This Homemade Ginger Ale is sweet and spicy! Made with fresh root ginger and chilli flakes it really packs a punch. Get the recipe below.
What is Ginger Ale?
Ginger Ale is the non-alcoholic cousin to Ginger Beer. The names are very similar so it is easy to get them confused.
Where Ginger Beer is left to ferment, Ginger Ale is a simple, sweetened, ginger-flavoured soft drink.
To make Ginger Ale you'll need the following ingredients:
- Root ginger
- Muscovado sugar
- 1 lime
- Sparkling water or lemonade
- Ice to serve
You'll also need a blender and a sieve or cheesecloth to strain the ginger mixture.
Is there an alternative to root ginger?
Unfortunately you just can't get the same effect with any other ginger alternatives such as ground ginger or ginger extracts. Fresh root ginger is an essential part of this dish.
Adjusting to taste
I appreciate that everyone's spice tolerance is different. You might therefore want to adjust the flavour to suit your own tastes.
To turn down the heat use less (or no) chilli flakes, don't use less root ginger. You can also make it sweeter by adding more sugar.
Storing the Ginger Ale
This recipe can be broken down into two parts. First you make a ginger cordial, and then you top it up with the sparkling water or lemonade.
If you want to store the Ginger Ale, you can bottle the ginger cordial in a sterilised bottle and it will keep in the fridge for 3 - 5 days.
The recipe
Homemade Ginger Ale
Equipment
- 1 high speed blender
- 1 fine sieve or cheese cloth
Ingredients
- 500 g root ginger
- 0.5 teaspoon chilli flakes or more or less to suit your tastes
- 200 g light muscovado sugar
- 1 lime juice only
- sparkling water to serve
Instructions
- Peel the root ginger and roughly chop.
- Add to a blender along with the chilli flakes, sugar and lime juice.
- Blend until smooth.
- Strain the mixture through a sieve or squeeze through cheese cloth and discard the pulp that's left behind.
- Decant into a sterilised bottle until ready to use.
- To use, add roughly 75ml to a glass with ice and top up with sparkling water or lemonade.
Nutrition
More summer drinks
The following drinks are all non-alcoholic and perfect for cooling off in the summer. If you want to see all of the drinks on the blog, including cocktails, check out the drinks recipe archive.
You might also be interested to find out more about making your own kombucha. Just check out my post here.
Enjoy!
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