Homemade Sprinkles

By
Clarice Lam
Clarice lam
Clarice Lam
Clarice is a pastry chef with over a decade of writing and creating recipes. Having lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, and NYC in the United States; Canada, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Mexico, South Africa, France, Spain, and the UK, Clarice has had a lifetime of studying cuisines from around the globe.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Published on 05/5/23
Tested by
Noah Velush-Rogers
Noah Velush-Rogers
Tested by Noah Velush-Rogers
Noah Velush-Rogers works on food prep for several area caterers. He has worked with a team of prep chefs for a private school group. He was an assistant cooking teacher for children and teen group cooking classes. Noah was hired as an intern and was then trained as a recipe tester for Fine Cooking Magazine. 
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Homemade Sprinkles

The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Set Time: 12 hrs
Total: 12 hrs 10 mins
Servings: 12 servings
Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Making sprinkles at home is a fun activity alone or with kids! You can customize your own colors and size and even change the flavor with different extracts. Using a piping bag with a tip will make the sprinkles look more rounded and uniform, but if you don’t have either, you can use a resealable sandwich bag and snip a tiny bit off the corner.

How To Use Homemade Sprinkles

Use these sprinkles on cakes and cupcakes, ice cream sundaes, cookies, and anywhere else you want to add a dash of color. They can also be sprinkled on buttered toast to make a version of "fairy bread."

Tips for Making Homemade Sprinkles

  • How to hold the piping bag — Hold the piping bag 1/2 inch away from the surface at a 45-degree angle and squeeze the bag gently, then pull across. Touch the tip to the parchment paper to end the line.
  • If you don't have a piping bag — Use a resealable sandwich bag if you don't have a piping bag. Cut off a tiny part of one of the corners, and fill the bag with the mixture.
  • What tip to use — If you have an assortment of piping bag tips, a #4 round tip works perfectly for this recipe.
  • How to store sprinkles in the freezer — If storing the sprinkles in the freezer, defrost by pouring out the desired amount onto a piece of parchment paper and allow to sit at room temp. Spreading the sprinkles out onto parchment will allow any condensation from the freezer to dissipate without making them all stick together.

“When it’s this easy to make your sprinkles at home, why bother buying them? Plus it helps if you’re making them with kids to let them have fun making their own designs for them.” —Noah Velush-Rogers

White sprinkles in a glass bowl
A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

  • 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons water

  • 2 tablespoons corn syrup

  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, or extract of choice

  • Gel food color

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Line 2 to 3 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Prepare the same number of piping bags as the colors you want to make with a 4 mm circle tip.

    Ingredients to make homemade sprinkles

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  2. Combine the confectioners' sugar, water, corn syrup, and extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.

    A large bowl of confectioners' sugar, water, corn syrup, and extract

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  3. Whisk on medium speed until everything is completely combined into a thick paste. If the mixture is too thick and not pipeable, add 1/4 teaspoon water at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. If the mixture is too thin and runny, add more confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.

    A bowl of smooth sprinkle batter

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  4. Divide the mixture into the same number of bowls as the colors you want to make. Add drops of food coloring into each bowl. Make it slightly darker than the desired color as it will lighten once set.

    Small bowls of red, yellow, and blue sprinkle batter

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  5. Pour the mixtures into the prepared piping bags and pipe straight lines horizontally from left to right on the parchment-lined baking sheets. Space the lines 1/2 inch apart.

    Parchment-lined baking sheets with long lines of piped sprinkle batter

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  6. Once all the lines are piped let the sheet trays sit out at room temperature for at least 12 hours.

    A parchment paper-lined baking sheet with long lines of red sprinkles

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

  7. When the lines are totally dried use a knife or bench scraper to cut the sprinkles into desired lengths and store in an airtight container.

    A container fulled with homemade sprinkles and a lid

    The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

How to Store and Freeze

  • Store the sprinkles at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a month or in the freezer for up to six months.
  • If storing the sprinkles in the freezer, defrost by pouring out the desired amount onto a piece of parchment paper and allow to sit at room temp. Spreading the sprinkles out onto parchment will allow any condensation from the freezer to dissipate without making them all stick together.

Recipe Variations

  • Try different shapes — Make different sprinkle shapes by piping tiny dots, stars, or hearts instead of lines.
  • Flavor the sprinkles — Change the flavor of the sprinkles by using any extract like almond, cinnamon, orange, etc.
  • Using natural dyes and flavors — Make all-natural flavored and colored sprinkles by adding powders like cocoa powder, pulverized freeze-dried fruit powders, matcha, instant coffee, etc.
  • Avoiding corn syrup — If you don’t want to use corn syrup, you can make royal icing and finish it the same way.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
82 Calories
0g Fat
21g Carbs
0g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 82
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 3mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 21g 8%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 21g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 1mg 0%
Iron 0mg 0%
Potassium 1mg 0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)