The Real Mojito

This Cuban cocktail is a blend of a few simple ingredients, but the resulting drink is the perfect balance of sweet and tart, not to mention refreshing! What makes this a five-star recipe? It stays true to the original mojito with real, fresh ingredients. The recipe makes one serving, but you can easily scale it up to make a pitcher for summertime entertaining.

What Is a Mojito?

A mojito is a classic highball drink that originated in Cuba. Not surprisingly, this cocktail uses ingredients indigenous to Cuba, including rum, lime, mint, and sugar. The mixture is topped off with a little club soda to create a thirst-quenching libation. It requires a bit more labor than many mixed drinks, as it involves first muddling fresh mint, lime, and sugar together to release the flavors. But it's well worth it for a refreshing, fizzy, and mildly sweet rum cocktail that remains one of the most popular to this day.

Mojito Ingredients

Rum

Always use white rum for mojitos. Avoid spiced rums, because these will take away from the freshness of the mint and lime.

Mint

Spearmint is most commonly used for mojitos and is what you'll likely find at the grocery store labeled generically as "mint." For an authentic Cuban mojito, use mojito mint, or Mentha x villosa, a type of mint native to Cuba with a more understated flavor than that of spearmint.

Lime

Use freshly squeezed limes for best flavor. When shopping for limes, look for fruits with smooth skin, as this indicates the fruit is full of juice.

Sugar

Folks often substitute simple syrup for sugar in mojitos because it blends into the drink more smoothly. However, classic mojito recipes call for granulated sugar. Not only does this ensure the drink isn't overly sweet, but the occasional undissolved sugar granule adds texture that's signature to a classic mojito. If you prefer, you can use superfine/caster sugar in place of granulated sugar, as this will dissolve more easily into cold liquid.

Club Soda

Top everything off with club soda to lighten up the drink and balance out the other ingredients.

What You'll Need to Make a Mojito

As with most cocktails, crafting mojitos requires a few special tools — namely, a muddler. This bartending tool is used to crush fresh herbs and fruits to help release their flavors. If you don't have a muddler, use the end of a wooden spoon instead.

Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise

"Light, refreshing and a perfect blend of tart and sweet," says reviewer winelight.

"Plan to make 2 or more pitchers if you have more than a couple of friends," says reviewer LeslieRN72. "These mojitos go down easily and are gone in a flash!"

"This is the closest I've found to a real mojito like your favorite bartender will mix for you," says reviewer Stenner. "It's essential that you use fresh spearmint and lime."

Editorial contributions by Melanie Fincher