Strawberry Piña Colada Recipe With Pineapple Wedges

A Strawberry Piña Colada combines rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, lime juice, and strawberries. A Strawberry Piña Colada is similar to a classic Piña Colada, but the berries give this tropical drink an extra note of juiciness and pink color.

The best Strawberry Piña Colada features quality ingredients:

1. 1. Rum: Traditionally, the Piña Colada is made with white rum, but a dark rum, like an aged Spanish rum, also works wonderfully in Piña Coladas. Aged Spanish rums reflect the effects of time spent in the barrel, which are usually former charred bourbon barrels. These barrels bestow notes of vanilla, toasted marshmallow, and caramel that work well with the Piña Colada’s sweetness. Some Piña Colada recipes even call for layering a combination of light rum and dark rum. You can also use coconut rum, which will increase the coconut flavor and the sweetness of the finished cocktail.
2. 2. Fruit: The inclusion of strawberries makes the Strawberry Piña Colada makes this cocktail a hybrid: part Piña Colada, part Daiquiri. Using frozen strawberries will allow you to use less ice, while fresh strawberries will give the drink an extra kick of flavor and aroma. Frozen pineapple works better than fresh pineapple—the texture and the icy coldness of the frozen chunks turn this drink into a Piña Colada smoothie.
3. 3. Cream of coconut: You can find this coconut product in the cocktail mixers section of your local grocery or liquor store. Cream of coconut is thick and syrupy, unlike either coconut cream or coconut milk, which will separate the finished product and render it less sweet.

There are various drink recipes for a Strawberry Piña Colada. Consider the following easy recipe tweaks for Strawberry Piña Coladas:

1. 1. Go for a mocktail. If you’d like to skip the alcohol, make a virgin Strawberry Piña Colada. Simply cut the rum, and if needed, add some extra pineapple juice to achieve the desired consistency.
2. 2. Make a lava flow. To make this variation of the Strawberry Piña Colada, blend some of the strawberries with pineapple juice, lime juice, and rum, then add the mixture to the to the bottom of the cocktail glasses. Blend the cream of coconut with a banana, and use a swizzle stick or straw to spread the red strawberry layer up through the rest of the glass, giving the drink a marbled, eye-catching appearance.
3. 3. Serve a party. If you’re planning on entertaining a larger group, it is easy to scale up the Strawberry Piña Colada recipe and serve it in a pitcher.