Classic Hot Toddy
Warm up with this classic hot toddy cocktail recipe! Hot toddies are so easy to make. You'll just need hot water, whiskey, honey, and lemon. Cheers!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 1, 2024
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Let’s warm up with some hot toddies! They could not be easier to make. For this classic cocktail, you’ll just need hot water, whiskey, honey, and lemon. Unlike your typical mulled wine, wassail or warm cider, hot toddies are light and hydrating rather than overwhelmingly sweet.
Hot toddies are lovely slow sippers or night caps. Mara says they’re perfect for playing cards with the family. You could offer a hot toddy bar at your holiday party this year. I love that idea!
How to Make the Best Hot Toddy
The secret to making the best hot toddy is simple—just tinker with the amount of lemon juice and honey until it suits your taste buds. I’ve provided some guidelines in the recipe below. I think you’ll be surprised by how much an extra teaspoon of lemon juice or honey changes the flavor.
If you order a hot toddy at a bar, you’ll probably receive a whiskey drink. Any good whiskey will do—I’ve enjoyed hot toddies made with Bulleit Rye, Jameson, and Wiser’s.
If you prefer, you can make your hot toddy with dark rum or brandy. You’ll find more ways to change up the drink in my recipe notes.
Watch How to Make Hot Toddies
Hot Toddies for Coughs & Colds
Hot toddies are reported to help reduce cold symptoms, although you really don’t want to overdo it on the whiskey. Your body needs to heal, and the simple combination of warm water, honey and lemon combined can work wonders.
Alcohol doesn’t mix well with over-the-counter and prescription medications. So, no hot toddies for you if you’re taking medicine! Nurse yourself back to health with everything but the whiskey.
More Cocktails to Love
For another warming whiskey drink, make my Irish Coffee recipe! If you’re looking for more holiday-friendly whiskey drinks, don’t miss my Maple New York Sour or Cinnamon-Maple Whiskey Sour.
Here are a few more of my favorite classic cocktails: Moscow Mules, French 75’s, Best Red Sangria, Mimosas, and Fresh Margaritas.
Please let me know how this hot toddy recipe turns out for you in the comments! I really love hearing from you, and your feedback is so important to me.
Classic Hot Toddy
Warm up with this classic hot toddy cocktail recipe! Hot toddies are so easy to make. You’ll just need hot water, whiskey, honey, and lemon. Recipe yields 1 cocktail.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- 1 ½ ounces whiskey
- 2 to 3 teaspoons honey, to taste
- 2 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice, to taste
- 1 lemon round
- 1 cinnamon stick (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- In a teapot or saucepan, bring the water to a simmer. Pour the hot water into a mug.
- Add the whiskey, 2 teaspoons honey and 2 teaspoon lemon juice. Stir until the honey has disappeared into the hot water. Taste, and add 1 teaspoon honey for more sweetness, and/or 1 teaspoon more lemon juice for more zing.
- Garnish with a lemon round and cinnamon stick (if using). Enjoy!
Notes
Make it vegan: Substitute maple syrup for the honey.
Change it up: Instead of whiskey, use brandy or dark/spiced rum. For extra flavor, you could also steep 1 tea bag (green or black tea) in the hot water for 2 to 3 minutes, or add a splash of apple cider. Change up the garnishes by adding a slice of apple or fresh peeled ginger, whole cloves or anise.
Recommended equipment: I love my glass mugs (shown) from Crate and Barrel, and this stainless steel jigger is great for measuring liquor. (Those are affiliate links.)
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Instead of water try using unsweetened orange juice,omit the lemon, add honey to taste, I use Fireball whiskey but honey JD is also really good.
Thank you for sharing how you made it, Karen!
I love it! It’s simple to make and warms the body and soul.
Great to hear you enjoyed it!
Is this good to cure Laryngitis?
Of course not. Liquor is an immune suppressant. It might make you feel better momentarily because of alcohol’s analgesic effect, but whisky in particular is tough on the throat and stomach and that’s definitely not what you want when sick. Enjoy this drink when you feel better, and please feel better soon! <3
I usually use 1835 whiskey but I switched it up and used Honey Jack. It came out really good.
