12+ Ideas for What to Do with Fresh Mint
Have an abundance of fresh mint in the garden? Put it to good use with these 12+ fun ideas for what to do with fresh mint! From unique recipes to preservation tutorials, you’ll surely find some great ways to use your mint.
One of my favorite parts of having a garden is being able to grow fresh herbs – especially mint. I can use a lot of fresh herbs in one serving, and they cost quite a bit at the grocery store!
That’s why gardening is so great. Growing your own herb garden is really easy for beginners, and it’s so fun to harvest bunches and bunches of fresh herbs each year.
Of course, sometimes you end up with more than you know what to do with. If you have found yourself with tons of fresh mint, you may be wondering how to use all the fresh mint.
I have plenty of ideas for you, including how to use it and how to preserve it. Let’s dive in!
Make Fresh Mint Tea
If you’ve never had mint tea made with fresh mint instead of dried, you are in for a treat. It has a strong, fresh flavor that makes it the most refreshing beverage in the summer.
All you need to do is stuff a handful of fresh mint into a jar and pour boiling water into it, and let it steep and cool for a couple of hours.
You can make hot tea, too. Follow the same process, but drink it before it cools off!
Freeze the Mint
If you have more mint than you can easily use, a great way to preserve it is to freeze it.
Frozen mint is excellent for tea, sauces, and other cooked dishes in the wintertime when fresh mint isn’t available. Fresh mint can be frozen in a variety of ways, including in ice cubes, frozen lime juice, or just by stuffing the leaves into a freezer-safe bag.
For more information on how to do it, check out my tutorial on how to freeze mint.
Dry the Mint
You can also save your freezer space and preserve mint by drying it. This is the most common preservation method for making tea. Dried mint makes a delicious tea that can be enjoyed throughout the cold months. It’s also great to have for herbal infusions or homemade bath and skincare products.
Drying mint is extremely easy, too! For a full tutorial on how to dry mint, check out my tutorial on how to dry lemon balm – the method is exactly the same.
Use Mint as a Garnish
Mint leaves are such a beautiful garnish for drinks and dishes! It’s such an easy way to class up a meal. Add a small sprig of mint to drinks (like I did in my blueberry gin fizz), salads (like spring fruit salad), cakes, cheese boards, and other platters. It will be lovely, and if your guests want to munch on one to freshen their breath, all the better!
Make Mint Syrup
You can make a mint simple syrup to add to tea, cocktails, and lemonade! Fresh mint makes a delightful minty syrup that will taste amazing in any of your favorite sweetened beverages. Simply add a few sprigs of mint to your simple syrup as it’s cooking, and you’ll infuse the syrup with a fresh minty flavor.
Add Mint to Salads
Fresh herbs are such an easy way to elevate a salad and give it an extra pop of flavor. One of my favorite herbs for salad is fresh mint!
Simply toss the leaves in with the lettuce to add a sweet, minty, herbaceous flavor to your green salads. Chopped mint is also excellent in fruit salads as it complements the sweetness of the fruit beautifully.
Make Mint Chutney
Mint chutney is common in Indian cuisine, but it’s a fun addition to a wide variety of meals! Use it as a dip, spread it in a sandwich, or drizzle it on a salad for a unique garden-fresh flavor.
Add Mint to Fresh Herb Sauce
Similar to mint chutney, you can add fresh mint to any of your favorite herb sauces. Chopped mint adds a unique twist to classic tzatziki, green goddess dressing, or my favorite homemade herb sauce. You can even freeze some herb sauces to preserve them for later!
Make Fresh Mint Ice Cream
Steeping fresh mint leaves in milk and making ice cream is a natural and delicious way to make mint-flavored ice cream. It adds a subtle and intensely refreshing flavor that tastes so much better than extracts and artificial flavors! Make it a simple mint flavor or add some chocolate for a mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Make Mint-Infused Water
Infused waters are a fun way to stay hydrated or class up a party. Add mint with lemons, limes, strawberries, or cucumbers to your water a few hours before drinking to give your water a subtle but delicious flavor.
Make Mojitos
You can’t miss out on mojitos if you have a lot of mint! These delicious rum-based cocktails are the quintessential summer beverage with tart lime and cooling mint. If you want to make it even more summery, try my strawberry mojito recipe.
Want to skip the alcohol? Easy! Mojito mocktails are so tasty, too.
Put Mint in Ice Cubes
I love preserving my garden harvests by making pretty ice cubes for my beverages. I shared about how I did that in my edible flower ice cubes recipe.
Mint can be used exactly the same way! Stick a few leaves in your ice cube tray, fill it with water, and you have lovely and lightly flavored ice cubes for fun beverages.
FAQs
Yes! Mint can be preserved through freezing or drying. I share how to do that in the post above.
Harvesting mint the correct way is important for getting a great yield throughout the season! You need to harvest it right above a node to encourage more growth. Get the specifics and detailed photos in my post on how to harvest mint the right way.
I’m partial to the classic mint varieties like peppermint and spearmint, but I do like to plant a unique variety each year. Apple mint, orange mint, and chocolate mint are all varieties that I tried and loved! You really can’t go wrong with fresh mint of any type.
Yes, it’s strongly recommended to grow mint in some sort of container, as it is a very aggressive spreader and can quickly take over your yard or garden bed. If you want to keep it in the ground without it spreading too much, I planted my mint in a pot, then buried the pot. It works perfectly for containing the mint while still allowing it to survive cold winters.
🌿 I hope this list gave you some fun ideas for how to use your mint this gardening season! Let me know in the comments what you’ll try first. And, if you have any fun ideas I haven’t thought of, please do share! I’m always looking for more.
