When you wanna get your Caribbean island vibes on, this Rum Punch recipe is the way to do it! It’s laid-back, fruity and so refreshing. We mix up tropical juices, splashes of rum, pops of citrus, and a hint of grenadine. This rum punch cocktail is the epitome of chill beach mode and refreshment. Get your sip on, and keep it breezy boos.
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I’m a girl who loves a vacay boos. I’ll take a lounge on the beach in the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, or the Bahamas any day over any other vacation. Nothing beats that along with a tall glass of rum punch. This rum punch recipe is seriously everything! Serve it up at a cookout, backyard barbecue, pool party, or just unwind with one after a long day. Regardless of when you make it and who you make it for, this drink werks it!
What is Rum Punch?
Rum punch is an iconic tropical cocktail drink that’s super popular in the Caribbean. It’s typically made with rum, various fruit juices, and grenadine. It’s sweet, fun and vibrant in flavor making it a fave on vacations. It’s a whole mood y’all. Because they are super tasty, you might down 1 or 2 in one sitting without even thinking about it!
The Lowdown on this Traditional Rum Punch Recipe
- Cuisine Inspiration: Tropical Feels
- Primary Cooking Method: Mixing
- Dietary Info: Vegan friendly
- Key Flavor: Sweet and Fruity with a Boozy Kick
- Skill Level: Beginner Friendly! No sweat!!
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make This Caribbean Rum Punch Recipe
- Spiced rum: This rum is gonna warm this baby up and add a bit of depth with the aromatic spices.
- White rum: This balances and smooths out our cocktail base.
- Pineapple juice: It provides sweet and tropical notes.
- Orange juice: This gives a burst of sunshine adding some great citrus energy.
- Fresh Lime juice: This brings so much zesty flavor that enhances the overall taste.
- Tart cherry juice: With all that sweetness, we need to add a bit of tart. It also adds such a wonderful ruby color.
- Grenadine: It adds sweetness and vibrant red color, giving the drink a pop!
- Angostura bitters: This offers up some complexity in the rum punch balancing that sweetness.
- Navel orange: This offers up that gorgeous finishing touch. You gotta make it cute!
How to Make Rum Punch
Step 1: Mix it Up
- In a pitcher, stir together the pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice, cherry juice, grenadine, and Angostura bitters.
2. Add the spiced rum and white rum to the mixture, stirring gently to combine all the flavors.
Step 2: Serve it Up!
- Fill glasses with crushed ice and pour the rum punch over the ice.
- Garnish each glass with a slice of navel orange for an extra burst of citrus freshness.
How To Serve this Rum Punch Recipe
- Caribbean Menu: This Caribbean rum punch recipe is perfect for serving along with this bold jerk chicken, brown stew chicken, curry goat, beef patties, oxtails, rice and peas, and braised cabbage.
- BBQ Cookout: When you are hosting that cookout over the summer, serve this rum punch up with baby back ribs, rib tips, baked beans, Southern potato salad, fried corn, and a delish kool-aid pie. Toss the fruity punch in mason jars with colorful straws and garnish each with a sprig of fresh mint. That would be so fun y’all!
- Pool Party: If you love lounging by the beach with a tropical punch, serve this up at the pool party next time. It’s definitely the move. Serve it in tall, ice-filled glasses with colorful paper umbrellas. Or you can even freeze these in popsicle molds for a cool treat if its super hot y’all. Serve along with some fun ice cream treats like brownie ice cream sandwiches, mango sorbet, grilled pineapple sundaes with vanilla ice cream.
- Make a Big Batch for a Party: When you have a large gathering of folks showing up, make this rum punch recipe in a punch bowl y’all. Throw in some floating citrus slices and an ice ring to make it cute!
Recipe Substitutions
- Rum: You can play around with these and sub in some coconut rum, dark rum, or gold rum.
- Juices: You can substitute pineapple juice with passion fruit, mango or guava juice. For the orange and lime juices, try other citrus juices like grapefruit and lemon instead. Cherry juice can be switched out for pomegranate or cranberry juice for similar bitter feels and color pop.
- Grenadine: If you want to lower that sweet quotient, replace grenadine with a simple syrup. Just adjust how sweet you want it to be.
