Classic Lychee Martini Recipe

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Fruit-flavored martinis have been a thing at least since the '90s (heyday of the appletini), but a lychee martini is something a little less familiar. Recipe developer Jessica Morone says this drink is "light, fruity, and tropical." Something she feels makes it "the perfect cocktail for the ... spring/summer season." But she does note that since it's made with canned fruit it can actually be a year-round thing.

In order to concoct this cocktail you'll need to purchase a can of lychees, something you'll be able to find online or at your usual supermarket. These fruits, says Morone, "have a sweet, floral flavor that some people describe as a cross between a grape and a watermelon." You'll only need a few of them, plus a little bit of the syrup, to make a lychee martini, but Morone points out, "You can use the leftover lychees in lots of ways." Some of her suggestions include adding them to fruit salad, making lychee jam, or using them to garnish iced tea.

 "I used canned lychees and canned lychee syrup in this drink," Morone tells us. But she does say you could use fresh lychees to flavor a homemade simple syrup instead if you wish. In addition to the lychees (both fruit and the syrup they come in), you'll need ice, vodka, dry vermouth, and lime juice.

Combine all of the ingredients except for the lychee fruit and gently stir to chill the drink. Why are we stirring, not shaking, as we do in so many cocktail recipes? It's because the martini is meant to be what foodies (or "drinkies," as it were) call "spirit-forward," meaning they're meant to taste as boozy as possible. Shaking a martini with ice tends to dilute it since agitating the ice causes it to melt a bit.

Strain the drink into a chilled glass. A martini glass would be nice if you have such a thing, but your second choice could be a coupe or any other stemmed glass. Failing that, a rocks glass will work.

Take a toothpick or cocktail pick and stab it through two lychees, or even three if it's a long pick. Stick that in the glass as a garnish, then your lychee martini is ready to drink. If you feel it's a little too monochromatic, though, you could also add a twist of lime, something Morone recommends as " a really easy additional and colorful garnish."

• Easy Deviled Eggs Recipe
• Classic Maryland Crab Cakes Recipe
• Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Recipe
• Classic Cobb Salad Recipe
• Classic Banana Pudding Recipe
• Celebration Of Spring Crostini Recipe

This martini is made with vodka because, as with so many fruity flavored martinis, this relatively neutral spirit will allow the other ingredients in the cocktail to come to the forefront. That being said, it's perfectly acceptable to make this drink with gin if that's your chosen tipple. If you do choose to make the drink with gin, a variety of gin with more floral or citrusy notes would be preferable to a juniper-heavy London Dry type.

There's another gin-based lychee drink that's a close cousin to this lychee martini: the lychee gimlet. To make it, you start in the same way as you would for this recipe but you replace the vodka with gin. The amount of lychee syrup remains the same, as do the canned lychees used as a garnish. But you skip the vermouth and double the amount of lime juice. This makes for a cocktail that's slightly more sour and less spirit-forward than if you were to simply substitute gin for the vodka in our lychee martini, but it has a fairly similar flavor profile and can be served in the same style of glass.

This lychee martini is somewhat on the boozy side since a single cocktail contains 2½ ounces of alcohol between the vodka and the vermouth. This is tempered somewhat by the fact that vermouth has slightly less than half the alcohol of vodka, coming in at 14% to 22% ABV compared to vodka's 40%. The addition of lychee syrup and lime juice as well as the small amount of water added by melting ice while the drink is mixed, combine to take the final ABV down to around 20% ABV. This means the cocktail has a similar level of alcohol to that of straight-up vermouth. Perhaps a better comparison is to a standard table wine which comes in around 12% ABV. Drinking this 4-ounce cocktail would be roughly equivalent to drinking two similarly-sized glasses of wine.

After consuming this lychee martini, a woman weighing 125 pounds would have a blood alcohol content of 0.051%, which is above the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle in the state of Utah (though below most other states'). For safety's sake (your own and everyone else's), it's best to consume this drink at home or plan to catch a ride home.

• Easy Lemon Drop Martini Recipe
• Elderflower Pear Martini Cocktail Recipe
• Classic French Martini Recipe
• Pornstar Martini Cocktail Recipe
• Key Lime Pie Martini Recipe
• Vodka Martini With A Twist Recipe