DIY Cough Syrup - 2 Recipes
In less than 5 minutes, you can have your own DIY Cough Syrup, free from chemicals, preservatives, and dyes! Two awesome recipes!
I bet most of you didn't even know it was possible to make your own cough syrup, but it is-- and best of all, it's easy!
Making your own cough syrup will save you money. But even better is the fact that these recipes are natural, and you don't have to worry about giving your family chemicals, dyes, and other questionable ingredients.
The last time one of my kids was sick, our doctor actually told me that we should skip cough syrup, because honey has been shown to be just as effective! While we hadn't been using cough syrup, it was nice to hear that using honey for coughs and sore throats wasn't just a crazy hippy idea, but that it actually works! Both of these recipes have honey in them.
My mom actually shared the first recipe with me a while back, and we used it and loved it, but when I started looking online to see if there were other homemade cough syrup recipes, I found another that seems great too, so I'm sharing them both today!
Either of these cough syrup recipes can be mixed into a cup of tea or hot water to take, if desired.
Both of these recipes are both pretty tart, so if you're giving them to a child, you may want to put them in warm water so they're not so strong.
Obviously the one is a vinegar tart, and the other is lemon tart, so that might make a difference on which you like. Coconut Mama's cough syrup does separate, and needs to be warmed up, so keep that in mind as well. Grandma Debbie's cough syrup can be shook up in the jar to mix before taking each time.
Important!!! Both of these recipes contain honey. Please don't use these for an infant, as honey can cause botulism in babies under a year old.
We'll start with the recipe from my mom (the kids call her Grandma Debbie).
📖 Recipe
Grandma Debbie's Cough Syrup
Natural, easy to make DIY Cough Syrup. Just 2 ingredients, and no dyes or preservatives!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar, **
- dash cinnamon, optional
Instructions
- Mix together honey and vinegar, and if desired cinnamon. You can do this with a whisk, or just put the ingredients in a mason jar and shake it.
- Take 1 Tablespoon of cough syrup as needed.
Notes
**Make sure to use a good apple cider vinegar, such as Bragg's, since some that claim to be apple cider vinegar are just white vinegar with caramel coloring.
📖 Recipe
Coconut Mama's Cough Syrup
With just 3 simple ingredients, you can whip up a batch of this Coconut Mama's Cough Syrup!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup raw honey
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a mason jar.
- Place mason jar in a saucepan filled with water (to act as a double boiler), and heat just long enough to melt honey and coconut oil.
- Stir well, and take a warm teaspoon full of cough syrup, as needed.
- Store in the mason jar, and reheat using the double boiler as needed.
If you try these cough syrup recipes out, I would love to know what you think of them!
Has your family had any colds so far this year? How do you usually treat colds and coughs?
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Good morning! Your post is among this week's featured, will be shared across social media, and pinned to pinterest. Thanks for linking up at A Mama's Story, and help yourself to a featured button. 🙂
Sara Elizabeth, thanks so much for the feature! I'm so glad to be able to share these awesome recipes with your readers!
I SWEAR by apple cider vinegar. I'm like the dad off of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and ACV is my Windex.
LOL- Oh my, I LOVE that show! My mom's pretty big on vinegar, too, which is definitely better than Windex! 😉
Super Simple and I have all these ingredients which leaves me with no excuses to try it out next time I hear someone hacking in the house. Pinning to GurvyGreen thanks for sharing!
Haha, I was actually glad I whipped these up, since I came down with some sort of sinus deal the next day and have been coughing since! I'm so glad they're so cheap and easy to make!
My mom always used to give me honey with lemon, never heard of these recipes before. Pinning to have them as reminder! Thanks!
XOXO
Cami
Honey with lemon is great too. The addition of coconut oil or vinegar is just more good stuff, since they are both so great for you!
When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to make a recipe a lot like this. She said that's what they used during the depression. I remember that it actually worked pretty well!
That's pretty cool! I know that there are very effective home remedies for most everything, it's just finding them that's hard!
This is such a great idea. I have never thought to make my own.
I hadn't thought of it, either, until my mom shared it with me!
Jamie, I have never thought about making homemade cough syrup either. What a great idea. My kids hate the taste of cough syrup. I bet this is much better than store bought. We all had the head allergy/cold YUCK for about 4 weeks until just a week ago. This would have really helped. I pinned it.
Thanks so much!
Diane Roark
You're right about the store bought ones tasting terrible. These are pretty decent, and if they're too tart for you, mixing them in hot water or tea helps a lot! Glad to hear you all are finally on the mend! Thanks for pinning Diane!
This sounds great! Hopefully we won't be needing it for a very long time but I'll pin it, just in case. 🙂
I hope you won't need it either! I actually started coughing on the day I was making this for the blog post.
What a great idea! I've had something similar and the taste is not the best but what cough medicine ever tastes good right?
So true! As a kid, my mom made us a tea with onion, lemon, honey, and who knows what else in it, if we were too sick to go to school. We used to joke that you had to be pretty darn sick to stay home, since it was so terrible! lol. I'm sure the onion is great for you, but I skip that!
My mother used to take an onion and slice it in a bowl and cover it with some sugar so that, after sitting covered for about an hour, it would make a syrup. If you wanted to incorporate the onion in one of these, maybe that's one way you could. Or you could drink it by the tablespoon like we used to by itself - it was delicious, by the way. Just a suggestion...hope it helps...can't wait to try these out!
I am one of those who had never thought about making your own! Pinning!
I don't think most people have, DeDe! It's interesting how in just maybe 100 years, we've gotten so reliant on pharmaceuticals (which totally have their place, don't get me wrong), and so far away from natural remedies!
Visiting from Modest Mom.
Glad to see this. I was trying only honey and it just didn't seem to be enough when my little one recently had a cough.
I actually drink apple cider vinegar, lemon, and honey daily and sometimes just apple cider vinegar and honey. I always mix it with warm/hot water, however.
Thanks for the details when dealing with a cough.
I'm so glad you stopped by from Modest Mom!
Honey and apple cider vinegar are so awesome for so many things- taking them every day is really a great idea!
These look so easy to make!! I love it! Pinning!!
They are SO easy! The vinegar one takes about 1 minute to make, and the coconut oil is maybe 5, just long enough to melt. Super easy!
These sound great! My kids seem to have a cough straight through from October through March, so I am definitely going to try this!
Oh that must be hard having sick kiddos for so long! My little guy seems to catch every cold that goes around, and it always turns into a sinus infection for him, so I love being able to give him something that I don't need to worry about.
Wow! I never thought to do this! Pinning and will try this next time we need it! Thanks!!
Thanks for pinning, Marion!