular producer.
Keto · Typically incompatible
A concentrated sugar ingredient; the amount used matters. No serving-level carbohydrate calculation is available.
Paleo · Typically incompatible
This profile falls outside the conventional paleo pattern used here (grains and pseudograins, legumes, dairy or refined sugar).
Low-carb · Depends on the version
A concentrated sugar ingredient; the amount used matters. No serving-level carbohydrate calculation is available.
Halal · Not established
Sourcing, processing and any applicable certification have not been verified. A food name alone does not establish halal status.
Kosher · Not established
Sourcing, processing and any applicable certification have not been verified. A food name alone does not establish kosher status.

For the plain ingredient · Awaiting review. Diet compatibility is not allergy suitability or halal/kosher certification. Keto and low-carb depend on the portion.

Reviewed ingredient entryIngredient reference · Preparations vary

AI-generated illustration for visual context. It does not identify a particular product or establish allergen content.

Sources & review

Nutrition reference: Australian Food Composition Database, Release 3, 2025 — Sugar, brown ↗. Values are scaled from 100 g of the recorded edible form. Individual portions have no assumed fixed weight.

Expanded overview, name examples and nutrition notes are database drafts awaiting editorial review. Numeric nutrition values, where shown, have their own source and food-form reference.

The ingredient description and dish connections come from the draft catalogue and may change after review.

Last recorded verification: .