This simple dandelion syrup is a perfect way to use fresh dandelion blossoms as they pop up during springtime. Made with dandelion tea, try this honey-sweet easy dandelion syrup in cocktails, on waffles, or in tea!
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Eating Backyard Dandelions
If you have yet to try eating dandelions, it’s not too late! The season is just ramping up, and providing tons of sunny yellow blossoms for us to enjoy.
Dandelions are resilient, and the best part of that is that they’re plentiful and have some wonderful health benefits too. They come back each year, despite many who find them to be a nuisance.
Once one gets past seeing them as weeds, the process can begin of truly understanding just how amazing these flowers are. Dandelion flowers, greens, and roots are edible and medicinal.
Since these humble and beneficial weeds are so plentiful, dandelions are super easy to forage. It’s important to find some that haven’t been sprayed and are away from pet waste. Maybe in your own backyard!
The greens of dandelions are deliciously useful in a dandelion salad or dandelion pesto. The flowers are super simple to use in dandelion tea, in an infused vinegar, to flavor kombucha, or dandelion mead!
Get recipes for food, drinks, infusions, and self-care using dandelion flowers, leaves, and roots in my ebook, Dandelion Recipes From Flower To Root!
Dandelion Syrup Benefits
This dandelion syrup recipe is a super easy and quick way to access the edible and medicinal qualities of dandelions. Sweetened with honey, it’s a really easy way to incorporate dandelions into your diet.
If you don’t want any bitterness with your dandelions, this is a great way to consume them! You’ll be drizzling this syrup in your tea and on every waffle or scone you eat.
Dandelions are high in vitamins, antioxidant, good for the kidneys and liver, and a natural diuretic. They can also help improve the appetite, and have immune boosting properties.
The benefits of eating dandelions are many, so they’re a wonderful and healthful addition to your life. The honey in this syrup adds health benefits too.
Dandelion Syrup Recipe
This delicious dandelion recipe begins with making dandelion tea, which is easy to do with freshly foraged dandelion blossoms.
Ingredients
Dandelion flowers: Use the dandelion flower heads to infuse the tea, it’s not necessary to pull the petals off.
Raw honey: The green of the dandelion flower might be a little bitter, but it won’t be detected with the addition of raw honey. Plus, your immune system will thank you!
How to Make Dandelion Syrup
First, fill a pint jar with fresh picked dandelion flowers, sans stems.
Then, bring the water to a boil and pour it over the flowers.
Let the dandelion tea steep for several hours until it has completely cooled down and is at room temperature.
Once it’s cooled, strain out the dandelion flowers from the tea.
Now, measure out one cup of dandelion tea, add the honey, and stir it up until it’s combined.
Note: It’s okay to add more or less honey depending on your preferred sweetness level.
Use and Store Dandelion Syrup
Dandelion syrup is an absolutely delightful way to brighten up anything that needs a little bit of earthy sweetness and some infused sunshine. We all need that!
This tasty and healthful syrup is a great way to sweeten a cup of tea, drizzle on waffles and pancakes, or to top plain yogurt. Try it in this roasted dandelion root coffee recipe to sweeten it up!
As with any flower syrup, this one goes swimmingly in cocktails. Try your dandelion syrup in this bee’s knees cocktail, swap it for the rhubarb syrup in this gin sour cocktail, or make it a mocktail with sparkling water or ginger ale.
To store dandelion syrup, keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 weeks.
Or, for longer storage, it does well in the freezer too. I like to freeze it in ice cube trays, then it’s super easy to use small amounts at a time or use the ice cubes in a drink!
More Dandelion Recipes
More Herbal Syrup Recipes
- Thyme Cough Syrup
- Rhubarb Syrup
- Wild Violet Syrup
- Rose Hip Syrup
- Pine Needle Cough Syrup
- Forsythia Syrup
- Elderberry Syrup
- Lilac Syrup
Dandelion Syrup
Instructions
- Fill a pint jar with dandelion flowers.
- Bring the water to a boil and pour over the flowers. Let the dandelion tea steep for several hours until it has completely cooled to room temperature.
- Strain out the dandelion flowers, then measure out one cup of dandelion tea.
- Add the honey to the tea and stir until combined. More or less honey can be added to taste depending on the desired sweetness level.
- Store the dandelion syrup in the refrigerator and it will keep for 3-4 weeks.
Notes
- Be sure to forage for dandelions in an area free of herbicides, heavy foot traffic, pet waste, and road runoff. See my post on foraging dandelions for more info.
- The syrup can be frozen for longer storage if desired. Freezing in ice cube trays is convenient, then you can use small amounts at a time as needed.
I’m wanting to try doing this. I’m interested in harvesting dandelions rather than weeding them out of my yard. I have a couple of questions though.
When steeping in water, from what part of the flower is the good stuff seeping? In the beginning, when the ingredients are listed, you said “it isn’t necessary to pull the petals off,” but is that because the petals are where the the good stuff is, or is it in the nectar, or…?
How beneficial is it to consume dandelions in this way? I have issues with my appetite, so I’d like to know how much this syrup would really help if I started my day by eating it with my breakfast.
Also, if there is a different recipe on this site that would help my appetite even better than dandelions, could you point me in that direction?
Thanks.
Hi Nathan. The entire dandelion plant is edible and has been traditionally used as a digestive and mild appetite stimulant. There’s not one part of the plant more or less nutritious than the other, so it’s all good stuff, which is why I say in the recipe that you don’t need to pull the petals off before steeping. I can’t really say how beneficial it is to consume dandelion syrup to stimulate appetite, since evidence of the plant being used in this way is mostly antidotal. You would have to try for yourself and let me know!
Recipe is great