The Shirley Temple is the first mocktail most people ever had. A kid’s table classic with a cherry in it. It’s also, honestly, mostly sugar: ginger ale plus grenadine plus a syrupy cherry.
That doesn’t make it a bad idea. It makes it a drink worth fixing. This Shirley Temple mocktail keeps the look, the fizz and the cherry, and cuts the sugar by changing what’s underneath.
Quick answer: A Shirley Temple mocktail is ginger ale, grenadine and a cherry over ice. For a lighter one, pour ¾ cup of cold ginger seltzer over ice, add 2 teaspoons of grenadine, 1 tablespoon of pomegranate juice and a squeeze of lime, then top with a cherry.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup chilled ginger seltzer (or sparkling water plus 1 tbsp ginger syrup)
- 2 tsp grenadine
- 1 tbsp pomegranate juice
- A squeeze of lime
- Ice and 1 maraschino cherry
How to make a lighter Shirley Temple
- Fill a tall glass with ice.
- Add the grenadine, pomegranate juice and lime.
- Pour the cold ginger seltzer in slowly. The red sinks and then rises in a gradient, which looks good in the glass.
- Stir once or twice, gently.
- Add the cherry and a straw.
Where the sugar hides, honestly
In the classic, there are three sweet components. Ginger ale is a soft drink. Grenadine is a sweet red syrup. A maraschino cherry is candied. A big pour of each and you’ve essentially made a dessert.
Here we change the biggest one: the ginger ale becomes ginger seltzer, which has the ginger snap but little or no sugar. We cut grenadine from the usual splash to 2 teaspoons and backfill the red color and fruit taste with pomegranate juice. The cherry stays because it’s the whole point of the drink, and one cherry is a very small thing.
The CDC says one 12-ounce can of soda has more than 10 teaspoons (about 42 grams) of added sugar. This glass is a long way under that, but it’s not sugar-free. It’s lighter, and it’s honest about it.
Variations
- No grenadine at all: muddle 3 raspberries in the glass instead.
- Ginger syrup version: 1 tbsp ginger syrup plus plain sparkling water. Our homemade ginger ale has the syrup recipe.
- Orange twist: a thin orange slice in the glass.
- Dirty-looking Shirley: add a splash of cranberry juice for a tart finish.
- Kid-sized: use a smaller glass, so you pour less.
How a Shirley Temple replaces your can of soda
Fizz, cold, sweet, red. It scratches the can itch with more theater. The straw and the cherry matter. A lot of soda habit is about having something fun in your hand, and a Shirley Temple is fun by design.
It’s also a good one to make when the people around you are all drinking something. At a party or a restaurant, “I’ll have a Shirley Temple” is a perfectly normal order, and nobody asks why. For the same reason, it’s a handy swap for someone who’s quitting and doesn’t want to explain it.
There’s no caffeine in it, so it works any time of day.
Making it for a crowd or for kids
A pitcher works if you keep the parts separate. Combine 1 cup of pomegranate juice with 3 tablespoons of lime juice and 3 tablespoons of grenadine in a jar, chill it, and spoon 2 tablespoons into each glass before adding ice and ginger seltzer. Set out a small bowl of cherries and let people add their own.
For children’s parties, serve smaller glasses. A short tumbler holds about 6 ounces, which is plenty, and it means less syrup goes into each one. If you want the fizzy ginger bite without buying it, our homemade ginger ale recipe makes a syrup that works here, with plain sparkling water doing the rest.
One more honest tip: the cherry. Maraschino cherries are candied, so one is a garnish and four is a snack. Use one, and spear it so it’s the last thing you eat.
Add it to your Swap Shelf
If you want it to be a regular swap, make a batch of ginger syrup and keep ginger seltzer in the fridge. In FizzFree, add the Shirley Temple to your Swap Shelf and tap whether the swap worked.
FizzFree is a habit tracker and not medical advice. If you have a health condition or take medication, talk to your doctor before changing what you drink.
Questions
What is in a Shirley Temple?
A classic Shirley Temple is ginger ale, a splash of grenadine and a maraschino cherry, served over ice. Some recipes add a squeeze of lime. It's non-alcoholic by design, so it's the original mocktail.
How much sugar is in a Shirley Temple?
Quite a lot in the usual version, because ginger ale and grenadine are both sweet. We don't publish nutrition numbers, but you can cut it sharply by using ginger seltzer, a smaller pour of grenadine and a splash of pomegranate juice, which is what this recipe does.
What's a Shirley Temple without grenadine?
Use pomegranate juice and a little lime for color and tartness. It's less sweet and a deeper red. Many bottled grenadines are mostly sugar syrup with color, so the juice is the closest real-fruit swap.
Can I make a Shirley Temple with sparkling water?
Yes. Use plain sparkling water, add 1 tablespoon of ginger syrup (see our homemade ginger ale) for the ginger taste, and keep the grenadine at 2 teaspoons or less. It tastes sharper than a ginger ale version.
Is it OK for kids?
It contains no alcohol, so it's a common kids' drink. It's also sweet, so a lighter version with a smaller pour of grenadine is a sensible default.
FizzFree is a habit tracker and not medical advice. If you have a health condition or take medication, talk to your doctor before changing what you drink.