A health potion in Skyrim is just any potion that carries the Restore Health effect, and you make one by mixing two ingredients that both share that effect at an alchemy lab. You don't buy a recipe — alchemy is purely about matching effects, so once you know which ingredients restore health you can brew them in seconds.
How to make a Restore Health potion
- Gather two ingredients that both carry the Restore Health effect. Reliable, easy-to-find options include Blue Mountain Flower, Wheat, Charred Skeever Hide, Imp Stool, Blisterwort and Rock Warbler Egg.
- A classic beginner pair is Blue Mountain Flower + Wheat — both are common and both restore health.
- Walk up to any alchemy lab and activate it.
- Select your two ingredients and combine them. The shared Restore Health effect is brewed into the potion automatically.
Want to see the full list of health-restoring ingredients and brew anything by effect? Use our alchemy recipe finder — pick Restore Health and it shows every valid combination.
Shortcut: spawn the ingredients
If you'd rather skip the foraging, open the console with the tilde key (~) — see our opening the console guide — then add the ingredients directly:
player.additem 0010DDEC 5— 5 Blue Mountain Flowers (copy any ID from its ingredient page).player.additem 00033760 5— 5 Wheat. Mix the two at any alchemy lab for an instant Restore Health potion.
Notes & tips
- The higher your Alchemy skill (and the more alchemy perks you take), the more health each potion restores. The same two ingredients brew a far stronger potion at skill 100 than at skill 15.
- Several Restore Health ingredients also share other effects. Pairing Blisterwort and Imp Stool, for example, can carry extra effects into the same potion — check each ingredient's page to plan multi-effect brews.
- You can only deliberately brew an effect after you've discovered it on both ingredients, usually by eating them. Tasting a few of each reveals Restore Health quickly.
Frequently asked questions
What ingredients make a health potion in Skyrim?
Any two ingredients that both carry the Restore Health effect. Common pairs include Blue Mountain Flower + Wheat, Charred Skeever Hide + Imp Stool, or Blisterwort + Rock Warbler Egg. Mixing any two of them at an alchemy lab brews a Restore Health potion.
What is the strongest health potion recipe in Skyrim?
Combine two or more high-magnitude Restore Health ingredients while your Alchemy skill is maxed and you have the alchemy perks. Blisterwort and Imp Stool both pull double duty (they also share other effects), and a Fortify Restoration loop or the right perks pushes the magnitude far higher than a low-level brew.
Where do I get Blue Mountain Flower and Wheat?
Blue Mountain Flowers grow across the plains around Whiterun and most temperate holds; Wheat is harvested from farm fields (the farms outside Whiterun and Riverwood are reliable). You can also spawn either with player.additem using the ID on its ingredient page.
Does drinking a health potion break achievements?
No — brewing and drinking potions is normal gameplay. Only using the console to cheat in items or effects disables Steam achievements for that session. Foraged or crafted health potions are completely safe.