Turn Your Ordinary Mojito Into The Absolute Best Sunny Sipper With Grilled Fruit

The king of summer cocktail customization is probably the margarita, with its seemingly endless fruity variants, but if you are looking for the best in summer refreshment, don't sleep on the mojito. Maybe it's the relative popularity of tequila versus rum, or just Mexican cuisine's deep influence on American eating, but the mojito is a stone-cold classic that somehow always feels like it's flying under the radar. You get the lime bite of a marg, but with cooling mint and refreshing club soda too. It's hard to think of any cocktail better for a hot day. And just like margaritas, mojitos' clean flavor profile is just waiting to be customized and iterated with fruits, spices, and herbs. And while even some simple crushed fruit or juice will be nice, there is an extra step you can take to pack the most flavor possible into your mojito, and that's grilling your fruit.

This trick came to us via Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye's grilled pineapple mojito recipe, but it can work just as well for almost any fruit you want to pair with your cocktail. Giving your fruit a brief sear boosts the finished drink by bringing out so many flavors that weren't there before. You still get the refreshing fruitiness, but the sweetness will be deeper, more concentrated, and more complex from the browning and caramelization of the sugars. It also imparts a light smoky flavor, turning your mojito into something not just bright, but rich and multifaceted.

Grilled fruit isn't just a flavor bomb of a mojito ingredient, it's also quick and simple, making it just as good for a couple of drinks as it is for a party pitcher. You don't even need a grill. Whether you're using a live grill, griddle pan, or even your broiler, just get your cut-up fruit over medium-high heat until the edges start to brown and caramelize. Don't take it too far. You don't want an overly blackened, charred flavor; you want just enough to bring out that syrupy sweetness and get some color. Then chop up a few of your pieces of grilled fruit and add it to the mojito shaker. Muddle and shake the ingredients together before straining, then garnish with the remaining pieces of fruit.

This trick will work with almost any fruit you like, but there are a few options you might want to try first. A great place to start is with watermelon or strawberries, which can be a little watery on their own, and are both summer classic mint pairings. Another summer favorite that loves a little browning is juicy peaches. You don't need to stick to common grilled fruits either. Citrus does great getting browned, and grilled limes can subtly alter your mojito while sticking to its core flavors. Or you could mix in some sweeter grilled orange slices as well. With mojitos, the rules were made to be broken.