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A Shirley Temple is pretty, pink, and irresistibly fizzy. It turns any occasion into a celebration, and it’s the perfect beverage for every age.
Table of Contents
Shirley Temple Ingredients
- Grenadine: A deep red, pomegranate-flavored syrup. Some Midwestern taverns add maraschino cherry juice instead. It’s not traditional, but it tastes great and the kids never mind!
- Soda: Modern Shirley Temples are made with white soda such as Sprite or 7UP. For a more traditional approach, substitute ginger ale (you could add a splash of orange juice, too).
- Maraschino cherries: I keep bright red maraschino cherries packed in watery syrup on hand because they are inexpensive and kid-friendly. For an elevated Shirley Temple, look for Luxardo brand maraschino cherries packed in a thick marasca cherry juice (imported from Italy).
- Ice: A necessity for this fizzy cocktail!
How to make Shirley Temple
- Fill a glass with ice, then add about 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of grenadine. Top with white soda, then garnish with maraschino cherries.
How to Make Soda
If you want to make your own Sprite or 7UP-like soda, I love using my SodaStream E-Terra to do so! It comes with three different carbonation levels, so you can create the perfect amount of fizziness for your Shirley Temple. It’s my favorite soda maker, and you can get it on Target for $139.99.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: Makes 8 drinks.
- Roy Rogers: Substitute Coca-Cola for the Sprite.
- Cherry juice: It’s not the same as grenadine, but using the maraschino cherry juice from the jar tastes good too (and also makes a pink drink).
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This kid-friendly cocktail is named after the 1930’s child star Shirley Temple. Legends say that she used to dine at my Hollywood restaurants with her parents, and bartenders made this alcohol-free mocktail so she had something to enjoy, too.
A Shirley Temple spiked with alcohol is called a Dirty Shirley Cocktail. Traditionally, Dirty Shirleys are spiked with vodka, a neutral spirit that doesn’t overwhelm the grenadine and lemon-lime soda flavor. For better or worse, you’ll hardly even notice the vodka is there!
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Shirley Temple Drink Recipe
Ingredients
- Ice
- 1 (12-ounce) bottle Grenadine (see note 1)
- 1 (2-Liter) bottle lemon-lime soda (see note 2)
- Maraschino cherries for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Fill a glass with ice. Add 1 ounce (2 tbsp) grenadine, then top with 8 ounces lemon-lime soda. Garnish with maraschino cherries if desired.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Grenadine: A deep red, pomegranate-flavored syrup.
- Soda: Modern Shirley Temples are made with white soda such as Sprite or 7UP. For a more traditional approach, substitute ginger ale (you could add a splash of orange juice, too).
- Yield: Makes 8 drinks.
- Roy Rogers: Substitute Coca-Cola for the Sprite.
- Cherry juice: It’s not the same as grenadine, but using the maraschino cherry juice from the jar tastes good too (and also makes a pink drink).
Where did you get these cups? I clicked on the link, but it was not the ones pictured.
Hi Calley! Yes, the link just goes to a basic search for clear plastic Christmas cups on Amazon’s website because I think the reindeer ones are discontinued now. I got them a few years ago at Walmart, they were Solo brand. I am so sorry about that!
Hi do you think there is a way to make this recipe in bulk and then put in a punch bowl? I’m wanting to do them for a birthday party and thought it might be easier and faster than making each drink individually, thanks!!
Hi London, YES! It’s a great idea, making punch. Here’s some math to figure it out. 2 liters of soda is about 67 ounces which is roughly 8 servings of Shirley temple (assuming you are doing 8 ounces of soda in each). I do a ratio of 8 ounces of soda –> 1 ounce of Grenadine. If you wanted to stick with that, you would add 8 ounces of Grenadine to the punch bowl with your soda. However, I’d probably just add the whole bottle of Grenadine, all 12 ounces… heck, it’s the holidays PLUS then you can add ice and not worry about it watering everything down. So that’s what I’d do. Bonus points if you stick maraschino cherries in your ice cubes… LOL!!! I’m definitely going to do a post with Shirley Temple Punch. Best idea ever.
Not a good idea. The soda will loose it’s carbonation therefore it’s fizz much faster sitting in a bowl. Carbonation is the sole reason of choosing soda over any other type of liquid. I am not saying you can’t or shouldn’t but since we are discussing a specific recipe, quality does matter.
I’m 72 and I still love Shirley temples—-plain and simple they’re yummy!
Mom was head barmaid and always served us Shirley Temples when we had an outing to the place she worked in Manhattan. They were always made with ginger ale as the base beverage and the maraschino cherry with the stem was mandatory 🙂
Add thanks Lynn, that Shirley Temple, it always had a touch of grenadine 🙂
We also make these for the young men in our family. But we do not call and Shirley temples we called him Roy Rogers. We have done this for years with our kids party functions. Now with 14 grandchildren we do it for them at family functions. And toaster being made we use the sparkling grape juice. Let’s the children to fill a special as the adults.
Roy Rogers – ha! I love that! This was always my favorite drink as a child and, if I’m being honest, I love it as an adult too. 🙂 And that sparkling grape juice, THAT is good stuff. I could drink a whole bottle. Thanks so much for finding my post and sharing your story. I’m so grateful! Take care Debbie!
I grew up in having Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers because I was an only child and often out with adults… Suppose it made me feel grown up to get a drink that looked the part! From what I can recall, however, a Shirley Temple was with 7up and. Roy Rogers was basically the same drink, but made with Coke. We always have grenadine in the liquor cabinet, but I don’t think I’ve made any of my four little ones a Roy Rogers to date, had forgotten all about it!
Meggan!
How many drinks can you get out of this recipe? Thank you 🙂 Excited to try these at our NYE Wedding this year! Thought this might be a fun drink for those who can’t or don’t drink alcohol!
Hi Kennady! I have down 8 servings for the recipe. That is because you’ll have about 80 ounces of liquid between the 2L of soda and the grenadine. So, that means 10 ounces per drink (roughly) which, if you put some ice in the glass, should be pretty good for a serving. I hope that helps! If you have more questions just let me know. Thanks so much for your nice comment and I hope you give it a try. This is still my favorite drink ever!!!! So good. 🙂
Crazy question! Where did you find your cups? Super cute!!
Hi Misty!!! These are just plastic Solo cups that I bought at Walmart a few years ago. 🙂 Keeping it classy, ha ha! Thank you so much. 🙂
Look up a recipe for homemade grenadine. It makes all the difference in the world and it’s easy to make.
Karen, thank you for that!! I love making things like that from scratch and never even thought about grenadine. 🙂 I’ll definitely check that out! Thank you so much.
I actually have never had one but I’d love a boozy one.You’ve made these look so pretty and festive.
Omg! This was my absolute favorite drink when I was a kid! Any time we went out to eat, I always ordered one! To this day, I still enjoy Shirley Temples!
So I’m not the only one then? 🙂 I always thought it was the best drink ever when I was a kid. It has been fun having the Grenadine on hand and making one of these with dinner every night for the past week!