Beat the heat this summer with Frozen Lemon Daiquiris reminiscent of the New Orleans classic cocktail. Sweet and tart, this citrus and rum cocktail is like a fresh frozen lemonade. 

Today I bring you one of my cocktails of the year, the Frozen Lemon Daiquiri.

I have long been a daiquiri fan, and it started young.

Okay, that sounds bad/weird. Let me explain.

My love for daiquiris has come a long way. Kind of like loving a band since through their worst album, sticking with them while they got even better.

When I was in middle school, my friend invited me to her bat mitzvah and I remember that her parents had rented a machine that made booze-less frozen daiquiris for us.

What a novelty! I’d never heard of daiquiris before.

I’m sure they were riddled with fake strawberry flavor, red food color and way too much sugar, but, boy, were they delicious.

After my 21st birthday, there were more of those too-sweet, too-colorful daiquiris, this time with alcohol.

A trip to New Orleans post-college with friends revealed to me to-go-cups overflowing with those atrocities, but my friends and I drank them joyfully.

I didn’t know better yet. Still loving the bad songs.

After bartending school, daiquiris kind-of fell off my radar. There was so much more to try!

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, Chris and I took a trip to Richmond. We were super lucky to get to take a few classes from cocktail wizard David Wondrich:

David Wondrich making a classic daiquiri

One of them was an entire class on the Hemingway Daiquiri, supposedly Earnest Hemingway’s favorite cocktail. And that’s when I feel back in love

It’s a tart little thing, with rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice and Luxardo liqueur, plus a lime wedge garnish. If you like grapefruit, I recommend this one!

And then last fall I took another trip to New Orleans, this time for work. One night we wound up at a gumbo restaurant in the French Quarter.

It’s always hard to know what’s a tourist trap and what’s not, but I could tell this was the real deal because there were lots of locals in line.

While we waited for a table, a man who was picking up takeout told us his mom made the best gumbo, but when she didn’t make it, this place made her favorite. Sold.

On the drink menu were frozen daiquiris, which I might have ignored, because — to recap — I was hooked on the good songs now.

But these intrigued me because they boasted that they were made with fresh juices, kind of like this frozen mango daiquiri I made a few years back. I ordered a frozen lemon one, and it was glorious.

It’s a sweet-tart, citrus delight reminiscent of the frozen lemonades I loved as a child. And I still love it so, if this Limoncello Lemonade isn’t enough proof.

So I set out to make Frozen Lemon Daiquiris at home and I wanted to share the recipe with you.

I really think you’ll love it! It’s easy to make — throw some rum, fresh-squeezed lemon juice and simple syrup into a blender with some ice, and voila!

A perfect melody you’ll love forever.

Frozen Lemon Daiquiris

Yield: 2 cocktails

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Active Time: 3 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Beat the heat this summer with Frozen Lemon Daiquiris reminiscent of the New Orleans classic cocktail. Sweet and tart, this citrus and rum cocktail is like a fresh frozen lemonade. 

Print

Ingredients

• 4 ounces white rum
• 2 ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 ounce simple syrup
• 3 cups ice
• Mint leaf, for garnish

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients except the garnish in a blender. Blend on high until the ice is thoroughly crushed, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Serve in a coupe glass and garnish with a mint leaf. 

Notes

Skip the rum to make the drink non-alcoholic.

Adapted from the New York Times.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #feastandwestrecipes!