As you know, I am on a journey of making my home more chemical free. I am always on the lookout for products that I can make myself, and one that I have been meaning to try my hand at is Homemade Dish Soap. A few months ago I found the perfect combination (in my humble opinion) and my whole family loves it. We not only use it for our dishes, but we use it to wash our fruits and veggies, and it even serves well as a hand soap!
My dish soap recipe is made with castile soap which is made from 100% plant oils. It’s not made from chemicals or animal fats, just plants! I love that! Also, my recipe is a breeze to put together and smells amazing! I have made this recipe using many different scents, but my current favorite is grapefruit basil. I love this for many reasons, but one is that these 2 essential oils are both emotionally uplifting and mentally focusing which I sometimes need in the mornings when I am doing the dishes. I need a little something bright, uplifting and motivating, especially with winter coming soon.
Recipe For Homemade Dish Soap
Scent: Grapefruit Basil
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup filtered water or boiled and cooled water
1 cup unscented pure castile soap
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp fractionated coconut oil
12 drops grapefruit therapeutic grade essential oils
8 drops basil therapeutic grade essential oils
Add water, and castile soap to a large mixing bowl.
Next add in baking soda, fractionated coconut oil and your favorite essential oils!
Once everything is added, it should look a little something like this!
Use a whisk and very gently mix solution so that baking soda is dissolved and everything is well combined.
Pour into a pint or quart glass jar and add a soap lid pump. I happened to have one from an old bath and body works container that I had saved and it worked great!
And that is all there is to it! Easiest. Recipe. Ever.
For those concerned that a homemade dish soap recipe might not make suds, or wash grease or grime away, I have personally never had that problem with this recipe. When I was testing other recipes, some didn’t work as well as others but this recipe has worked great for us and we have had no problems!
Look at all those bubbles! And the smell? The smell is clean and fresh with a zing to it that is very refreshing!
I love clean dishes, don’t you? What do I love more? Someone else doing them for me… I digress.
Water- Free
Castile Soap- $4.22
Baking soda-$.07
Fractionated Coconut oil- $.52
10 drops Grapefruit Essential oils– $.72
6 drops Basil Essential oils– $.64Total Cost: $6.17
Print Out The Recipe!
Recipe For Homemade Dish Soap Scent: Grapefruit Basil
Learn to make your own dish soap.Print Pin RateServings: 1Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup filtered water or boiled and cooled water
- 1 cup unscented pure castile soap
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fractionated coconut oil
- 12 drops grapefruit therapeutic grade essential oils
- 8 drops basil therapeutic grade essential oils
Instructions
My recipe makes about a quart of dish soap, and about the same amount of Dawn dish soap costs around $3.50 give or take. So yes, making your own dish soap is a little more expensive, but it takes only minute or two to put together and is so fun to make! I feel a lot better knowing that the utensils and the dishes that I am eating off of are coming from a plant based soap and that I won’t be ingesting any unnecessary chemicals from soap residues left on my dishes. So with that being said, for me it is definitely worth it for both the cost and time, but what do you think? Is it worth it to make your own dish soap if it costs a little more than the store bought kind? Leave a comment and let me know!
Before you jet, don’t forget to check out some of my other homemade recipes too!
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Kerri McCoy says
I love love LOVE this dish soap!! It’s simply and oh so effective! I also have hard water, super hard water and have found this soap cleans very very well! Thanks Karrie for all of your awesome recipes! And most importantly, for sharing!
Gabe says
I love the recipe, but I don’t understand why your castile soap is so expensive. A gallon at Bulk Apothecary is only $19.95 and with shipping, using 1 cup per bottle it makes 16 bottle which comes to $.75 per dish soap made. Also you can choose a scent which eliminates the need for adding a fragrance which saves $$ as well. Hope this helps you all and keep up the recipes. I love your site and all your recipes.
Dean says
Do the oils separate from the soap/water in this recipe? Do you have to shake it before you use it?
Thanks.
Crystal says
I don’t have fractionated coconut oil, would Olive oil work?
Amanda says
Does this have a thin consistency? Is so any suggestions to thicken it up a bit?
Theraisa K says
What’s Fractionated Coconut oil? I’m assuming it has something to do with making it stay in liquid format?
Loving your site, there’s so many great recipes to try and lots of new things to learn!
Karrie says
Yep, its in a liquified state! Thanks so much, glad you like my site. 🙂
Miranda says
Hello! What is the purpose of using the fractionated coconut oil in the dish soap? 🙂
Brittany says
Since, this is all natural soap, you should compare it to an all natural brand. Making it would be cheaper, then!
