We are upon the holiday season. It’s the most wonderful (and crazy) time of year! Whether you need to decompress from an online shopping bender, or gathering with your people, treat yourself to this refreshing lightened up Pomegranate Gin & Ginger Fizz cocktail.

If you like this recipe, you’ll love Fudgy Brownie Bites. They go great with this cocktail.

What’s a Fizz?

A classic Gin Fizz contains: gin, lemon juice, sweetener, and soda water. Some you will find with a frothy egg white on top. In this recipe, we are bypassing the egg white and sweetener. Pomegranates are sweet enough!

Ingredients for Lightened Up Pomegranate Gin Fizz

Gin

First things first, the gin. Choose whichever gin you like. I like the botanical elements in gin. Hendrick’s Gin is in my top pick, as well as Bombay Sapphire. For this recipe I am supporting a Kansas City made Gin: Tom’s Town Botanical Gin.

Pomegranate Juice

Getting the juice out of a Pomegranate is a feat most do not want to tackle. Good news! You can buy juice bottled up and ready to purchase in the refrigerated section at your local grocery store. Even the big box stores carry the large bottles of Pomegranate juice.

Seltzer Water

The “Fizz” in this cocktail is Seltzer water. It comes in so many flavor varieties these days. Grapefruit seltzer water pairs nicely with this lightened up cocktail. I like La Croix’s Pamplemousse, which is their Grapefruit. Don’t like Grapefruit? Choose another flavor. Orange or Cranberry would be good too.

Why Seltzer? While Soda Water is more bubbly, it also have several added ingredients to help keep those bubbles, well, bubbly. Ingredients like: potassium sulfate, sodium chloride, disodium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate are found in soda water. No thanks! Seltzer is basically just carbonated water.

Lime Squeeze

A lime squeeze balances out the sweetness of the Pomegranate juice, and compliments the gin.

Grated Fresh Ginger

This is the finishing touch! Just a slight bit of grated ginger on top adds a slight zing. Don’t like ginger? Orange zest would be delicious too. If you’re up for it, top with both!

Pomegranate Arils

This is completely optional, however, looks so pretty in your cocktail glass! Arils are the seeds in a pomegranate. Find these in a little cup next to the bottled pomegranate juice at your grocery store. Or you can extract them yourself.

To get the arils out of a pomegranate: cut the pomegranate in half at the equator. Hold the cut side down over a bowl of water, squeeze the pomegranate half all over. The seeds will start to fall out. Some say to smack the back of the pomegranate with a wooden spoon. I don’t think this works as well as squeezing it all over.

Some bits of the white pith will probably fall out too while squeezing. That’s ok! Separate them from the seeds if stuck.

Mocktail

This Lightened Up Pomegranate Gin Fizz can definitely be turned into a mocktail! Taking out the gin will lighten it up even more.

Health Benefits of Pomegranates

Pomegranates are a super fruit. They are loaded with antioxidants which help lower the risk of disease. Move aside red wine, Pomegranate juice has “three times the antioxidant activity of red wine and green tea”, according to this Healthline.com article “12 Benefits of Pomegranates” by Joe Leech.

Other benefits of pomegranates mentioned in this article:

• Helps reduce inflammation
• Lowers blood pressure
• May help with memory
• Helps fight bacterial and fungal infections
• May help with erectile dysfunction by improving blood flow
• May improve exercise performance

Lots of good reasons to tip a glass back. Just remember all in moderation. Pomegranate juice doesn’t have added sugars, but there are a lot of natural sugars in them.

Other Holiday Recipes…

Need a healthy and delicious side for Thanksgiving? Try my roasted Butternut Squash with Sage and Pumpkin Seeds or Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Almonds.

Need an appetizer recipe that is easy and healthy? Try my Prosciutto Wrapped Pears or Lox & Cream Cheese Pinwheels.

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