Made with only four ingredients, these Homemade Honey Lemon 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, the perfect way to relieve a dry, scratchy throat.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- ⏲️Ready In: 40 Minutes
- 👪Serves: 8
- 🍽 Calories: 27kcals
- 📋 Main Ingredients: Honey, lemon, ginger, and coconut oil.
- 📖 Dietary Notes: Dairy-free, gluten-free, and paleo.
- ⭐ Why You'll Love It: The tastiest way to soothe a sore throat, these homemade cough drops are as simple as they are delicious.
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT ON
As a mom of three living through seemingly endless Canadian winters, I’ve learned the hard way that waiting out a cough just doesn’t cut it. This honey lemon cough drops recipe is one of the natural remedies I reach for the moment someone in the house starts clearing their throat on repeat.
Made with just a handful of simple ingredients, they soothe scratchy throats and help fend off the ick. I like to keep a stash on hand right alongside our go-to elixir of honey and garlic for cough, and this elderberry cough syrup recipe. Bonus: They pair perfectly with a mug of coconut milk matcha latte when you’re bundled on the couch.
Sources used in this blog post: benefits of honey, benefits of ginger, health benefits of lemon.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Easy to make: With just 4 ingredients, these honey lemon cough drops whip up quickly enough.
Soothing: The cool honey with a light lemony taste is ultra soothing on a scratchy, painful throat.
Freezer-friendly: The DIY throat lozenges store well in the freezer for a couple of months, so you can keep some on hand for when you need them, just like this elderberry cough drops recipe.
Ingredients and Substitutions
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. Whenever possible, try to use local honey in the DIY cough drops, as local honey can help adjust your immune system.
- 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 that you're losing some of the ginger benefits from it.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Flavor Variations
Cinnamon: This is my kids' favorite way to enjoy the honey lemon cough drops recipe. Add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon into the mix for a warming taste.
Darker honey: Did you know that buckwheat honey is actually more likely to soothe a throat than regular honey? We try to use a darker honey whenever we can!
How To Make Homemade Honey Lemon 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.
Expert Tips
The key to making these is keeping the honey bubbling, yes, it’ll look like it’s burning, but that’s what transforms it into a hard candy texture.
You’ll need to remove it from the heat briefly, stir, and repeat (follow the directions closely). Most recipes use a candy thermometer, but I prefer the color test: skip the gadgets and watch for the honey to darken, it’s simpler and just as effective.
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!
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.
You'll need a set of silicone molds for these natural homemade cough drops. You can use any 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.
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 with sheets of parchment so that they don't stick together.
Do not store the cough drops in the fridge, as they lose their shape and become a sticky mess.
To use them: Eat them right out of the freezer; the cold is soothing on a sore throat. Know that the homemade cough drops have a hard candy/taffy-like consistency when in your mouth (which means that you shouldn't chew them.. especially with dentures). Seriously, taffy-like.
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, 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!)
Homemade Honey Lemon Cough Drops FAQs
DIY 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.
Honey lemon cough drops are made with three basic ingredients: honey, lemon, and coconut oil. However, you can add ingredients like ginger or cinnamon to vary the taste.
Other Cold & Flu Remedies
Want to stay ahead of cold and flu season? Stock up on staples like homemade super tonic and easy-to-use bone broth powder. Easy ways to keep your immune system strong without extra stress.
If you tried this Homemade Cough Drop Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes!
Homemade Honey Lemon Cough Drops
Video
Equipment
- Silicone candy molds
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"
nancy says
I never tried making cough drops before . what a great idea. Store bought ones always tastes gross
fitasamamabear says
Store bought ones DO taste funky! Lol Honey ones are waaay better 🙂
Natalie says
My kids love your cough drops. It really soothes them and keeps the caugh from flaring up, thanks!
fitasamamabear says
Yay! They're so helpful during cold season.
Allyssa says
Thanks a lot for this! It's really helpful and very easy to make! Will use this again, highly recommended!
