Hot Toddy

by Sabrina Snyder

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13 Comments

5 from 7 votes
1 cup
Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
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Hot Toddy is a warm cocktail recipe made with honey, bourbon, and cinnamon. Perfect for warming up on a winter night or for curing a cold.

If your looking for the perfect Drink recipe to warm you up this holiday season, than this recipe is perfect! Check out my Christmas Punch and Espresso Martini to wow your guest this season!

Sabrina’s Hot Toddy Recipe

This Hot Toddy recipe is one of those cocktails that is very comforting because it reminds you of the holidays. Everyone has their own favorite version of this recipe, but here is a classic recipe and a few suggestions to change the flavor of the drink. It’s not overly sweet and has a really nice spice that reminds you of the season, just like my Eggnog recipe.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Hot Toddy Recipe

Hot Toddy is a warm cocktail recipe made with honey, bourbon, and cinnamon. Perfect for warming up on a winter night or for curing a cold.
Yield 1 cup
Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Drink
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Two drinks with lemon wedges and holiday decor
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pot water , boiling
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 1/2 ounces bourbon
  • 1 large cinnamon stick
  • 1 lemon , cut into wedges

Instructions

  • Add the honey, bourbon, cinnamon stick and 1 lemon wedge to a cup, fill with water just off boiling, let sit for two minutes.
  • Stir with the cinnamon stick until the honey is dissolved. Add an extra squeeze of lemon if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 128kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Sodium: 1mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 0.3mg

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About this Recipe

Hot Toddy is like a hot mug of tea, but instead is made with hot water and bourbon, infused with cinnamon and a squeeze of lemon juice. While this cocktail is known to help get rid of a bad cold, this is one of the few warm cocktails you can enjoy as soon as the snow starts falling and the sun goes down. It just warms you up from the inside out.

Ingredients

  • Bourbon: I am keeping it simple and using a good and smooth bourbon kept on the shelf for special occasions. 
  • Lemon: A fresh juicy lemon wedge can be steeped directly in the cup. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice for extra tang. 
  • Honey: I am using real raw honey. If you want extra honey, you can add up to a tablespoon honey without it being too sweet. Bonus points if you’re able to use raw honey from your local farmer’s market!
  • Cinnamon: The long cinnamon stick helps to stir the ingredients and adds incredibly warming and yummy cinnamon flavor to the toddy. 

How to Store

  • Serve: Serve your cocktail right away. 
  • Store: You can store unused toddy in the fridge in an airtight container for a week. Heat it up on the stove. 
  • Freeze: This cocktail is a drink best made fresh and shouldn’t be frozen. 

Ideas to Serve a Hot Toddy

This warm drink is best served on a cold night. But, unlike like other hot cocktails enjoyed during the winter cold, you can enjoy this one at any time of year! 

Frequent Questions

Where did the Hot Toddy originate from? 

Hot Toddy is a drink recipe whose name originally comes from India. The locals, using a mix of local liquor called toddy which is sill made this day from the sap of palm trees, were known to drink this particular liquor. Later, the British adopted the term and adapted the drink to their taste to include the addition of hot water sweetened with sugar and spices. Today, a classic Hot Toddy uses a few basic ingredients, and gets really popular right around flu season as the cocktail is also often used as a remedy. A lot of people believe a toddy will reduce common cold symptoms, but it’s more likely that it just soothes them like a cup of tea or chicken soup. Some believe that the whiskey has a numbing effect, too. There are a lot of different toddy versions nowadays, ranging from ingredients like ginger-ale to whiskey.

What kind of liquor should you use in a Hot Toddy?

Bourbon or whiskey are both great choices for a toddy recipe, and work equally as well. Some recipes also use rum or vodka, but whiskey is recommended if you have it because the flavors are very different. A lot of recipes call for Irish whiskey specifically.

What is the best way to sweeten a Hot Toddy?

Traditionally a Hot Toddy uses honey, but you can add other sweeteners too depending on your personal taste. Try a teaspoon of maple syrup, agave nectar, simple syrup, brown sugar, or demerara (raw sugar). Each one will add a little bit of a different flavor to the recipe.

What’s the difference between bourbon and whiskey?

Whiskey is a general term used for liquors made from distilled grains that have been aged in any type of wooden casks. Bourbon is a type of whisky. In order for it to be called bourbon, it must have been produced in the USA with a majority of the grains being corn (51% or more), and aged specifically in charred white American-oak barrels. Bourbon is an all-American whiskey drink and is known for being more smooth than other whiskeys. Cheers!

Will a Hot Toddy get you drunk?

It is possible to get drunk from drinking too much Hot Toddy. While the flavors in the toddy will mask the bourbon, you can still get a buzz from drinking it. Never ever drink alcohol then drive, even if you only had a little cup. It is recommended to only have one (or two cups max) before going to bed. 

Variations

  • Substitutions: If you don’t have cinnamon sticks, substitute a pinch of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, or star anise. If you don’t have ground spices, use whole spices and strain them out before drinking.
  • Extra Lemon: Add a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice to this recipe to add a really nice tart flavor to the cup.
  • Presentation: Make the cup look more decorative by adding a squeeze of lemon juice and then leave a round lemon slice in the cup. You can make a fun lemon twist by cutting a thin strip of lemon peel.
  • Tea: You can substitute hot tea instead of boiling hot water. Ginger tea or Earl Grey are great for this! You can also use an herbal tea, like chamomile, in you toddy. 
  • Liquor Free: If you don’t want the boozy version, make this non-alcoholic by leaving out the bourbon and using black tea instead, then follow the rest of the recipe as-is.
  • Remedy: To ward off any signs of a head cold, add some fresh ginger slices and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. 

More Wintery Drinks

Cup of Toddy with lemon wedge Pin 1

These photos were used in a previous post

Hot Toddy Cocktail
Two cocktails with lemon wedge and holiday decor

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    1. Sabrina! WOWZA! Made a pitcher of this and invited our neighbors over last night! Partied until nothing left. Oh wow, what a great recipe!

      Reply