I love a lightly sweet but bold flavored cocktail—and that’s exactly what this lemon drop martini recipe offers. It’s super refreshing!
And if you’ve shied away from lemon drop martinis in the past because you feared they would taste too sweet, then I highly recommend mixing one up at home because you can easily control the sweetness by adjusting the simple syrup.
On a previous episode of our podcast I mentioned how I recently took a month off from drinking, which I do a few times a year. And during that time, I was mixing up what is essentially a mocktail version of a lemon drop martini, so I wanted to share that recipe as well.
Whether you go with the alcohol version or non-alcoholic, both feel special and a fun thing to sip with a friend or as you prepare dinner—whatever!
Like a classic martini, you can make a lemon drop martini with gin or vodka. Both work well and I’ve noted this in the recipe card below, but when I make lemon drop martinis I usually use vodka myself.
The other ingredients are triple sec, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup. You can buy simple syrup or make your own; I use Rogan’s recipe for simple syrup here.
If you are keeping it non-alcoholic, I highly recommend Seedlip spirits. For this lemon drop martini, I usually use their Grove 42 (citrus) flavor. Other than this, all you need is lemon juice and simple syrup.
You can garnish a lemon drop martini with a sugared rim, a thin lemon slice, a lemon twist, lemon wedge, or nothing at all.
If you like this cocktail recipe, you should give a Tom Collins a try! Cheers! xo. Emma
PS. Check out The Best Martini Recipes for more!
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Ingredients
- 2 ounces vodka or gin
- ½ ounce triple sec
- ½ ounce simple syrup
- 1 ounce lemon juice (fresh)
Instructions
- In a cocktail shaker filled with ice add the ingredients. Shake well, until the shaker makes your hand feel almost frozen.
- Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass.
- Garnish with a lemon slice or rind, optional.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Grab this guide to see our Top 25 Recipes of all time!
Free Popular Recipe Guide
Our top 25 recipes of all time!
Get the Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ounces non-alcoholic spirits (Seedlip Grove 42 is my favorite)
- 1 ounce simple syrup
- 1 ounce lemon juice (fresh)
Instructions
- In a cocktail shaker filled with ice add the ingredients. Shake well, until the side of the shaker feels almost frozen in your hand.
- Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass.
- Garnish with a lemon slice or rind, optional.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
This is a lemon drop.
It’s a cocktail, not a Martini.
Sipping this right now and it’s lovely!
Thank you for the recommendation of non-alcoholic spirits. I’ve ordered and can’t wait to try.
Thank you SO MUCH for including a mocktail! I have no problem with people drinking responsibly but I just can’t metabolize it properly and always appreciate an alternative for my teetotaler boyfriend and mostly alcohol-free me.
This is right up my alley because I am a lemon fiend! Also, I’ve been curious about that Seedlip stuff ever since the podcast episode where you mentioned it. Will definitely have to try both versions of this eventually, but for now I have gin!