Quickly Regain Your Senses: How to get taste back when sick?

October 1, 2025 •

5 min read

Over 80% of what we perceive as 'taste' actually comes from our sense of smell, making nasal congestion the primary culprit behind muted flavors when you're under the weather. Don't resign yourself to bland meals—here is an authoritative guide on how to get taste back when sick using practical, science-backed strategies.

Quick Summary

Regaining your sense of taste while sick involves a multi-pronged approach, including clearing nasal passages with steam and saline, hydrating adequately, stimulating taste buds with strong, contrasting flavors and varied textures, and prioritizing good oral hygiene to enhance your overall sensory experience.

Key Points

Hydration is Key: Drink plenty of water and other fluids to combat dehydration, which contributes to dry mouth and dulls taste perception.
Target Congestion: Use methods like saline rinses and humidifiers to clear nasal passages, as a blocked nose is the main cause of lost taste when sick.
Experiment with Flavors: Add strong, aromatic seasonings like garlic, ginger, and herbs, or try sour foods like lemon to stimulate your taste buds and saliva flow.
Vary Food Textures and Temperatures: The tactile sensation of crunchy foods and the coolness of frozen items can enhance the eating experience when flavor is muted.
Practice Olfactory Training: For longer-lasting taste loss, regularly sniffing familiar scents can help retrain your brain and accelerate the recovery of your senses.
Improve Oral Hygiene: Brushing your tongue and using a salt water rinse can help ensure your taste buds are not obstructed by oral debris.
Seek Medical Advice for Persistent Issues: If taste loss lasts for more than a few weeks after recovering, consult a doctor to rule out any underlying medical conditions.

The Connection Between Smell and Taste

When you're sick with a cold, the flu, or a sinus infection, the inflammation and mucus buildup in your nasal passages prevent odor particles from reaching the olfactory sensory neurons located high in your nose. Since your brain combines input from both your taste buds and these smell receptors to create the sensation of flavor, a blocked nose is the main reason your favorite chicken soup tastes like nothing. Understanding this fundamental link is the first step toward reclaiming your palate.

Immediate Ways to Stimulate Your Senses

While your body fights off the illness, you can take action to make eating more enjoyable. These strategies focus on enhancing what your taste buds can still detect and overpowering the congestion to get some sensory input through.

Add Strong Flavors: Don't be afraid to add extra herbs, spices, and seasonings to your food. Think strong, savory options like garlic, onion, and ginger, or aromatic herbs such as mint, basil, and rosemary. Spicier foods, which contain capsaicin, can also activate different nerve endings in your mouth, creating a sensation that bypasses a blocked sense of smell.
Embrace Sour and Tart: Acidic foods like lemon and vinegar stimulate saliva production, which helps dissolve flavor compounds and spread them across your taste buds. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice in water or a dish can make a noticeable difference.
Play with Textures: When flavor is limited, the sensation of texture can become more significant. Pair soft, easy-to-eat foods with something crunchy, like crackers or celery. The tactile experience can make the meal more interesting and satisfying, even without a full flavor profile.
Tinker with Temperatures: Many people find that chilled or frozen foods, such as smoothies, yogurt, or sorbet, have a more noticeable flavor profile than warm foods when they are sick. Experiment to see what works best for you.

Dietary Adjustments for Enhanced Flavor

Even beyond specific ingredients, certain dietary choices can support your recovery and make eating less of a chore.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate: Fever and illness can lead to dehydration, which results in a dry mouth and impacts your taste buds. Sipping water or other fluids throughout the day can keep your mouth moist and improve taste perception.
Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods: While it may be tempting to eat bland, easy-to-prepare foods, opting for nutrient-dense options like fruit smoothies can help your body recover faster. The added vitamins and minerals can support your immune system, potentially shortening the duration of your illness.
Focus on Individual Ingredients: Combination dishes, such as casseroles, can muddle flavors and make them harder to distinguish. Instead, opt for meals where individual flavors are distinct and clear, like a seasoned chicken breast with a side of steamed vegetables.

Oral Hygiene and Hydration Tips

Your mouth's environment plays a direct role in how well you can taste. Maintaining good hygiene can help maximize the sensory input from your taste buds.