Sa says
how does this stand up to really greasy dishes? That’s wear I struggle to find a good replacement.
Melonie says
Would fresh grapefruit and infused basil water work too?
Blaise says
Bad smell, costs too much, just buy something from the store! They actually know what they’re doing in factories!!!
Jacquie says
They may know what they are doing Blaise but do you actually need all the additives in the store bought stuff? Could some of the additional ingredients be causing cancer?? There is so much cancer in my family and so far I have not been a victim. I’ve also been very cautious about what I bring into my home and use in my home and on my body.
Brittany says
This recipe uses castile oil, which usually contains palm oil. Palm oil has been in the news lately for possibly causing cancer.
Williams says
Fortunately, Castile Soaps usually use ORGANIC oils which aren’t processed in the same ways the oils in foods are meaning contaminants that actually cause cancer aren’t going in to the soap. ALSO, the contaminants in the palm kernel oil have to be highly heated before they have any negative effect. I’d highly doubt we will be hearing our soaps to cooking temps.
Dawn Schnoebelen says
Is it safe to assume that this should be stored in a glass container because of the citrus oils?
Laurie says
You can also find kirk’s bar castile soap at Walmart for $3.27 for 3 bars. Once you grate it down to make homemade liquid castile it ends up being only $.01 per ounce. So for a cup in this recipe it’s $.08! woo hoo. I can’t wait to make it, my water is boiling now.
Diane says
Hi, can you tell me what makes the bubbles?
susan says
I have been making my own dish soap for a couple of years now and have yet to make one that doesn’t leave a film in the sink and on the dishes. I have to polish the dishes before I put them away in the cupboard! How has this recipe worked? I would be very happy to find one that works for me. I am not concerned about the lack of bubbles. I understand that is hard to achieve when making your own product.
Christen says
Not sure about a different homemade soap, but adding a splash of vinegar to your rinse water bin might get rid of the residue on your dishes.
Cheri says
I had terrible problems with the soap I was making. I just made this recipe and it is AMAZING!!! No greasy film on anything. I had a big sink full to do and everything is clean. Love the smell too.
Karrie says
Yay~ so glad it worked for you! Homemade dish soap is fun to make.
Ashlie says
I used half theives and half lemon essential oils
Jen says
What is thieves? A brand name?
Jen says
I have a wonderful advice that will help you, regardless of what dish washing liquid you use: a spray bottle and water! All you do is squeeze in a few good squeezes of your favorite dish washing liquid, followed by warm water to fill up the spray bottle. Once well developed, you can spray the liquid straight on your dish, instead of using several drops of liquid for each dish. Of course, this is not for when you are filling up your basin, but many of us try to simply wash a single dish and waste a lot of liquid. Think of how much this will save you over all! Admittedly I use store bought, but I can make it last about three times as long using this method.
Sheila says
Awesome idea! I am forever “rinsing” off a plate or a cup and using a squirt of dish soap on each. Duh…why didn’t I think of this, lol. Thank Jen!!!
Ashlie says
I have searched high and low and have tried several dish soap recipes. This one is by far my favorite and works great!!!
Cindy says
I have been looking for a dish soap recipe. My dilemna is that I am unable to utilize grapefruit. Do you have another suggestion? Also, I am unable to utilize lavender or tea tree oil. Thank you for your posts!!
Happy.MoneySaver says
You can use any citrus–I love orange! I also love to use peppermint around the holidays!
Stacey says
I am SO excited about this!!! I have de-chemicaled (totally not a word) my entire house, from laundry detergent to bath soap, but dish soap is the last thing on my list and I havent been able to find a “doable” recipe. I’m thrilled that I have all the ingredients to this! I don’t have basil ess. oil but I do have a citrus blend, so I’ll try that. Do you think this will work in a foaming soap pump or would it be too thick? Thank you so much for this!
Susanne says
Thank you so very much this is wonderful, will definitely try this and also try the homemade version of Castile soap.
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yes, try it and let me know what you think!
Karen says
Yes, absolutely worth it! I just wanted to share that you could make it for cheaper by making your own Castile base. We use Castile bars (on sale we get a 3 pack for $2.99). Grate and then whisk into 2 quarts steaming hot water. Let sit over night to “gel”, makes a great base for all kinds of home uses. For those who like soaps really sudsy, add powdered yucca.
Happy.MoneySaver says
That’s great! Thanks for sharing!
Susanne says
Where do you get your Castile bars, Online?
Jane says
I found Kirk’s Castile bar soap at Walmart, in the Health and Beauty department , body care. Look on top or bottom self. 3 bars for about $3.50