This blood orange mojito recipe is a refreshing twist on the classic mojito cocktail. It’s everything you love about a mojito with an extra hint of fresh citrus flavor.
We’ve included a recipe for a single mojito cocktail as well as a mojito pitcher.
What Is a Blood Orange?
Blood oranges are a delicious variety of oranges with beautiful red and orange flesh, which is how they got their name! They taste something like a cross between a raspberry and an orange and have kind of a short season. I can only find them in the store around me from December to March or so.
They can be a little more tart than a regular orange, but they taste amazing in cocktails and this blood orange mojito is one of our favorite cocktails to make with them.
Ingredients:
Mojitos always have a few specific ingredients. Without these, the cocktail would not be a mojito:
- rum
- club soda
- lime juice (freshly squeezed is the best)
- mint
- simple syrup or sugar
However, there can be many variations to the classic mojito ingredients above such as:
- blood orange juice (like we have done in this mojito recipe)
- raspberries, blackberries, strawberries or any other type of berry, but these three are the most common I think.
- watermelon
- grapefruit mojito
How to Make a Simple Syrup:
A simple syrup is just as easy to make as its name implies! There are just a few easy steps.
- add 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water.
- bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
- simmer for 5 – 10 mins or until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened slightly. You want it to just coat the back of a spoon. You don’t want it too thick.
And that’s it! The simple syrup will keep in an airtight jar for a long time in the fridge so we make a bunch and keep it on hand.
How to Make a Blood Orange Mojito:
Making a mojito is fairly straight forward. You just need to know a few steps and use a little elbow grease.
- juice your blood oranges. This little juicer tool works great. So does this one!
- add the rum, mint, and blood orange juice to a glass or cocktail shaker. Smash it up with a cocktail muddler. We love these nice tall highball glasses for mojitos!
- strain the rum into a glass (if you used a shaker) and add some more mint, the lime juice, and the simple syrup. Muddle briefly again.
- fill the glass with ice.
- top the mixture with club soda add a few blood orange slices and garnish with a sprig of mint before serving.
Mojito Pitcher Recipe:
It’s a cinch to make a pitcher of these mojitos for easy serving when you have guests or if you just know you and your drinking partner are going to have a few!
Simply measure your rum first, then measure all your other ingredients based on how much rum you used. For example if you used 8 oz of rum (enough for 4 cocktails):
- 8 oz rum
- 4 – 5 oz of blood orange juice
- a great big handful of mint
- 2 oz of simple syrup (or more to taste)
- 2 oz lime juice (or more to taste)
Follow the same instructions for making 1 blood orange mojito, but don’t add ice and don’t add the soda. When you go to make your cocktail, fill a glass with ice, then add 3 oz of the mojito pitcher mix and fill up the rest of your glass with club soda.
You may have to slightly adjust the amount of mojito pitcher mix for each cocktail, but after the first cocktail is made, you will know exactly how much to add for the next. And the next. And the next…. 😉
Debbie has this awesome machine for carbonating beverages called a Soda Stream Fountain. She can use it to turn regular tap water into carbonated water. You can use it to make all different kinds of soda with it using a Co2 cartridge. Plus, if you choose to make flavored soda with your Soda Stream, the flavors that they have do not contain high fructose syrup or aspartame.
We use Debbie’s Soda Stream all the time as we often like a little bubbles in our cocktails and these kind of bubbles don’t even have calories!
Tools You Need
I will sure be sorry to see the blood oranges disappear from the produce section. In the meantime however, Debbie and I will be putting this beautiful fruit to good use.
Other Blood Orange Cocktails you might like:
If you’ve tried this blood orange mojito recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let us know how it turned out in the comments below. We love hearing from you!
We love to see your creations! Tag @Cookswithcocktails if you post a picture of this recipe on INSTAGRAM
Blood Orange Mojito
Ingredients
FOR THE SIMPLE SYRUP
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
FOR THE MOJITO
- 1 oz blood orange juice
- 2 oz rum
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- 1/2 oz lime juiced
- 4 - 8 mint leaves
- 4 - 6 oz club soda
Instructions
MAKE SIMPLE SYRUP
- Add 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water and bring the mixture to a boil on the stove and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Simmer for 5 - 10 mins or until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened slightly. You want it to just coat the back of a spoon. You don't want it too thick.
MAKE THE MOJITO
- Juice your blood oranges. Your going to need about 1/2 to 1 orange per cocktail, depending on how juicy they are.
- Add the rum, mint, and blood orange juice to a glass or cocktail shaker. Smash it up with a cocktail muddler.
- Strain the rum into a glass (if you used a shaker) and add some more mint, the lime juice, and the simple syrup. Muddle just briefly again. Fill the glass with ice.
- Top the mixture with club soda add a few blood orange slices and garnish with a sprig of mint before serving.
Traci | Vanilla And Bean says
What a beautiful cocktail and yasssss! the mint! Oh the mint! There’s an herb farm a few hours East of where I live.They grow organic herbs commercially and sell locally year round! I’ve been buying mint from them since it stopped growing in my herb pots in late fall. It IS one of my most favorite herbs. I think that’s why I love mojitos so much.. its all about the mint and fruit baby! Love your photograph of the mint and water.. just beautiful! So happy it’s warming up for you! The winter has gone on for what seems like forever! Y’all have a lovely weekend!
Julie and Debbie says
Thanks Traci! How lucky you are to have fresh herbs grown close by. We usually only get the crappy grocery store ones and they are not so fresh. We were lucky to find the mint we did last weekend. I cant wait for my herb pots to grow! Hope you had a great weekend as well 🙂
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
Wish I had one of these cocktails in hand now! Love a classic mojito but I never have tried a blood orange version before, it looks & sounds so refreshing, citrus-y and fun!