Brush Your Tongue: Food debris and bacteria can build up on your tongue, dulling your taste buds. Gently brushing your tongue can help remove this film and improve your ability to taste.
Rinse with Salt Water: A saltwater rinse can help soothe inflammation in your mouth and throat. Mix half a teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water, swish for 15-30 seconds, and spit it out. It can also help clear out some of the mucus from the back of your throat.
Use a Humidifier: Especially if you live in a dry climate or during winter, using a humidifier can help moisten your nasal passages, ease congestion, and improve airflow to your olfactory receptors.

Home Remedy Comparison Table


Remedy	How It Helps	Best For	What to Expect
Saltwater Gargle	Soothes inflammation and reduces bacteria in the mouth and throat	Congestion, sore throat	Temporary relief and improved mouthfeel
Spicy Foods (Capsaicin)	Stimulates pain receptors in the mouth, bypassing taste perception issues	Boredom with bland food	A temporary 'kick' that can make food more engaging
Olfactory Training	Retrains the brain's ability to recognize scents over time	Post-viral taste loss	Long-term, gradual improvement in taste and smell
Hydration	Prevents dry mouth, which dulls taste buds	All illnesses involving fever or congestion	General improvement in oral health and taste function
Lemon Juice/Tart Foods	Increases saliva production to enhance flavor spreading	Dry mouth, dull flavors	Immediate, though temporary, stimulation of taste buds

Olfactory Training: A Long-Term Solution

For persistent taste and smell loss, a condition known as olfactory training has shown promise. This involves regularly sniffing a set of strong, distinct scents, such as essential oils of rose, eucalyptus, lemon, and clove. The repetitive process helps to stimulate and repair the olfactory system, improving your ability to smell and, by extension, taste over several weeks or months. This practice is especially relevant for those recovering from COVID-19 or other viral infections that directly impact the olfactory nerves.

When Your Taste Loss Persists

Most cases of taste loss due to a temporary illness resolve on their own as you recover. However, if the condition lingers for more than a couple of weeks after your other symptoms have cleared, it's a good idea to consult a healthcare provider. Persistent issues can sometimes indicate an underlying condition, such as a sinus infection, or be a lingering effect of a viral illness. A doctor can help determine the root cause and recommend appropriate treatment, from medication to further evaluation. A specialist, such as an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) doctor, may be able to provide further insight. You can learn more about taste disorders from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Conclusion

While a diminished sense of taste is a common and frustrating part of being sick, it doesn't have to ruin your appetite completely. By focusing on hydration, clearing congestion, and experimenting with different food preparations and flavors, you can still enjoy your meals and support your body's recovery. For persistent issues, speaking with a medical professional is the best course of action. In most cases, your taste buds will be back to their old selves before you know it.

Frequently Asked Questions

You lose your sense of taste when sick primarily due to nasal congestion and inflammation. Since smell accounts for over 80% of what we perceive as flavor, a blocked nose prevents odor particles from reaching your olfactory receptors, making food taste bland.

For common colds or flu, your sense of taste should return within a few days to a week after your congestion clears. However, for viral infections like COVID-19, it can sometimes take weeks or months for taste and smell to fully recover.

Yes, spicy foods containing capsaicin can help by stimulating different nerve endings in your mouth. This creates a burning or tingling sensation that can enhance the perception of flavor, even when your sense of smell is compromised.

Yes, dehydration can lead to a dry mouth, which directly impacts your taste buds' ability to function properly. Staying well-hydrated is a simple way to maintain the moisture needed for optimal taste perception.

Olfactory training, or smell training, involves regularly sniffing and concentrating on a set of strong, familiar scents over a period of time. This process helps to repair and retrain the brain's olfactory pathways, improving both your sense of smell and your overall ability to taste.

You should see a doctor if your taste loss is sudden, unexplained, or persists for more than two weeks after your illness has cleared up. A persistent issue could indicate an underlying condition that needs professional evaluation.

Yes, poor oral hygiene can lead to a buildup of bacteria and film on your tongue, which can further obscure your taste buds. Regularly brushing your tongue and rinsing your mouth can help maximize your ability to taste.