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This Sparkling Cherry Lime Cocktail is the perfect summer drink! Made with vodka, fresh cherries and real limes, it’s an easy recipe that tastes delicious!

Sonic’s sparkling cherry limeade is pretty much my favorite drink on a hot summer day! I don’t know what it is about the tart lime flavor with the sweet cherries, but I can’t get enough of it!

Luckily, the closest Sonic to us shut down last year, so I have been forced to tame my obsession… or just make my own.

And, of course, my version has some vodka for some adult summer fun!

I used real cherries and lime juice and skipped the whole simple syrup part to make it even easier on myself (and you!).

How to Pit Cherries

By far, the hardest part of this cocktail recipe is pitting the cherries. But really, that’s only because I don’t have an actual cherry pitter! Do yourself a favor and grab this cherry pitter. You can knock out 6 cherries at one time and save your fingers in the process!

I ended up using one of my pastry tips and just pushed it through the cherry to shove the pit out the other side. It worked fairly well, but it sure does look gross and by the end I had some sore fingers from pushing on the metal edge.

How to Peel Lime Rinds

Peeling lime rinds for some garnish is a lot easier and I love it because you get such a fresh lime smell while you’re doing it!

I use a vegetable peeler and gently apply pressure as I turn the lime in my hand. You just want to be sure that you’re just peeling the green lime rind and not the white “flesh” underneath it. That’s a bit bitter and will make your peel too thick so it own’t curl nicely.

Once I have it peeled, I just use a small paring knife to cut it into thin slivers.

If you have extra rind, you can just freeze it in an airtight container. I pretty much always peel or zest my lemons, limes and oranges before I use them and just keep baggies of it in my freezer.

Supplies and Ingredients Needed to Make Sparkling Cherry Lime Cocktail

• Cherry Pitter
• Vegetable Peeler
• Paring Knife
• Small Food Chopper or Blender
• Strainer
• Sugar
• Cherries
• Lime
• Seltzer Water
• Vodka

Directions to Make Cherry Lime Cocktail

You can see in the above picture, that I started with a lemon. That is completely up to you if you want to add the juice of a lemon for a little twist on the tart taste. In the end, I just went with the lime juice and skipped the lemon. Either would work great, though!

Begin by pitting your cherries and then adding them to your blender. Peel the rind off your limes and then add the juice of 2 limes to your blender along with the sugar. Pulse until smooth.

I poured this straight into my pitcher as is and then added the vodka and seltzer water. If you prefer a smoother drink (aka you don’t like orange juice with pulp), then I would strain the cherry mixture first before adding it to your pitcher.

Add some ice and make sure to add the vodka to your taste. The measurements I gave for vodka are just a starting point! Garnish with some lime rind and cherries and you’re ready for some summer fun! 

Honestly, this drink could work well over the holidays too, as the gorgeous cherry color screams Christmas! It would be  great  on  a table with my Christmas Cherry Pie or Baked Cherry French Toast, too!

Sparkling Cherry Lime Cocktail

And if you’re looking for even more refreshing summer cocktail recipes to try, you’re in luck! I’ve partnered up with some friends to not only bring you an assortment of recipes today… but every week this summer!

So check out some of the recipes below and be sure to come back next week for my next drink! I think I’m feeling like something frozen for my next one!

Berry Sangria from Happy Go Lucky • Lemon Sgroppino from Red Cottage Chronicles Strawberry Lemonade Vodka Freeze Pops from Weekend Craft • Strawberry Shortcake Daiquiri  Create & Babble
Frozen Pineapple Daiquiri from Creative Ramblings • Caballo de Mayo the best tequila cocktail – Upright and Caffeinated
Lemon Drop Martini from Our Crafty Mom • Sparkling Cherry Lime Cocktail from A Turtle’s Life for me