Recipe Variations and Additions
- Herbs: Y’all, adding some basil or mint can really make this super sophisticated.
- Sparkle it Up: Top off your rum punch with a splash of club soda, ginger ale or sparkling water. Or add some Prosecco or champagne for even more adult fun. Get fizzy with it!
- Spice: Adding ginger or cinnamon can really warm up this punch and add some exotic flavor.
- Liqueur: Even just a small splash of a berry liqueur, Grand Marnier or Cointreau can liven this even more.
- Non-alcoholic: You can totally leave out the rum all together and keep this drink perfect for the kiddos too. Just balance all the other juices instead.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- Use Fresh Squeezed Juices: Nothing makes a fruity drink better than freshly squeezed juices. You can’t fake it boos! It just adds vibrancy and brighter flavor.
- Quality Rum: Y’all, the better the rum, the better the drink. The best quality rums will keep this rum punch crisp, clean, and complex.
- Chill Before You Serve: This drink is best served up cold so make sure you chill it in the fridge before serving to the crowd.
How to Store
- Fridge: You can store any leftover punch in an airtight container. It will last about 3 days usually. However, if you used fresh squeezed juices, it will last less time (like 2 days) because they degrade faster.
- Freeze: You can definitely freeze the punch in an airtight container but the flavor may thin a bit after thawing.
Rum Punch FAQs
Sure thing boos! To make a non-alcoholic version, just leave out the rums in the recipe. Increase the amount of pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice, tart cherry juice, and grenadine to balance it out. Or you can throw in some ginger ale, club soda or sparkling water for some fizz.
Yep! Just prep all the fruit juices, grenadine, and bitters mixture in advance and store them in the fridge. When you’re ready to drink, add in the rums, stir and serve them up.
While the recipe calls for spiced rum and white rum, you can definitely experiment with different rum varieties. Do you boo! Dark rum can add a richer flavor, while coconut rum or mango rum can add a ton more tropical vibes.
If you like it sweeter, you can increase the amount of grenadine or add in some simple syrup to the mixture. If you want a less sweet punch, reduce the grenadine or just take it out completely.
More Punch Recipes to Try
- Easy Fruit Punch
- Rainbow Sherbet Punch Recipe
- Blackberry Punch
- Peach Nectar Punch Recipe
- New Orleans Hurricane
*Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating and leave comments below!* Post a photo of how your version of the recipe came out on Instagram (using #grandbabycakes)!!
Rum Punch
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups Pineapple juice
- 2 cups Orange juice freshly squeezed
- 1 1/2 cups Lime juice freshly squeezed
- 1/2 cup Tart cherry juice
- 1/2 cup Grenadine
- 1 teaspoon Angostura bitters
- 1/2 cup White rum
- 1/2 cup Spiced rum
- 1 Navel orange
Instructions
- Stir together fruit juices, grenadine, and bitters.
- Stir in rums.
- Pour over crushed ice in glasses.
- Garnish with an orange slice.
Notes
- Fridge: You can store any leftover punch in an airtight container. It will last about 3 days usually. However, if you used fresh squeezed juices, it will last less time (like 2 days) because they degrade faster.
- Freeze: You can definitely freeze the punch in an airtight container but the flavor may thin a bit after thawing.
Cheers to this amazing Rum Punch recipe! I decided to give it a shot, and it’s hands down the best rum punch I’ve ever tasted. The blend of tropical fruit juices with that kick of rum is pure paradise in a glass.
First of all, I love the look of this drink, it’s beautiful!
I made this and my sister loves it.
This punch looks magical! SO many delicious flavors in one drink. ๐
I brought this to a birthday party over the weekend and it was a huge hit! It disappeared quickly so Iโll make even more next time.
I love all the flavors in this! I just need to get the bitters. Then it’s party time. ๐
We made this rum punch this weekend and LOVED it! We’re having a BBQ in a couple weeks with friends and will definitely be adding this cocktail to the menu!
So glad you guys enjoyed it!
I am obsessed with this drink!! I am going to be making it on repeat this summer, thank you so much for sharing!! ๐
I love the combination of juices and other ingredients. Perfect cocktail to make an evening special.
great reminder, love the duo of rum, a perfect end to a summer week, thank you!
I was recently in Cuba, and am now all about rum! This cocktail needs to be made asap!