Watermelon Juice

Watermelon Juice is such a great summer treat, and perfect to use as a mixer for your cocktails or mocktails! It's super easy to make this recipe without a juicer, and the only ingredient you'll need is some fresh watermelon.

Since watermelon is in season during the summertime, that is when you'll get the best flavor from making juice! Watermelon has a lot of liquid in it (hence the name!) and you'll get a bunch of juice from one melon.

Once you're done making the juice, keep the rinds around to make Watermelon Rind Syrup!

This juice is the perfect mixer for the refreshing Watermelon Mojito, or try it with tequila in the tasty Watermelon Paloma.

Ingredients

You only need one ingredient to make this recipe -- fresh watermelon!

To get the best flavor, try to buy a ripe watermelon in season. If you're buying a whole watermelon, look for a dark green skin with no soft spots. If you're buying pre-cubed watermelon, look for a deep red color.

For this recipe, it works best to buy a seedless watermelon, since the black seeds will cause a slight bitter flavor if they end up in the puree.

Variations

This is a pretty simple recipe, but you can use this juice-making method with other fruits too!

Try it out with a different melon like honeydew, cantaloupe or strawberry.

You can also add some lime juice to the watermelon juice to give it a little more tanginess! The juice of ½ lime would likely be plenty to use for the amount made in this recipe, but you can modify it to your own taste.

Equipment

It's easiest to make this recipe using a blender. I used my Americana brand personal blender, but a regular blender works great too, especially if you want to make more than a cup of juice.

You'll also need a knife and a cutting board to chop up the watermelon, as well as a large fine-mesh strainer and a large measuring cup to strain the juice into.

To store the juice, a glass bottle with a lid works great, or a mason jar. The bottle should hold at least 8 ounces.

If you don't have a blender, you can use a food processor. If you don't have one of those, try using a potato masher.

Instructions

Start out by cutting your watermelon into cubes. They should be about ½ inch on each side, so you can fit as much as possible into your blender.

Add the watermelon cubes into your blender.

Close up your blender and pulse to start mashing up the watermelon.

If the blades get stuck, just take the blender container and shake it up (if you're using a personal blender) or stir up the watermelon (if you're using a regular blender) to get it started again.

Once everything is smooth, set your strainer on top of a measuring cup or large bowl. Carefully pour the watermelon puree through the strainer.

The watermelon solids will collect in the strainer, and the juice will flow through.

Once the juice stops draining, use a spoon or spatula to stir everything to make sure all of the juice gets out of the puree.

Then, bottle up the juice. You can use it right away, or keep it refrigerated for about a week.

Hint: If you want to add a little bit of tartness, you can squeeze in about half a lime.

Top tip

If you're in a pinch and don't have a blender, try using a citrus press juicer instead! Just create a larger watermelon cube (around 1 inch square) and pop it in the citrus juicer. Squeeze the handles together and the juice will come right out of the melon.