Sparkling Jalapeño Limeade – This refreshing homemade limeade is made by creating a cilantro jalapeño simple syrup and combining with fresh lime juice and sparkling water. It’s the best thing to enjoy all summer long!

Hooray for summer! I am loving this warm weather, but even more, I am so excited to start using tons of fresh produce again.

You’ve seen a few samples of my produce-filled recipes this past month, like this Southern Cobb salad or this pineapple sorbet.

But thanks to my break from alcohol as I grow this baby in my belly, my new-found love is making homemade sodas like this grapefruit soda. They’re so refreshing, yet unbelievably simple to make. So I have another yummy soda recipe to share with guys today!

This recipe is inspired by my love of spicy margaritas. I’m not a spicy fan, whatsoever. But there’s just something about a hint of spice in a cool, refreshing margarita that just tastes magical. So I’ve recreated here in this nonalcoholic version.

Check out my Sparkling Jalapeño Margarita!

This soda recipe is made very similarly to the grapefruit soda I posted a few weeks ago. To get the most flavor in the soda, we make an infused simple syrup. All that means is you boil sugar and water until the sugar dissolves and then add in chopped cilantro and jalapeño to steep while the syrup comes back down to room temperature. This process makes sure we get tons of flavor from the infused ingredients without having to load the produce into the drink.

After making the syrup, all that’s left is adding in the freshly-squeezed lime juice and sparkling water. Of course, you can use club soda instead, but I like the flavor of the sparkling water a lot more than club soda so that’s why I use it for this recipe.

Let’s take a second to go back to the lime juice, though. The last time I had to squeeze so many pieces of citrus, I wanted to die. It took forever-freaking ever! And my hands were sore for days. Okay – a slight exaggeration, but it felt like they were gonna fall off in the process.

For this recipe, I invested in a juicer. I hadn’t used a juicer since my time growing up in Florida when we’d make fresh OJ using oranges from my aunt’s orange tree. Can you get much more Floridian than that?!

I remembered how easy it was to juice oranges with the juicer so I needed to get one to make this limeade and many other juices this summer. I bought a small, affordable one and it worked like a charm.

Here are a couple more things to consider when making this limede:

1. Jalapeno can be made milder by removing seeds and membranes from the pepper before chopping. I highly recommend doing that before dicing up the jalapenos and steeping in the simple syrup. Otherwise, the drink may be wayyy too spicy for you.
2. I love rimming my glasses with sugar, a little salt, and a little cayenne. It adds a great finish to each sip.
3. Don’t chop the cilantro too fine before adding to the syrup. The more you chop it, the more flavor is released and thus the more concentrated the syrup will become. A couple light chops will be more than enough.

That’s all there is to it! I hope you love this refreshing drink as much as I do. And hey, if you feel like getting your booze on, you can always add a shot of tequila to the limeade to make a killer margarita.

Enjoy!

Here are all the kitchen tools and serveware that I used in today’s recipe. For each item sold below, I make a small commission. I only recommend items that I own and love so you can trust that each recommendation is tried and true. Thank you for supporting CPA!

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More recipes you’ll love:

Homemade Grapefruit Soda

Jalapeño Pineapple Sticky Wings

Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken Skewers