DRINK YOUR VEGGIES: UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS VEGETABLE COCKTAILS
Vegetable cocktails with friends
It all started when my lovely friend Julie and I met for a day of craftspiration (looking for inspiration for our many craft projects!). We rendezvoused at First Watch, and lo and behold, the menu featured cocktails mixed with their famous juices. Did we dare day drink on a Monday?! Hey, we’re retired, so what the heck! We ordered a cocktail mixed with kale tonic, and it was a bright, refreshing delight! I had to try to recreate it at home (and maybe even improve it a little!).
Why stop there? More vegetable cocktails
That got me thinking about all the possibilities of other vegetable cocktails. The colors, the flavors. I was inspired! And the experimenting with vegetable cocktails began.
Mistakes were made
Lest you think everything was a hit, let me tell you, it took multiple times to get a beet drink right. Beet pina colada? Uh, no. That was a definite fail. But ultimately, I came up with four really delicious vegetable cocktails that celebrate our favorite vegetables and fruits: Kale Vodka Tonic; Carrot Bourbon Refresher; Beet Gin and Tonic; and Red Pepper Paloma.
And they’re made with vegetables, so they have to be healthy, right? OK, I guess the alcohol might offset the benefits of the vegetables, but you can always omit the alcohol and make yourself a mocktail. Either way, celebrate spring with these delicious and flavorful vegetable cocktails!
Kale Vodka Tonic
Cuisine: CocktailsDifficulty: EasyRefreshing and filled with vegetables.
Ingredients
- For kale tonic:
4 cups kale, stems removed
1 medium Fuji apple, cored and chopped
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
Juice from 1 lemon
2-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 cups water
- For the cocktail:
1 ounce vodka
1 tablespoon agave syrup
3 ounces kale tonic
- For garnish:
Slice of cucumber
Sprig of fresh mint
Directions
- To make kale tonic: In a juicer or food processor, combine kale, chopped apple, cucumber, lemon juice, grated ginger and water. Blend until smooth, with no visible chunks. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
- To make cocktail: In a cocktail shaker or lidded jar, combine 3 ounces kale tonic, 1 ounce vodka (or more, if you want it stronger) and 1 tablespoon agave syrup. Shake until well combined. Pour over ice and garnish with cucumber slice and fresh mint, if desired.
- To make cocktail: In a cocktail shaker or lidded jar, combine 3 ounces kale tonic, 1 ounce vodka (or more, if you want it stronger) and 1 tablespoon agave syrup. Shake until well combined. Pour over ice and garnish with cucumber slice and fresh mint, if desired.
Notes
- To make this a cocktail, just leave out the vodka.
Carrot Bourbon Vegetable Cocktails
It’s hard to believe that such a simple combination of flavors can result in such a unique and delicious cocktail. Of all the vegetable cocktails we created, this one was the most surprising.
Ingredients for a Carrot Bourbon Cocktail
If you make your own carrot juice, you’ll need a package of mini carrots. Otherwise, use store-bought carrots.
You’ll also need orange juice and bourbon. But that’s it – just three ingredients.
For the complete recipe, go to this post: Carrot Bourbon Cocktail
If you want to make carrot ribbons for garnish:
Peel a long carrot. Using a vegetable peeler, slice a very thin slab of the carrot all the way down the length of the carrot. Put the slices in water for at least 10 minutes. They should be soft enough then to carefully thread onto a cocktail pick.
More vegetable cocktails
Beet Gin and Tonic
It took a lot of trial and error to get this right, but in the end this was one of the most delicious vegetable cocktails.
You can get the complete recipe here: Beet Gin and Tonic
Ingredients for beet vegetable cocktails
- Beet juice
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Gin
- Tonic water
Red Bell Pepper Paloma
For the Red Bell Pepper Paloma, we’ll make a simple syrup from red bell peppers, pink peppercorns and sugar. The syrup is a rich, deep red color, and the flavor is amazing paired with tequila and fresh grapefruit juice.
For the bell pepper syrup:
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons of pink peppercorns
For the cocktail:
1 1/2 ounces red bell pepper simple syrup
1 1/2 ounces freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
2 ounces tequila
For some extra flair, pink peppercorn ice cubes:
Pink peppercorns
Ice cube trays
To make the bell pepper simple syrup: Bring the sugar, water and pink peppercorns to a boil. Add bell pepper slices and allow to simmer on low for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let bell peppers steep in syrup for at least 30 minutes. Strain through fine mesh.
To make the pink peppercorn ice cubes: Fill ice cube trays with water. Sprinkle pink peppercorns over the surface and freeze.
To make the Red Bell Pepper Paloma: In a shaker or lidded jar, shake bell pepper syrup, grapefruit juice and tequila. Pour over ice, and top with one or two pink peppercorn ice cubes. Garnish with fresh bell pepper slices.
Thank you to my amazing daughter, Claire Keathley, for these exquisite photographs! Claire Keathley Photography
If you’re interested in the history of the Paloma, here’s a great read.
