Creamy Passionfruit Limeade
Bright, tropical, and silky smooth thanks to a technique borrowed straight from Brazil, this creamy passionfruit limeade (inspired by Brazilian lemonade) is the backyard sipper you’ll be reaching for all summer long.
What you’ll love about this limeade recipe:
- Nonalcoholic. So everyone can enjoy it!
- That creamy, dreamy texture. Sweetened condensed milk gives these a lush, frothy consistency.
- Classic, tropical flavor. Frozen passion fruit pulp delivers a punch of tart, floral flavor that feels like a real treat.
The Creamy Passionfruit Limeade Recipe You’ll Make Every Weekend This Summer
I went to Ottawa earlier this spring and had an incredible time. There’s a post about it if you want the full rundown, but the short version is: great food, great city, and one cocktail I couldn’t stop thinking about. The Velvet Passion from Speakeasy Ottawa is made with vanilla vodka, passionfruit and lime, and frothy egg white (and was served with a sidecar of Prosecco.)
I knew from the first sip that it was a flavor combination that I wanted to recreate, but I don’t make a lot of cocktails at home these days, and I didn’t think a recipe calling for raw egg white was going to be especially useful to most people. So I started thinking about how to get those same flavors — tart, tropical, creamy — through a different route.
Brazilian lemonade was my answer. If you’ve never had it, Brazilian lemonade is made by blending whole limes with water and sweetened condensed milk. The condensed milk gives it a rich, creamy body that’s surprisingly similar to the role the egg white plays in a traditional cocktail.
I kept that base and added frozen passion fruit pulp alongside the lime. It took a little tweaking to adjust for the added tartness from the passionfruit (if you’re used to passionfruit syrups and have never had passionfruit pulp, know that it’s VERY sour) but the final result was so good.
I’m looking forward the enjoying these creamy passionfruit limeades in my hammock all summer, and I hope you do too!
passionfruit limeade Ingredients
Frozen passion fruit pulp. I use Goya, which comes in frozen packets. Look for it in the freezer section near other tropical fruit products or frozen ethnic foods. You can use their product locator to find it in stores neat you, but it’s pretty widely available here. Be careful of swapping in passionfruit nectar because the added sugar in that can throw this recipe off.
Limes. In traditional Brazilian lemonade, the entire lime (peel and all) goes into the blender. That bitterness works beautifully against the sweetness of the condensed milk. In this version, I remove the peel from about 3/4 of the lime pieces before blending, since passion fruit pulp is already quite tart and bitter. Leaving all the peel on made the drink aggressively bitter even after adding honey. A little peel goes a long way here, and if you prefer no peel at all, that’s perfectly acceptable too.
Sweetened condensed milk. This is what gives the drink its creamy, frothy body. Don’t swap it for regular milk or cream. It won’t sweeten the limeade the same way and you’ll lose that signature richness.
Honey. Optional, but worth having on hand if you find that you want a little extra sweetness. Taste after blending and add it if needed.
Salt. Just a tiny pinch, to round out all that tartness and make every other flavor taste more like itself.
Pro Tips for Making Passionfruit Brazilian Lemonade at Home:
Frequently asked questions
Look in the freezer section near other tropical frozen fruit products or international products. Goya brand is widely available and comes in small packets. It’s widely available here at both local grocery stores and at bigger ones like Target, but sometimes it’s in it’s own section (not by the other frozen fruit) so you may need to ask an employee to point you in the right direction.
It’s best fresh, since the frothy texture settles fairly quickly. That said, you can blend the lime and water base ahead and keep it strained in the fridge, then add the remaining ingredients and blend right before serving.
Most likely too much lime peel made it into the blend or your limes were extra tart. Make sure you’re removing the peel from most of the lime pieces before blending, and strain well if any peel stayed on. You can balance that bitterness by blending in a teaspoon or two of honey.
Yes! A shot or two of white rum or vanilla vodka blended in at the end would be great.
I wouldn’t and here’s why: passion fruit has a ton of seeds that are a pain to work with. Plus they can vary a lot in how tart they are. Frozen pulp is more consistent in flavor and much easier to work with.
Other recipes you might like:
- Guava BBQ Sauce
- Homemade Rhubarb Syrup
- 4-Ingredient Rhubarb Sour
- Fresh Fruit Margarita Ice Cubes
- Rhubarb Spritz Cocktail
Creamy Passionfruit Limeade
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 limes
- 3 cups cold water
- ½ cup frozen passion fruit pulp unsweetened, thawed slightly
- ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1-2 teaspoons honey optional
- tiny pinch of salt
- ice
Instructions
- Cut 2 limes into quarters. Remove any thick white core from all of them and the peel from 6 them.
- Add the lime quarters and 3 cups cold water to a blender. Pulse 5-6 times.
- Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl or measuring cup, pressing lightly to extract as much of the juice as you can.
- Add ½ cup frozen passion fruit pulp, ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk, and a tiny pinch of salt. Blend until frothy and creamy. Add 1-2 teaspoons honey to taste, if desired.
- Serve over ice.