Great to hear, Jim! Thank you for your review.
Love it! Tastes good!
This has always been a fantastic recipe for me.I am using it as I type this as I have a bad cough and congestion. I prefer Jameson whiskey but have use E&J brandy.Don’t always have a lemon rind but do have lemon juice as well as honey and cinnamon sticks.
Again,a very nice and easy recipe.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Ray! I appreciate your review.
Made it with Mr Boston Rock and Rye. Tasted great.
Thanks for the recipe! Having some now to help with a sore throat :)
And just fyi, your glass mugs link doesn’t go straight to them anymore…crate and barrel must have moved things around on their site.
Thanks again!
You’re welcome, Rebecca! I appreciate your review.
If U add a honey to a very hot water, or tea it will kill all the good ingredients in it, it became a sugar simply. The best temperature for honey is below 60 or vene 50C. Do it wisely, because good honey is a treatment itself.
Made this recipe. It’s so easy and yummy. Great for the season!
I have the flu and feel awful. We’re literally having a shortage of every “relief” type medication in our area. I googled for recipes out of desperation and this popped up. It’s fantastic! Tastes great, ingredients I already had on hand, and my throat feels so much better. Thank you for the lovely recipe!
Oh no! I’m glad it seems to help some. I hope you are already feeling back to normal!
What if you don’t have cinnamon sticks but you have ground cinnamon instead….
Of course, you could add a pinch of cinnamon. The cinnamon stick is just a garnish, for show; to make it look pretty.
Try whole cloves
It’s also wonderful with a good bourbon!
Love Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Waterford Reserve Double Oak, adds a wonderful depth.
I use ginger tea in place of the water.
My daughter and I are having one now!!! Thank you for the moment!!! Merry Christmas!!!
Tastes great! I used Minnesota maple syrup whiskey and 3 teaspoons of both honey and lemon ✨
I made it with raspberry flavoured honey, i had no lemon so used lime it is lovely. Especially when you have a cold. :)
That sounds interesting! Thank you for sharing, Blandine.
Hi there! Instead of water, I used apple cider and everyone loved it. I boiled the cider with a cinnamon stick and a few cloves. It is the perfect treat after building a snowman. (:
Great to hear, Tina!
I want to confirm that this hot toddy really takes care of a sore throat. A co-worker told me to make one, didn’t know how to make it so I came to this site, reading the comments most say they just tried it and no comment as to how it helped. Well, on Friday I came home with a really bad so throat made it as soon as I got home and the first drink it made my throat a little better. I heated it up to where it was kind of hot and let me tell you. I was spitting out phelm and my throat later that night felt real good. Woke up the next morning and it was just about gone and it took care of my wannabe cold. Fastest recovery ever had!!!!! : ) It’s Saturday and i’m still drinking for good measure. Right now nose runs a bit but I feel normal not dragging.
Drinking a hot toddy every night with a small bottle of Fireball in it got me through.
My husband has pneumonia and is just finishing antibiotics but is still sick. Can I give him a hot toddy? He has a nebuliser and is coughing a lot but doesn’t like it, he wants to get back to work
I’m not sure, sorry! I would check with his doctor on what is best. I hope he gets better soon!
Perfect hot toddy recipe you have here… Thank you for sharing! I can tell I’m on the cusp of a cold and trying to heal naturally. So far, so good. this hot toddy is my cure
I’m a long-time believer in the hot toddy (especially at the very first sign of feeling under the weather) but I can never remember the “basic” recipe with measurements. I seldom have fresh lemons on hand but usually have lemon juice concentrate. I always have honey on hand since I’ve recently found a very convenient source of local honey. No cinnamon, but I’m okay with that. Thanks so much for keeping us informed with all you share!
When I had a cold, I made a “modified” hot toddy.
I grated (or minced) a big piece of ginger root, added two bay leaves & allspice and simmered everything for about 15 minutes.
In the meantime I squeezed juice out of 3 lemons.
