What to use instead of honey
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Liquid sweetener in a dressing, drink or sauce
It is invert sugar, so it stays dissolved instead of crystallising, and it is about a third sweeter than sugar by volume.
Maple syrupPlant-based
1:1
Thinner, so a dressing sits looser on the leaves. Tastes clearly of maple in anything mild.
Agave nectarPlant-based
3/4 cup per 1 cup honey
Near neutral and thinner. Sweeter per spoon, which is why it comes down by a quarter.
Golden syrup or cane syrupPlant-based
1:1
Buttery and clean with no floral note. Same viscosity, so a honey mustard still clings.
Date syrupPlant-based
1:1, plus a touch more to taste
Darker and fruitier and less sweet, and it stains a pale dressing brown.
Simple syrupPlant-based
1 1/4 cups of 1:1 warm sugar syrup per 1 cup honey
Neutral and much thinner, so a glaze or dressing made with it slides off instead of coating.
What doesn't work: Granulated sugar stirred into a cold dressing or drink. It never dissolves, so it sits at the bottom and the drink tastes sour until a gritty mouthful at the end.
Sticky glaze that lacquers meat under heat
Fructose browns at a lower temperature than table sugar, and the syrup clings while it does it, which is where the dark sticky coat on char siu comes from.
Maple syrupPlant-based
1:1
Thinner, so it needs a longer reduction to cling. Burns just as readily on direct heat.
Brown sugar + waterPlant-based
1/4 cup packed brown sugar + 1 tbsp water per 1/4 cup honey
Browns a little slower and sets harder as it cools, with more molasses in the flavour.
Golden syrupPlant-based
1:1
Behaves almost identically with a cleaner, less floral taste.
Barley malt syrupPlant-based
1:1, thinned with 1 tbsp hot water to make it brushable
Darker and maltier and much stickier. Unthinned it drags the meat around the tray.
What doesn't work: Brushing honey on at the start of a long roast. Fructose starts browning around 110C, so it is black and bitter long before the meat is done. Glaze in the last 10 minutes.
Sweetener and moisture in a yeast dough
It feeds the yeast, holds water in the crumb so the loaf stays soft for days, and browns the crust faster than sugar would.
Granulated sugar + extra liquidPlant-based
1 1/4 cups sugar + 1/4 cup extra liquid per 1 cup honey
Paler crust and the loaf stales about a day sooner, because sugar does not hold water the way honey does.
Maple syrupPlant-based
1:1, and drop the oven 25F
Holds moisture the same way. Maple comes through clearly in a plain white dough.
MolassesPlant-based
3/4 cup per 1 cup honey
Much darker crumb with a bitter edge, and it slows the yeast noticeably, so expect a longer rise.
What doesn't work: Doubling the honey for a sweeter, softer loaf. Above roughly 10% sugar against the flour weight the yeast slows right down, the rise takes hours longer, and the loaf bakes squat and heavy.
Honey is not safe for children under one year old, in baked goods or otherwise.