A refreshing and sweet soju watermelon cocktail (Subak Soju) recipe that's super simple and quick to make! A perfect drink to entertain guests with or to treat yourself with!
Table of Contents
It's that time again when watermelon is in season and they become super sweet, juicy, and abundant.
It's odd how it tends to be in season closer to the end of Summer but I'm not complaining - having watermelon at the end of the summer lets me feel like I'm stretching out Summer so that I can forget that Autumn is right around the corner.
Instead of eating the watermelon, I decided it'd be a nice change of pace to make a watermelon cocktail out of it and drink it!
This delicious Korean watermelon cocktail recipe is super easy to throw together and tastes best with a lot of ice and chilled very well so that it is refreshing and very cold.
For this watermelon soju recipe, the sweetness of this drink will be mostly controlled by how sweet your watermelon is but you can easily adjust it with a bit of maple syrup or honey.
Ingredients for Watermelon Cocktail
- Watermelon - To pick a juicy and sweet watermelon, make sure it feels heavy for its size - the heavier the watermelon, the juicier it will be! Try to also find one with a creamy yellow bottom, which is the spot that is sitting on the ground - the yellower the spot, the more ripe and sweet it will be. Make sure you pick a seedless watermelon.
- Maple Syrup - If you can't find maple syrup, you can substitute it with honey but you might need to melt the honey with a bit of warm water before adding it to the watermelon juice, since honey tends to solidify when it is cold.
- Soju - Soju is light on flavor and is amazing in cocktails but if you can't find soju, you can substitute it for sake or half the amount of vodka.
Tips for Making the Best Watermelon Soju
- Use maple syrup to remove the alcohol bite - While I was making this, my goal was to make this cocktail as smooth as possible so you didn't have that initial alcohol bite. I found that adding a tablespoon of maple syrup removed that initial alcohol bite with its caramelized sweetness, which didn't make the drink overly sweet. If you don't have maple syrup, I would use honey as a substitution.
- Strain the cocktail twice to remove the foam - While you are blending the watermelon, you may notice that the watermelon mixture will become foamy. You can remove most of the foam by straining the juice twice.
How to Make Watermelon Soju
Prepare the Watermelon and Blend it in a Blender
- Remove the skin and cut the watermelon up into chunks that will fit into a blender
- In a blender, blitz it until it is liquidy (don't worry if it becomes frothy)
Strain out the Pulp and Mix in the Soju
- In a large bowl or large pitcher, pour out the watermelon juice through a fine-mesh strainer. If it is very frothy, you can run it through the strainer twice to remove some of the foaminess.
- Add the bottle of soju and maple syrup and mix everything together well.
Chill in the Refrigerator and Serve
- Refrigerate for an hour or until it is cold.
- Serve with lots of ice and sprigs of basil or mint (with flowers) as a garnish and enjoy!
Snacks Recipes to Try with this Soju Cocktail
- Crispy Candied Walnuts
- Grilled Halloumi Cheese
- Crispy Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers
- Crab and Cheese Spring Rolls
- Crispy Buttermilk Popcorn Chicken
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Recipe Card
Soju Watermelon Cocktail
Joyce's Recipe Notes
- If you are substituting maple syrup with honey, melt the honey with 1 tablespoon of hot or warm water before adding it into the juice so that it mixes in smoothly without sugar clumps which can settle on the bottom. Honey tends to solidify when it gets cold.
- If you are substituting the maple syrup for honey, try to use darker honey (like buckwheat honey) for a bit more flavor.
- You can omit the alcohol in this cocktail to make it a virgin cocktail
- If you can't find soju, you can also substitute it with vodka.
Ingredients
- 4 cups seedless watermelon (3 lb)
- 1 bottle soju (360ml)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey)
Instructions
- Remove the skin and cut the watermelon up into chunks that will fit into a blender
- In a blender, blitz it until it is liquidy (don't worry if it becomes frothy)
- In a large bowl or large pitcher, pour out the watermelon juice through a strainer. If it is very frothy, you can run it through the strainer twice to remove some of the foaminess.
- Add the bottle of soju and maple syrup and mix
- Refrigerate for an hour or until it is cold.
- Serve with lots of ice and sprigs of basil or mint (with flowers) as a garnish and enjoy!
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
Josie says
When I saw your watermelon drink photo , it reminded me we had bought a big seasonal watermelon yesterday. I can blend it with Soju cocktail refreshing drink.....
Thanks .
Joyce Lee says
Hi Josie,
It's a great way to use a watermelon! I'm happy to share this!
heather (delicious not gorgeous) says
DARN IT i'm sad i'm just seeing this now! this looks so refreshing and i love anything fruity with soju (: there's bars in northern california that have drinks like this served in a emptied out watermelon!
Joyce says
You're in SoCal! It's always Summer there! Right? 😀 Lucky you, it's crazy cold here now and very wet here now. Yuck. hrmmm emptied out watermelon is a great idea - but I am such a klutz I'd probably wobble it all over the place and spill it on myself haha! 😀
Makos says
I'm going to pretend I didn't read the last sentence of this post and I'll say that this is watermelon cocktail looks totally awesome!
Joyce says
pahahaha! It's true though!
Josie says
This is really an exquisite SOJU WATERMELON COCKTAIL drink. I like it . Firstly, presentation of this drink looks very colorful. Secondly, no alcohol is added. Easy to buy this seasonal water melon now. I make myself a bigger glass shot. Great !!