I filled a large mug (about 500 ml/17oz/2.1 cups) with boiling water, let it sit for a few minutes and dumped the water (to warm up the mug).
Then I added 3-4 teaspoons of honey, 200 ml (7oz) of whisky (alternatively, brandy, rum or even vodka) and the lemon juice to the mug. Finally I topped up the mug with the strained simmering concoction. If it was not hot enough, I put the mug into the microwave for 30 seconds.
I don’t think I could call its taste “delicious”, but it was perfect for my cold: I drank it quite quickly (not really enjoying it) and went straight to bed. I slept soundly and felt much better the following morning!
I always have hot toddy’s with spiced rum when I have a cold. It really works wonders.
It’s true though. Be careful if you’re taking cold and flu meds. You don’t want to kill your liver! I usually take garlic and horseradish when I’m sick but ask your pharmacist or read your medicine instructions to see what you can and can’t do.
This is delicious, comforting and actually nutritious thanks to the lemon juice and honey. Great for winter or when you need a warm hug of a drink. It’s not heavy and is awesome to sip on.
I’m glad you enjoy this cocktail recipe, Bec! I appreciate your review.
Suffering from the flu, this was perfect. As I don’t drink much, i only had a very nice bottle of Jameson but boy it made a delicious drink!
Just made this with throat coat tea instead of water – would love to kick this sore throat of mine and also enjoy a Friday night. Delicious!!!
I use tea and brandy to make mine. I’m not a big drinker, but when it starts cooling down and I’m not feeling 100%, it hits the spot.
We used cinnamon whiskey and used 1 tsp honey as we don’t like our drinks too sweet. It turned out great. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Laura!
So delicious!
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, Jennifer!
I’m just away to make a hot toddy
Never tasted one before but have a killer sore throat.
So I’m going to give it a try.
My daughter says it works.
Your margarita recipe is my go to, so I decided to come here to look for a recipe for a Hot Toddy. I had all of the ingredients on hand. I used Woodford Reserve whiskey and I had habanero honey that worked out great – nice and spicy. Great recipe – thank you!
You’re welcome, Ginger!
Worked wonders for me. I used moon shine! On the mend now.
A good alternative is to ise Berenjager, or any honey liquer, in lieu of the whiskey and honey. Yum
Thank you for sharing, Deborah!
Great recipe and perfect drink for winters.
Thanks from India
What’s an ounce of whiskey in ml?
I don’t have conversions, sorry!
30 ml
My husband has been dealing with loads of snow for days. He came home and went to clear our neighbors’ driveway (just moved from Texas) and was rewarded with your hot toddy recipe! Lucky that I had everything in the house. We have enough cinnamon sticks and lemon for one more tomorrow. Thanks for the great recipe! Go Chiefs tonight!
I used Korbel brandy – came out good.
Thank you for sharing, Jeff!
So nice – perfect to help battle this cold I have too.
Cookie and Kate, I love it! In my house it’s Princess + prof (Princess is the one with 4 legs) and prof is 78 years old. Princess is a demanding chef, insisting on taste-testing almost everything prof makes to be certain it’s palatable. My family has believed in Hot Toddies for generations but we always made it with tea (Red Rose the last 3-4 generations). Thanks for sharing.
My dad used to add a small pad of melted butter. It made it smoother.
Barry
That sounds interesting! Thank you for sharing, Barry.
Sipping on Jameson Hot Toddy..so soothing on my sore throat
Perfection! I made this with decaf black tea and maple syrup. Don’t skip the lemon round!
Just made this for my husband (who’s coming down with something). It has really helped him feel better! He said it was delicious, too. Thanks so much for the recipe!
I would only do 1 tsp of lemon! I had to add more honey and whiskey to even out the 2 tsp of lemon juice… thank you so much for the recipe so I could make my first hot toddy!!
U can add a fresh mint leaf to your hot water and make the toddy a bit on the fresh side for summer refreshment too!
Used some good Ole real moonshine with water honey cinnamon lemon juice tea bag and a splash of orange juice it was fantastic help with my symptoms thank you