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Learn how easy and affordable it is to make your own homemade peppermint extract! This homemade mint extract recipe also makes wonderful gifts. If you have a pressure cooker, I’ll even teach you to make it in the Instant Pot.
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 left over after making the extract, try your hand at freezing mint, drying mint, or making mint syrup to keep a delicious stash in your freezer.
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 it to another bottle, and add a few fresh mint leaves.
If you’d like some labels for your mint extract bottles, click this link to get and print the template I made. 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 extraction process. This is normal, and the alcohol smell should fade over the next few weeks.
- 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.
- 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.
Homemade Peppermint Extract (2 ingredients)
Ingredients
- 3 cups peppermint leaves {packed}
- 1 cup vodka
- 1 cup water {only needed for Instant Pot method}
Instructions
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.3 cups peppermint leaves
- Pour vodka over the leaves. Put a lid on the jar and shake a few times.1 cup vodka
- 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.
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.3 cups peppermint leaves
- Pour vodka over the leaves. Add the lid and ring and tighten to fingertip tight.1 cup vodka
- Place 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot and place a wire rack inside. Add the jars.1 cup water
- 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.
Notes
- You may notice that the extract still smells of alcohol after the Instant Pot extraction process. This is normal, and the alcohol smell should fade over the next few weeks.
- 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you make this using the Instapot method, is it ready to use that day? Or does it still need to sit for 4-6 weeks?
It still needs to sit, but for a bit less time. Maybe 2-4 weeks. The Instant Pot jumpstarts it.
I followed the instructions but instead of magic pot, I used my pressure cooker. Two things surprised me… 1) the murkiness and deep green colour & 2) how much volume of alcohol was lost in just 30 minutes.
Did you use lids on the jars or cook the alcohol/, mint directly in the pressure cooker? With processing it jars, there is almost no evaporation.
Great info. I’m just really starting my journey into herbs and currently working on an issue in my garden with ants. I can’t use vinegar as the ants are around my plants and that would kill them. So, the next step, oils or extracts. When harvesting, are you taking the bigger leaves, or cutting whole stems off? Also, what do you consider a “few weeks”? I’ve seen recipes that call for 4 to 6 weeks. I really can’t wait that long this year. Any “newbie” tips for someone new to herbs would be welcome.
I am definitely not an herb expert, so I would hate to lead you astray. You could try a peppermint essential oil which will be much more powerful than extract.
If you have a pressure cooker, there is a way to jumpstart the extraction process. Instructions for that are in this post.
If I have a lot of mint growing, I tend to cut off whole stems and then plucking the leaves off.
Oh, I love this, and need to read it again! you have the basics laid out so clearly! Great job,
I’m wondering if you know why the stems are omitted since they still smell great, make up so much of the plant’s volume, and texture isn’t an issue since we don’t have to chew them? I have a potful of mint but not a huge quantity of leaves to make up volume enough for the recipe. I know I can just reduce the volume, but just curious. TIA
Mainly for aesthetics as the stem changes the color of the finished product. If you’d like to leave them in it should be fine.
Thanks for the quick reply. It will be used in my hair rinse so not too picky about how it looks, just how it smells 🙂
Oh yeah, you’re totally fine in that case! 🙂
Another pro tip: when it’s time to strain your finished product, use cheesecloth instead of coffee filters. You might have to layer it into a funnel a few times before pouring into your containers, but it’ll filter out the debris while keeping all of the flavor, scent, color and quality.
Great idea Nick!
Can I use a pressure cooker instead of a instant pot for the non-alcoholic method?
Thank you
Hi Farah, I would assume you mean a stovetop pressure cooker? It should work but I’ll be honest that I don’t know how the cook times would correlate.
My extract turned brown. Is that normal?
How long has it been sitting? Mine is never a true green color.
I followed your directions and now I have mint extract, just as you promised. My question is, is it supposed to be so bitter? Or do I need to cull my leaves more carefully? Thanks for your patience.
Hey Beth, yeah, it’s bitter because of the booze. Not sure if you’ve ever sipped on store-bought extract (I wouldn’t. Gross), but it’s the same.
