You’re deep in a Bastion Remnant. Piglins are swarming, your shield just broke, and your hunger bar is jittering. This is exactly when most players realize they forgot to bring the most basic survival tool in the game. Knowing how to make a heal potion in minecraft is basically the difference between keeping your Netherite gear and watching it burn in a lava lake while you respawn back at your bed, hundreds of blocks away. It’s not just about clicking items into a grid. It’s about timing.
Minecraft’s "Potion of Healing" (officially known as the Potion of Instant Health) doesn’t work like a regeneration potion. It’s a burst. A sudden slap of health to your bar. If you’re playing on Bedrock Edition or Java, the mechanics are slightly different in how they feel, but the recipe is the same. Most people mess up the order or forget that you can’t just jump straight to the gold-infused melon. You have to prep the water first.
The Raw Materials You Actually Need
Before you even touch a brewing stand, you need a Nether Fortress. There is no way around this. You need Blaze Rods to fuel the stand, and you need Nether Wart to create the "Awkward Potion" base. Without Nether Wart, you’re just making mundane or thick potions that literally do nothing. They’re useless.
The core ingredient for healing is the Glistering Melon Slice. You make this by surrounding a single melon slice with eight gold nuggets in a crafting table. It's surprisingly cheap. Gold is everywhere in the Nether now, so you should have stacks of nuggets if you’ve been mining gold ore or bartering with Piglins.
You’ll also need glass bottles. Three of them. Always brew in threes because one ingredient provides the same value to three bottles as it does to one. It’s basic efficiency. Fill those bottles with water from a source block or a cauldron. Now you’re ready to actually start the brewing process.
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Step-by-Step: Making the Potion of Instant Health
First, pop your Brewing Stand down. Put a Blaze Rod in your crafting grid to get Blaze Powder. This is your fuel. One piece of powder lasts for several brewing cycles, so don't worry about burning through it too fast.
Place the three Water Bottles in the bottom slots. Put the Nether Wart in the top slot. Wait for the bubble bar to fill up. When it finishes, you have Awkward Potions. They don't have any effects yet, but they are the "canvas" for your healing effect.
Now, swap the Nether Wart for that Glistering Melon Slice. This is the moment the magic happens. Once the arrow fills up, you have three Potions of Healing (Instant Health).
But wait. You aren't done.
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A standard Level I healing potion only restores 4 points ($\heartsuit\heartsuit$) of health. In a late-game fight against a Warden or the Wither, that’s almost nothing. You need to upgrade it. This is where Glowstone Dust comes in. Adding Glowstone Dust to your Potion of Healing turns it into Instant Health II. This doubles the output to 8 points ($\heartsuit\heartsuit\heartsuit\heartsuit$) of healing.
Turning Your Potion Into a Splash Potion
Drinking a potion takes 1.6 seconds. In Minecraft time, that is an eternity when a Creeper is mid-hiss. Most expert players never actually "drink" healing potions. They splash them.
To make a Splash Potion of Healing, take your finished Instant Health II bottles and put them back in the brewing stand. Put Gunpowder in the top slot. Now, you can throw the potion at your feet for an instant heal. It’s faster. It’s safer. Just be careful—if you’re standing next to a zombie or a skeleton, throwing a healing potion will actually damage them. Healing potions deal "Instant Damage" to undead mobs because of their inverted health mechanics.
The Logistics of Staying Alive
Don't ignore the Dragon’s Breath if you’re feeling fancy. Adding Dragon’s Breath to a splash potion creates a Lingering Potion. This leaves a cloud of healing on the ground. It’s great for team fights or if you’re trapped in a corner and need a constant stream of health ticks while you swing your sword.
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Honestly, the biggest mistake is not having a dedicated brewing room. You want chests specifically for:
- Melon Slices and Gold Nuggets
- Glowstone (for power)
- Redstone (for duration—though not applicable to Instant Health)
- Gunpowder (for splash)
- Fermented Spider Eyes (if you want to turn that healing potion into a Potion of Harming)
If you find yourself out of melons, remember that wandering traders often sell them, or you can find them in Jungle biomes and Savanna villages. Once you have one melon, you have infinite melons. Just farm them.
Actionable Next Steps for Your Survival World
Stop carrying food as your only source of health. Food relies on the "Saturation" mechanic to heal you over time. It’s slow. Instead, set up a small auto-farm for melons and a gold farm in the Nether.
- Craft 18 Glistering Melon Slices at once so you have them ready.
- Brew 3 batches of Awkward Potions to keep in a chest near your brewing stand.
- Always apply Glowstone Dust to your healing potions; the Level I version is rarely worth the inventory space in high-stakes situations.
- Keep two Splash Potions of Instant Health II on your hotbar, specifically in slots 7 or 8, where you can scroll to them instantly during a panic.
By shifting your inventory management to prioritize splash healing over drinking, you'll find that your "death rate" in Hardcore or high-difficulty survival drops significantly. The Potion of Healing isn't just a luxury; it's a core requirement for anyone planning to take on the End or the Deep Dark.