“Grandma’s easy recipe for natural, homemade cough syrup. Uses only three powerful ingredients; olive oil, honey, and lemon. Soothes sore, itchy, dry throats and calms coughs”
Watch me make this homemade cough syrup from start to finish!
I come from a family that uses manmade medicine as a VERY last resort and my grandma Barb is the queen of all things natural, especially natural medicines. She grows her own natural remedy plants in her cute little backyard garden and there is always some kind of wild homemade tea brewing on the stove.
Whenever anybody in the family has some kind of ailment she is usually the first person we call for a natural cure. She retreats to her bedroom of herbal cure books and notes and comes out with a recipe that always works wonders, like this homemade cough syrup recipe.
Everyone in the family has this homemade cough syrup recipe because it really does work, not to mention it’s natural with just three powerful ingredients; honey, olive oil, and lemon juice!
This homemade cough syrup recipe is GREAT for kids over the age of 12 months. Isaac has only had two colds so far and this recipe does a great job with soothing sore throats and coughing, especially with that nagging nighttime coughing. There aren’t too many cold medicines on the market for kids under 4 anyway.
My grandmother uses only 1 lemon in her recipe but I like to use as many as I can stand since lemons are so good at combating colds and really helps to balance out the sweetness of the honey. Also, my grandmother stores this cough medicine in the refrigerator but I store mine in the cupboards.
Grandma Barb's Homemade Cough Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups organic raw honey
- 1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
- 1-5 organic lemons juiced (the more the better)
Instructions
- Add honey, olive oil and lemon juice to a small pot.
- Stir.
- Heat over medium heat just until steaming, stirring.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- Place into a jar with a lid.
- Store in the refrigerator
- Take 1 tablespoon warmed as needed.
Video
Notes
Use as soon as you feel a cold coming on.
Use as many fresh lemons as you can stand.
Stir and warm before using. Use by the teaspoon or tablespoon as needed.
Also great for allergies
Thank you so much for this recipe. My granddaughter has leukemia she is six years old. Gets chemo cough really bad, sometimes last 2 months. Tried all over the counter cough syrups nothing helped until I found this recipe From the bottom of a grandmas heart, thank you so much.
I’m so glad this helps! Sending so much love your way.
Dealing with the nagging dry cough from COVID now and cough syrup wasn’t touching it. We’ve used honey and lemon tea forever to help with colds and the flu, so why not for coughs from COVID? There’s nothing in there that can cause any harm, so what the heck? Works like a champ. Better than the expensive cough syrup that was doing no good at all.
I live in a cut off area. Raw honey is difficult to come buy here as well as lemons. Can regular honey, such as clover honey, and lemon juice from a bottle be substituted?
Most stores here aren’t allowed raw honey due to federal regulations similar to raw milk.
Cannot wait to try this. I know it will be great to have on hand as we are in the middle of Cedar season. I plan to share this with my family. Thanks.
Thank you so much for this recipe. It reminds of my grandmother.
I have had a constant cough since may due to allergies and asthma. I’ve tried a lot of different things to get relief. I just made this and took some warm and no cough yet it will be nice to be able to breathe again with out the cough so far so good!
This was a desperate 2am save for us. Thank you!
Hello grandma Barb everyone liked your recipe so much so do I. Is it ok if I add ginger and cayenne to this recipe?
Instantly helpful! Seriously like magic! It tastes amazing and it stopped my incessant coughing. It’s obviously take as needed so it’s incredibly helpful when you’re home. I’ll definitely be using this recipe in the future. Thank you Grandma Barb!
How would you recommend rewarming it by the way?
Contents for grandmas cough syrup. How much of each.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups organic raw honey
1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
1-5 organic lemons juiced (the more the better)
Instructions
Add honey, olive oil and lemon juice to a small pot.
Stir.
Heat over medium heat just until steaming, stirring.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Place into a jar with a lid.
Store in the refrigerator
Take 1 tablespoon warmed as needed.
Is that 1 to 5 lemons?
She said to use as many as you can stand. The more, the better. ☺️
I tried it and it works !! I only took it twice and I have given it to my sister and brother-in-law and they said it worked excellent for their cough .
This worked for me 100%. I was skeptical and I was so tired from coughing all night long but I finally found the time and energy. I slept all night long. Drinking some water at night will flush away the formula. So I kept some handy for that mysterious 3 am wake up., Took another Tbsp. and went back to sleep. Thanks Grandma Barb!
I haven’t tried it yet but will later today. I have asthma and dogs and cats I have to remember not to breath when I’m dusting and cleaning cat boxes anyway thank you I’ll let you know if it works for me sounds good. Sherry
How long does it last in the fridge??
3 months if refrigerated; 1.5 months if stored on the counter.
Sounds like a great recipe!! How long will it last in the fridge or cupboard?
when does it expire?
Perfect recipe. helped my sore throat immediately.
Thanks for this how long can it keep in the fridge?
I used this a while back and I forgot to print it out. I am so glad I came across it again. Thank you for the excellent home remedy. It works really well. I love it.
How long can this be stored?
