Virgin Paloma Mocktail Recipe
Grapefruit soda with fresh lime and a salted rim — everything the Paloma is, minus the tequila.
- Category: Mocktail
- Glass: Highball glass
- ABV: 0%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~3 min
- Alcohol-free: ✓
Ingredients
- Grapefruit soda150 ml (5.1 oz)
- Fresh lime juice20 ml (0.7 oz)
- Grapefruit juice40 ml (1.4 oz)
- Salt1 pinch
How to Make It
- Rim a highball glass with salt and fill it with ice.
- Add the grapefruit juice and lime juice.
- Top with grapefruit soda and stir gently.
- Garnish with a grapefruit wedge.
Garnish
Salted rim and a grapefruit wedge
What it tastes like
It smells of lemon and lime peel, it is carbonated and it drinks cool and easy.
The technique
Built in the glass. Ice goes into the serving glass, the ingredients go on top, and you stir once if at all. Anything carbonated goes in LAST and never gets stirred; every turn of the spoon costs you bubbles. Fill the glass to the rim with ice: less ice melts faster, not slower.
Glass and ice
A tall, narrow highball. The narrowness does real work — less surface area means the carbonation lasts longer and the ice melts more slowly.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
- Grapefruit juice
- Grapefruit juice. Pink is sweet and soft, white is bitter and sharp — when a recipe does not say which, pink is the safer call.
- Salt
- A pinch of salt lifts the sweetness and pulls the bitterness back — most of all in grapefruit and tomato drinks. Coarse salt for the rim; dissolved brine when it goes into the drink.
The Story
The Paloma outsells the Margarita inside Mexico, and the grapefruit soda it is built on was always the point.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Virgin Paloma mixed?
- It is built in the glass and served in a highball glass.
- Does a Virgin Paloma contain alcohol?
- No. It is safe to serve to children, to anyone pregnant, and to whoever is driving.
- Is a Virgin Paloma hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.