Classic Mojito

Here’s how to make a classic Mojito recipe! Mix up the original with just a few ingredients: lime juice, sugar, club soda, and rum.

Craving a great rum cocktail? Here’s how to make one of the most popular drinks with rum: the Mojito! It’s minty fresh, zingy and bubbly, simple to whip up with just a handful of ingredients. It’s the classics we keep coming back to, even after tasting hundreds of cocktail recipes. This one is in our top 3 best drinks of all time! The harmony between the boozy rum, zingy lime, herbaceous mint, and sparkling bubbles is legendary.

Mojito ingredients

The mojito is a sour cocktail that originated in Havana, Cuba and has become one of the world’s most popular rum drinks. Some say it stems back to the 1580’s with a drink called the Draque, named after Sir Francis Drake. Others say it solidified in the mid-1800’s when the Bacardi rum company created a spin on the Draque using rum. Some think Americans brought the Mint Julep to Cuba, which spawned a variation with rum.

Whatever the case, its place as an iconic Cuban cocktail solidified by the 1930’s when Ernest Hemingway helped to popularize the drink. The Mojito ingredients include:

• Fresh mint
• Lime juice
• White rum
• Sugar
• Sparkling water or club soda

How to make a Mojito

The Mojito is simple to make if you’ve got a handful of mint and a fresh lime! For this drink, you’ll need a cocktail muddler, which is used to mash the mint with the lime juice and sugar. Fortunately, this drink can be made right in the glass: there’s no need for a cocktail shaker! (This is extremely handy: it makes it easy to make a drink and less mess.) Here’s how to make a Mojito:

1. Cut 1 lime into wedges.
2. In a medium-sized lowball glass or highball, add 6 mint leaves, lime wedges, and 2 tablespoons sugar, adding ½ lime at a a time. Muddle until lime juice is released and mint is fragrant.
3. Add 2 ounces rum and swirl. Add a handful of ice and top with 2 ounces club soda. Stir once or twice to incorporate and garnish with additional mint and lime wedges.

Adjusting the sweetness

This Mojito tastes sweet and balanced with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, which is 6 sugar cubes. But if you prefer a more tart drink, start with 1 ½ tablespoons sugar. Make sure to stir a few times so that the sugar incorporates into the drink.

You can also use simple syrup for a Mojito! Use 1 ½ ounces simple syrup, which equates to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

The best ice for a mojito: crushed vs cubes

One last thing about this Mojito recipe before we get to that recipe! Many purists argue over the right ice to use in this classic drink: crushed ice or cubed. In our research, we’ve found this: crushed ice melts faster. So if sparkling water is added as part of a drink, you should use ice cubes, not crushed ice that might water it down more.

Using that theory: since soda water (aka club soda) is part of the Mojito, you should use ice cubes and not crushed ice! Now you know. Of course as with any cocktail “rule”, you can break it at any time.

Make a Mojito pitcher for a crowd

It’s simple to whip up a classic Mojito in the glass. But if you’re having a party, how do you make enough drinks for the crowd? Try a Mojito pitcher! This way you don’t have to muddle mint every time (though you can, if you’d like!).

The pitcher variation use mint syrup instead! Make a quick mint simple syrup, which infuses herbaceous fresh flavor into each drink. Go to this Mojito Pitcher Recipe.

Mojito variations

Want a few variations on the classic Mojito? Here are a few different Mojito variations to try:

This Mojito recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.

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