This basic pina colada recipe is creamy, balanced, and simple to make at house with easy components! Excellent for summer season events, pool days, or anytime you want a tropical drink.
There’s one thing about sipping a piña colada that makes you’re feeling such as you’re on trip, even in the event you’re simply at house. Too many piña coladas style approach too candy with solely a touch of rum. However I’ve discovered that the unique recipe for this basic cocktail has an ideal stability between the pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and aged rum.
So right here’s the right way to make a piña colada—the basic approach! As a cocktail skilled who has revamped 300 cocktail recipesI by no means get uninterested in this drink. As a result of who doesn’t love a great piña colada?
Why You’ll Love This Piña Colada Recipe
This piña colada recipe is a tried and true basic; right here’s why you’ll adore it:
- Traditional tropical cocktail taste: It has a real coconut taste from cream of coconut paired with actual pineapple
- Balanced sweetness: It’s not too candy like many restaurant variations
- Creamy, slushy texture: The frozen pineapple chunks create the best texture
- Fast prep time: It takes simply 5 minutes to make!
5 Star Reader Evaluations
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “This recipe is so good that it was my Tremendous Bowl drink for my friends. Everybody liked it as a lot as me, particularly my daughter, and she or he’s not a straightforward promote lol. Severely tho, thanks masses for sharing my new favourite recipe.” -Mary
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Best possible recipe ever, thanks a lot retaining it basic!”-Giardino
Substances You’ll Want
The important thing to this piña colada recipe is utilizing high quality components. Right here’s what you’ll want and why each issues:
- Frozen pineapple chunks: I take advantage of frozen pineapple chunks as an alternative of contemporary pineapple as a result of they create a pleasant thick, slushy texture. It’s additionally extra inexpensive than contemporary.
- Pineapple juice: Search for 100% juice with out added sugar (because the cream of coconut already gives sweetness).
- Cream of coconut: That is essential: you want cream of coconut (like Coco Lopez), not coconut cream or coconut milk. Cream of coconut is sweetened and made for coconut cocktails. Coconut cream is unsweetened, and coconut milk is simply too skinny. See my information to cream of coconut vs coconut cream.
- Aged rum: Many bartenders use white rum for a pina colada, however I like aged rum as a result of it has a deeper taste, with notes of vanilla and caramel. However white rum works nicely if that’s what you will have.
- Lime juice: Recent lime juice is crucial for including brightness.
- Ice cubes: Common ice cubes with the frozen pineapple create the slushy texture.
Tips on how to Make a Piña Colada
The pina colada is a type of blended drinks that comes collectively in minutes. Right here’s what to do (or soar to the recipe for portions):
- Add the frozen pineapple chunks and ice cubes to the blender. Pulse just a few instances to interrupt them down into smaller items. Add the rum, cream of coconut, pineapple juice, and lime juice.
- Mix on excessive velocity till utterly clean and creamy. You desire a thick, slushy consistency, just like a milkshake. If it’s too thick, add a splash extra pineapple juice. If it’s too skinny, add just a few extra ice cubes and mix once more.
Professional Tip: If you happen to can, ensure all of your components are chilly earlier than mixing. This prevents the drink from melting too shortly as soon as served.
Variations To Strive
Virgin Pina Colada: For a mocktail model, I merely mix frozen pineapple, maple syrup, and coconut milk. I really like this variation! Go to my virgin pina colada recipe.
Much less candy model: Scale back the cream of coconut to 1 ½ ounces.
Further thick model: Strive my frozen pina colada that makes use of coconut milk for a smoothie-like texture. It’s virtually like a pina colada smoothiehowever with rum.
Serving & Garnish Concepts
The basic garnish for a piña colada is a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry. To make it a bit of further, add drink umbrellas! I discovered my drink umbrellas on Amazon.
Just a few different concepts: you could possibly rim the glass with toasted coconut (like on this Coconut Margarita). Simply moisten the rim with lime juice and dip it in shredded coconut that you simply’ve frivolously toasted in a dry pan.
You may serve a piña colada at pool events, yard BBQs, or tropical-themed dinners, however I discover myself most frequently craving them within the winter! They pair nicely with grilled shrimp or fish tacos. If you happen to’re making extra drinks, you could possibly pair with Mai Tais or perhaps a good Bushwacker.
Tip: If you happen to love this drink, you can too strive a Who Who (pina colada vodka) or a Painkiller (with orange juice).
Steadily Requested Questions
If you happen to don’t have cream of coconut, you’ll be able to strive coconut cream combined with easy syrup to attain the same sweetness and texture. However we advocate getting the true factor right here! Or go to our Frozen Pina Colada recipe, which makes use of coconut milk.
It’s finest to make a piña colada contemporary for optimum taste and texture. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to pre-measure the components and retailer them individually till able to mix with ice and rum.
Add extra ice or frozen pineapple to thicken the consistency.
A pineapple wedge, maraschino cherry, and a cocktail umbrella are basic garnishes. You too can add a sprinkle of toasted coconut flakes or a sprig of mint for further aptitude.
To make contemporary pineapple juice at house, lower a ripe pineapple into chunks and mix them on excessive velocity till clean. Pressure the combination via a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth to take away the pulp, and also you’ll have contemporary pineapple juice. Whereas this provides you the freshest taste, bottled 100% pineapple juice works high quality on this recipe and saves time.
The piña colada was invented in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1954 by bartender Ramón “Monchito” Marrero on the Caribe Hilton. It turned so in style with each locals and vacationers that the Puerto Rican authorities declared it the nationwide drink in 1978. The drink represents the island’s tropical flavors: rum, pineapple, and coconut.
Sure, although it gained’t have the basic frozen, slushy texture. To make a piña colada and not using a blender, shake the liquid piña colada components (rum, cream of coconut, pineapple juice, and lime juice) vigorously with ice in a cocktail shaker. Pressure right into a glass stuffed with crushed ice. The result’s extra of an on-the-rocks model reasonably than a frozen blended drink.
Traditional Pina Colada Recipe
This basic piña colada recipe is creamy, balanced, and simple to make at house with easy components! Excellent for summer season events, pool days, or anytime you want a tropical drink. For a simplified spin with a smoothie-like texture, go to Frozen Pina Colada.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook dinner Time: 0 minutes
- Whole Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 drinks 1x
- Class: Drink
- Methodology: Blended
- Delicacies: Cocktails
- Food regimen: Vegan
- 1 ½ cups frozen pineapple
- 1 ½ cups ice
- 5 ounces (½ cup plus 2 tablespoons) aged rum
- 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) cream of coconut (not coconut cream; see notes*)
- 4 ounces (½ cup) pineapple juice
- 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lime juice
- For the garnish: cocktail cherry
- Mix pineapple and ice till chunky. Add the remaining components and mix till clean. Serve garnished with a cocktail cherry and drink umbrellas.
Notes
*Cream of coconut is a particular coconut product made for sweetening drinks, whereas coconut cream is unsweetened (learn extra at Cream of Coconut vs Coconut Cream). Don’t purchase coconut cream or the drink won’t style sweetened! If you happen to make this misstep and wish to save your drink, you’ll be able to add easy syrup to style. You too can make a simplified model of this drink with coconut milk as an alternative: go to Frozen Pina Colada.
