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This cucumber ginger mocktail combines bubbly soda water with a homemade cucumber ginger simple syrup to create a super refreshing, alcohol-free beverage that literally anyone can enjoy, perfect for summer cookouts with the fam or sipping poolside with your favorite book.
Notes from Cheryl
- This recipe makes enough cucumber ginger simple syrup for roughly 16 mocktails. Refrigerate any leftover syrup in an airtight container and it’ll keep up to 3 weeks!
- Use this method for homemade simple syrup infused with any of your favorite flavors! Fruits, fresh herbs, vanilla beans, edible flowers – the options are endless.
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Make the Simple Syrup
Combine 1 part sugar with 1 part filtered water over medium-high heat. Stir the mixture constantly, until the sugar’s completely melted into the water. It’ll thicken up as it cools so don’t overcook it!
Cheryl’s Tip: The water should be hot enough to melt the sugar completely, but don’t actually boil the mixture or you’ll end up with something closer to a caramel than a simple syrup.
Infuse the Ginger & Cucumber
Pour the simple syrup mixture into a large glass (or ceramic) bowl with slices of cucumber and fresh ginger. Leave the bowl of ingredients to sit for about 2 hours at room temperature, then strain out the solids and funnel the syrup into a bottle or jar. Chill the infused syrup until you’re ready to make your mocktail.
One mocktail, Coming Right Up
Mix together 1 shot of the infused syrup and 3 shots of soda water in a serving glass. Add ice if you want, garnish the glass with a slice of cucumber and fresh mint leaves (totally optional), and enjoy!
Cheryl’s Tip: Feel free to use less soda water for a more pronounced flavor, or more soda water if the syrup’s a little too strong.
What I Love About This Recipe
I think I drank a cucumber ginger mocktail like every day in the summer when I was pregnant. Even when I’m not PG, though, this is one of my favorite ways to cut back on my alcohol intake without feeling like I’m missing out on anything. Why?
- It’s so, so easy to make! The simple syrup does take a tiny bit of work, sure, BUT it makes a lot and it keeps for 3 weeks. That’s 3 weeks of mocktails from one batch of simple syrup!
- The flavors are incredible. Light, crisp, with a little punch of gingery spice and the fizziness of the soda water. Nothing overpowers anything else in this N/A beverage.
Recipe Variations
I love the simplicity of this cucumber ginger mocktail as it is, but it’s just as fun to mix it up every now and then. Try these variations or feel free to experiment with your own ideas!
- Make it a Cocktail: Gin, vodka, rum, even tequila would work with the flavors in this mocktail. You can leave the soda water for a cucumber ginger fizz or replace it entirely with your alcohol of choice.
- Feeling Fruity: Lime is delicious with cucumber and ginger. Try a lime-flavored soda water instead of plain if you want to add a little bit of citrusy goodness! You could also just add a squeeze or two of fresh lime juice to taste.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Cucumber Ginger Mocktail
Equipment
- large, heat-proof bowl glass or ceramic
- Small saucepan
- whisk
- Fine mesh sieve
- funnel
- Airtight container bottle or jar
- 1 serving glass
- swizzle stick or spoon
Ingredients
For the Cucumber-Ginger Simple Syrup
- 1 medium cucumber sliced, approximately 6-8 ounces
- 10 ¼-inch-thick slices fresh ginger
- 2 cups granulated sugar or 1 ¾ cups agave nectar
- 2 cups filtered water
For the Cucumber Ginger Mocktail
- 1 shot cucumber-ginger simple syrup 1 ½ ounces, prepared from recipe above
- 3 shots soda water 4 ½ ounces
- ice optional
- 1 cucumber slice optional, to garnish
- 1-2 fresh mint leaves optional, to garnish
Instructions
To Make the Cucumber-Ginger Simple Syrup
- Place slices of 1 medium cucumber and 10 ¼-inch-thick slices fresh ginger in large, heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
- Add 2 cups granulated sugar and 2 cups filtered water to small saucepan and place saucepan on stovetop over medium-high heat. Whisk ingredients until sugar is completely dissolved, approximately 10 minutes.
- Once sugar has dissolved completely, pour mixture into bowl, covering cucumbers and ginger completely. Set bowl aside 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, pour mixture through fine mesh sieve and into airtight container. Discard slices of cucumber and ginger.
- Place container in refrigerator and chill syrup until ready to serve.
To Make the Cucumber Ginger Mocktail
- Add 1 shot cucumber-ginger simple syrup and 3 shots soda water to serving glass. Stir ingredients together until combined.
