The best foods to eat when you’re hungover are bland, easy-to-digest options that replace what alcohol took from your body: fluids, electrolytes, and stable blood sugar. Toast, bananas, eggs, broth-based soup, and potatoes all fit the bill. There’s no magic cure, but the right foods can meaningfully shorten your misery.
Why You Feel So Awful
Alcohol hits your body on multiple fronts. Your liver prioritizes breaking down alcohol over its normal job of keeping your blood sugar stable, which is why you can wake up shaky, foggy, and weak. Alcohol also irritates your stomach lining, triggers inflammation, and acts as a diuretic, flushing out water along with electrolytes like sodium and potassium. The headache, nausea, fatigue, and general wretchedness of a hangover are the combined result of dehydration, low blood sugar, and a stomach that’s been chemically irritated.
What you eat won’t speed up how fast your liver processes the remaining alcohol. But it can directly address the dehydration, blood sugar crash, and stomach distress that make you feel terrible.
Start With Fluids, Not Food
Before you eat anything, focus on rehydrating. Water is fine, but your body absorbs it faster when there’s a small amount of sugar and salt involved. The World Health Organization’s oral rehydration principle works on a simple ratio: glucose helps your small intestine absorb sodium and water together. In practical terms, this means sipping diluted fruit juice with a pinch of salt, or drinking broth-based soup, will rehydrate you more effectively than plain water alone.
Coconut water is another solid option because it naturally contains potassium and some sodium. Sports drinks work too, though many are loaded with sugar. If you’re nauseous, take small, frequent sips rather than gulping anything down.
The Best Hangover Foods
Your stomach lining is inflamed and your blood sugar is low. That combination means you want foods that are gentle on digestion while providing steady energy. Here are the most effective choices:
- Toast or crackers: Simple refined carbohydrates are easy on an irritated stomach and raise blood sugar without demanding much digestive effort. White bread is actually better than whole grain here because lower fiber is gentler on your gut.
- Bananas: Rich in potassium, which you’ve lost through alcohol’s diuretic effect. They’re also soft, bland, and unlikely to trigger nausea.
- Eggs: A good source of protein that helps stabilize blood sugar over several hours rather than causing a quick spike and crash. Scrambled or boiled are easier on your stomach than fried.
- Broth or bouillon soup: Replaces both sodium and potassium while adding fluid. The Mayo Clinic specifically recommends bouillon for replenishing lost salt and potassium.
- Potatoes: Plain baked or boiled potatoes are a bland, potassium-rich carbohydrate that sits well in an unsettled stomach.
- Oatmeal or cream of wheat: Cooked hot cereals provide slow-releasing carbohydrates and are soft enough not to irritate your stomach further.
- Applesauce: Easy to get down when even toast sounds like too much. Provides some sugar and is very gentle on digestion.
Fruit and Honey Have a Surprising Benefit
Fructose, the natural sugar in fruit and honey, does something interesting in your body after drinking. In one study, a meaningful dose of fructose reduced the duration of alcohol intoxication by about 31% and accelerated alcohol clearance from the bloodstream by nearly 45%. While those results came from a controlled lab setting with a specific dose (about 1 gram per kilogram of body weight, which is a lot of fruit), even smaller amounts can help by raising blood sugar and providing quick energy.
Practical options include a glass of orange or apple juice, a few spoonfuls of honey on toast, or a fruit smoothie with banana. These also contribute fluid and potassium.
What About Greasy Food?
The classic hungover breakfast of bacon, hash browns, and eggs isn’t as misguided as it sounds. UCLA Health notes that greasy, salty, protein-rich foods like tacos hit what they call the “hangover food trifecta”: salt helps retain fluids and replenish electrolytes, fat slows stomach emptying so you absorb nutrients more gradually, and protein keeps blood sugar stable.
The catch is that greasy food works best if your stomach can handle it. If you’re nauseous or your stomach feels raw, a plate of bacon and eggs could make things worse because fat is harder to digest when your stomach lining is already irritated. Start with something bland, and if you’re feeling more settled an hour or two later, that’s the time for the greasy brunch.
Ginger for Nausea
If nausea is your worst symptom, ginger is one of the few natural remedies with real science behind it. The active compounds in ginger suppress gastric contractions, which is the stomach churning that triggers the urge to vomit. Ginger tea, ginger ale made with real ginger, or even a small piece of candied ginger can help settle things down enough for you to eat something more substantial. Sip ginger tea slowly for 15 to 20 minutes before attempting solid food.
Be Careful With Coffee
Coffee feels like it should help because caffeine constricts blood vessels, which can temporarily relieve a pounding headache. And the alertness boost is welcome when you’re foggy and exhausted. But caffeine also acts as a diuretic, making you urinate more and potentially worsening dehydration. On top of that, the blood vessel constriction is followed by a rebound dilation phase, which can bring the headache right back.
If you’re a daily coffee drinker, a small cup is reasonable since skipping it entirely could give you a caffeine withdrawal headache on top of everything else. Just drink at least an equal amount of water alongside it, and don’t rely on coffee as your primary fluid.
What to Avoid
Some popular hangover choices can actually slow your recovery:
- More alcohol (“hair of the dog”): This delays symptoms rather than resolving them. The Mayo Clinic is blunt: it will only make you feel worse.
- Spicy food: Your stomach lining is already inflamed. Adding hot sauce or chili is pouring irritant on an open wound.
- Citrus juice on an empty stomach: Orange juice has useful vitamins and fructose, but the acidity can aggravate nausea if your stomach is very sensitive. Dilute it with water or eat some toast first.
- Large meals: Eating a huge plate of food when your digestion is compromised often backfires. Eat small amounts more frequently throughout the day instead.
A Simple Hangover Eating Plan
Right when you wake up, drink a full glass of water, ideally with a pinch of salt or paired with a sip of juice. If you’re nauseous, start with ginger tea and wait 15 to 20 minutes. Your first food should be something bland and small: a piece of toast with honey, a banana, or a few crackers. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly.
Over the next few hours, layer in more substantial foods as your stomach allows. Broth-based soup is excellent for a mid-morning option. By the afternoon, if you’re feeling human again, eggs, potatoes, or that greasy meal you’ve been craving are all fair game. Keep sipping fluids throughout the day. Most hangover symptoms resolve within 24 hours, and eating well shortens that window noticeably compared to toughing it out on an empty stomach.