What kind of mint did you use? Spearmint might add a tiny bit sweeter flavor, but it’s still mint in booze.
At the risk of sounding foolish, how do you rinse your peppermint leaves? Do you soak them in a pan with vinegar and water? Do you rinse them in a colandar? Do you pick the leaves and then rinse them, or do you wash the leaves while they’re still on the stem and then pick them? Sorry to ask what is probably such a basic question, but I seem to have missed this class at school, and I’d like to use some of the rampant peppermint in one of my garden beds to make peppermint extract. I would appreciate any tips you could give me. Thanks.
I put them in a colander and use the spray feature on my kitchen faucet to get into the nooks and crannies. I do this when they’re still on the stem (but after I’ve picked them). Then I remove the leaves!
Thanks for helping out those of us who are “fresh mint impaired.” This recipe is at the top of my list for tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes…
Cut the mint in long sprigs and then holding by the cut end dip top first vigorously into tall bucket or tub filled with cold water then shake or tap together bunches to remove excess water
Amazing idea for homemade Christmas gifts – so glad I found this tutorial in time! I had no idea it was so easy!
I love this idea! I have always made my own vanilla extract, but have never delved into other kinds of extracts until now. I had no idea it was so easy, but holy crap, it is! And this stuff smells incredible. Can’t wait to put it to use with my holiday baking.
I have some vanilla extract going right now, though I need to add more beans to it. I have a lot of vodka left AND I happen to be growing some mint in a pot on our terrace so…
Thanks for this!
It is meant to be Tina!
Or, you know, sometimes you don’t plant mint at all but SOMEONE (ie the people who lived at your house before you) must have planted at least one mint plant sometime in the past and you go outside to find that the mint orgies have been going strong in the five minutes you looked away and now half your planter box is taken over by mint. Guess I should go buy some vodka!
Isn’t it insane Alli? Mint is invasive AF! I had a small pot of mint for years and decided to upgrade to a giant metal tub this year. Within a week it had doubled in size. Within three weeks it was ready to take on the world.
Could this work somehow with elderflower? I tried elderflower gin at Christmas and OMG…MOUTH EXPLOSION!!!
I think you could, but it might turn out to be more like a tincture (herbal medicine steeped in vodka). Give it a shot, and see what happens. That is always my motto! ;-D
Thanks! I know the store-bought ones have alcohol in them. I didn’t word my question well, but I was trying to ask if the amount of minty vodka I would need to flavour anything would be enough to get me tipsy. I’m also a super lightweight. I only add a couple drops of store-bought extract, so if I only needed to add a couple drops of homemade then that would be great. I could always add more mint to make the concentration stronger, right?
I would love to do this, but won’t the vodka affect me? How strong is this compared to store-bought extract? I always put either cinnamon or a couple drops of mint extract into my hot chocolates, but I don’t want to get boozed up in the mornings. Well, not every morning. Would I still only need a couple drops of the homemade extract to get the strong mint flavour?
Check your current extract; chances are it is probably alcoholic anyway. I just use a splash, and it doesn’t seem to impact me. And I can get drunk off of beer battered shrimp.
Awesome! I’ve been looking for things to do with the mint in my backyard, this sounds perfect. And I picked up some cute little bottles at a thrift store a few months back that would be great for this.
Just a quick question though: you mentioned that the homemade vanilla extract could last for a couple of years by adding some more vodka as you use it. Do you think the same goes for the mint? Or should we take the mint leaves out after a couple months? (Just wondering if the mint leaves go bad after long enough.)
Thanks 🙂
I’ve left the mint leaves in my bottle since the vodka kind of “pickles it”. It has been fine so far!
Hey I was wondering if you have any tips or reasons why my mint extract didn’t quite work I personally did the traditional method and it’s been over 2 months and it still taste strongly of vodka. Do you have any reason why it ended up like this? If so could you email me.
Hi Ethan,
I shot you an email. Sarah
Dang, I wish I had 4-6 weeks until Christmas. I guess this will be NEXT Christmas gifts. ;D
Duh! That IS a genius idea!