Superfoods Advisor

Ashwagandha Nighttime Golden Milk

with ashwagandha root powder and cardamom

By Superfoods Advisor Editors·July 4, 2026

Ashwagandha Nighttime Golden Milk — finished dish
Prep
5 min
Total
12 min
Difficulty
medium
Calories
195 kcal

Allergens Milk

Ingredients

From your pantry

  • ¼ tspGround cinnamon
  • 1 tspRaw honey, added off heat
  • 1 pinchGround nutmeg

Utensils Small saucepan · Whisk

Instructions

  1. a dry pan toasting seeds — watercolour illustration

    Melt the ghee in a small saucepan over low heat, then add the turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, and pepper. Bloom for 20 seconds.

  2. liquid poured from a jug — watercolour illustration

    Pour in the milk, whisking as you go.

  3. a whisk in a bowl — watercolour illustration

    Sprinkle the ashwagandha over the surface while whisking constantly. Dumped in at once it clumps and never disperses.

  4. a pan on low heat — watercolour illustration

    Hold at a bare simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

  5. a spoon stirring a bowl — watercolour illustration

    Off the heat, stir in the honey and dust with nutmeg.

  6. a filled bowl with a spoon — watercolour illustration

    Drink warm, 45 to 60 minutes before bed.

Shopping list

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Tools

Related comparisons: The Best Ashwagandha Supplements in 2026 · The Best Turmeric Curcumin Supplements for Joint Comfort (2026)

Why it works

A 2019 double-blind RCT by Langade and colleagues (Cureus) found that 300 mg of a full-spectrum ashwagandha root extract twice daily for 10 weeks shortened sleep onset latency and improved sleep efficiency and sleep quality scores versus placebo in 60 adults with insomnia and anxiety (PubMed:31728244).

A half-teaspoon of powder in a drink is not the same as a dose of that concentrated extract, so the trial result does not transfer directly; a meta-analysis of five extract trials found a small overall sleep benefit, larger in people with insomnia (Cheah et al., 2021). Cardamom and nutmeg are here for flavor; nutmeg contains myristicin, best kept to small culinary amounts. See ashwagandha for the contraindications, which are real: NCCIH advises against it in pregnancy and breastfeeding and with thyroid or autoimmune conditions.

Macro detail: of the 18 g sugar, roughly 6 g is added as honey and the rest is milk lactose.

This recipe is part of Golden Milk (Turmeric Latte): 6 Recipes and the Curcumin Bioavailability Science, which covers the underlying nutrition science and the shared base method.

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