Healthy Mocktails for the 4th of July

It’s easy to let your healthy habits slide when there’s a reason to celebrate. However, when you put a little effort into keeping your health the priority regardless of the holiday or social gathering, you’ll keep your body and mind feeling great and find that celebrations are just as fun without alcohol or junk food. 

Of course, even when you’re confident that you’re making the best choices for your health, you may still want to have a celebratory drink. We’ve compiled the favorite healthy mocktails of the team at Quality of Life to celebrate the 4th of July, summer, and other critical celebratory events, like Mondays. 

What’s a Mocktail? 

Simply put, mocktails are cocktails without alcohol. Oftentimes, mocktails start with traditional cocktail recipes, then include some tweaks to make them just as delicious without the alcohol. As an added benefit, all of these mocktails have a healthy twist. 

Watermelon Agua Fresca

Agua fresca is the perfect mocktail for a hot July celebration. This refreshing drink is popular in Mexico and Central America and has extra health benefits. Since agua fresca can be served unfiltered, you don’t miss out on all that good fiber that’s usually filtered out with regular juice.  

This version of agua fresca highlights watermelon, which is full of potassium, magnesium, vitamin A, and antioxidants, including vitamin C, carotenoids, lycopene, and citrulline. In addition, watermelon has benefits that include supporting heart and eye health, muscle recovery, and improving digestion. 

However, you can make a delicious agua fresca with several fruits, including pineapple, cantaloupe, cucumber, and strawberries. 

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 cups cubed watermelon
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
• Water
• Mint or lime rounds (for garnish)

Instructions 

In a blender, combine watermelon, lime juice, sugar, and one cup of water. Blend until smooth. Add more lime or sweetener to taste.

Pour into four prepared glasses of ice with optional mint or lime garnish. Serve immediately.

If you prefer your agua fresca less filling, you can strain the mixture into a pitcher and discard leftover solids before serving.

Beet Ginger Sangria Spritzer

While the origin of sangria tends to differ depending on where you are and who you ask, it’s agreed that sangria began with Spanish wine and citrus fruit. After sangria was introduced to America at the 1964 World’s Fair, it was quickly embraced as the quintessential summer drink. 

In this beet ginger sangria spritzer, we swapped wine for beet juice, giving this mocktail a healthy boost. Beets are rich in folate, nitrates, potassium, and fiber. These nutrients make beets heart-healthy root vegetables that support healthy cell turnover, better digestion, and increased blood flow.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 piece of ginger, about the size of your thumb, sliced into 6 pieces
• 2 cups beet juice
• 1 cup orange or pineapple juice
• 1 cup apple juice
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 cups chopped fruit
• 2 cups sparkling water 

Instructions

Make a simple syrup by combining water, sugar, and ginger in a saucepan and bringing to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, and let the mixture thicken into a syrup (about 5 minutes), stirring regularly.

Pour the mixture into a heat-safe container and let cool. Overnight is ideal. Keep the ginger in the syrup until ready for use.

Combine beet juice, orange juice, apple juice, lime juice, and chopped fruit. Chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight. 

Once the syrup mixture is cooled, strain ginger pieces using a cocktail shaker or fine mesh strainer.

To serve, fill four glasses with ice, add ½ cup sparkling water and 2 tablespoons of ginger syrup to each glass, and top with the juice mixture and some fruit. Mix before serving. 

Modifications

If you don’t have time to make the ginger simple syrup, use ginger ale instead of the sparkling water and ginger simple syrup mixture.

Strawberry Lychee Spritz

A spritz is an Italian cocktail that often includes prosecco, bitter liquor, and soda water. We take liberties with the title for this light and summery nutrition-packed mocktail. 

While lychee fruit can be challenging to find, they’re often available in Asian grocery stores and worth going out of your way to track down. Lychee is known for its sweet, flowery flavor and is an excellent source of essential vitamins and nutrients, including potassium, copper, and vitamin C. 

Lychee also contains higher levels of antioxidant polyphenols than most common fruit, providing both epicatechin and rutin, which are flavonoids that have the potential to boost the immune response and support heart health. 

In addition, lychee serves as a critical component of Oligonol®, Quality of Life’s patented mix of antioxidants derived from lychee skin and green tea. Oligonol may offer benefits that include enhanced circulation, increased endurance, a reduction in belly fat, and a decrease in the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, and brown spots.*

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 cup chopped strawberries, divided
• 1 cup chopped lychee (fresh or canned), divided
• 2 handfuls of fresh mint leaves (plus more for garnish)
• 4 cups sparkling grape juice

Instructions

Add ¼ cup strawberries, ¼ lychee, and 6-7 mint leaves to each glass. Using the back of a spoon, lightly crush the mint and fruit to release the flavors and juice.

Add ice to each glass. Pour sparkling grape juice over the ice, and garnish with extra mint leaves. Serve immediately.

As a bonus, you can enjoy your muddled fruit combination when you finish your drink!

Keep Cool This 4th of July with a Refreshing Mocktail

Preparing a batch of healthy mocktails ensures everyone, including kids and adults, can join in the fun with a festive drink that will leave everyone feeling good about their choices the following day. 

Crafting a delicious new mocktail recipe can get your creative juices flowing. Try your hand at crafting your own celebratory beverage and experiment with different seltzers, fruits, muddling, and flavor combinations. 

By trading out your standard beer, wine, or cocktail for your newly crafted mocktail, chances are you won’t miss the alcohol or the extra sugar and calories that come with it.