Tart Cherry Juice for Sleep: Does It Work? (Homemade Recipe with Apple)

Tart cherry juice for sleep has become a bedtime ritual for a lot of people, so here is my homemade version, made with sour cherries (the same species as the Montmorency cherries used in the studies) and sweet autumn apples, plus what the research actually says. It’s a deep ruby drink with no added sugar, it takes about 10 minutes with a juicer or a blender and a strainer, and it’s naturally vegan.

I made this one in the autumn, when the apples were ready and the sour cherries were long gone. Back in summer, when the sour cherry tree in the garden was loaded, I pitted and froze bag after bag of them, and this is what I did with a couple of those bags: thawed them, ran them through the juicer with the apples and poured in every drop of the juice they released. The cherries stop the apple from being one-note sweet and turn the whole jar the color of stained glass, which is exactly what you want on a gray October afternoon.

A quick note: OMMA, the brand behind the sleep kit at the end of this post, is our family brand, built by the two of us, a husband-and-wife team. Nobody paid for this post, and everything about sleep comes from the studies listed at the end.

Tart cherry juice and sleep at a glance

• Same fruit, different variety: sour cherries are Prunus cerasus, the same species as the Montmorency cherries used in most studies.
• Small studies, mixed results: two small trials in older adults with insomnia found fewer night wakings or more sleep; newer trials in adults without insomnia found no effect.
• The study dose: two glasses of about 240 ml (8 oz) a day, one in the morning and one 1-2 hours before bed, for at least a week.
• Very little melatonin: a glass has around a microgram, while supplements have 0.5-5 mg.
• Still a juice: about 23-29 g of natural fruit sugar per glass.

Does Tart Cherry Juice Help You Sleep? What the Studies Say

The idea comes from a handful of small studies, and the honest answer is: maybe a little, for some people. Here is what each one found:

• 2010, 15 older adults with insomnia: two 8-oz glasses a day of a tart cherry juice blended with apple juice (close to this recipe, in fact) for two weeks. Compared with a placebo drink, they woke up about 17 minutes less during the night and rated their insomnia as slightly less severe. They didn’t fall asleep faster or sleep longer overall.
• 2012, 20 healthy adults: a week of tart cherry concentrate raised the melatonin measured in their urine and added time asleep, measured with a wrist tracker.
• 2018, 8 older adults with insomnia: two glasses a day for two weeks. In a sleep lab, they slept 84 minutes longer than with the placebo. It’s a striking number from a very small study, and 3 of the 11 people first enrolled turned out to have sleep apnea.
• Newer studies, no effect: 44 healthy adults who drank two glasses a day for a month, 34 adults who took tart cherry powder before bed for two weeks and 50 adults who took concentrate for three months saw no change in their sleep.

A 2026 analysis that pooled 10 trials with 294 people found no overall effect on sleep quality, only a preliminary signal in people with insomnia. Several of these studies were funded by juice makers or by the US tart cherry industry. That doesn’t make them wrong, but it’s worth knowing.

Why It Might Work (It’s Not Really the Melatonin)

Tart cherries do contain melatonin, but very little: about 1.35 micrograms in 100 g of Montmorency cherries, so a glass of juice gives you around one microgram. Melatonin supplements contain 0.5 to 5 milligrams, 500 to 5,000 times more.

That’s why researchers think any effect comes from other compounds. One idea is that the procyanidins in the juice slow down the breakdown of tryptophan, the amino acid your body uses to make serotonin and melatonin. So far, that has only been shown in cells in a lab, not in people.

How Much Tart Cherry Juice for Sleep, and When

In the studies, people drank two glasses of about 240 ml (8 oz) a day: one in the morning and one 1-2 hours before bed, or 30 ml of concentrate diluted with water twice a day, for at least a week. Nobody tested a single glass now and then.

My recipe is gentler than the study drinks: one glass has about 75 g of sour cherries, softened with apples. If you want it closer to the juices in the studies, use more cherries and fewer apples. Pure sour cherry juice is very tart, so a splash of water helps. If you try it for sleep, give it a week or two, the way the studies did, and jot down how you slept.

Who Should Be Careful

• Sugar: a 240 ml glass has about 110-140 kcal and 23-29 g of natural sugars, so two glasses a day add up to half the daily reference intake for sugars. If you have diabetes, count it like any other juice.
• Sensitive stomach: apples and cherries are high in sorbitol and fructose, which can cause bloating if you have IBS.
• Kidney disease: the juice has potassium (about 390 mg per glass). If you’re on a potassium-restricted diet, ask your doctor first.
• Children and pregnancy: there are no sleep studies, so ask your doctor.
• Sleep problems that last: if you’ve slept badly for months, snore loudly or someone has noticed you stop breathing in your sleep, see a doctor. Insomnia that lasts more than three months is usually treated with cognitive behavioural therapy, and a juice doesn’t replace a diagnosis.

Juicing Frozen Sour Cherries

Let frozen sour cherries thaw in a bowl first; a juicer can’t do much with rock-hard fruit. Don’t pour off the dark liquid they release, because that’s pure cherry juice. Tip it into the jug at the end. If you froze them with the pits in, pit them once they’re soft.

Fresh sour cherries in season work the same way, they just need pitting. Store-bought frozen sour cherries are fine too; check that they’re pitted and unsweetened.

Which Apples to Use

Sweet, juicy apples balance the cherries best. I used red-and-yellow autumn apples with a few spots on the skin, which don’t matter at all for juice. Gala, Fuji, Jonagold or a mix of varieties all work. No need to peel them; just wash them well and cut out the cores.