Ashley says
I was a little intimidated as i've never made any sort of "candy" before, but this recipe kept it super easy and simple. They turned out amazing (also delicious) and have been great for my sore throat. Thank you!!
fitasamamabear says
SO happy to hear this! Way to dive in and give them a go! It can be finicky to get the honey to harden so nicely done. And I'm glad you like them- they're wonderful for a scratchy throat. Thanks for giving them go!
Tonya Watson says
These sound awesome. Have you tried adding them to a cup of hot tea? Wondering how will they will dissolve.
fitasamamabear says
Ohh I haven't but that's a WONDERFUL idea! I suspect that unless you poured the boiling water directly over it, it wouldn't fully melt as they do become quite hard. But if poured directly on it might make a great cup. I have a few in the freezer I may try...
Godiva Mahoney says
Thanks so much for the easy and yummy recipe! I am lucky enough to know a local beekeeper so I have fantastic local, organic honey. I added ground osha root (also known as bear root, or min'wiik in Cree) which is for lung health.
I will be making a bunch of these lozenges so I can give them away for the holidays and I know they will be very popular at pow wows.
kinana'skomitina'wa'w.
fitasamamabear says
Making them for friends for the Holidays is SO sweet! What a great idea. I'm so jealous you have a local beekeeper haha we go through so much honey! I'm saving that tip for Osha root by the way- thank you! can you boil the root into say a tea or a salve?
Brenna says
So excited to try this recipe!!!
Are these cough drops shelf stable by chance?? And if so how long?
Thank you!
fitasamamabear says
So I find that they store best in the freezer and in their molds. I did store them in a container once but they freeze together so molds is best. I also tried in the fridge but they softened just enough to make a mess lol
Nart at Cooking with Nart says
I tried this recipe and the drops actually work!!!! Thank you so much for this 🙂
fitasamamabear says
So happy you enjoyed them! They're life-savers to me!
Trina Welch says
Is there a substitute for the ginger? I am allergic. I would love to try these.
fitasamamabear says
There's not but you can just leave it out- the honey-lemon combo is still insanely soothing! I'm currently whipping up an elderberry one to get ready to post too!
And boo, sorry to hear you're allergic to ginger, I devour so much curry I'd be devastated haha
Shelbie says
Fantastic recipe it’s my go to for cough drops.
fitasamamabear says
Aw yay! So happy you love it!
Bron says
Such an amazing recipe! Works every time. Really is a must try.
fitasamamabear says
Right?! It's a super soothing one! Glad you enjoy it 🙂
Amy says
So I’m not much of a cook so I bought ginger already peeled and ready to go. So how much would half a inch be in terms of table spoons.
fitasamamabear says
I'm trying to picture it haha I want to say around 1 tablespoon! I hope that helps!
Eva says
I thought that boiling honey kills the good properties in it.
fitasamamabear says
I assume it'll kill any good bacteria in it if using raw but it'll still be soothing to the throat.
Nihal Elgendy says
Thanks for sharing this lovable recipes, will give it a try with my picky son ?
fitasamamabear says
Haha good luck! Just note that the recipe isn't great for super little kids (toddlers) as it gets the consistency of hard candy/toffee after sucking on it a bit so be careful! It's tasty though 😉
Nihal Elgendy says
That's even better, he is three and a half, loves hard candies, and we always argue about that, at least yours is healthy! ?
Shelley says
It takes 21 hours and 51 minutes to make? LoL
fitasamamabear says
Fak haha. Some of the older ones don't have updated recipe cards. I'm on it. Thanks millions for pointing it out! And how specific... 21 hours.. haha thanks!
Julie says
Where could I find small molds?
fitasamamabear says
I use candy molds like this (affiliate!) but don't fill them all the way as I prefer mine super thin 🙂
https://amzn.to/3J66LLB
durgawati says
Thanks for sharing information .keep up the good work
Wendy says
What can I use instead of coconut oil because I don't have any?
fitasamamabear says
Unfortunately, the coconut oil is needed for the recipe as it's what helps it melt. I don't think any other oil will work as coconut oil not onlyhas a high heat point (which you need for this) but also starts to soften when warm.