This watermelon agua fresca recipe (AKA Mexican watermelon water, or agua fresca de sandia) is super easy to make. With only a few simple ingredients, making it takes less than 10 minutes. It’s the perfect refreshing watermelon drink for hot summer days!
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What is Agua Fresca?
Literally translated as “fresh water” or “refreshing water,” agua frescas are made from water, fruit or flowers, and some sweetener, like sugar. These flavored waters are popular throughout Mexico and Central America.
Of course my family always had a cold pitcher of agua fresca in the fridge, and this sandia drink was the perfect thing for those scorching Texas summer months!
Some of the more traditional aguas frescas are made from watermelon, lime, hibiscus flowers (jamaica), rice, cucumber and more!
Today I’m going to show you how to make agua fresca de sandia, or watermelon agua fresca. This is a super easy flavorful agua fresca recipe! While you can serve this agua fresca over ice, I personally prefer to stick the pitcher of watermelon agua fresca in the fridge to keep it super cold.
Tips Before You Get Started
I experimented with this watermelon agua fresca recipe for a few weeks before landing on the version I thought was right. While it’s not super difficult to make agua de sandia, I’ve had my fair share of delicious aguas frescos in my life. So I wanted to make sure I got this one right!
So here’s the best tips for how to make watermelon agua fresca!
- Find a ripe, juicy watermelon. I snagged a giant watermelon on sale at the market (it was a whooping 12 pounds and cost $3. Talk about a score!)
- Cut the watermelon into small pieces. You’ll need a bit more than two cups of watermelon for this recipe, but as I’ve learning from my forays into baking and bread making, measuring with cups isn’t super precise. That’s why I’ve also included measurements by weight. This is the same scale I use, it’s fairly cheap on amazon.
- I prefer a chunkier watermelon water, but if you prefer a thinner water you can either blend for longer or strain the water. If you choose to strain it, I recommend you wait a couple of hours before serving so the watermelon flavor has more time to infuse. For the best Agua Fresca, use a powerful blender like a Vitamix.
- You can omit the lime juice if you’d like, but I’ve found that it brings balance to the agua fresca.
- If you don’t want to use white sugar, you can replace it with your choice of sweetener. Replace at a 1:1 ratio, by weight (this recipe uses 2oz of sugar). Or, just add your favorite sweetener to taste.
How Long Does Watermelon Agua Fresca Last in the Fridge?
Because this agua fresca is made fresh, it won’t keep for too long in the fridge, but it should last about 5 days.
You can also freeze this into popsicles, or any other freezer safe container and eat as a slushie, it’s super yummy!
How to Store Mexican Watermelon Water?
This recipe makes a pitcher of water, about 40 ounces. If I’m serving this right away, I’ll serve this watermelon water in a good summer pitcher, like this one.
If I’m storing this water for the week, I’ll store it in some airtight mason jars like these ones. Use the 32 oz version, or the 16 oz versions for individual servings you can take with you. Bonus points if you use these cute tumblers with reusable straws.
Mexican Watermelon Water
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups watermelon fruit, cut into small pieces (12 oz by weight)
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar (2 oz by weight)
- 4 cups water
- 1 teaspoon lime juice (a bit less than half a lime)
Instructions
- Cut your watermelon into small pieces
- Combine watermelon, water, sugar and lime juice in a blender;
- Pulse for about 10 seconds, to puree the watermelon;
- Put in a pitcher in the fridge and chill, about one to two hours. Alternatively, serve over ice immediately;
- Makes a 40 ounce pitcher.
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Other Refreshing Summer Drinks You’ll Love
- Agua de Jamaica Recipe (Mexican Hibiscus Tea)
- Pineapple Slush (frozen pineapple drink, so yum!)
More Mexican Recipes
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