This Pineapple Agua Fresca is made with just fresh pineapple, lime juice, agave syrup, and water. It's light, refreshing, and perfect for summer! It's totally failproof and easy to make in a large batch!
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What's Agua Fresca?
Agua fresca, also called Agua de Piña, means "fresh water" in Spanish and in this case, it would be pineapple water. It originated in Mexico and it's a popular refreshing drink sold often at street markets. It's made with blended fruit, vegetables, rice, or tea leaves with water, sugar, and often lime juice served over ice.
Some popular flavors include pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, or hibiscus. It's very similar to your classic lemonade but with less sugar and lemon and more fruit flavors.
Agua fresca has more flavor than infused water but it's lighter and has less sugary than fruit juices you'd buy at the grocery store. Instead of boxed juices, it uses fresh fruit that gets mixed with water to make a flavorful but light and refreshing drink.
Why You'll Love This Pineapple Agua Fresca
Freshing and flavorful - Fresh pineapple is blended with water, fresh lime juice, a touch of agave, and strained. It's a delicious and refreshing non-alcoholic drink, perfect for the summer and days spent by the pool, BBQs, or parties!
Easy and simple - You only need 4 ingredients (including water) and about 15 minutes to make this drink. Simply toss everything into your blender, blend till smooth, and strain. It takes almost no effort and it's totally fail-proof.
Versatile - You can follow the same recipe with other fruits like watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, or cucumber! Just swap the pineapple for other fruit. You can even add herbs like fresh mint which is delicious with cucumber or basil with strawberries. I loosely followed this agua fresca recipe to make this Strawberry Basil Lemonade.
Ingredients
- Pineapple - Fresh pineapple will yield the best flavor but you can also use frozen pineapple if necessary. You'll have to add water to the blender though to help it blend or defrost it in the fridge overnight prior to making this agua fresca.
- Lime juice - Freshly squeezed lime juice is the best option and gives the drink so much flavor.
- Agave syrup - You can skip this if you don't want your drink too sweet. Sweetener is traditionally added but I usually skip it. Any sweetener works.
- Water - You can add as much or as little as you want. Fresh pineapple has a great strong flavor so even if you double the water for a big group, it's still going to be really flavorful!
Variations and Substitutions
- A different sweetener - You can sweeten the drink with honey, simple syrup, cane sugar, or coconut sugar if you prefer. You can also use a sugar-free sweetener but it might change the flavor.
- Different fruit - You can make agua fresca with practically any summer fruit! Any juicy fruit works great. Try cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry, or peach!
- Add sparkling water - You can turn the drink into more of a mocktail and stretch it into more servings by serving it topped with sparkling water or club soda. You could also add unsweetened pineapple or lime-flavored soda like LaCroix.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add chopped pineapple, lime juice, and agave syrup into a highspeed blender. Blend on high until smooth.
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- Strain the pineapple pulp through a fine mesh strainer or a cheesecloth into a large measuring cup or a bowl. Use a spoon to help the process. It will take a few minutes to do this but I highly recommend not skipping it. The drink is much more pleasant to drink without the added fiber.
- Pour the pineapple juice into a large pitcher and add 4 cups of water. You can add less or more water depending on how strong you want the pineapple flavor to be. I like adding equal amounts of pineapple just and water or slightly more water. I also usually add ice to it right away which also waters it down a bit.
- Stir everything to mix well. Add ice if desired or cool the drink in the fridge before serving.
How to Select the Best Pineapple
- Heavy and golden - Look for a pineapple that feels heavy for its size and has a golden color. A ripe pineapple should be yellow/orange, not green. If it's green, try letting it sit on your counter for a day or two to ripen. That being said, a pineapple that ripens before it reaches you will always taste the best. The pineapple should have a little give when squeezed but it should still be firm.
- Sweet smell - The base of the fruit should have a sweet smell; it shouldn't smell fermented or have any mold. The pineapple should have a little give when squeezed but it should still be firm.
- Green leaves - Look for vibrant green leaves without any visible mold or dry spots. Try pulling on one of the inner leaves. If it's easy to pull out, the pineapple is ripe and ready. If the leaf looks wilted and rotten on the bottom, the pineapple is too ripe.
Serving and Storage
- Serve it over ice: You can either add ice right into the pitcher with the agua fresca or you can add just a few ice cubes to help it cool down and serve it over ice instead to prevent it from getting watered down too much.
- Frozen pineapple instead of ice: You can also use frozen pineapple chunks instead of ice to cool down the drink without watering it down.
- Garnish: Serve it garnished with lime slices or pineapple wedges on the glass rim to make it fancier.
- Storing: Store any leftovers in a glass jar or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
FAQs
Agua fresca is made with fruit, lime juice, some sort of sweetener (I like agave), and water. The fruit gets blended, strained, and mixed with water. This recipe uses pineapple but there are tons of other varieties!
Agua fresca is blended with water so it's a much lighter version with less sugar but it still packs a lot of flavor (more than infused water does).
If you're making this drink with fresh blended pineapple. I recommend storing it for only up to 3 days. Store-bought pineapple juice will most likely stay fresh in the fridge for longer (in its original container) but be sure to always check the label.
Similar Refreshing Fruity Drinks
If you want to try similar drinks to this one, check out any of the ones linked below! They're just as refreshing and delicious as this agua fresca! To see all the latest ones head over to Non-Alcoholic Drinks.
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Print📖 Recipe
Pineapple Agua Fresca
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 0 mins
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Drink
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Pineapple Agua Fresca is made with just 4 ingredients in 15 minutes. It's refreshing, light, and perfect for the summer! Serve it on a hot summer afternoon, at a family dinner or a BBQ!
Ingredients
- 1 pineapple, peeled, core removed, and chopped
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tbsp agave syrup
- 4 cups water
- Ice for serving
- Garnish: lime slices, pineapple wedges (optional)
Instructions
- Add chopped pineapple, lime juice, and agave syrup into a highspeed blender. Blend on high until smooth.
- Strain the blended pineapple through a fine mesh strainer into a large measuring cup or a bowl.
- Pour the pineapple juice into a large pitcher and add 4 cups of water.
- Add ice or let the drink cool in the fridge before serving.
- Serve the agua fresca over ice garnished with lime slices or pineapple wedges.
Notes
Frozen pineapple instead of ice: To prevent your drink from being watered down by ice, use frozen pineapple chunks instead to cool your drink down!
Storing: Store any leftovers in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 2 days.
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Jacqueline says
I love a good refreshing summer drink, this was so good! I gotta try other versions of this too!