No juicer? Blend the chopped apples and thawed cherries with ½ cup (120 ml) of water, then strain through a fine sieve or a nut milk bag, pressing hard. A squeeze of lemon keeps the color bright, and if your cherries are very tart, a little maple syrup rounds it out.

Storing and Serving

• Fridge: up to 2 days in a sealed jar. Fresh juice separates, so shake or stir it before pouring.
• Freezer: in portions or ice cube trays for up to 2 months. The cubes are great in sparkling water.
• Warm: heat it gently with a cinnamon stick or a slice of ginger, without letting it boil, for a cozy autumn drink.

For more fresh juices, try the beet juice for weight loss, this sea buckthorn vitamin juice, or a super skin glow juice. And if you still have sour cherries in the freezer, bake an easy sour cherry tart.

Tart Cherry Juice (Homemade, with Apple)

A homemade tart cherry juice made with sour cherries and sweet autumn apples, fresh or frozen. Ruby red, naturally vegan, no added sugar, ready in 10 minutes.

Print

Rate

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Choose Serving Size 4 glasses

Equipment

• Juicer or blender
• Fine strainer or nut milk bag
• Jug or jar

Ingredients 

MetricUS (Imperial)

• 6 apples medium, about 2.5 lb (1.1 kg), cored and chopped
• 2 cups sour cherries pitted, fresh or frozen and thawed, with their juice
• ½ cup water optional
• 1 tbsp lemon juice optional
• maple syrup optional, to taste
• ice to serve

Instructions

• Wash the apples well, remove the cores, and chop them into chunks. Pit fresh sour cherries; if using frozen, thaw them in a bowl and keep the juice they release.
• Run the apples and cherries through a juicer, alternating between the two, then add the cherry juice from the bowl. If using a blender, blend the fruit with the water until smooth.
• If you blended the fruit, strain the juice through a fine sieve or a nut milk bag, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible.
• Stir in the lemon juice and taste. Add a little maple syrup if the cherries are very tart.
• Serve fresh over ice, or chill before serving.

Notes

Frozen sour cherries work all year: thaw them first and add the juice they release. Use sweet, juicy apples or a mix of varieties. Best the day it is made; keeps up to 2 days in a sealed jar in the fridge. For a juice closer to the ones used in sleep studies, use more sour cherries and fewer apples, and add a splash of water if it is too tart.

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Tart Cherry Juice Questions

Nose Open, Mouth Closed: Our Other Bedtime Habit

A glass of juice is a small part of the evening. The part we think about most at home is breathing: when your nose feels blocked at night, your mouth falls open, and you wake up with a dry mouth or with someone telling you that you snored. That’s why my husband and I made the OMMA Sleep Kit, part of our family brand.

The nasal strip gently lifts the sides of your nose so air moves more easily, and the mouth tape keeps your lips closed so you keep breathing through your nose until morning. They’re comfort aids, not a treatment for snoring or sleep apnea.

Skip the mouth tape if you can’t breathe comfortably through your nose, if you have or suspect sleep apnea, after alcohol or sleeping pills, and for children. New to it? Wear it for 15 minutes while you’re awake first.

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OMMA Sleep Kit: Mouth Tape + Nasal Strips

One nasal strip and one mouth tape for every night: nose open, mouth closed. 30 nights.

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OMMA Nasal Strips

A flexible band gently lifts the sides of your nose, so air moves more easily at night.

Shop at OMMA

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OMMA Mouth Tape for Sleeping

Pre-cut cotton strips that keep your lips closed, so you keep breathing through your nose.

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Sources

• Pigeon WR et al. Effects of a tart cherry juice beverage on the sleep of older adults with insomnia: a pilot study. J Med Food, 2010. PubMed 20438325
• Howatson G et al. Effect of tart cherry juice (Prunus cerasus) on melatonin levels and enhanced sleep quality. Eur J Nutr, 2012. PubMed 22038497
• Losso JN et al. Pilot study of the tart cherry juice for the treatment of insomnia and investigation of mechanisms. Am J Ther, 2018. PubMed 28901958
• Hillman AR et al. Montmorency tart cherry supplementation does not impact sleep, body composition, cellular health, or blood pressure in healthy adults. Nutr Health, 2026 (online 2022). PubMed 35790450
• Tucker RM et al. Commonly used dose of Montmorency tart cherry powder does not improve sleep or inflammation outcomes in individuals with overweight or obesity. Nutrients, 2024. PubMed 39683518
• Kimble R et al. Polyphenol-rich tart cherries (Prunus cerasus, cv Montmorency) improve sustained attention, feelings of alertness and mental fatigue and influence the plasma metabolome in middle-aged adults: a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Br J Nutr, 2022. PubMed 35109960
• Sinclair JK et al. Effects of tart cherry (Prunus cerasus) supplementation on overall sleep quality, melatonin, and inflammatory biomarkers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Recent Prog Nutr, 2026. DOI 10.21926/rpn.2603024
• Burkhardt S et al. Detection and quantification of the antioxidant melatonin in Montmorency and Balaton tart cherries (Prunus cerasus). J Agric Food Chem, 2001. PubMed 11600041
• USDA FoodData Central: tart cherry juice and apple juice (IDs 167807, 173933).
• NHS: Insomnia and Sleep apnoea.
• Monash University: High and low FODMAP foods.