Can You Use Peppermint Oil to Repel Ants? Here’s What Pest Control Experts Say

Spotting a long line of ants marching through your kitchen or dining room is one of the worst types of discoveries. If you feel like you’ve tried everything under the sun and the ants still keep coming, there’s hope for you yet — and it comes in the form of something you may already have in your kitchen cabinet.

Enter: peppermint oil, which can — gasp!—work as an ant repellent. We reached out to multiple pest control experts to find out how to use peppermint oil to get rid of ants. Read on for some tips, tricks, and fascinating info you can use the next time you spot an ant or two (or ten). Ants, be gone!

Once you’ve noticed an ant infestation in your home, it might seem too late to correct the problem. But before we even get into the simple ways you can make them disappear, it’s important to understand how they’re communicating and multiplying in the first place.

“Ants communicate through pheromone trails that they leave behind, and this is how one ant in your home turns into thousands,” says Nicole Carpenter, the President at Black Pest Prevention. 

Peppermint oil is a simple and effective repellent for ants. “Peppermint oil works by disrupting the ants’ communication and navigation systems, deterring them away from scent,” says Daniel Baldwin, a board-certified entomologist at Hawx Pest Control. “The strong scent of peppermint oil can mask the pheromones that ants use to mark trails and find food sources, which makes it difficult for them to follow each other and locate food.”

Carpenter also notes that while peppermint has a strong scent, it also doesn’t irritate the ants — it just masks their trails and sends them on their merry way. 

Not all ants are created equal. While peppermint oil will work to remove most common ants, like odorous house ants, Argintine ants, and pavement ants, from the home, unfortunately, it’s pretty useless against carpenter ants and fire ants. “It’s worth noting that there are over 15,000 named species of ants, so it’s difficult to know how each one will react to peppermint oil and how effective it will be,” Baldwin says.

Luckily, peppermint oil is safe for most people to use as an ant repellent. However, Baldwin notes that it may cause allergic reactions, skin irritation, or headaches, so if you are more sensitive to stronger scents and oils, use caution. “Whenever using peppermint oil, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly to reduce any potential side effects,” he says.

Now we get down to the nitty-gritty of actually using peppermint oil for ants! Read on for some tips, tricks, and application methods, courtesy of Carpenter and Baldwin.

Both Carpenter and Baldwin recommend this method for removing ants from the home. 

Supplies

• 15 drops peppermint oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon dish soap
• 1 spray bottle (pint-sized or larger)

1. Mix 15 drops of peppermint oil with a cup of water and a teaspoon of dish soap in a spray bottle.
2. Shake the spray bottle well and spray generously on the ant trails. “Pay close attention to where they’re coming from, like windows, baseboards, countertops, and cracks in house structure,” Carpenter advises.
3. Wipe it down with a cloth to erase the ants’ pheromone trails. “This step is key,” Carpenter says. “Spraying peppermint oil without wiping trails doesn’t fully erase pheromones, meaning ants might still follow the path or reestablish trails later.”
4. Lightly spray the same spots again to leave a lingering peppermint scent that keeps ants from returning. Carpenter urges you not to ignore areas like the underside of cabinets or behind furniture and appliances.
5. Reapply every couple of days, or after cleaning.

“Cotton balls hold onto the oil really well, so the scent sticks around for days, creating a strong barrier that keeps ants from coming back,” Carpenter says.

Supplies

• Handful of cotton balls
• Enough peppermint oil to fill a small bowl (around ⅛ cup)
• 1 small bowl

1. Soak cotton balls in undiluted peppermint oil.
2. Tuck them into entry points and spots where ants tend to show up the most.

Baldwin recommends using an essential oil diffuser “to spread the smell of peppermint throughout larger areas of your home, such as basements or attics that could attract ants or other pests.”

Supplies

• Empty reed diffuser
• Peppermint oil

1. Take out an empty reed diffuser. 
2. Add drops of peppermint oil to the bottle.
3. Voilà! “It creates a pleasant scent while doubling as a functional pest control measure,” Baldwin says.

Once the ants are in your home, the annoyance has already begun. But there are some ways to stop them in their tracks! Try these cleaning and storage tricks to keep ants from appearing in the first place.

• Wash garbage cans with warm, soapy water.
• Store sugar, cereal, and grains in airtight plastic or glass bins.
• If you have pets, be sure to keep their food bowls clean and remove them when your pets are done eating.

Baldwin notes that while you can create your own sprays with pure peppermint oil, there are other ways to eradicate ants, too. “There are a number of natural insect and pest repellent products that include peppermint oil as an ingredient,” he says. “They’re convenient if you don’t want to make your own solutions and sprays and are safe to use around your home.”

Carpenter agrees. “I recommend looking for products that are 100 percent organic,” she says. “In addition to essential oils like peppermint oil, they should contain insecticides that effectively kill ants.”

Here are a couple of products with peppermint oil for ants that Baldwin and Carpenter recommend.