Feel a tickle in your throat? Come learn how to make homemade cough drops with our easy step-by-step recipe! Made with all-natural healing ingredients like honey, ginger, lemon and cinnamon, these cough drops can help soothe sore throats, calm coughs, and more. Honestly, I enjoy sucking on them even when I’m not sick – or drop one into a cup of hot tea!

Our natural homemade cough drops are sweet and slightly spicy, thanks to the warm notes of fresh ginger and cinnamon. (They remind me of caramelized ginger chew candies – yum!) The recipe is flexible so you can easily adjust the seasonings to suit your taste buds, or even use maple syrup to make them vegan.

A jar of honey, fresh ginger, whole and halved lemons, and a teaspoonful of cinnamon are scattered about.

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Truth be told, our early attempts at making homemade cough drops didn’t turn out great since most recipes we found online included pretty vague instructions. So, we experimented with tips for making honey hard candy instead – which greatly helped improve and shape our homemade cough drop recipe! Now we like to make them each fall to have ready ahead of the upcoming cold and flu season.

Benefits of Homemade Cough Drops

Thick and viscous, honey coats the throat to naturally suppress coughs and soothe pain or irritation associated with sore throats. Honey is also highly antimicrobial, helping to support the immune system and ward off pathogens.
Ginger is a warming, delicious, antioxidant-rich herb that can help relax and open airways, clear mucus from the lungs, ease congestion, and reduce coughing and sore throats. Ginger offers anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and immune-supporting properties – and is also wonderful for digestion or an upset stomach!
Loaded with vitamin C, studies show lemon juice can help to shorten the duration (and reduce the severity) of colds and flus. Lemon juice is also antibacterial and can fight inflammation, ease respiratory congestion, and calm sore throats.
According to renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, cinnamon is a potent, powerful, well- researched medicine. Because of it’s warming and stimulating properties, cinnamon is used to boost vitality, improve circulation, and clear congestion. It also has impressive antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties, and is known to help stabilize blood sugar levels.

DISCLAIMER: Homemade cough drops are made to help to alleviate symptoms, not cure illness. Be sure to rest, eat well, drink lots of water, and follow your doctor’s advice.

Heart shaped homemade cough drops are arranged on a ceramic plate while dollops are lined up on a piece of parchment paper. A small bowl has a small amount of honey in it with a wooden honey spoon inside of it.

RELATED: Looking for more ways to naturally support your immune system? Don’t miss our elderberry syrup recipe, homemade elderberry gummies, easy fire cider recipe, or fermented garlic honey!

Supplies

medium sauce pan
candy molds (optional) or simply add small spoonfuls onto parchment paper. These heart-shaped silicone candy molds make the perfect size homemade cough drops!
a spatula
a candy thermometer (optional but recommended)
waxed paper for wrapping

Ingredients

The recipe below will make about 15 to 20 homemade cough drops, though we often double it.

1/2 cup honey. You can also substitute with maple syrup to make your homemade cough drops vegan.
3 Tbsp lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, orange juice, or other acidic liquid. I love to use our homegrown Meyer lemons, which have a delicious hint of sweetness to them.
1 to 1.5 tsp fresh grated ginger (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger powder). We like ours extra gingery so we use the higher end.
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. You can skip the cinnamon if you aren’t a fan, which will also keep your cough drops lighter in color.
Optional but recommended: powdered sugar, vitamin C powder, arrowroot powder, cornstarch, or ground cinnamon to coat the cough drops at the end, to reduce sticking in storage.

Instructions

Get all of your supplies ready (e.g. candy molds or parchment-lined plate or baking sheet) before starting; you’ll need to work quickly to pour the cough drop mixture once it’s cooked!
In a medium saucepan, whisk the lemon juice and honey together until they’re thoroughly combined, and then stir in the ginger and cinnamon.
Heat the pot over medium-high heat, stirring with a spatula. Once it foams up, turn off the heat and stir the foam back into the mixture – which will become more opaque and creamy increase of clear.

(continued below)

A sauce pan partially full of a mixture that is light brown in color with a small amount of bubbles forming on the surface.

A small sauce pan contains a mixture that is foaming almost to the top of the pot.

Instructions continued…

Turn the heat on to medium-high again. Cook and stir almost continuously with a spatula until it reaches the “hard crack” point at 300°F. Be careful not to overcook and burn it! It will bubble and foam again at first, but then the foam will settle as it thickens after a few minutes. (When we made a double batch it took about 10 minutes to reach hard crack, though timing can vary. At minute 7 to 8 ours was still slightly foamy, but became significantly more thick, gelatinous, shiny, and darker in color – almost there!)
If you don’t have a candy thermometer, use these visual cues to recognize the hard crack stage: when the mixture can’t help but bubble up (can’t be stirred down), when it coats the back of a spoon, or if it forms into a ball when you drop a small spoonful into a cup of ice water.
You can also stop cooking before it reaches 300°F, though the finished homemade cough drops will be more soft and taffy-like.
Wait only a minute to to let it cool off the heat before carefully spooning the cough drop mixture into candy molds or small dollops onto parchment paper. Otherwise, it will quickly begin to stiffen in the pan and become increasingly sticky and difficult to work with!
Finally, allow your homemade cough drops to fully cool and harden before coating (optional) and wrapping for storage, explained below.