- Add ice if desired. Garnish glass with 1 cucumber slice and 1-2 fresh mint leaves (optional). Enjoy!
- Simple Syrup: As written, this recipe makes approximately 3 cups of simple syrup – enough for approximately 16 mocktails.
- Storage: Refrigerate leftover simple syrup in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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How many drinks can be made from the syrup recipe above?
Good article. I absolutely appreciate this site.
Keep writing!
Hey there,
I’m hoping to make this for some of my friends who are underage or non-drinkers at my 18th at the end of the month – but not sure if it will be too mature for my friends or not…
Would you be able to recommend ratios for a smaller version of the drink so that I would be able to make some and try it prior?
Recipe sounds delicious though – I absolutely love ginger and can’t wait to try it myself!
Hi Daisy! I would personally quarter everything, so 1/4 cucumber, about 2-3 slices ginger, etc. Happy birthday!!
I’m making this for a Girls Night Out baby shower. I haven’t worked with ginger before. How many chunks do I need in order to make x4 batch? Thanks!
Hrm, it will depend on the length of the chunks you find. I’d say go for more at the store and use about 10 inches of ginger total. I’d always go with MORE ginger than less, especially in relation to the cucumber! Let me know how you like it! 🙂
Hi! I love the look of this! I will definitely be trying it soon. I was wondering, should the ginger slices be about as wide as the ones you have in the photos? I saw required thickness, but wasn’t sure about the overall size of the root you used! Also just to confirm, cucumber is skin on, right? Many thanks!
Those are actually probably a bit thick for the recipe. I’d recommend a little thinner than that. About a 2.5″ knob. Honestly it will be great no matter what! You just want plenty of surface area to infuse the liquid.
I love this recipe, thank you!
Where can i buy these glasses? They’re looking so nice! Do you know the brand? Would be great 🙂
Thanks, Laila
Aren’t they gorgeous?! We received them as a wedding gift from Crate & Barrel. You can find them here: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/rosa-sparkling-wine-glass/s205117
Too funny, that’s down the street from us now! I went to St. Agnes. What year? Such a small world!
Yep! And I knew a few folks who went to St. Agnes, too. Graduated in 2003, and I feel super old when thinking that was 11 years ago. What about you?
2005! I know, it seems like forever ago. Yesterday I met a girl who’d just graduated and when she asked me what year, I actually had to think about it. Yeah… I’m old.
It really does, right?! It’s always cute when they ask… and then you feel SO old. I worked with a bunch of actual high schoolers a few months ago on a pilot, and talking to them, while fun, made me realize just how much I’d grown up in the last 11+ years, as well as how much my college experience shaped me into the person I am today. It’s really crazy to think about. And then you feel old.
I know exactly how you feel!
High fives for mocktails that are gorgeous, slightly sweet and involve two of my favorites: ginger and cucumber! Never had one of these before, but you’d better believe I’ll be trying one soon! Thanks for sharing. Gorgeous site AND photography!
Thanks!! And please do try it – it really is so tasty. By the way, I just read your marathon story.. amazing! My husband is a marathoner and I really have no idea how you guys can do it. The very fact that you said something like “I did great for 14 miles and then..”, uhh.. mind blown. I ran five miles maybe ONCE and thought I deserved to be called Mrs. Badass the entire day, from everyone I came across. Ha!
I have a feeling I’ll be making these for the weekend’s festivities, and I’ll let ya know what we think!
Thank you! Us marathoners are a bit crazy… in the best possible way… and there’s something so satisfying about pushing yourself to the limit and seeing what you can do, no matter the distance. And I think you deserve to be called Mrs. Badass when you do something like running five miles and never having done that before… that’s absolutely deserving the title!
ALSO, just realize you live in Memphis. That’s my hometown! Small world.
That’s so nuts! I saw your sister lives here in the post.. Where did you go to high school? The requisite question
Yep! It is nuts, and my family’s all still there. I went to White Station. What about you?
Aren’t these glasses the best? We got them for our wedding and I’m absolutely obsessed with them. Gin would be awesome in this!! I thought about including a note about adding booze, but well, yanno. Vodka, too, would be totally delicious. I might even try that tonight, just saying! You know, to properly test a recipe and whatnot.. 🙂
I love this recipe, and your beautiful retro looking cocktail glasses! I’m totally making this the next time we have people over for dinner. The cucumber and ginger flavors are perfect for summer. Also, I’m already brainstorming other ways to use the infused syrup, because it sounds so fantastic.
Do you think this would be any good with gin for those who can drink?