Ginger-Lime Spritzer Recipe
I have had sooooo many questions about my quarantine mocktail, and I have written this out sooooo many times in response to many, many DM’s that I figured it was more efficient to create a post so that it would have a place to live forever.
When my daughters both came home at the beginning of the quarantine (one from college and one to work from home), they started pulling out the wine most nights. “Who’d like a glass of wine with dinner?” I am not a weeknight drinker. I hardly drink alcohol at all, to be honest. But I started with a sip or two and then it became a glass and then Hubs got into making Tiki cocktails on Instagram. All of a sudden, I was drinking a few times a week out of habit, but it was nothing that was doing me any good.
I know some people drink socially. Well, we weren’t going out. Some people drink to relax. Well, we were all pretty relaxed. I was in a habit for no good reason, other than my daughters and husband were doing it and sometimes a drink tasted good.
But alcohol doesn’t really have any health benefits, and if I wasn’t getting any other benefits, then what was really the point? In fact, my already bad sleep was getting a little worse! So I created a mocktail to replace my nightly cocktail and you know what? I liked it MORE!
Now, I’m in a mocktail habit. I generally make the same one every night. I don’t even bother measuring the ingredients anymore. But it’s tasty, refreshing and I look forward to the process of making it every day around 5 o’clock. I do make mine very spicy, that is I use a lot of ginger juice. I think this drink is one of those things that you’ll have to adjust to your own liking. You might like a tall glass of sparkling water with a teaspoon of ginger juice and a hefty squeeze of lime. Start with just a little ginger juice and add more. If you don’t have a juicer, you can blend chopped ginger with enough water to make the blend move, and then strain through a fine mesh sieve.
I juice loads of ginger at once and freeze 1 jar for later in the week or the week after. I usually keep some ginger in the fridge for 3-4 days. I actually used some powdered ginger at my mom’s house, and it was tasty. But then I used my powdered ginger and it didn’t have the same oomph! Well, I’m, curious to hear your thoughts about this mocktail. Please tag me @pamelasalzman #pamelasalzman on Instagram if you make it. And let me know your favorite mocktails! I’m always ready to mix it up!
Ginger-Lime Spritzer
Ingredients
- Ice
- 1-2 Tablespoons ginger juice*
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice about 1 lime
- Couple drops of stevia
- 1/2 cup sparkling water
Instructions
- Pour ice into a glass cup. Add ginger (start with 1 T and add more if you like spicy) and lime juice. Give it a stir and sweeten with a couple drops of stevia, to taste. Top with sparkling water. Stir and enjoy!
24 Comments
This recipe is inspiring- thank you! What can you suggest as an alternative to stevia? I can’t stand the aftertaste. Should I just use a bit of agave or sugar, or try to get used to the taste without sweetener? I generally don’t like sweet things. Something about stevia I just can’t stand and I noticed it’s in several of your recipes. Thanks in advance!
Hi Laura. Feel free to use any sweetener you like. Sugar or agave would be great here. You can try it without any sweetener, but I find that it tastes better with at least a small amount. For any beverage recipe on my site that calls for stevia, you can use another sweetener of choice in its place that will dissolve well, such a cane sugar, maple syrup, agave, or monk fruit.
What is the brand of lemon/lime squeezer?
There are so many great hand held lemon squeezers online. I have this one from Ralphs https://www.ralphs.com/p/goodcook-pro-hand-juicer-silver-gray/0007675320832?cid=shp_adw_shopg.F
Thanks so much for answering. I have one but yours seemed to really squeeze the juice!!!
Who knew you could juice ginger without peeling? GENIUS. This has become my new wine o’clock craving. Thank you, Pamela!
Me too!
You mentioned on an insta story that you used ground ginger from the spice house. How much ground ginger would we use in place of the ginger juice?
I don’t measure, but I probably used about a teaspoon of ground ginger. Keep in mind that flavor potency will vary by brand. I would start with a small amount and add more to taste.
Whole Foods Juice Bar will juice 1-4 oz. of ginger for you! Easy.
Nice! That’s good to know.
This mocktail is just amazing! It is great for your gut and as great for digestion. I love you Pamela Salzman!
Glad you gave it a try! I’m obsessed with it!
Looks great! Yeah I’ve gotten into the habit too don’t think it’s good. I’ll try juicing in the Vitamix as I gave my old juicer away & only have a citrus juicer now.
Would ginger beer also work in a pinch??
Sure! Just add lime juice. The difference is this is spicier than ginger beer without the added sugar.
Any other suggestions in place of ginger? I’m not a fan
The mint, cucumber, vodka cocktail on my site without the vodka is a great alternative. https://pamelasalzman.com/mint-cucumber-and-vodka-cocktail-recipe/
I would like to start juicing but I feel intimidated by choosing a machine. What type (masticating, etc) and brand do you use? How much ginger did you used to yield one jar? The mock tail sounds delicious and I need to go dry! Thanks
I have the Breville juice fountain elite. It’s a centrifugal juicer and I love it because the feed tube is large enough to juice big pieces of fruits and vegetables. I used to have an omega and it took longer to juice because I had to chop everything. There are so many juicers now. I tend to buy a lot of ginger and juice it all at once. I didn’t weight how much I used in the pictures, but all of the ginger you see in the second picture gave me about 25 ounces of juice.
This sounds delicious! Quick question: if you don’t have a juicer do you recommend peeling the ginger before chopping it or can you use it unpeeled? Thanks, looking forward to trying.
I would peel the ginger before chopping it, if you will be making this in a blender. I think if you leave the skin on, it will require slightly more water to get the blender going. Let me know if you try it!
Where is the recipe for the ginger juice??
Meg, you juice the ginger, it says in the post notes. I will try this without sweetener since thats how I like my drinks.
Sounds great! Thank you Pamela!
I included a few notes towards the bottom of the recipe for how to make ginger juice. If you have a juicer, simply add washed and unpeeled nobs of fresh ginger to the feed tube. Or you can try making it in the blender by chopping the ginger into smaller pieces and adding some water to help the blades move.