A refreshing and sweet soju watermelon cocktail recipe that’s super simple and quick to make. Perfect drinks to entertain guests with or when you want that to treat yourself!
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 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. 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 good watermelon, make sure it feels heavy for it’s size. 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.
- 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.
DOUBLE STRAINING 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.
USING 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 it’s caramelized sweetness, which didn’t make the drink overly sweet. If you don’t have maple syrup, I would use a dark honey as a substitution.
NEED SNACKS TO SERVE WITH THIS WATERMELON COCKTAIL? TRY THESE!
- Crispy Candied Walnuts
- Grilled Halloumi Cheese
- Crispy Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers
- Crab and Cheese Spring Rolls
- Crispy Buttermilk Popcorn Chicken
DID YOU MAKE THIS SOJU WATERMELON COCKTAIL?
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Soju Watermelon Cocktail
Ingredients
- 4 cups 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!
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 a darker honey for a bit more flavor.
- You can omit the alcohol in this cocktail to make it a virgin cocktail
Nutrition
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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 !!