Learn how easy and affordable it is to make your own Homemade Peppermint Extract! This homemade mint extract recipe makes wonderful gifts. If you have a pressure cooker, I’ll even teach you to make it in the Instant Pot.
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Innocently plant some mint in your garden and within a few weeks, you’ll be a full-fledged mint farmer. Trying to decide what to do with some of that excess? Homemade peppermint extract is the answer you have been looking for.
If you have mint leftover after making the extract, try your hand at freezing mint to keep a delicious stash in your freezer.
Are peppermint oil and extract the same thing?
Nope. Extract has a weaker flavor profile and the oils/flavors are suspended in a liquid. Quality essential oils are only pure oils in a bottle and are more heavily concentrated.
While some people will advocating using essential oils in cooking or in capsule form, this should only be done under strict supervision. Extracts, on the other hand, are safe for internal consumption assuming you don’t have any sensitivity to alcohol.
What Kind of Mint Should I Use?
Honestly? Any kind works fine. The fresh mint available in most stores is actually spearmint and not peppermint. It’s a mad, mad world we live in.
How Do I Use Homemade Peppermint Extract?
Use it in a 1:1 ratio as you would storebought peppermint extract. It’s great for cooking, in Mint Chocolate Ice Cream, or Virgin Mojitos.
Can we be frank about appearance here for a minute? The pressurized leaves are butt-ugly after they have been processed. If giving this as a gift I like to strain the finished extract from the old leaves, decant to another bottle, and add a few fresh mint leaves.
Want printable labels for your own homemade peppermint extract?
Click this link to get and print the template I use. Labels print to Avery print to edge round labels in kraft brown (Avery 22808).
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes:
- You may notice that the Instant Pot extract still smells of alcohol after the extract process. This is normal and the alcohol smell should fade over the next week.
- I have an 8 quart Instant Pot and chose to use two 8 oz jam jars for this process.
- Some recipes will have directions to place the jars in the Instant Pot uncovered. I find this caused too much evaporation of the vodka during the pressure cooking process.
- Fingertip tight means you tighten the lid and ring and then loosen it just a tiny bit. This should prevent the jar from forming an actual seal. If that does happen, use a bottle opener and pop it loose when it has cooled. There is no harm in it sealing.
- I made multiple batches of this to test it out and found that a longer processing time in the Instant Pot did not result in a more “minty” flavor.
- This homemade mint extract recipe has a pretty infinite shelf-life as long as it is stored with an air-tight lid.
Other Recipes Like This:
- Homemade Vanilla Extract
- How to Make Powdered Sugar
- Honey Simple Syrup
- How to Make Brown Sugar
- Better Than Nutella
- Healthy Marshmallows
- Vanilla Sugar
Homemade Peppermint Extract
Ingredients
- 3 cups peppermint leaves {packed}
- 1 cup vodka
- 1 cup water {only needed for Instant Pot method}
Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- Rinse mint leaves and add them to a canning jar. You may need to pack them in with a spoon to get everything to fit.
- Pour vodka over the leaves. Add the lid and ring and tighten to fingertip tight.
- Place 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot and place a wire rack inside. Add the jars.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot, set the vent to “sealing” and press Manual>high pressure>30 minutes.
- Allow for a natural release. Carefully remove the hot jars from the Instant Pot and place on a towel to fully cool.
- Store in a cool dry place and use in a 1:1 ratio as store-bought extracts.
Traditional Method:
- Rinse mint leaves and add them to a canning jar. You may need to pack them in with a spoon to get everything to fit.m
- Pour vodka over the leaves. Put a lid on the jar and shake a few times.
- Store in a cool dark place, shaking once a day for the first few weeks. After that, shake it whenever you think of it.
- The mint extract will be ready when the liquid smells strongly of peppermint and not alcohol.
Notes
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Thanks for sharing this recipe this content is very significant for me I really appreciate you
I am wondering if sugar could be added to the extract as a preservative. I plan to use the extract for ice cream.
The vodka itself is a preservative, but if you want it for ice cream a simple syrup might be a better fit for you.
I have a mint syrup recipe that is not yet published on the site. If you’d like to email me, I’d be happy to send you my notes. 🙂 sarah@sustainablecooks.com
Can anyone tell me why you don’t use the mint stems? They are very fragrant and flavorful.
They can become woody over time and discolor the extract.
Thank you Sarah for this – and your sense of humor!
– I just dutifully waited 3 months for my 1st batch… and sadly now I see how/why stems must be omitted – use leaves only! Borderline musty wet grass smell due to stems… not sure if will translate in baking projects. I may try to ‘save’ by adding 3 C more of *leaves only*
Thanks so much again! Love your site and am grateful for your wisdom!
Such a bummer, but I hope leaves only will work better for you.
Can rum be used instead of vodka
I haven’t tried it, but since rum has a flavor to it already, I’m not sure the mint will come through enough.
hello ,my I ask ? can you add Vodka to it when your jar gets low ?
You can, but without new mint being added, the flavor will be very watered down.
A variation on the theme! I had just bought a Hexcl individual coffee mug hot plate on Amazon that has 3 temperature settings, 131, 149, 165F, so I thought I’d try that. I harvested, washed, and stripped the leaves from all my peppermint, leaving 2-4 in stems on the plants. Then used the salad spinner and spread them out to dry a bit on a towel while I got organized. I chopped them up and stuffed them into a spaghetti sauce jar and filled it with Ever Clear up to 1/2 in from the top, and set it on the hot plate at 149F.
I set my kitchen timer and shook the jar about every 10-15 min for the first hour, until it was actually hot, then about every 20 min for 2-3 more hours. Since all the exposed parts of the hot plate are plastic, I felt comfortable wrapping a towel around it all to help keep the heat in – and use to shake it after it was hot.
When finished I let it cool on the stove top and then put it into the fridge over night to use the next day.
I poured it all through a coffee filter into a new jar and then rinsed the leaves – still in the original jar – with about a 1/2 cup more of EverClear, and discarded the leaves.
The extracted liquid was the most beautiful emerald green and very minty! (And done in just a few hours!)
Wow, that is such an interesting process! Thank you for sharing it. 🙂
Do you remove the leaves after the process is complete?
Thanks! I’ll be starting this over the weekend.
I tend to leave them in there!