30 of the Best Free Soap Recipes • Lovely Greens (2024)

A collection of all-natural free soap recipes including floral, citrus, herbal, vegetable, spice, and farmhouse blends. Simple and beautiful soap ideas suitable for beginner soap makers and the more advanced.

Okay, you’ve made your first simple soap making recipes and are pretty much hooked. Now you’re scouring the internet looking for even more inspiration — different scents, colors, decorations, you name it. When I first started making soap I did the same thing but had a lot less luck. It’s because I’ve been there too that I share so many of my own free soap recipes and instructions online. They’re to help and instruct you to make natural handmade soap from the comfort of your own kitchen.

The collection of free soap recipes below use natural ingredients such as essential oils, herbs, and clays. Some also include soap making videos to help you make the recipe successfully. Have fun with them and for even more inspiration check out the soap making books at the end.

Free Soap Recipes with Floral Inspiration

The scent of most floral soap recipes comes from essential oils. They’re liquid concentrations of a flower’s essence and a little goes a long way. Some flowers can also add natural color and decoration too including blue cornflowers, calendula, and a few others. If you grow your own flowers you can dry them and use them to make these creations too.

• Sweet Chamomile Soap Recipe with essential oil and flowers
• A gentle recipe for lavender soap with a dash of honey. The honey adds a sweet fragrance and a light golden color. This is a very popular soap recipe and is also very gentle on the skin.
• Rose-Geranium Soap Recipe Colored with a mineral pigment to make the bars a pretty shade of pink and scented with rose geranium (my absolute fav) and cedar essential oils
• Dandelion Soap Recipe that uses both dandelion leaves and the yellow petals
• Old Fashioned Rose Soap Recipe This pretty soap features real roses, creamy shea butter, and nourishing rosehip seed oil.
• Homemade Rose Hip Soap made with rose-hip oil, rose-hip tea, pink clay, and geranium essential oil.

Citrusy Soap Making Recipes

Although orange and lemon essential oils don’t hold their scent for long in cold-process soap, there are others that do. Litsea cubeba (May chang), lemongrass, and citronella to name a few. You can also use dried citrus peel to decorate soap, whether it’s lemon peel or slices of dried orange pushed into the tops. Check out these free soap recipes with a citrus twist:

• Sweet Orange Soap Recipe a simple soap made with grated orange peel and a special type of orange essential oil that lasts
• Lemongrass soap recipe This lemongrass soap recipe comes with a video showing the exact steps to make the recipe. It’s a simple palm-free base and tinted with a mineral powder and lemongrass essential oil.
• Calendula-Infused-Oil Soap Recipe with natural yellow color and scented with may chang essential oil
• Melissa Balm Soap Recipe made with Melissa (lemon balm) infused oil and lemon and peppermint essential oils

Herbal Soap Recipes

Most dried herbs will turn black in cold-process soap recipes but you can use that to your advantage. Little flecks of peppermint or sage add interest to single-color soaps. Use both dried herbs and essential oils in the free soap recipes below.

• Rosemary Soap with Blue Clay Soft green bars colored with extra virgin olive oil and natural clay and scented with rosemary essential oil. Includes an instructional video.
• Herbal Eucalyptus Soap Recipe Tinted to the color of eucalyptus leaves and scented with deep and clearing essential oil
• Simple Herbal Shampoo Bars using a recipe from the Herbal Academy
• Peppermint Soap Recipe Refreshing and tingly soap recipe using peppermint essential oil and leaves. Full DIY video included.
• Seaweed and Peppermint Soap Recipe with pure essential oils and real seaweed
• Homemade Rosemary Mint Shampoo BarsYou can use these natural bars to wash your hair

Vegetable Soap Recipes

Making soap with vegetables usually means adding a puree at Trace. You can get some pretty incredible colors from things like carrots and squash. The trick is that the puree needs to be very fine and don’t be tempted to use too much either. More than an ounce (28g) per pound (454g) of oils can cause issues including ‘Dreaded Orange Spot’. Here are a few free soap recipes to try.

• All Natural Carrot Soap Recipe with Real Carrots Vibrant yellow-orange soap scented with citrusy essential oil
• RED Himalayan Rhubarb Soap Recipe that uses a special type of rhubarb to create one of the best magenta red natural soap colors
• Pumpkin Spice Soap Recipe with real pumpkin puree and essential oils for scent
• Cold Process Cucumber Soap make simple natural soap using cucumber puree and a mix of skin-loving oils

Spice Soap Recipes

Spices are fabulous soap-making ingredients. Many of them naturally color or add fun decorations. You can also pair the whole spice with spicy and woodsy essential oils, though please use tried and tested recipes. Many spice essential oils should only be used in small and very controlled amounts.

• Natural Cinnamon Soap Recipe Perfect for holiday gift-giving, you make this soap with warming essential oils and red Moroccan clay.
• Vibrant Turmeric Soap how to naturally color soap using the common spice, turmeric. Tints soap a pale warm pink to electric orange.
• Safflower & Ginger Soap Recipe an advanced soap recipe featuring different layers, poppy seeds, safflower petals, and essential oil

Farmhouse Soap Making Recipes

You can make soap with almost any oil including animal fats and waxes like tallow and beeswax. These free soap recipes are great for using farm ingredients from your own homestead or even the farmer’s market.

• Natural Goat Milk Soap Recipe Sugars and milk tend to turn soap brown but using this recipe will give you creamy white bars. They’re lovely in their simplicity and goat milk contains nutrients and alpha-hydroxy acids that are great for your skin.
• Simple Hot-Process Soap Recipe with mango butter and a rustic farmhouse look
• Scrubby Kitchen Hand Soap Recipe Make handmade soap with lavender and rosemary essential oils, shea butter, and poppy seeds.
• Tallow Soap Making Recipes Using Tallow can be a sustainable and inexpensive way to make handmade soap. This piece from homesteading soap maker Liz Beavis fills you in on the facts on using tallow in soap and includes two of her own recipes.
• is a simple and all-natural soap recipe that includes tips on how to use honey to tint soap pale brown to deep caramel
• Calendula and Tallow Soap Recipe with tallow (or lard), calendula-infused olive oil and lavender essential oil
• Simple Soap for Dry Skin for anyone suffering from dry or sensitive skin who wants a gentle, soothing soap, free from fragrances

Soapmaking Books

For even more free soap recipes and inspiration browse these ideas but also check out these recommended books including this ebook. They feature step-by-step cold-process soap recipes from well-known soap makers. All have nearly five-star reviews and will come in handy in your soap-making adventures.

• The Lovely Greens Guide to Natural Soapmaking (Ebook)
• The Lovely Greens Physical Book: A Woman’s Garden (includes soap recipes)
• Pure Soapmaking: How to Create Nourishing, Natural Skin Care Soaps
• Simple & Natural Soapmaking: Create 100% Pure and Beautiful Soaps
• Making Soap From Scratch: How to Make Handmade Soap
• Soap Crafting: Step-by-Step Techniques for Making 31 Unique Cold-Process Soaps