This dandelion tea recipe is such a fun drink recipe to make with kids for spring activities or summer ideas for kid activities. Learn all about foraged fresh dandelions and how to make homemade tea from the petals. Definitely add this to your wild food foraging or edible flowers recipes!
How To Make Dandelion Tea
It might seem weird to think about making tea from those annoying “weeds” that takeover our yards, but making tea from dandelions is such an easy foraging activity and it makes really good homemade tea!
Dandelions Tea Ingredients
- Dandelion flower petals
- Hot water
- Honey, optional
DID YOU KNOW: All parts of the dandelion (including dandelion roots) are edible?!
About Foraged Dandelions
My daughter and I were so excited when the dandelions started to pop up in our backyard because we’ve been wanting to try foraging dandelions for fresh dandelion tea.
We previously made a dandelion leaves salad recipe and also DIY dandelion paint and loved both of those!
We wanted to keep going with our wild food foraging and try homemade tea from untreated and fresh dandelion petals.
- ACTIVITY TIP: If you only have time for one dandelion activity with kids, definitely make it the flower painting with dandelions. We talk still about that fun activity regularly!
Dandelion Tea Recipe FAQs and Tips
What does dandelion tea taste like?
Dandelion tea (flower tea) is a mild flavored herb tea and, to me, tastes a little like a milder version of chamomile tea with a hint of sweetness.
I expected it to be a little bitter, but it wasn’t at all. It was actually a really lovely mild flavor.
If you smell grass and flowers in the air on a sunny spring day or summer day, it’s almost like that transformed into a cup!
If you like other DIY herbal tea recipes or homemade teas, you’ll like this tea.
Is picking dandelions bad for pollinators?
Whenever I talk about doing dandelion crafts / kid activities or dandelion recipes, I always get comments from people who are upset that we are picking these amazing wild herbs that are are some of the earliest foods for pollinators.
And, we really get a lot of *ahem* “comments” from people who think we’re killing off bees. Luckily for us, we have close friends who are beekeepers, so I asked her.
She happily told me that occasionally picking enough dandelions to make 1/2 cup-ish of dandelion petals was not going to harm pollinators.
I think the problem comes in when you’re picking all of the dandelions from one spot.
We followed a rule of foraging where we picked one or two dandelions from the clump and then moved onto a different area. That way we left a ton — I mean, we have so many dandelions in our backyard.
And, based on the number of bees and butterflies we’ve seen in our yard, I think they’re pretty happy, too!
(Also, we always wait until extended days of above 50 degrees in the Spring before even mowing.)
So, I think we’re doing all the things correctly to share foraged flowers with pollinators.
RECIPE TIP: We picked 25 dandelions to make about 1/2 cup of fresh dandelion petals.
Homemade Dandelion Tea Recipe
This is not dandelion root tea. Although you can make root tea (and dandelion root coffee) and also dandelion leaves tea, we used only the dandelion flowers (the yellow part of the dandelion).
- RECIPE TIP: If you’re making dandelion leaf tea, the dandelion leaves can be bitter, so add some lemon or honey to your tea drinks.
We made this as hot tea (because that’s how we enjoy tea drinks the most), but you can also ice this and make iced dandelion tea.
Dandelion Tea
Equipment
- 1 strainer or cheese cloth
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Dandelion flower petals fresh and untreated* - about 25 dandelions for 1/2 cup of dandelion petals
- 2 cups Hot water boiled
- Honey optional
Instructions
- Rinse dandelions thoroughly.
- Remove dandelions petals from the dandelion base and stem and place them into a large measuring cup or bowl. (You only want the yellow parts of the dandelion flower.)
- Pour hot water over dandelion flower petals. Cover and allow to steep for at least 30 minutes. (We just put a plate on top of our bowl as a "lid") The longer you allow it to steep, the stronger the flavor - 30 minutes made a mild tea (that we enjoyed).
- After steeping, place a strainer (or cheese cloth) over the top of your mug (or bowl) and pour tea into the mug, leaving any dandelion petals in the strainer. Discard used petals.
- To drink, add honey, if desired, but definitely try it first without the honey to get the full flavor. (We didn't add honey or sugar to our tea and enjoyed it as is. It has a slightly sweet flavor.)
- Refrigerate any leftover tea for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Note
Nutrition calculations are approximate. If you're following a special diet, please calculate your own nutrition values.
MORE EDIBLE FLOWERS RECIPES: How To Make Brownies With Flowers You Can Eat!
I hope you enjoy the dandelion tea recipe!
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