Recipes · Tonic
Thyme Honey Cough Syrup
Reader ratingsFresh thyme steeped into a fragrant infusion and stirred into honey with a little lemon: an old-fashioned spoonful for a tickly evening cough.
Thyme and honey have been paired in European home remedies for coughs and sore throats for centuries.
Safety
- Never give honey to babies under 12 months, because of the risk of infant botulism.
- Thyme is a mint-family (Lamiaceae) herb, and people allergic to mint, oregano or related herbs can react to it. Use the leaves only: thyme essential oil is far too concentrated to swallow.
- Honey diluted with a water-based infusion can ferment. Keep it refrigerated, use it within 2 weeks, and discard it if it foams, smells sour or tastes fizzy.
- A cough that lasts more than a couple of weeks (or about 10 days in a child), or comes with wheezing, trouble breathing, a high fever or blood, needs medical attention rather than a home remedy.
Why it’s good for you
Thyme is a culinary herb with a long history in cough and throat preparations, and honey is the old-fashioned comfort behind many of them.
Evidence
Moderate evidence
Some human trials or consistent observational data; not yet settled.
Honey is the evidence-backed part: a Cochrane review of six trials in 899 children found it probably eases cough better than no treatment or placebo for up to three days, although a 2022 trial in 161 toddlers found it no better than a honey-flavored placebo syrup. For thyme, two placebo-controlled trials (361 adults each) of standardized thyme-ivy and thyme-primrose extracts found acute bronchitis cough improved faster, but those were proprietary extracts, not a kitchen syrup. This syrup itself has not been tested.
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
- Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the thyme (and the ginger slices, if using), cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and leave it covered for another 10 minutes so the aromatic oils stay in the pot.
- Strain through a fine sieve, pressing the thyme to squeeze out every drop. You should have about 1/2 cup of dark, fragrant liquid.
- Let it cool until warm to the touch, then stir in the honey until dissolved, followed by the lemon juice.
- Pour into a clean glass jar and refrigerate. Stir or shake before each use, and use within 2 weeks.
Tips
- A common serving is 1 to 2 teaspoons, taken from the spoon at bedtime or whenever the cough is bothersome. It also makes a quick hot drink stirred into a mug of warm water.
- Dried thyme works when fresh is out of season: use 1/3 cup and let it steep covered for 5 extra minutes after the simmer.
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