When you have a creamy, cold, and refreshing piña colada in your hand, life truly becomes a beach. A classic summer drink, this tropical vibe in a glass is easy enough to order out at a bar, but when you want the perfect combination of sweetness, creaminess, and slush factor, making it at home is tops. After a double-digit number of attempts, we landed on the ideal blend of pineapple, coconut, rum, and effort that will help you reach piña colada paradise. Follow our top tips on these three essential ingredients for the perfect taste of paradise in every sip.
Freeze your own pineapple. It’s fair to think we’re a little crazy for this. Why not just buy frozen pineapple? Well, we’ve got two reasons. Firstly, frozen pineapple can vary wildly in taste, and it’s impossible to tell how sweet it is before blending it. Opting for fresh pineapple gives you the chance to find the sweetest, ripest pineapple you can find, ensuring maximum pineapple flavor. When shopping, use your senses to find the ripest pineapple. The skin should appear more golden rather than all green, especially on the bottom of the pineapple. Once you spot one with a nice golden hue, smell the bottom of the pineapple. The best ones will give off a very fruity, sweet, pineappley scent. Last but not least, you can also tug at the leaves of the pineapple to test for ripeness. If the leaves pull away easily, it’s good to go!
The second reason is pure vanity—we like to use a fresh pineapple wedge and a few pineapple leaves for garnish to really sell the beachy feel. Follow our guide on the easiest way to cut a pineapple to make this step a breeze.
Skip the Coco Lopez. We know, we know—everyone uses Coco Lopez sweetened coconut cream. Don't get us wrong, it’s a delicious product, but at the end of the day, we’re after the right perfect balance of ingredients in this cocktail, which is tough to do when you have to control coconut flavor and sweetness in the same step. Instead, we went for a blend of coconut cream and sweetened condensed milk, which gives you more control over that balance. To give this drink some extra body and help it stay cold longer, the coconut cream gets frozen in ice cube trays before you pop it into the blender.
When you open a can of coconut cream, you might think it’s a solid block of coconut oil, but once you break the thick surface with a spoon, you’ll be able to see the water that has separated from the cream while the can sat on the store shelf. Before using it for your piña colada, dump the contents of the container into a small bowl and whisk vigorously until the solids and liquids are smooth and evenly blended.
Black rum > all other rums. Opt for black rum over light rum for a richer, deeper flavor in your final beverage. Dark rums are aged in wooden barrels to get their caramel color and a bolder flavor than light rum. It shouldn’t affect the final color of your blended drink, but it will have a serious impact on the flavor.
When you give it a whirl in your own kitchen, drop a comment to let us know how much you loved it!
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Directions
Step 1Cut pineapple in half crosswise. Using a knife, remove skin from one half, then cut into quarters and remove core. Reserve remaining half that still has skin intact. Reserve leaves for garnish.
Step 2Finely chop pineapple flesh from peeled half into 1/2" pieces. Transfer 1 1/2 cups chopped pineapple to a freezer-safe bag and freeze until frozen, 2 to 3 hours.
Step 3In a glass measuring cup, whisk coconut cream and milk until smooth. Pour into an ice cube tray and freeze until completely firm, about 3 hours.
Step 4Meanwhile, cut reserved pineapple half into quarters. Slice one quarter into wedges for serving; reserve remaining pineapple for another use.
Step 5Transfer frozen pineapple and cream cubes to a blender. Add ice, rum, and pineapple juice. Blend until smooth.
Step 6Divide piña colada among glasses. Garnish with reserved leaves, a pineapple wedge, and a cherry.
Brooke Caison is the food editor at Delish, where she develops and styles original recipes, writes the weekly membership newsletter, and appears as occasional on-camera talent for Delish's YouTube channel. She's obsessed with the idea of bringing restaurant methods to the home cook with foolproof techniques and organized cooking (like how to safely shuck a clam or tackle a complex baking project). A graduate of ICE, she was previously a line cook, hospitality manager for the opening season of Little Island, and culinary assistant to Top Chef judge and food expert Gail Simmons. Her work has also appeared on Martha Stewart. There's no food she won’t try, but cranberry whipped feta dip has her heart.
