Made with only four ingredients, these honey lemon homemade cough drops are a natural sore throat remedy. Honey-based and made with immune-boosting ingredients, these DIY throat lozenges are both healing and soothing.
Basically, they're an easy way to relieve a sore throat (though this elderberry homemade cough syrup is a helpful option too!).
Cold season is no one's favorite. And being that I live in Canada, cold season pretty much encompasses half the year 😛
So it`s a bit of a no-brainer that as a Certified Nutrition Coach I have protocols and tricks in place to help us survive.
And natural options like these honey lemon ginger cough drops are a key element!
Honey helps coat your throat to prevent the scratchy cough feeling and lemon helps prevent and eliminate bacteria and infection as well as keep the ph of your stomach in a healthy range.
Sources used in this blog post: benefits of honey, benefits of ginger, health benefits of lemon.
Ingredients You'll Need
The honey lemon combination has been used for what seems like eons to soothe sore throats! Probably because it just works so damn well.
Raw honey: even though you'll be heating this honey I think it's always best to use raw, unpasteurized honey.
At the very least, just make sure to use pure honey so that you're not adding in any extra additives.
The reason I use local honey in the DIY cough drops is that I believe it helps adjust your immune system towards any pollen in the air thus reducing allergies.
Coconut oil: I typically opt for cold-pressed, extra virgin coconut oil because it will have the most healing properties.
However, know that the more unprocessed your oil is the more slight coconut flavor it will have.
Fresh lemon juice: ideally you want lemon juice squeezed right from the lemon for these cough drops! The fresher it is the more potent it will be.
Ginger: if you don't have fresh ginger on hand, dried will work. But like most things, know you're losing some of the benefits from it.
When I don't have these homemade cough drops on hand I usually just steep all of these ingredients into boiling water and sip on it throughout the day- seriously, they work well!
How To Make Natural Homemade Cough Drops
Step 1: Combine all ingredients in a small pot. Heat the pot slightly over medium heat and melt the ingredients together.
Step 2. The honey mixture will start to bubble, remove from heat, and whisk until bubbles/foam recedes slightly. Replace on heat.
Step 3: Do this for 2.5-3 minutes, whisking every 15 seconds or so. You want the mixture to get HOT but not to outright burn.
Sep 4: After three minutes-ish, pour the mixture into silicone molds but do not fill them all the way. Let them cool on the counter before freezing.
Important Notes On The DIY Cough Drops
The trick to making homemade cough drops is that you have to keep the honey bubbling (seems like burning) on the stove.
You also have to keep removing briefly, stirring, and redoing this (read the directions).
It's the bubbling that burns off the goopy aspect and makes the honey into something that resembles hard candy.
So follow the directions.
Note that many recipes will get you to use a candy thermometer when making DIY lozenges.
However, I prefer to go by the color of the honey instead. Mainly because a candy thermometer is just one more step.
Instead, keep an eye on the color: you want it to turn a darker shade.
You can also check out DIY Elderberry cough drops in which I provide a step-by-step video of how to boil the honey without burning it.
How To Store Them
Store the homemade cough drops in the freezer right in the silicone molds. If you want to store them in a container, you'll need to separate them between sheets of parchment so that they don't stick together.
To use them eat them right out of the freezer, the cold is soothing on a sore throat.
These homemade honey lemon cough drops taste amazing and sucking on them is moderately addictive.
Do not store the cough drops in the fridge as they lose their shape and become a sticky mess.
Crucial Products
You'll need a set of silicone molds for these natural homemade cough drops.
You can use any silicone molds you like but my advice is to keep the actual cough drops super thin.
Thus, you want medium-sized candy molds but you don't want to fill them the entire way.
These homemade cough drops have a hard candy/taffy-like consistency in your mouth (which means that you shouldn't chew them.. especially with dentures. Seriously, taffy-like).
Because of this consistency, having them super thick isn't fun, keep them ultra-thin. Like disks.
