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Looking for one of the best gin cocktail recipes? Try a refreshing gin fizz: it’s sweet, tangy, and has a frothy egg white foam topping.
Ever had a gin fizz? It’s one of the best uses of a bottle of gin around (really). This classic cocktail from the 1870’s is perfectly balanced, both sweet and tart with a pop of lemon and a botanical finish. Add to that a frothy egg white foam topping, which adds the best creamy texture to each sip. Oh and it takes only 5 minutes to make! Ready to experience this iconic gin cocktail?
Gin fizz ingredients
The gin fizz is a classic cocktail made with gin, lemon, simple syrup and soda water. The first printed recipe for a gin fizz was in an 1876 cocktail book, and the drink rose to mass popularity starting in the 1900’s. It’s a textbook sour cocktail that includes citrus, liquor and sweetener. An egg white is the magic behind that classic frothy foam topping.
For the sweetener for the gin Fizz, you can use either the standard simple syrup or maple syrup as a natural sweetener. Maple syrup adds more interesting nuanced notes here (and it doesn’t taste like maple, promise!). The gin fizz ingredients are:
- 2 oz gin
- ¾ oz lemon juice
- ½ oz simple syrup
- 1 egg white
- Soda water
How to make a gin fizz cocktail
How to make a gin fizz? Shake together 2 oz gin, ¾ oz fresh lemon juice, ½ oz simple syrup, and an egg white in a cocktail shaker without ice first (a technique that’s called a dry shake). Then add ice and shake it again until cold.
Strain the drink into the glass. When you top off the glass with soda water, the carbonation combines with the egg white to make a frothy foam topping. It’s a trick that’s sure to impress all your guests.
The trick to the foam topping: a dry shake!
How does it all work? Bartenders have been adding egg whites to cocktails since the 1860’s for two reasons. First, egg whites add a frothy texture the surface of the drink and give each sip a creamy rich flavor. Most drinks are shaken with together with ice in a cocktail shaker. But in this gin fizz you’ll do what’s called a dry shake. Here’s how it works:
- Shake the drink ingredients without ice first. This lets the protein in the egg begin to form foam, instead of being diluted by the ice.
- Then add ice and shake again. This cools the drink and strengthens the foam. Strain it into the glass and you’ll get a thick, white frothy layer.
- A tip for increasing the foam in a gin fizz? Add a spring to the cocktail shaker; it helps to agitate the ingredients even more.
This method is used with many classic cocktails, and results in a lovely white layer of foam on top. Other famous egg white cocktails are the Boston Sour or Pisco Sour.
A vegan egg white substitute for cocktails
Let’s say you have a vegan guest or you eat plant-based yourself. What’s a vegan egg white substitute in cocktails? The answer: aquafaba. Aquafaba is the liquid that’s in a can of chickpeas. Because it’s so starchy, it can work as a binder similar to an egg.
Since 2 tablespoons of aquafaba equal 1 egg white, you can use 2 tablespoons of aquafaba in this recipe as an equivalent to the actual egg white. It makes for the same type of foam!
What cocktail shaker do I need?
Cocktail shakers are inexpensive and absolutely worth the cabinet space. A cocktail shaker quickly chills cocktails by shaking them against ice, then has a perforated lid so you can pour out the cocktail without pouring out the ice as well. Here’s the cocktail shaker we use.
What’s a substitute for a cocktail shaker? If you’re in a pinch, you can use a glass jar with a cover. Place the cocktail in the jar and fill it with ice, then put on the top and shake away! When pouring out the cocktail, you’ll need to use a strainer or some other way to keep the ice inside the mason jar.
What type of gin should I buy?
For this Gin Fizz, you’ll want to use the high quality gin! The better the gin, the better the drink. The easiest way to tell if a gin is high quality? Don’t buy the cheapest gin you can find. Try to invest in a mid-price range gin: the drink will only taste as good as the gin you invest in! Here are a few notes:
- Malfy and Beefeater London Dry have a developed, botanical flavor that blends well in cocktails.
- Locally distilled gin is a great option! In Indianapolis, we like 8th Day Distillery, Hotel Tango, and Big Heart Gin.
- Steer clear of strong flavored sipping gins in cocktails. For us this includes brands like Tanqueray gin (very floral) and Opihr gin (spice-forward). These types of gin can overpower the subtlety in many mixed drinks.