Made this last night for my two year old and it worked like a charm … coughing was so much better and he slept through the night. Woke up this morning in a great mood! Thank you!
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Hi, I made the cough syrup twice, both times the oil separated from the honey, it taste fine, but I have to blend before giving to the grand kids. HELP! whats causing this.
Thanks
This really seems to help. I am wondering why you heat the mixture. Cold pressed olive oil and cold extracted honey have beneficial ingredients that are destroyed by heating.
I threw my cough sweets away and never coming back. Thnx for the cough syrup recipies.
Great recipe! This is the only Med in use for my kiddies, I also use a shot of him. it always work.
This looks great but like some other commenters, how long does it last and how do you warm it if you keep it in the fridge?
Tried it out of desperation yesterday,had the flu and was coughing and hacking all night long.,couldn’t even lie down. Regular cough medicine tastes horrible and didn’t help anyway.So I got some honey ,oil and lemon ,made a batch and had a couple of spoonfuls before turning in ,all I know is I slept all night after using it it
i tried this and works great. i have been suffering from a hernia and caught the flu. i was coughing so badly and with each cough it felt like a knife going into my abdomen. thought for sure before night was over i would be going to emergency. i took two spoonfuls at first. it didnt work. tried another 2. still didnt work. tried one more time with another two and went out like a light. slept rest of night without a cough. its hbp friendly also. my sons are out of town with same flu and i needed to get to them the next day and help. i was worried that if this happens while im driving it could be bad. by morning it was still working i could feel no irritation in my throat. making a batch for each of them now and another for me to use on way. thank you so much!
I am so juicy. This works great
Help! After I made this wonderful cough syrup my oil separated to the top. Did I cook it too long maybe?? It still tastes good but it doesn’t look like the beautiful pint you made in the video.
Ha, I should’ve watched the video before attempting to make this. I knew it was supposed to heat until steaming, but I didn’t notice any steam and then it started boiling. I figured steam had to come before boiling, so took it off the stove then. Now, I definitely know that it is not supposed to boil. Hoping this will help my 4 yr old sleep. She’s been coughing like crazy at the end of whatever illness she has.
How long does your natural cough syrup last in the refrigerator?
How long does your natural cough syrup last in the refrigerator?
please post more home remedies
Black seed oil (nigella sativa) would also be a great ingredient to add to this! I use it for everything from colds to skin care, I also cook with it. and it prevents so many ailments! Try it sometime 🙂
Found this on Pinterest. Making it NOW my son has a horrible cough.
The syrup taste very good but I am not sure what do you mean by “Take 1 Tblsp. as needed” ? is that every time you cough or every 2-4 hrs for days? Please help clarify this. many thanks for this natural syrup, and I hope it work for me. Tks!
Thank you so much for this awesome recipe I just made it for my mom and it’s looking great – tastes great too!
This syrup worked within seconds of giving it to my toddler. She wasn’t crazy about the taste but it worked so well that I will never buy over-the-counter again! Plus, it’s all natural ingredients and has no side affects.
when you say take 1 Tbs warmed, how do you prefer to warm it after coming out of the fridge?
I think the writer wrote she stores hers in the cupboard but her grandmother kept in the fridge. I have to agree with the cupboard option as olive oil won’t hold well in the fridge.
This stuff is great but how long does it last?
How do you warm up as needed? And would you recommend storing in the fridge or cupboards?
I made this a few months ago and loved it! But I was wondering how long does this keep for?
Im gonna make this for myself since I currently have a cold but where can i find some raw organic honey or can i just pick up some regular honey from the grocery store
How do you make seafood pasta salad?
Hey, I found this video and I’m so glad I did 🙂 I have a 3 year old toddler who’s been sick for 3 whole days and couldn’t sleep without getting cough attacks in the middle of the night… I tried this and thanks to this he is a WHOLE lot better 🙂 and he can sleep better so I just want to thank you so much girl!!! 🙂
I just made the homemade cough syrup and it taste great! While at the store the clerk told me to use local honey because the bees are using the same things your allergic to make the honey which will help build your immune system!
I’m gonna make this as soon as possible. Can you show us more homemade medicines that really work? Thank you.
My grandmother also made homemade cough syrup….but she kicked it up a notch to also allow us to sleep
Natural Honey
Organic lemons
Bourbon !! yes bourbon
also, my great grandmother made the same recipe but she also added crushed horehound candy.
The only place that I know you can find this is Cracker Barrel…or online. When I was little my grandmother couldn’t locate the candy so I’ve never had it like that. My Grandfather was a chemist so she would put the medicine in Pyrex test tubes (5 for all the grand kids) and stick in a coffee cup. She would then mark how much and when to take it. We would serve ourselves. Its really good so we didn’t follow those instruction too well. So then she had 5 grand kids fast asleep…and not coughing…lol… This REALLY works.
My husband and I have Covid so we can’t leave the house. He is coughing a lot and it keeps him up at night. I want to try this but don’t have fresh lemons. Will bottled work as well???
Fresh seems to work best! If it’s bottle juice that’s 100% lemon you can try it.