This Shirley Temple Drink is always a big hit! Easy to make and the perfect party drink for kids and adults all year round.
Shirley Temple Drink
My kids absolutely love it when we make drink recipes. This Shirley Temple drink is definitely in their top three most requested drinks. It’s always fun when I crack out the fancy glasses and pull out ingredients for drinks like a copy-cat Chik-Fil-A Peppermint Milkshake, a Sonic Cherry Limeade, or Watermelon Juice
This Shirley Temple Recipe is fun and couldn’t be easier to make. It’s a refreshing summertime drink. There are a few variations that I’ll talk to you about, but you can really make it with just 2 ingredients!
I love making drinks for the kids, so you’ll probably find loads of drink recipes on this site. This one is definitely a keeper.
What You’ll Love about this Easy Drink Recipe
- A Shirley Temple sounds like a fancy cocktail, but it’s really a kid-friendly drink that the kids can enjoy as a fun treat
- There are only a couple of ingredients to this fun drink
Shirley Temple Drink Ingredients…
- Lemon-lime soda or Ginger Ale (or both)
- Grenadine Syrup
- Ice
- Garnish: Maraschino Cherry with the stem on and optional lime wedges
Helpful Equipment that you might want
- Shot glass for measuring the syrup (1/5 oz. = 3 Tablespoons)
How do you make a Classic Shirley Temple Drink?
How to make a Shirley Temple:
- pack your cup full of ice
- pour in the Grenadine Syrup
- Pour the soda over the top of that
- Gently stir
Garnishes for a Shirley Temple
The classic garnish is a maraschino cherry on top, but a lime or orange wedge is also a fun garnish. Of course, a sprig of mint would be delicious and fun, as well
Tips and Tricks for Making a Shirley Temple Drink:
- Really pack the cup with lots of ice
- Find grenadine in any grocery store that has a liquor aisle or at your local liquor store. (There is no alcohol in grenadine – It’s just a sweet syrup)
- Use lemon-lime soda like 7-Up, Sprite, or a generic form, or use Gingerale – You can also make a combination of both. I prefer the ginger ale because the lemon-lime is a little sweeter and combined with the sweet syrup it’s almost too sweet for me. My kids, however, love the lemon-lime soda
- Maraschino Cherry juice can be substituted for grenadine
- You can also easily adjust the size of the drink by using an easy ratio of 1.5 oz. to “about” every 12 oz. of soda
Drink Coloration
Is Shirley Temple Better with Ginger Ale or Sprite?
Did you know that the type of soda you use will change the color of the drink? A more pink or pale drink is probably made with lemon-lime soda, while a dark red drink is made with ginger ale. Both are common combinations and sometimes a Shirley Temple Drink Recipe combines the two sodas.
Shirley Temple Variations:
Sodas: A Shirley Temple can be made with one or both of the following sodas. Gingerale is commonly used, but so is lemon-lime soda while it is not uncommon to combine the two sodas in equal amounts.
Grenadine Substitutions: The red in the drink is classically grenadine (the classic ingredient of this drink), but if that is nowhere around, you can substitute maraschino cherry juice. Both are extremely sweet and work well in this drink.
Adding Citrus: Another variation is adding orange juice to this mocktail. This is a delicious variation, and I highly recommend it. If you want to add orange juice add a splash or two to give this drink a nice tang. Adjust it to your liking. Some people also use lime juice, lemon juice, or pineapple juice as a fun citrus or tangy addition to this drink
Roy Rogers Drink: Want to go a totally different direction? Use coca-cola instead of the clear sodas. With the substitute of Coke for Srpite, it becomes a drink we know as the Roy Rogers Drink
FAQs
Who’s Shirley Temple, and why does she have a drink?
If you don’t know who Shirley Temple is, then you might be wondering about the name of this drink. Shirley Temple is a child actress from the 1930s. I grew up watching her old movies with her bouncing curls singing “On the Good Ship Lollypop”. Now, I’m happy to say the love for Shirley goes on as my oldest daughter loves her classic musical movies.
A bartender working at Chasen’s in Beverly Hills, California invented the Shirley Temple cocktail, which is named after the little girl actress Shirley Temple. Now, this nonalcoholic classic drink is a favorite of kids, teens, and adults.
Grenadine is a commonly used syrup by bartenders in bars. It is made from pomegranates and is a very sweet syrup. It adds a pink or red color to drinks for a fun cocktail or mocktail.
A Good Substitute for Grenadine
Making Homemade Grenadine: You can mix two parts of simple syrup with 1 part of pomegranate juice. In a pinch, use the juice from a jar of maraschino cherries as a substitute for grenadine.
Simple syrup is basically equal parts of sugar and water.
In a saucepan, mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water over medium heat. Heat the mixture while continually stirring it until the sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture completely cool off and store it covered in the refrigerator for up to one month.
The base of this drink consists of ice, grenadine, and lemon-lime soda. A maraschino cherry can also be added as a garnish.
Yes! It is a wholesome drink made of soda pop and syrup.
A Shirley Temple is made with clear sodas such as Sprite or Ginger Ale. A Roy Rogers is made from Coca-Cola.
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Other Fun Summer Drinks Youll Enjoy
If you love refreshing summer drinks as we do, then you might want to check out my recipe for this 5 ingredients Tropical Smoothie
Printable Recipe for this Kid-Friendly Shirley Temple Drink
Shirley Temple Drink
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz. 3 Tbsp. of Grenadine Syrup
- 12 oz. of lemon-lime soda or ginger ale
- ice
Instructions
- Pack a 16 oz. a cup full of ice
- Add 1 shot glass full (or 3 Tbsp.) of Grenadine syrup over the ice
- Pour soda
- Gently stir
- Serve with a garnish of maraschino cherry
Notes
Nutrition
