Strawberry basil cocktail is a light and refreshing summer cocktail made with rum, fresh strawberries, and basil leaves. It’s super easy to make and so delicious – you will want to sip on it all summer long!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this delicious strawberry basil cocktail:
- fresh strawberries
- fresh basil leaves – basil goes perfectly with strawberries, trust me! you could also use mint
- white rum – you could substitute it with vodka, gin, tequila, or cachaca
- sugar – for simple syrup – we’re making a simple syrup to infuse the cocktail with more flavor and to dissolve the sugar – this way the drink will be uniformly sweet
- sparkling water – substitute still water if you don’t like sparkling! it’s delicious both ways
- lemon juice – must be freshly squeezed, adds a refreshing citrusy flavor, you can also use lime juice, but a little bit less (it’s more sour).
- ice cubes – to chill the drink
Recipe variations
- swap basil for mint and lemon for lime and you will make a strawberry mojito
- swap rum for tequila and lemon for lime and you will make a strawberry margarita
- swap rum for cachaca and lemon for lime and you will make a strawberry caipirinha
- swap rum for vodka to make a strawberry vodka cocktail
How to make it step-by-step
STEP 1: Make the strawberry basil syrup
Add water, sugar, sliced strawberries, and torn basil leaves into a small pot.
Cook over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. While the syrup is coming to a boil, muddle (mash) the strawberries using a muddler or a wooden spoon to break up the strawberries and infuse the syrup with strawberry and basil flavor.
Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer, discard the strawberry pulp and basil leaves.
Leave to cool.
STEP 2: Make the drink
Add simple syrup, lemon juice, rum, 3 sliced strawberries, and 2 basil leaves into a short drink glass. Muddle (mash) the strawberries and basil just slightly to break them up and release the flavor.
Top with sparkling water, ice cubes, stir to combine.
Add the remaining 1 strawberry (sliced) and 2 basil leaves for decoration.
Adjust the sweet-sour flavors if necessary by adding more lemon juice if the drink is too sweet or more syrup if the drink is too sour.
Enjoy!
Be careful, these are really easy to drink!
Make it in a pitcher
This drink can be made in a pitcher. Simply add 1/2 cup of syrup, 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 1 1/2 cups rum, 2 cups of sparkling water, a small handful of basil, and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of strawberries.
How to make it ahead: you can prepare the simple syrup for up to 3-4 days ahead. Store it in the fridge. Assemble just before serving – the strawberries must be fresh or they won’t look (or taste) very appetizing.
Make it a mocktail
To make a strawberry basil mocktail, simply replace the rum with water.
More summer cocktails you may like
- How to make Caipirinha (+ 4 fruit variations!)
- Malibu Bay Breeze (3-ingredient drink)
- Pina Colada Recipe
- Sea Breeze Cocktail
- Pineapple Vodka Drink
- Beer Margarita
- Strawberry Margarita
See our collection of fruity drink recipes!
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Strawberry Basil Cocktail
Ingredients
strawberry basil simple syrup (makes more, enough for 3 drinks):
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 strawberries
- 4 large basil leaves
for one large drink:
- 1 3/4 ounces strawberry basil simple syrup (see above) 50 ml
- 1 1/2 ounces lemon juice freshly squeezed, 45 ml
- 3 ounces white rum 90 ml
- 4 strawberries divided
- 4 basil leaves divided
- 3 ounces sparkling water 90 ml, or still water
- a couple of ice cubes
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Instructions
- Make the syrup: add water, sugar, sliced strawberries, and torn basil leaves into a small pot. Cook over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. While the syrup is coming to a boil, muddle (mash) the strawberries using a muddler or a wooden spoon to break up the strawberries and infuse the syrup with strawberry and basil flavor. Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer, discard the strawberry pulp and basil leaves. Leave to cool.
- Make the drink: add simple syrup, lemon juice, rum, 3 sliced strawberries, and 2 basil leaves into a short drink glass. Muddle (mash) the strawberries and basil just slightly to break them up and release the flavor.
- Top with sparkling water, ice cubes, stir to combine. Add the remaining 1 strawberry (sliced) and 2 basil leaves for decoration.
- Adjust the sweet-sour flavors if necessary by adding more lemon juice if the drink is too sweet or more syrup if the drink is too sour.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Serve these drinks with teaspoons on the side – the boozy strawberries are delicious to eat from the drink.
- Please note that my glass was quite big, if you have a smaller glass reduce the amounts of ingredients.
- You can also use lime juice, but a little bit less (it’s more sour).
- Be careful, this cocktail is really easy to drink!
- Calories = 1 drink. This is only an estimate!
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