When I go on a beach vacation, there are two drinks you’ll find regularly in my hand – a non-alcoholic pina colada or a virgin strawberry daquiri. I haven’t been able to get back to Beaches Turks & Caicos to have one of my favorite non alcoholic pina coladas lately, so I decided it was time to make a recipe to enjoy at home. This simple pina colada recipe only uses four ingredients, and they’re all ones that are easily findable at any local grocery store (or even already in your home). It’s creamy, delicious, and sweet without being too sweet (unless you want sweet and in that case, read the tips section at the bottom of this post and in the recipe card). And it’s a great way to pretend you’re at an all-inclusive resort or on the beach when you’re not even close to one! This is also a really simple one to make for a crowd if you’re having a pool party, beach themed party, or just want something cool and refreshing on hot summer days to serve to the whole family! When you can’t be on a warm beach with a traditional piña colada, this is the next best thing!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Natural ingredients – unlike a lot of the virgin pina colada recipes out there that use store-bought things like a pina colada mix or juice concentrate, this one just uses all natural ingredients to give you the true flavors of pineapple and coconut together. Simple – if you can boil water, you can make this recipe. It’s just making a simple syrup then blending it with a couple of ingredients until smooth. It’s about as easy as it gets! Flavorful – the flavor in this is delicious since it’s all real flavors like I mentioned above. There’s nothing fake or too sweet or artificial tasting about it. It’s definitely one of the most incredible virgina pina coladas I’ve ever tried, and I’ve tried one at pretty much every tropical beach resort I’ve been to (a lot).
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Frozen pineapple – make sure you’re using frozen pineapple chunks, not fresh (unless it’s been frozen). You want it to be frozen so it gives you that icy texture you want in a virgin pina colada.Coconut milk – any regular coconut milk works, just make sure to get both the coconut milk and the coconut cream that’s often on top of the coconut milk when making this to give you a nice creamy drink.Simple syrup – you can get step by step directions to make a simple syrup in this homemade lemonade recipe or just combine 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup sugar on the stove and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool in the fridge before adding to your drink. Ice – I personally recommend using full ice cubes instead of crushed ice because I feel like crushed ice can sometimes get so crushed into the drink that it becomes a little melted and watery. But if you only have access to crushed ice, it’s fine.
How to make a virgin pina colada
Before you get started, put four glasses of your choice in the refrigerator to chill while you make the pina colada. Since this is a frozen drink, chilling the glasses will help keep the drink frozen longer!
1 – Make the Simple Syrup
If you haven’t made your simple syrup yet and put that in the refrigerator, do that now. To make the simple syrup, combine 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar on the stove and heat over medium-high heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and place in the refrigerator until cooled. This has to be done before you get started with the actual drink or the syrup will melt the frozen drink.
2 – Make the Pina Colada
Combine the frozen pineapple, ice, simple syrup, and coconut milk together in a blender. Blend on high speed until they’re smooth and creamy, similar to a smoothie. If for some reason it’s still not smooth and you’ve run out of simple syrup, you can add a 1 TBS of pineapple juice to help smooth it out. I personally love my Vitamix blender for making drinks like these because it can get them SO smooth and give you the best texture, but any high-powdered blender should work just fine.
3 – Garnish and Serve
Pour the pina colada mix into the chilled glasses and garnish with a fresh pineapple wedge, maraschino cherries, and even add a cocktail umbrella if you want! Serve the drinks immediately or if you’re not able to serve immediately, keep chilled in the refrigerator and serve as soon as possible. As soon as you pour the drinks (as I’m sure you’ve noticed if you’ve ever had this tropical treat), they will almost immediately begin to melt.
Expert Tips
Don’t try to make these ahead of time. You can make and chill the simple syrup ahead of time, but I highly recommend making the actual frozen drink part right before serving. Double the simple syrup recipe and keep some in your fridge for future mocktails. It’s one of my favorite things to use in drinks like my blueberry lemonade, this strawberry mocktail, and more! Keep everything in the freezer until you’re ready to blend the ingredients. If you let the pineapple thaw at all or let the ice melt even slightly, you’ll end up with a watery drink versus the creamy frozen drink you’re probably looking for. Garnish the glasses before you put them in the refrigerator to chill. That way they’re already garnished and ready to go when you take them out of the refrigerator so people can enjoy these drinks even quicker! Or you can make garnish picks by combining a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry on a drink pick and just adding them last minute over top of the drink! Make it sweeter by using a richer simple syrup. Combine one cup of sugar with the 1/2 cup water (2:1 ratio compared to a 1:1 ratio) and just put the leftover simple syrup in the fridge for later. Make enough for everyone. While this seems like a fancy drink, it’s a family favorite at our house and everyone (even the little ones) always want their fair share!
More Tasty Drinks
If you want more easy recipes for delicious drinks, these are some of the most popular non-alcoholic drinks on my site!
Creamy lemonade – if you like creamy drinks, you have to try this creamy version of a classic favorite! Shark punch – this fun shark drink gets a creamy twist with the addition of vanilla ice cream. Or if you don’t want ice cream, try out this shark attack drink instead! Easy butterbeer recipe – this delicious homemade butterbeer recipe is simple and delicious! Chocolate cake shake – a copycat version of a Chicago classic, this delicious milkshake contains an entire piece of chocolate cake! Strawberry lemonade recipe – a super simple and delicious strawberry lemonade that would be perfect for using up leftover simple syrup!
If you want even more delicious mocktails, punches, and alcoholic drinks, check out all of my drink recipes here!
