We’re celebrating Thirsty Thursday in the best, most beautiful way possible!
Mojitos, friends. Blood Orange Mojitos.
I’m not going to even try to convince you that I know a thing about alcohol. I was that one who, when I turned 21, was brought a glass of wine…in bed…by my mother. I was the one in college who was almost always in bed by 11. I was the one who would rather be at home in her PJs reading food blogs with a spoonful of peanut butter than out in da clubs.
But I do know taste. And I know that these Blood Orange Mojitos really hit the spot after a looooong week at work! Or after you did some serious spring cleaning!
Or after plucking your cat off of the kitchen countertops for the 100th time today!
…Not that I would know that from experience or anything.
Through my consumption of an entire bag of blood oranges in less than a week, I’ve found that blood oranges, while freakin’ beautiful, just aren’t as flavorful as a plain ol’ orange.
I know! So sad. So while the blood orange is really bringin’ it with it’s hot pink color, we’re going to need to rely on the typical mojito flavors – lime and mint – to really bring our tastebuds to their happy place.
These mojitos are particularly wonderful because they gave me an excuse to use all of the mint we’ve been growing in our apartment! Those of you who follow me on Snapchat may recall that my wonderful grandmother got me an indoor herb garden for Christmas, and it’s pretty much been the best thing ever. We have mint and cilantro out to wazoo, so we’ve been having Mexican food and Blood Orange Mojitos on the daily.
I’m not even sorry.
Although the color is clearly the best part of these Blood Orange Mojitos, it’s also pretty rad that they’re naturally-sweetened with a homemade honey simple syrup or homemade maple syrup simple syrup.
Holy moly, try saying that 5 times fast.
I ❤️ pretty pink drinks. And you’ll totally ❤️ them, too.
PrintBlood Orange Mojitos
- Yield: 1 drink (easily doubled, tripled, etc.)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. honey or maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. hot water
- 10 mint leaves
- 1 lime, cut into fourths
- 1 and 1/2 ounces aged rum (I used Cruzan)
- sparkling water
- 1–2 blood oranges, juiced (you’ll want about 2 Tbsp.)
Instructions
- Add honey and hot water to a small bowl and mix to combine. This will be your Honey Simple Syrup. Set aside.
- Juice two pieces of lime into a cup of your choosing (I used a wine glass), and add the juiced lime rinds to the glass. Add the mint leaves and your Honey Simple Syrup.
- Using a long wooden spoon, carefully muddle – aka. crush – the mint leaves and lime. You want to bruise the mint and lime so that they release their oils. Oil = flavor.
- Add rum and ice, and mix to combine. Add sparkling water almost to the top of the glass, and mix well.
- Finally, add your blood orange juice. Toss in the remaining lime pieces and top with a mint sprig if desired.
Mojitos are actually my favorite cocktail, so I need to try this one out! I’m also jealous of your indoor herb garden..any time I’ve tried it they’ve died almost immediately. Reason #394857 to buy a house ASAP :)
SAME, Gretchen! If I’m out, I’ll either order wine or a mojito! Buy a house, grow some mint, and invite me over so we can drink ALL the mojitos ;)
YES, PLEASE!! Alexa, these sound and look absolutely perfect. I can’t get over that gorgeous colour!! Mojitos are my favourite and these will definitely be making their way into my weekend.
Thank you, Rebecca! That color totally gets me <3
Blood oranges…the best!!! One of my favorite winter produce <3
I totally agree! I’ve been really enjoying munching on them throughout the week :)
Hello gorgeous!!!! Loving all the fresh flavors here. This is definitely a drink I could get on board with!
Seriously, Emilie! So good :)
I can’t stop staring at your pictures … they’re so bright and summery! Makes me want to drink one of these mojitos on the beach. :)
Thank you SO much, Kristen! Coming from you, that means a lot! (I still dream of your cauliflower ‘polenta’ we made for Thanksgiving a few years ago ;)) Mojitos are the ULTIMATE summer drink :)
Alexa these are seriously BEAUTIFUL! Like, I want to go buy a bag of blood oranges tomorrow just so I can make this beautiful drink for a FRIDAYYYYY celebration…. I’ll let you know how that all goes :)
YES. Seriously perfect for Fridays! :) Let me know what you think!
You have an indoor herb garden?! That sounds amazing. I love love love me some fresh mint. The flavor combos of a mojito are just so good.
YES. The indoor herb garden is a life-saver. I pretty much cut everything down to nothing last Friday, and it grew right back. It’s amazing!
Omg. I LOVE mojitos and the blood orange looks like it would make them even better. I make strawberry mojitos all the time in the summer. Going to have to add this one into the mix :)
I do, too! Strawberry mojitos sound INCREDIBLE – thanks for the suggestion, Liz!
This mojitos looks fabulous, I love this very much! I can’t wait to try this! Thanks Alexa for sharing this recipe!
Thank you so much, Crystal! :) It’s always more fun drinking something so pretty ;)