5 ingredients + water and 5 minutes is all you need to make this cold, thirst-quenching summer beverage. Strawberry-flavored ice water with lime and hint of fresh chili is definitely the world's easiest drink to make during hot summer days.
A perfect way to use up bulk or ripe strawberries - make strawberry agua frescas! The strawberry season is officially here and during my favorite time of the year, we eat a lot of strawberries and try to make as much as possible delicious recipes with them.
This aqua fresca is a wonderful and refreshing drink to have on hand. If you have a blender or an immersion blender this drink will be done in seconds!
What is agua fresca?
It may sound like an exotic cocktail but it is actually a non-alcoholic cold beverage mostly popular in Mexico and Central America.
It can be made not only with strawberries but with all sorts of fruits and berries. Make it even more special by adding few spices or fresh chili which will elevate the flavors even more.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup + for garnish fresh strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered
- 1 ½ cup ice cold water
- ½ of whole red chili pepper with seeds, sliced in circles (if not sure, leave the peppers out!)
- 2-3 tablespoon of granulated sugar or muscovado sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoon fresh lime juice
- Pinch of Himalayan (pink salt) salt flakes
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How to make Agua Fresca
Add all ingredients to the blender and process until strawberries and chilis are smooth.
Pour mixture into a jar, pitcher, or individual cups filled with ice, garnish with fresh chili, strawberries, mint or basil leaves (optional).
Makes about 3 smaller (water) glasses.
How long is strawberry agua fresca good for?
For better results, when making an agua fresca recipe, it should be consumed on the day when it is made. The flavor will change a lot and not be so refreshing on the second day, unfortunately.
Tips and Variations
There are tons of variations for this agua fresca recipe, you can add your favorite combinations and play with the flavors. These are a few of my favorite suggestions for you.
- Watermelon, strawberry, and lime Agua Fresca - add few cups of chopped watermelon and reduce the water quantity to taste.
- Simple Watermelon Agua Fresca Recipe - swap strawberries to watermelon only
- Cucumber Agua Fresca - for extra fresh flavor add long thin slices of cucumber to your iced water. Add a little chili and sugar too 🙂 OR make a Cucumber Mint Agua Fresca
- Add mint - add handful of fresh mint leaves and process in blender with the rest of the ingredients.
- Spritzer - add some bubbles to the drink by topping with soda, sparkling water, ginger ale or sprite.
- Make it an adult’s drink! - add some booze like Cointreau, Vodka, Tequila, Rum to this water + a dash of soda, sparkling water, or lemonade like 7up or sprite.
- If you don't want to mess with hot peppers, simply add a dash or two of my Jalapeno Simple Syrup into blender (instead of sugar and hot peppers).
DIFFERENT WAYS TO USE STRAWBERRY TOPS
Always save strawberry tops - don’t throw them away! Here's what you can make with them:
- Make strawberry-infused water.
- Don’t have a plan to use those tops right now? Place them in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for up to a few days, or in the freezer for a few months, then pull them out when you’re ready to use them.
- Another great way to use them is to infuse your favorite spirit with them (i usually keep them in my rum for few days).
- Add the tops to your favorite smoothies to get a little pink hue and hint of strawberries.
More strawberry & summer recipes?
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Recipe
Strawberry Agua Fresca with Chili
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ½ cup + for garnish fresh strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered
- 1 ½ cup ice cold water
- ½ of whole red chili pepper with seeds, sliced in circles
- 2-3 tablespoon of granulated sugar or muscovado sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoon fresh lime juice
- Pinch of Himalayan, ground salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all ingredients to the blender and process until strawberries and chilis are smooth.
- Pour mixture into a jar, pitcher, or individual cups filled with ice, garnish with fresh chili, strawberries, mint, or basil leaves (optional).
NOTES
- Sugar - add more to taste if not sweet enough. The taste will also vary depending on how ripe are the strawberries.
- Red chili peppers - use milder chili pepper if you are afraid of this drink being too spicy, in fact, it isn’t spicy at all with all of the ingredients combined. Well, at least with the peppers I’ve used here :). This recipe will also work with fresh green chili peppers/jalapenos.
ADD YOUR OWN PRIVATE NOTES
Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on products used.
Full Nutrition Disclaimer can be found here.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Don't forget to add this refreshing fresca to your upcoming Cinco de Mayo dinner menu!