Recipes · Health Shot
Fresh Ginger Lemon Shot
Reader ratingsA bright, warming shot of fresh ginger and lemon softened with a little honey — the classic for an unsettled stomach.
Ginger has been used for nausea and sluggish digestion in Chinese, Ayurvedic and Arabic traditional medicine for thousands of years; the bottled juice shot is a modern juice-bar take.
Safety
- Ginger can add to the effect of blood thinners such as warfarin and aspirin. If you take them, or have surgery planned within the next two weeks, check with your prescriber or surgeon before drinking ginger shots regularly.
- Large amounts of ginger can cause heartburn, gas or an upset stomach. Start with half a shot, keep to one a day, and take it with food if it bothers you.
- Pregnant? Ginger is widely used for morning sickness, but trials used about 1–1.5 g of dried ginger a day (roughly 1–2 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger), so check the amount with your midwife or doctor.
- Contains honey, so not for infants under 12 months. A shot is a small extra, not a substitute for a meal.
Why it’s good for you
Fresh ginger’s gingerols are the compounds credited with settling the stomach and easing inflammation, while lemon adds vitamin C and citrus flavonoids — sweetened with a spoonful of honey instead of refined sugar.
Evidence
Moderate evidence
Some human trials or consistent observational data; not yet settled.
Meta-analyses of randomized trials found ginger eased nausea better than placebo in pregnancy (12 trials, 1,278 women, low-quality evidence) and reduced acute vomiting, though not nausea overall, in people on chemotherapy. A small placebo-controlled trial found 2 g a day for 11 days cut muscle pain after hard exercise by about a quarter. The trials used powders and capsules rather than juice shots; a shot made this way supplies roughly the same amount of ginger.
General information from research and traditional use — not medical advice, and not a treatment for any condition. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication or managing a health condition, check with your clinician first, and seek care for symptoms that are severe or do not improve.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Scrub the ginger and chop it into 1-inch pieces. Juice the lemons and pick out any seeds.
- Juicer: push the ginger through the juicer — you will get about 1/4 cup of juice. No juicer: blend the ginger with 1 cup of cold water on high for 60 seconds, then pour it through a nut-milk bag or fine sieve and press the pulp hard to squeeze out every drop.
- Stir the lemon juice and honey into the ginger juice, then add cold water until you have 2 cups (16 oz) — about 3/4 cup after juicing, just a splash after blending.
- Taste and adjust: a little more honey if the ginger bites too hard, a little more lemon if it is too sweet.
- Pour into a sealed glass bottle and shake. Drink one 2 oz shot at a time, ideally with or just before food.
Tips
- Keeps 4 days in a sealed glass bottle in the fridge — shake before pouring. To keep it longer, freeze it in ice-cube trays, bag the cubes, and thaw enough for a 2 oz shot.
- Too fiery? Stir a shot into a mug of hot (not boiling) water for a ginger tea, or dilute it with a splash of cold water or coconut water.
- Lemon is acidic: sip through a straw and rinse your mouth with plain water afterwards to protect your enamel.
- Save the pulp and stir it into soups and stir-fries, or freeze it for smoothies.
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