If you're looking for an ice-cold and refreshing cocktail to beat the summer heat, we have the perfect cocktail for you - a Watermelon Mojito. Mojitos are a crowd favorite when it comes to summer cocktails.
Tangy lime juice, white rum, and fresh mint are a delicious combination. The watermelon makes this classic recipe fruity without taking away the crisp freshness.
Quick facts Watermelon Mojito
- Method: blended, built in glass
- Flavor profile: sweet, slightly sour, fruity, herbal
- How to serve it: over ice cubes
- Glassware: Highball glass
- Alcohol content: ~ 11% ABV, 19 grams per serving
One thing to keep in mind before you start mixing: If you use watermelon in a cocktail, make sure it's ripe. If your fruit is not mature enough, it will lack the required sweetness, and this causes the delicious watermelon taste to get lost in the mix.
Equipment
- 1 Jigger
- 1 Bar spoon
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- 2 oz White Rum
- 1 cup Watermelon, cut into small pieces - about 2 oz
- 1 oz Lime juice
- 0.5 tbsp Cane sugar
- 6 Mint leaves
- Club soda - about 1.5 oz
- ice
Instructions
- Dice the watermelon and remove the seeds1 cup Watermelon, cut into small pieces
- Blend the watermelon until it's watermelon juice.1 cup Watermelon, cut into small pieces
- In your glass, add lime juice, cane sugar, and mint leaves. Muddle until the sugar dissolves completely.1 oz Lime juice, 6 Mint leaves, 0.5 tbsp Cane sugar
- Now pour the watermelon juice on top and stir well.1 cup Watermelon, cut into small pieces
- Fill the glass with ice and add the Rum. Now top it off with soda water and stir again.2 oz White Rum, ice, Club soda
- Garnish with mint leaves and enjoy.
Nutrition
Ingredients with recommendations
For our Watermelon Mojito, you need a blender, a bar spoon, and a jigger, plus a total of six ingredients, not counting the ice. Here are our recommendations for the perfect version of this drink:
- Rum: as for most Mojito recipes, we like to opt for white rum for this drink. It's crisp and fresh and has a bit of an edge that can cut through the sweetness of the sugar and the sweet watermelon.
- Watermelon: only fresh, ripe fruit in cocktails for your watermelon juice. Otherwise, you end up with a bland and watery drink instead of one full of that beautiful, fruity summer flavor.
- Lime juice: the same rules apply here. Use juice from fresh limes to balance the sweetness. Bottled citrus juices are a no-go in mixology.
- Sugar: Like in the original recipe, we use cane sugar for our watermelon mojito. Its subtle molasses flavor compliments the rum (also made from cane sugar) perfectly.
- Mint: use fresh mint leaves and muddle them only gently. If you work them too aggressively, they release a bitter flavor. Also, if you garnish your drink with a mint sprig, slightly slap it to release their essential oils. Mojito Mint is best if you can get your hands on one of those.
- Soda water: Make sure your soda is chilled and has enough carbonation to bring the needed freshness to your drink. Don't use a bottle that's been open for more than a day.
Extra Tipp: How to use watermelon in this cocktail
Melon is a beautiful cocktail ingredient and can be used in various ways. Just think of the Midori Melon liqueur for the Midori Sour cocktail.
When you use fresh watermelon in cocktails, best process the watermelon before you mix the drink. The easiest way to do that is to cut the watermelon into pieces and chuck them in a blender. Then just blend it until it becomes a thick watermelon juice.
Don't freeze the watermelon, though, as the smoothie-like texture wouldn't mix very well. Because there's such a high amount of water in watermelon, it's too icy. And you want to be able to mix it thoroughly with muddled mint, lime juice, and sugar. Otherwise, the drink won't be as good as it could be. Then all you have to do is mix a Mojito with your watermelon.
How to tell if a watermelon is ripe?
Using fresh fruit comes with the trouble of potentially not being ripe. That is as valid for watermelon as it is for mango if you want to make a Mango Margarita on the rocks or for the fresh passion fruit you need for passion fruit syrup. And with fruit not native to where you live, it's always harder to tell if they are ripe or not.
Farmers found, for watermelon, you can follow these five easy tips:
- Check the bright spot on the rind. If it's white, the melon is not ripe yet. If it's yellow, it can go into your Watermelon Mojito.
- Pick the melon up, and knock on it with your knuckle. Does it sound hollow? Then the fruit is ripe and sweet. If it sounds kind of muffled, the watermelon needs some more time to mature.
- If the rind is all shiny and polished, the fruit is not ripe just yet. A ripe watermelon loses its shine and becomes dull.
- And if you always used to avoid the ones with the brown cracks, don't do it. They tell us that the melon is full of flavor and perfect for your Watermelon Mojito.
- And last but not least, watermelon can be male or female. The oval ones are male. The round ones are female and sweeter in taste.
Variation: Skinny Watermelon Mojito
A classic Mojito is mixed with cane sugar. That is an essential ingredient in this cocktail. But there are ways to reduce the number of calories and make it a Skinny Watermelon Mojito. The watermelon already plays a crucial part.
If the fruit is ripe, it will transfer this subtle watermelon sweetness into your cocktail. And that works as a substitute for most of the cane sugar from the original recipe. And, of course, if you prefer not-so-sweet drinks, you could make the whole recipe without sugar.
But for me, however, the drink needs a bit of sweetness. And if you're aiming for a low-sugar cocktail, I recommend adding just a pinch of sweetener. Our suggestion is to use stevia because it blends really well with the other elements in this recipe.