There’s no need to buy ginger shots when you can make them at home for a fraction of the price – and they taste so much better. Less waste and shipping impact, no preservatives, and you can adjust it to suit your tastes exactly. This combination is perfect to me, but see below for some suggestions on variations and substitutions.

To get this recipe I read the ingredients on the Voelkel shots and worked backwards (they use acerola, but it’s not available to most people, so I’ve omitted it). The taste here is phenomenal and ginger shots are packed with vitamin C and throat-soothing ingredients like honey and lemon.

If you make your own ginger beer, I highly recommend adding some of this ginger shot mixture to that. It really boosts the ginger flavour, making it much spicier and much more like store-bought ginger beer.

For more drinks to make when you need a boost, try lemon ginger turmeric tea, vivid cranberry ginger tea, or mild orange peel tea, all made with fresh ginger.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Ginger: choose a nice fresh ginger with thin skin. If you can get ultra-fresh ginger with the very thin pinkish skin, use that.
• Apple juice: if you prefer, use orange juice instead of apple. I like the taste of apple best but both are very good. Either way make sure it’s unsweetened and preferably not from concentrate.
• Honey: you will taste the honey a bit so use a type you like. I usually go for something like raw blossom honey. For a fully vegan alternative, you could use maple syrup.

Step by Step

Step 1: chop the ginger and add it to a blender or blending container.

Step 2: add the remaining ingredients.

Step 3: blend until smooth, then strain out the ginger pulp and press with a spoon.

Step 4: serve immediately or refrigerate for a few days.

Recipe Notes

Try some add-ins once you’ve made a batch of the basic ginger shots recipe. Replace some of the ginger root with fresh turmeric, add some cinnamon or hot pepper, or switch out some apple juice for something like elderberry juice.

Be sure to strain the mixture. Too much ginger pulp can cause some problems.

As you can see in the step-by-step pictures, I use an immersion blender for this recipe. If you do the same, use a mixing container that’s big enough so it doesn’t fly out when being blended. A bullet blender or standard blender will both work well if you have one.

How to Store

Keep in a sealed glass container in the refrigerator for up to five days. I haven’t tried freezing the shots but don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

Expert Tips

• Sweeten to taste: change the amount of honey added to suit your preference. Some honey types will be sweeter than others (forest honey has more bitter notes, for example).
• No need to peel: you’re straining out the pulp in any case. Don’t waste time peeling the ginger for this recipe.
• Don’t overdo it: too much ginger can indeed be a bad thing and can cause heartburn or stomach upset. If you find that it’s hard on your body, drink less ginger shots or stop with it altogether.

More Ginger Recipes

Orange Ginger Beer Mocktail
Honey Elderberry Syrup
Spiced Pear Cider
Lemon Elderflower Popsicles