Lightly grease your measuring spoon or cup with oil, butter, or nonstick cooking spray before adding honey (or any other sticky ingredient) when baking or cooking. That thin coating creates a barrier, so the honey slides right out into the bowl—no scraping, no waste.
It’s 3 a.m., and my four-year-old daughter and I are wide awake. No surprise—it’s a blood moon, and somehow our sleep cycles always go haywire when the moon decides to show off. She’s at the kitchen table coloring and covering every surface with stickers, Joni Mitchell is playing in the background, and I’m writing while honey-sweetened muffins bake away in the oven.
And while I’d love to tell you the blood moon inspired some profound culinary revelation, the truth is simpler. At this very off hour, somewhere between listening to “Big Yellow Taxi” and wiping batter off the counter, I found myself grumbling about measuring honey. It’s a familiar scenario for many of us: You go to measure out a tablespoon of a sticky ingredient, and instead of plopping neatly into the bowl, it clings to the spoon. You scrape, you bang, you mutter things under your breath—and even then, you never quite get it all. But the fix is blissfully simple.
The Best Way to Measure Honey
Honey, maple syrup, molasses, and even peanut butter all share this problem of clinging to measuring spoons or cups like glue. To avoid this, grease your measuring spoon or cup with a light coating of oil, butter, or nonstick cooking spray before adding your sticky ingredient. That thin layer of oil creates a barrier, so the honey (or molasses, or peanut butter) slides right out.
Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik
Why it works:
- The fat keeps sticky ingredients from clinging to the sides of your measuring tool.
- You get a more accurate measurement because every last bit actually makes it into the bowl.
- You waste less (and you don’t end up chiseling dried honey off your spoon hours later).
My coworker Genevieve Yam has pointed out that spraying your spoon just means you end up with an oily utensil instead of a sticky one. Fair. But to me, that’s the lesser of two evils—soap and hot water take care of a little oil in seconds. If you are measuring oil or butter for the same recipe, you can simply measure those slick ingredients before the honey.
Other “Solutions” That Don’t Quite Measure Up
I’m not the first person to be annoyed by sticky measuring spoons, and a few other solutions are floating around—but most of them are more trouble than they’re worth.
- The flour trick. I’ve seen the hack in which you press the back of a measuring spoon into your measured flour in a bowl, then pour the honey directly into the indentation. Sure, it prevents some sticking, but it’s not an accurate measurement, and dumping honey straight into flour isn’t exactly great for even mixing.
- Adjustable push-up measuring cups. Yes, they exist. Yes, they’re fun to use. But they only work well for larger amounts, not for a tablespoon or two, and they’re still a pain to clean. Plus, do you really want to devote precious cupboard space to a single-use tool you’ll pull out maybe twice a year?
At 3 a.m., with honey muffins in the oven and a blood moon outside, I can confirm that greasing your measuring spoon or cup is the quickest, cleanest way to measure sticky ingredients when baking and cooking. Whether it’s midnight muffins or Tuesday pancakes, this trick makes measuring sticky ingredients quick, clean, and frustration-free.