A candy thermometer reads 299 degrees F as a pot is on the stove with a bubbling brown mixture inside.

A heart mold tray is partially filled with the homemade cough drop mixture, a sheet of parchment paper is above it with dollops of the mixture in the shape of discs.

Optional Coating

Once they’re fully cooled and hardened, you may want to toss your cough drops in an edible powder of choice to help prevent them from being so sticky in storage (though I found they end up absorbing some of the powder and are quite sticky still, even after coating).

Good natural cough drop coating options include: cinnamon, arrowroot powder (aka tapioca powder), powdered sugar, organic cornstarch, or even a little vitamin C powder to make them extra medicinal.

I put a little arrowroot powder in a bowl (what we had on hand) and gently tossed each cough drop in it before wrapping them.

A homemade cough drop in the shape of a heart being coated in arrowroot powder inside of a small white ramekin.

Wrapping Homemade Cough Drops

Finally, individually wrap each homemade cough drop in little twists of waxed paper, taffy style. After experimenting with several methods, I’ve found this is the best way to store them to prevent them from sticking together – and makes it easy to pop a cough drop in your mouth without even having to touch it!

I also tried layering the cough drops between pieces of waxed paper (like we store our homemade elderberry gummies, shown below) but they still stuck quite a bit and were difficult to peel up when I wanted one.

Storage and Shelf Life

Once wrapped, you can store your homemade cough drops in the pantry or refrigerator. For the best results, store them in an air tight container with a lid in a cool, dark, dry location.

Thanks to the honey and lemon juice, homemade cough drops are shelf-stable and will stay good at room temperature for at least one month, or up to several months or longer. However, they tend to get more gooey if your home is warm or humid, so storing them in the fridge can help further extend their shelf life as well as maintain better structure.

When it’s time to enjoy them – suck, don’t chew! These honey cough drops can be quite hard and sticky on your teeth. And just like hard candy, use caution and your best judgement on giving these to kiddos.

Homemade cough drops in the shape of hearts are lined on top of a piece of parchment paper inside of a glass container. — In an effort to save time and paper, I tried to store one batch this way (stacked and layered between pieces of waxed paper in an air tight container with a lid) but they still were quite sticky and difficult to get out later. NOT recommended!

Many small homemade cough drops are wrapped in waxed paper similar to saltwater taffy, most are in a small glass bowl while a few are scattered around.

Well friends, I hope you enjoy making your own natural, yummy homemade cough drops too – and feel better soon! If you try this recipe, please do us solid and leave a review below. Thank you so much for tuning in today!

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Homemade Cough Drops with Honey, Lemon and Ginger

Homemade cough drops made with all-natural healing ingredients like honey, ginger, lemon and cinnamon – with an easy flexible recipe! These sweet, warming cough drops can help soothe sore throats, calm coughs, and more.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Servings cough drops

Equipment

medium sauce pan
candy molds (optional) or simply add small spoonfuls onto parchment paper
Spatula
candy thermometer (optional but recommended)
waxed paper for wrapping

Ingredients

1/2 cup honey (or substitute with maple syrup to make them vegan)
3 Tbsp lemon juice (recommended), apple cider vinegar, orange juice, or other acidic liquid.
1-1.5 tsp fresh grated ginger (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger powder)
1/4-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (sliding scale to taste)
Optional but recommended: powdered sugar, vitamin C powder, arrowroot powder, cornstarch, or ground cinnamon to coat the cough drops at the end and reduce sticking in storage.

Instructions

Get all of your supplies ready (e.g. candy molds or parchment-lined plate or baking sheet) before starting; you’ll need to work quickly to pour the cough drop mixture once it’s cooked!
In a medium saucepan, whisk the lemon juice and honey together until they’re thoroughly combined, and then stir in the ginger and cinnamon.
Heat the pot over medium-high heat, stirring with spatula. Once it foams up, turn off the heat and stir the foam back into the mixture.
Turn the heat on to medium-high again. Cook and stir almost continuously with a spatula until it reaches the “hard crack” point at 300°F. Be careful not to overcook and burn it! (Time can vary but ours took around 9-10 minutes once returning to heat.)
If you don’t have a candy thermometer, use these visual cues to recognize the hard crack stage: when the mixture can’t help but bubble up (can’t be stirred down), when it coats the back of a spoon, or if it forms into a ball when you drop a small spoonful into a cup of ice water. It will become more gelatinous, thick, shiny, and darker in color. (You can also stop cooking before it reaches 300°F, though the finished homemade cough drops will be more soft and taffy-like.)
Wait only a minute to to let it cool off the heat before carefully spooning the cough drop mixture into candy molds or small dollops onto parchment paper. Otherwise, it will quickly begin to stiffen in the pan and become increasingly sticky and difficult to work with!
Once they’re fully cooled and hardened, you may want to gently toss and coat your cough drops in an edible powder of choice (powdered sugar, arrowroot powder, cinnamon, cornstarch, etc) to help prevent them from being so sticky in storage.
Finally, individually wrap each homemade cough drop in little twists of waxed paper, taffy style.
Store homemade cough drops in the pantry or refrigerator, where they'll last for several months or longer. For the best results, store them in an air tight container with a lid in a cool, dark, dry location. Refrigeration isn't required but will extend the shelf life and prevent them from getting gooey.
When it’s time to enjoy them – suck, don’t chew! These honey cough drops can be quite hard and sticky on your teeth.