This watermelon cocktail is vibrant and refreshing! It’s the perfect combination of sweet melon, zingy lime, and gin.

The season for watermelon is short and sweet, so once it’s in: capitalize on this hydrating fruit! After making a watermelon margarita, tart, fruity, and a little salty, we just had to make more watermelon drinks. Meet the gin watermelon cocktail! It’s spirit-forward, botanical from the gin and tangy from lime juice, and just sweet enough. It couldn’t be more refreshing and ideal for warm temperatures. Here’s how to make this watermelon cocktail!

How to make a watermelon cocktail

To make a watermelon cocktail, here are the basic steps (or jump to the recipe):

Whiz everything in a blender! That’s right! All you need to do is add watermelon, lime juice, simple syrup, and gin to a blender, and blend it up! You don’t even need to strain it like with watermelon juice.
Pour into 6 servings. A frothy foam will rise to the top. This watermelon cocktail makes a big pitcher to share! Looking for individual drinks? Go to Watermelon Martini.

The garnish makes it pop

With cocktail recipes, it’s all about presentation! This watermelon cocktail is made more perfect by the garnish: you can use a lime wedge, or a small watermelon wedge! Simply cut up little wedges of watermelon while you’re chopping it for the blender.

It’s lightly sweet

This gin and watermelon cocktail is lightly sweetened: most of the sweetness if from the fruit! It has a small amount of added sweetener: use 1 tablespoon simple syrup, maple syrup, or honey for 6 drinks. The great thing about naturally sweetened drinks is that they taste vibrant and natural, but simple syrup is great too!

What cocktail shaker should I buy?

Cocktail shakers are inexpensive and absolutely worth snagging if you find yourself making lots of cocktails. A cocktail shaker quickly chills cocktails by shaking them against ice, then has a perforated lid so you can pour out the cocktail without pouring out the ice as well. Here’s the cocktail shaker we use: Favorite Cocktail Shaker | Amazon

If you’re in a pinch, you can actually use a glass mason jar instead of a cocktail shaker! Place the cocktail in the jar and fill it with ice. Put on the top and shake away! Pouring out the cocktail without the ice won’t be quite as elegant, but that’s ok, right?

What type of gin should I buy?

It doesn’t matter what type of gin you use for this watermelon cocktail: as long as it is high quality gin! The easiest way to tell if a gin is high quality? Don’t buy the cheapest gin you can find. Try to invest in a mid-price range gin: the drink will only taste as good as the gin you invest in! Be on the lookout for local gin, if you have distilleries in your area. (We used Indianapolis-based local 8th Day Distillery.)

Variations: watermelon vodka cocktail, mule & margarita!

Watermelon is perfect for blending into summer drinks: especially cocktails! Here are a few variations on a watermelon cocktail:

Mule: The Watermelon Mule is a spin on the classic starring watermelon juice and ginger beer.
Vodka cocktail: This Watermelon Vodka Cocktail is similar to this gin cocktail but uses watermelon juice, vodka and tangy lime.
Martini: The Watermelon Martini tastes like summer!
Mojito: Try this delicious Watermelon Mojito
Smash: Use both vodka and rum for the refreshing Watermelon Smash
Sangria: A big pitcher of Watermelon Sangria is perfect for entertaining.

Want more with watermelon? Head to our Best Watermelon Recipes.

This watermelon cocktail recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, dairy-free, naturally sweet, and refined sugar free.