Strawberry Drink

Whether we need to cool down on a hot day or whip up a pitcher of drinks that ushers in a sense of summer during chillier times, we’re blending a strawberry cooler. Heavily embracing its namesake fruit, this strawberry drink gets some extra brightness from lemon and a healthy bit of fizz from ginger ale.

While strawberry beverage recipes are naturals for a kid’s birthday party or a happy hour mocktail, strawberry juice is also very customizable, with plenty of opportunities to play with the fruit, soda and sugar to find your ideal combo.

Strawberry Drink Ingredients

Leticia Almeida for Taste Recipes

• Strawberries: The fresh strawberries will serve as the base and main source of flavor for your strawberry cooler, and you can use additional berries as a garnish.
• Sugar: This will help balance out any tartness from the lemon juice or the strawberries. Depending on how sweet and ripe the strawberries are, you can play with the amount of sugar.
• Lemon juice and zest: Making the drink more refreshing, fresh-squeezed lemon juice adds brightness and complements the strawberries. Lemon zest is the secret to the most powerful lemon flavor, and it helps bring through the bright citrus notes even more.
• Ginger ale: The ginger ale provides some fizz, sweetness and flavor, adding a little more zip to your drink.

Directions

Step 1: Blend the ingredients

Leticia Almeida for Taste Recipes

In a blender, process the water, sliced strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in batches until the drink is smooth. You can strain out the berry seeds if desired.

Step 2: Add the ginger ale

Leticia Almeida for Taste Recipes

Pour the mixture into a pitcher, and stir in the ginger ale. Serve the drink in chilled glasses over ice, garnished with strawberries if desired.

Leticia Almeida for Taste Recipes

Strawberry Drink Variations

• Make it fruitier: To up the fruity flavors, add raspberries or peaches to the blender with the other ingredients. Experiment with flavor combinations till you find what works best for you.
• Replace the ginger ale: If you’d prefer not to use a soft drink or want to cut down on sugar, you can use club soda instead.
• Swap for the sugar: In place of the regular sugar, you could use agave syrup or honey, or you could use a simple syrup infused with basil or rosemary.

How to Store a Strawberry Drink

You can store your strawberry cooler in the fridge. However, it will lose carbonation over time, so it’s best to drink it while it’s freshly made!

Can you make this strawberry drink ahead of time?

We recommend making strawberry beverage recipes fresh to preserve the fizziness. You could slice the strawberries in advance, but luckily the strawberry juice comes together quite quickly as it is.

Strawberry Drink Tips

Leticia Almeida for Taste Recipes

What’s the best way to cut strawberries?

Since you blend the strawberries to make this strawberry juice, the way you slice them doesn’t matter as much as it would for many strawberry desserts. However, knowing how to hull strawberries is important.

There are a few methods to choose from: Use a straw to push out the leaves and stem, cut off the top of the berry altogether or use a strawberry huller if you have one. Clean the strawberries right before you cut them to keep them fresher for longer.

Can I use frozen strawberries?

Fresh are best, but frozen strawberries can be used if that’s what you can find. They may make your strawberry beverage recipes a bit thicker.

How do I zest a lemon?

You can use a variety of tools to zest a lemon, like a traditional zester or box grater. If you don’t have those, you can also use a fork to scrape at the rind, though this will be more time-consuming. If zesting isn’t part of your day, a little lemon extract can mimic the more intense citrus flavor.