Described herein are electrochemical methods for producing ammonia. In one aspect, the method involves introducing nitrogen gas at a pressure greater than ambient pressure into an electrochemical cell composed of an electrolyte composition and applying a current to the electrochemical cell to convert nitrogen to ammonia. In one aspect, the electrolyte composition includes (i) an organic solvent, a (ii) a proton donor, and (iii) a salt of lithium, calcium, magnesium, strontium, yttrium, scandium, zirconium, or any combination thereof. The methods described herein provide increased ammonia Faradaic efficiency (FE) while using less energy (i.e., applied current).