Homemade Cough Drops & Kids
Because they are taffy-like once they honey firms up and melts in your mouth, my advice would be to not give them to kids.
I worry with kids, especially very little ones, that they would chew them and swallow and choke.
So these are adult-only DIY cough drops I'd say (though here's a great cough syrup recipe for kiddos if you need one!)
Frequently Asked Questions About Honey, Lemon, Ginger Cough Drops
These cough drops are best stored in the freezer, and they're more soothing this way too! You can pop them into your mouth straight from the freezer, the cold feels great on a sore throat, and this way you can make a bunch and always have some on hand!
Honey is super soothing for a scratchy, dry throat which is normally the start of a cough. Use these homemade cough drops when you feel a scratchy throat coming on and before it gets too intense and turns into a cough.
If you find that the cough drops are still pretty sticky and you're having trouble getting them out of the mold, then two things went wrong. The first is that you didn't freeze them long enough to harden. If they're a bit melty and you froze them for 1-2 hours, then you didn't boil them down enough to make the honey tacky. They still work but if you really want to you can reboil them. Just scoop them all out from the mold, reheat and boil down further getting that deep golden brown before repeating the remaining steps.
Other Cold & Flu Remedies I Use
If you want to do everything in your power to survive cold and flu season, here are some staples you need!
- Gut-Boosting Homemade Gummy Bears
- Fire cider tonic (my full fire cider recipe)
- Homemade elderberry cough syrup
- good old-fashioned, super healthy eating
- Homemade honey and garlic elixir for coughs and colds
- this magic honey garlic elixir to help kick a cold fast!
- Gut healing smoothie
These honey lemon cough drops will rival any halls to knock a sore throat. But if you want to keep your immune system high year-round, bone broth should be in your diet.
I also use a lot of bone broth to both fight colds and prevent them! It's actually one of my most recommended foods for toddlers because it's so healing.
However, making homemade broth takes TIME (a lot of it!) which I'm slightly limited on.
Why is why bone broth powder is so awesome for busy moms.
Homemade Honey Lemon Cough Drops
Video
Ingredients
- 2.5 tablespoons Honey
- 1.5 teaspoon Coconut Oil
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice fresh
- ¼ - ½ inch ginger peeled and finely grated.
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a small pot.
- Heat the pot slightly over medium heat and melt the ingredients together.
- The honey mixture will start to bubble, remove from heat and whisk until bubbles/foam recedes slightly. Replace on heat.
- Do this for 2.5-3 minutes, whisking every 15 seconds or so. You want the mixture to get HOT but not to outright burn.
- The mixture will start to change color (dark honey color).
- After three minutes-ish, pour the mixture into silicone molds but do not fill them all the way. You want the drops to be very small and thin.
- Let cool on the counter for twenty minutes then place in the freezer to set.
- Pop the disks out when you need them. They are chilled and soothing but they're also sticky once melted (almond-like a taffy) so try not to chew them too much!
- Makes 8 drops depending on mold.
Notes
Disclaimer:
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data"
durgawati says
Very useful Article in Lemon Cough Drops Good Sharing Information . Thanks .
fitasamamabear says
Thanks bunches! Glad you enjoyed it!
Kenzy says
I have a question, I tried it but it never turned hard when I froze it.. can you tell me why that would be?
fitasamamabear says
This one is honestly a tricky one and took me forever. It's in the way you boil it and remove from the heat that makes the honey "taffy" like. I may try to make a video for this soon. You need to bring it to a bubble, remove it from the heat until the bubble starts to recede and then make it bubble again. You do it about 8 times and when it changes to super dark is when it will freeze. The other thing to note is how much you pour in the molds. You need them SUPER THIN. If they're thick they won't freeze as well.
