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A vodka soda is one of the easiest three-ingredient highball cocktails there is! All you need is vodka, fresh lime, and cold soda water.
Here’s a cocktail that’s light, refreshing, and goes down easy: the vodka soda! As a cousin to the Vodka Tonic, it’s even more tart and refreshing with just lime, vodka and soda water.
Honestly as an expert home mixologist, I’m also always looking for super simple drinks that require no cocktail shakers: which is this drink! It’s also a low calorie cocktail and since you can build it right in the class, it’s often on repeat over here.
What’s A Vodka Soda?
The vodka soda is a highball cocktail made with vodka, lime juice, and soda water. The concept of watering down spirits has a long history. The drink is related to the Gin Rickey, a cocktail invented in the 1880’s!
It was first created with bourbon, then became very popular with gin a few years later, pairing the spirit with lime juice and soda water. Other cocktails that use this concept are the Whiskey Highball, Ranch Water, the Mojito, and the Aperol Spritz.
Ingredients You Need
How to make a vodka soda? It’s very simple, like most highball cocktails! Grab these ingredients and pour them into a glass:
- Vodka: You can use any type, just look for a mid-price range bottle. I like Tito’s for most of my vodka drinks.
- Lime juice: from a fresh lime, not bottled lime juice!
- Soda water: which is unsweetened, not tonic water (which has sugar)
Vodka Soda Calories
Some people choose this drink because it’s considered a “healthy cocktail” and has less calories than the standard cocktail.
The vodka soda has 135 calories, 131 of which come from the 2 ounces of vodka in this drink. If you’d like to make it lower calorie, use 1 ½ or 1 oz vodka! Here’s a comparison of some popular drinks with the calories in vodka soda:
- Vodka soda: 135 calories
- Old Fashioned: 155 calories
- Margarita: 166 calories
- Negroni: 200 calories
- Whiskey sour: 220 calories
Garnishes To Add
The vodka soda is a laid back cocktail that takes literally 2 minutes to make. But want to make it look a little fancier for entertaining? Here’s what to do:
- Try clear ice. Clear ice is crystal clear instead of cloudy like normal ice. You can cut it into organic shapes and it looks like it’s from a fancy bar.
- Add a straw. Cute, colorful straws are the perfect accessory.
- Put a cherry on top. There’s something about a cocktail cherry that makes the mood more festive.
Spirit and Soda Water Drinks
Diluting a spirit with bubbles works with so many different drinks:
- Vodka Tonic: Vodka and tonic water (or Vodka and Ginger Ale with ginger ale)
- Gin Rickey or Gin and Soda: Gin, lime and soda water
- Whiskey Highball: Whiskey and soda water or ginger ale (or Whiskey Tonic with tonic water)
- Gin and Tonic or Rum and Tonic: Pairs the spirit with tonic water
- Ranch Water or Tequila Soda: Tequila, lime and soda water.
- Campari and Soda: Bubbles paired with Campari
- White Wine Spritzer, Red Wine Spritzer or Rosé Spritzer: Wine and soda water
When to Serve a Vodka Soda
The vodka soda is bubbly and refreshing. It works well for summer, but you can drink it anytime (and I do!). It’s great for serving as a:
- Summer drink
- Afternoon drink
- Before dinner drink (aperitif)
- Cocktail hour drink
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Vodka is considered gluten-free even when made from wheat or rye, since the gluten proteins don’t make it through the distillation process.
About as strong as you make it. A drink made with 2-ounces of vodka has about the same alcohol as a glass of wine.
A vodka rickey, technically. But you can order it as a “vodka soda with lime”.
Use club soda or plain soda water: don’t use a sweetened soda like Cola.
Not really. Alcohol is a diuretic, so it dehydrates you. A hydrating drink is plain water.
Vodka Soda (3 Ingredients!)
A vodka soda is one of the easiest three-ingredient highball cocktails there is! All you need is vodka, fresh lime, and cold soda water.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Total Time: 2 minutes
- Yield: 1 drink 1x
- Category: Drink
- Method: Stirred
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 2 ounces (¼ cup) vodka
- ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) lime juice
- 4 ounces (½ cup) soda water
- Ice, for serving (try clear ice)
Instructions
- Place the vodka and lime juice in a highball or lowball glass and add ice.
- Top off with soda water and enjoy.
More Vodka Cocktails To Try
- Go classic with a Vodka Gimlet or Vodka Sour
- Add ginger beer for a Moscow Mule
- Mix up a bright pink Cosmopolitan
- Opt for a Classic Bloody Mary
- Make an super simple Vodka Cranberry or Vodka Spritzer
