Fresh Peach Bellini Cocktail Recipe

When fresh peach season rolls around, we are so ready for it. Sweet, juicy, ripe peaches are bursting with flavor and are ready to eat. In addition to all the peach goodies we love to make, like cobblers, crostinis, galettes, and even butter, there's one other item that should grace every peach-lover's table — a good, boozy cocktail. 

The best cocktail to make with peaches is the classic peach Bellini, a simple mixture of peach purée or nectar and sparkling, sweet Prosecco. It's so simple to make using fresh white peaches, you can have a homemade batch before noon. This recipe blends peaches, honey, and lemon together in a purée before combining it in a glass with Prosecco. The end result is a smooth, bright, sweet, and refreshing cocktail, good at any time of day, but particularly delicious as an alternative to morning mimosas. Perfect for late summer brunches, this fresh peach Bellini cocktail recipe brought to you courtesy of recipe developer Michelle McGlinn will bring the taste of Italy to your table.

The ingredient list for this cocktail is short: large white peaches, lemon juice, honey, and Prosecco. You can use any type of peach for this cocktail, but we recommend white peaches because they are the sweetest and juiciest. Use lemon juice and honey to brighten and sweeten the peach purée, then top it off with Prosecco. You can also use brut, Champagne, sparkling wine, or for a non-alcoholic version, sparkling grape juice.

Peel the peaches with a vegetable peeler and remove the pit. Cut them into chunks for easier blending, removing the hard, red center, as desired. Place them in a blender and drizzle in the honey and a generous amount of lemon juice. Blend together until super smooth. With ripe peaches, this will only take 30-60 seconds.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the peach purée into a bowl, working it through with a spoon, as needed. This step is optional, but will make for a buttery-smooth purée. 

Don't have time to strain? Skip this step — straining the purée simply removes any chunky, unblended pieces, and bits of peach skin that are left on before blending.

The peach purée blends beautifully with the Prosecco, but because it is much more dense than the bubbly, it needs to be stirred into the Prosecco before topping off the glass. Spoon 4-6 tablespoons of peach purée into a champagne flute and dilute it with a splash of Prosecco. Stir or whisk until well-combined. Then, fill each glass to the top with Prosecco.

Bellinis aren't known for a particular garnish — you can use slices of peach, fresh mint sprigs, or even herbal thyme. Herbs look particularly stunning beside the golden-peachy hue. If your Bellini is a little too golden, simply whisk a few more spoonfuls of peach purée into the cocktail for a pink, peachy color.

Bellinis are delicious any time of day, but are particularly delicious during brunch, served alongside omelets, quiche lorraine, French toast, and coffee cake. If saving leftovers, the peach purée will keep for up to a week refrigerated in an airtight container.