If you grow mint, there’s no question that you have lots of it. If your patch or pot is young and you don’t have “too much” mint yet, rest assured, you will!
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What Can You Do with Too Much Mint? Here Are 29 Ways to Use It!
We won’t say this is an exhaustive list; it would be really hard to claim we’ve come up with all the wonderful ways to use mint!
But it will give you at least 29 options for making good use of your minty abundance.
Let’s take a look at some new ways to put your mint patch to good use!
- Dry or dehydrate mint for cooking, crafts, and more; mint is easy to dry, just by hanging it in bundles or drying it in a low dehydrator. Bonus – it smells great while it’s drying! Once dried, there are many ways to use your dried mint.
- Freeze extra mint for an almost like-fresh picked herb; here are some tips for best results when freezing mint.
- Make mint tea; making tea from mint is as easy as crushing some of the dried leaves and steeping them in hot water, just as you would prepare any other tea. A bit of honey or sugar tastes great in mint tea. Mint tea is also a nice way to clear congestion or soothe a sour stomach!
- Mint jelly is a classic for many things, but especially with lamb and other savory dishes. Easy to make and many ways to enjoy!
- Propagate mint root cuttings. Few plants are as easy to root and regrow as mint is. Just strip the lower leaves, stick in some water, and you’ll have new rooted plants to pot inside of a week or two.
- Use mint as a foliage filler in flower arrangements. Mint is pretty and long-lasting and is a great way to fill in cut flower arrangements. You might even find that the sprigs sprout roots, and you can pot them up when the flowers are finished.
- Put out vases of mint for bug-busting displays. No time or no flowers? No worries! Mint is pretty enough in a vase on its own, and it does flower if you let it, so it can be its own arrangement, which, incidentally, will deter ants and other nasty household pests!
- Flavored infused water. Simple, healthy, and tasty – just put leaves or a sprig in your water. It’s fabulous with cucumber!! There are more minty infusion combinations in this article: 25 Infused Water Flavors to Make Straight from Your Garden (+ How To)
- Make mint ice cubes. Infuse water, then freeze, then use in a variety of drinks or plain water. You can freeze the leaves in water, too, and it will infuse in the process (not to mention they’ll look pretty in the glass). Add berries like blueberries, lemon, or citrus zest for more flavor.
- Use mint in cocktails and mocktails. Simply throwing a few fresh leaves or a sprig into a drink will lend some lovely mint flavor. You can use a sprig of mint as a flavorful stirrer.
- Make mint extract. Why buy expensive tiny bottles of fake vanilla flavor when it’s so easy to make your own mint extract just by putting springs in alcohol?
- Use as a garnish...for all sorts of meat, sweet, and savory dishes.
- Decorate cakes and baked goods. Use mint sprigs, leaves, and flowers to decorate frosted cakes and baked goods, or press them into baked goods like cookies before baking.
- Use mint flowers, too! The flowers of the mint plant are also edible. They’re pretty and delicate and often (depending on the variety) have subtle, pastel colors. So, for any of these uses where flowers might step it up, consider using mint while it’s in flower.
- Mint Pesto – great with lamb, used as a sort of mint chimichurri, with peas, or just for a different spin on traditional pesto!
- Add mint to baked goods – looking for something to take a favorite baked recipe up a notch? Throw in some fresh (or dried) mint. Mint and berries go great together, or there’s always taht tried-and-true favorite combination of mint and chocolate.
- Make a simple syrup. You don’t have to spend a lot on flavored syrups (or endure the weird ingredients that are in them). Simple syrup is basically just sugar and water, which you can flavor or infuse with things like mint. Then use that flavored minty syrup to flavor all sorts of things – add to tea, drizzle over ice cream or cakes, or sweeten ices tea with it.
- Make a minty anti-ant spray. Ants hate mint. It works great to keep them away. One way to do that is to infuse vinegar with mint and use it as a natural spray repellant or to clean your kitchen, counters, and surfaces. Follow the link for a how-to and more ways to use mint vinegar spray to repel ants in and around your home.
- Companion plant. Mint is a great companion plant for many vegetables and plants. its insect repelling abilities can keep pests out of your garden and protect your precious plants.
- Homemade bug repellents. Mint can be a single or partnering ingredient in natural homemade insect repellents.
- Fill or sprinkle in pet beds to repel fleas and insects. You can add dried mint inside your pets’ beds to help keep fleas and other insects off them. You can also sprinkle crushed dried mint over the surface of the bed if you can’t open the liner to add it inside. This is also effective on outside pet beds, houses, and kennels.
- Bug-be-gone planters. Make pots of mint to set around outside or anywhere you need to repel insect pests or biting insects like mosquitoes.
- Mint sachets can be used in many ways, such as teas, infusers, air fresheners, insect repellers, insect repelling closet fresheners...
- Bundles of mint can be used decoratively as quick-and-easy insect repelling bundles or a double-duty combination!
- Line windowsills to keep ants out by simply laying out sprigs of mint on your sills. Use them on the outside to turn ants around before they ever get in. You can lay the sprigs fresh or dried – they'll dry out on their own fast enough.
- Propagate in containers. Grow mint cuttings to propagate and make more pots and containers of mint; then, you can use them to spread them around outside seating areas to help keep them free from mosquitoes and biting pests. Once propagated and rooted, you can also plant these new plants in the ground.
- Support pollinator populations! Despite the fact that mint repels many insect pests when it is in flower, it is highly attractive – and a good food source – for honeybees and other pollinators. Bumble bees and more will flock to your mint when it’s in flower. They do prefer some varieties of mint over others, but most flowering mint is a welcome site for hungry pollinators.
- Dig some and give it away! Let your friends and family enjoy the benefits of mint and all its many uses. Dig a little or root some in some water, then plant in pots of soil (so simple!). Pots of mint make great gifts any time of year.
- Bring some inside for the winter. Mint can be grown inside or out for fresh mint all year long. Before a hard freeze kills your mint back for the winter, take some cuttings to root or dig some bits and pot them, then bring them inside. Don’t worry about bare spots left in your herb garden next year – they’ll fill right in!
Using Mint Will Give You More Mint to Love!
Mint is a plant that keeps on giving. As long as you leave a few sets of leaves on the plant, it will regenerate and regrow, and you’ll be able to take many harvests from your plants this season.
Mint is a hardy perennial, and most varieties are hardy down as low as zone 2 and its equivalents and as high as zone 10 (though it prefers life in zones 3 through 8).
Mint spreads easily, which is something to keep in mind when you choose a planting location (or you may choose to grow it in pots to limit its spread – it can be on the invasive side if your mint isn’t controlled).
If you’re new to gardening or you struggle with perennial herbs, mint is a good one to start with. It's pretty hard to kill!
Almost anyone, anywhere, can grow mint. Now, you have many ways to use it, too!
Got Mint Tips to Share?
Do you have a favorite way to use up your endless abundance of mint? Do you see something on this list that you’ve tried and liked?
Do share your experience! Leave us a comment to add a suggestion or to let us know how these suggestions might have worked for you!
Marni Dutter
Peppermint can be used to drive away rodents
Eartheasy
Fantastic ideas for using an abundance of mint! Creative and practical suggestions for avoiding waste are appreciated.