I hope that helps (keep me posted!) I'll try to do a video in a few weeks to hopefully give a better visual 🙂
Raia Todd says
So glad I found these! My kids are currently all hacking like crazy. 🙁
Daniela says
I’m pinning these as I dislike most conventional cough drops! These sounds amazing!
fitasamamabear says
Yay! I also dislike the the conventional ones too 🙁 I could suck on these all day haha
sunrita says
Love this recipe. Wondering if could replace coconut oil with anything else maybe ghee or ollive oil? not a great fan of coconut.
fitasamamabear says
Hrm, I would try avocado oil because it has a higher heat point! I'm not entirely sure how they would firm up though (fyi) but think it would be okay because the honey gets sticky and hard 🙂
Catherine Baez Sholl says
Great recipe! I want to make this the next time we need them at home.
fitasamamabear says
Do it! Keep them in the freezer- so perfect when chilled 🙂
STACEY CRAWFORD says
I never thought of making my own cough drops. Such a good idea! 🙂
fitasamamabear says
Thank you! I just got really sick of all the random ingredients in store bought lol
Lexi says
Tastes delish, but mine never “set” so I can’t really suck on them. What could I have done wrong? They have been in the freezer over night.
fitasamamabear says
I had this problem on my first batch too. What I learned was that I wasn't heating the honey properly! I have a video on my elderberry cough drops that shows it a bit better but you want to heat until it bubbles excessively, remove and store and do that for about six minutes. The honey needs to change color. If it doesn't bubble off, in my experience, it was because I didn't do it long enough (only 203 minutes) or with high enough heat. I hope that helps but let me know and we can troubleshoot together!
https://fitasamamabear.com/homemade-elderberry-sore-throat-lozenges/
Lindsey Dietz says
So creative and I love that mold you have! These are really special and could probably suffice as "candy" for a little one, too!
fitasamamabear says
Thank you! I love them- oh they are definitely candy like tasting 😀
Carol Little R.H. @studiobotanica says
Thanks for sharing your great project! I do make my own version ~ with horehound herb, which I grow at home.
Let me know if you ever want to 'kick' it up-- with the horehound..(you had mentioned you wanted to add a little herb in... here and there.. (I'll send you some!)
fitasamamabear says
Woah... what is horehound?! I'm so intrigued by your knowledge!!!
Tina says
This recipe is amazing. I love it! I've never thought about my own cough drops, but looks like this is what I will be doing all winter long 🙂
fitasamamabear says
They're soooo much better than store bought!
ChihYu says
Oh i love this recipe! Never thought I can make it myself. This will come in handy in colder months!
fitasamamabear says
I love having some in stock! They taste great out of the freezer!
Jean says
What a great idea! I'm honestly not a fan of all the preservatives and sugars in store bought cough drops but I love that this is actually good for you!
fitasamamabear says
Right?! They stuff so much random stuff into the store bought kinds. It's silly.
Hope says
These look like they would be so soothing - love all of the healthy ingredients!
fitasamamabear says
Thanks! Might as well keep it simple 🙂
jennifer says
I seriously NEED one of these right now as I have one of those icky little tickle coughs! Going to try in the morning!
fitasamamabear says
Oh I hate those! These definitely come in handy when you have some on hand!
Renee D Kohley says
I'm sure these are so soothing on a dry scratchy throat!
fitasamamabear says
And they taste delicious!
Holley Ewell Augello says
Just made these for hubby and I was super eager to taste them- tried still warm, and they are delicious!! Nevermind having a sore throat- I could eat these as straight up candy!! Thank you for sharing!
fitasamamabear says
Haha I totally use them as candy too lol so yummy!
Christina Shoemaker says
I absolutely love this idea! So creative and easy! And because they're homemade there's no chance of any ingredients I want to avoid!!!
fitasamamabear says
Yes! They throw so much random crap into cough drops it's silly!
Greta says
This is what I need right now, and I am so glad I can do this by myself with these easy steps! Thanks for sharing.
fitasamamabear says
Happy to help!