Beef Free Classic Watermelon Agua Fresca
Few drinks capture the feeling of summer quite like a tall glass of watermelon agua fresca — bright, lightly sweet, and impossibly refreshing. This version keeps things beautifully simple, leaning on ripe watermelon as the star and letting a squeeze of fresh lime and a pinch of salt sharpen every sip. Straining the blended fruit through a fine-mesh sieve gives you that smooth, clean texture you'd find at a taqueria or street cart, without any of the pulpy thickness. The small addition of salt is the quiet secret here — it rounds out the sweetness and makes the watermelon flavor pop in a way that plain sugar water never could. Since the whole recipe is built from fresh fruit, water, lime, and a touch of sugar, there's nothing to second-guess about what's in your glass. It comes together in minutes and is just as welcome at a backyard cookout as it is on a quiet afternoon when you need something cool and genuinely satisfying.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 6 cups seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes (about ½ small watermelon)
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (from about 1 lime)
- 1–2 tbsp granulated sugar, or to taste
- ¼ tsp salt
For serving
- ice, for serving (optional)
- lime wedges, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Add the watermelon cubes and cold water to a blender and blend on high until completely smooth, about 30–45 seconds.
- 2
Set a fine-mesh strainer over a large pitcher. Pour the blended watermelon through the strainer, pressing gently on the solids with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the pulp left in the strainer.
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