Make your own soda water
Of course you can buy soda water for a gin fizz. But you can also make it at home! To make soda water, we use our SodaStream (which we’re obsessed with!) We bought it to make healthy alternatives soda pop, and we ended up falling in love with the refreshing bubbles.
Gin fizz variations
There are a few famous variations on the gin fizz you absolutely must try if you love this recipe. Here are a few other famous drinks in the fizz family:
- The Ramos Gin Fizz was invented in New Orleans in the 1880’s and tastes like lemon meringue pie. It adds lime juice, heavy cream and orange blossom water to the classic formula.
- The Sloe Gin Fizz is a fruity spin on the classic! This drink swaps out the gin for sloe gin (which isn’t actually gin at all!).
- A Tom Collins has the same ingredients as a gin fizz, but skips the egg white topping.
- The Gin Sour has the same ingredients as a gin fizz, without the soda water.
- A Bee’s Knees has similar ingredients but uses honey syrup.
And that’s it: how to make a Gin Fizz!
We hope that you’ll find this Gin Fizz to be your new favorite cocktail. I love tangy cocktails like margaritas and whiskey sours, so this tangy sweet fizzy drink was right up my alley. Let us know if you make it in the comments below!
There’s lots more you can do with gin, from classic Gin and Tonic to a Hanky Panky to a Gin Gimlet. Go to our Best Gin Cocktails.
This recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free. For vegan and plant-based, use aquafaba (see below).
Gin Fizz Cocktail
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 drink 1x
Description
Looking for the best gin cocktail recipe? Try a refreshing Gin Fizz: it’s sweet, tangy, and has a frothy egg white foam topping.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces gin
- ¾ ounce lemon juice
- ½ ounce simple syrup*
- 1 egg white**
- Garnish with lemon twist (optional)
- Soda water
Instructions
- Place the gin, lemon juice, syrup and egg white in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Fill the shaker with ice and shake for 30 seconds until cold.
- Strain the drink into a glass and top with the soda water; the egg white foam forms on top. If desired, garnish with a lemon twist. Serve immediately.
Notes
*Maple syrup is our favorite substitute for simple syrup in a cocktail; it adds subtle caramel notes without tasting like maple.
**For vegan, substitute 2 tablespoons aquafaba, the liquid from a can of chickpeas.
To convert to ounces, 1 ounce = 2 tablespoons
- Category: Drink
- Method: Shaken
- Cuisine: American
More drink recipes
Outside of this gin fizz recipe, here are a few more of our favorite drink recipes:
Delicious! I just discovered that I might like gin so made this with Bombay Sapphire. Really good. I made with simple syrup instead of maple. For my own taste, I might prefer a little more simple syrup but this drink is so refreshing and foamy and delicious! Definitely a keeper!! Question though . . . . would this taste different with another gin such as Tanqueray?
The taste changes with each gin, but not significantly!
Amazing recipe! Would advise when making your own simple syrup to infuze it with lemon zest for this recipe, makes it even better!
Just found you guys, tried the gin fizz recipe, my wife and I absolutely LOVED IT, and this is coming from a Chilean guy that loves making pisco sour. Thank you so much! Looking forward for some more recipes
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed.
I am going to make this for a cocktail challenge night. What is a good desert to serve with this?
It would be good with one of our crisps! https://www.acouplecooks.com/category/recipes/dessert-recipes/?_search_recipes=crisp
I just made this for fun because I happened to be making dinner with chickpeas. What a revelation, really easy to get a good foam and the taste was much lighter than with egg white. Will definitely be doing again.
Awesome!
Absolutely loved it. I used Golden Syrup instead of Maple Syrup and will definitely be making it again.
This is perfect! I had rhubarb syrup, so I used that instead of making more – my drink is the loveliest shade of blush pink
I love that idea!
This is delicious and now my go-to pandemic cocktail! Just add a smidge more syrup and lemon.. But that’s just me.
The foam was great. The substitution of maple syrup gave it a little maple flavor…which was unpleasant.
Thanks for this recipe! I’m historically terrified of eggwhite drinks and this one inspired me to give it a go. DEEELISH!!
So glad you enjoyed! Don’t you love the foam?!
Hahaha, same