Gin Fizz Cocktail

Looking for the best gin cocktail recipe? 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. It adds more interesting nuanced notes here (and it doesn’t taste like maple, promise!). Here are the Gin Fizz ingredients that you’ll need:

• Gin
• Lemon
• Simple syrup or maple syrup
• Egg white
• Soda water

How to make a gin fizz cocktail

How to make a Gin Fizz? You’ll shake together the gin, fresh lemon juice, syrup, and egg white in a cocktail shaker without ice first, then add ice and pour it into two glasses. (That’s called a Dry Shake; see below!)

When you top off each glass with soda water, the carbonation combines with the egg white to make a frothy foam topping. It’s like magic! And 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 added egg whites to cocktails since the 1860’s for two reasons: it adds a frothy texture the surface of the drink, and gives 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.

This method is used with many classic cocktails, and results in a lovely white layer of foam on top. See the Boston Sour or Pisco Sour for another foam-topped drink.

What’s a vegan egg white substitute for cocktails?

Now, let’s say you have a vegan guest: or you eat plant-based yourself. What to use as a vegan egg white substitute in cocktails? The answer: Aquafaba. What’s that? 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: Cocktail Shaker | Amazon

What’s a substitute for a cocktail shaker? Well if you’re in a pinch, you can use a glass mason jar instead! Place the cocktail in the jar and fill it with ice. Put on the top and shake away! When pouring out the cocktail, you’ll need to use a strainer or some other mesh 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! You could also be on the lookout for local gin, if you have distilleries in your area. Here in Indianapolis, our friends over at 8th Day Distillery make a local gin that’s a fun local find.

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 our soda water, we used 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:

• Ramos Gin Fizz This drink was invented in New Orleans in the 1880’s and tastes like lemon meringue pie. How can you improve upon the gin fizz, you might ask? This one does.
• Sloe Gin Fizz A fruity spin on the classic! This drink swaps out the gin for sloe gin, which isn’t actually gin at all.
• Tom Collins Did you know the classic Tom Collins has all the same ingredients as a gin fizz…except the egg white?

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 enjoy tangy cocktails like margaritas and I love sour beers, 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 Watermelon Gin Cocktail, from 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).

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Looking for more drink recipes?

Outside of this gin fizz recipe, here are a few more of our favorite drink recipes:

• Frozen Margarita Recipe
• BEST Classic Margarita
• Best Margarita Salt
• Watermelon Margarita
• Simple Lemon Margarita
• Strawberry Margarita with Lime Ice
• Best Frose Recipe (Frozen Rosé)
• Strawberry Daiquiris
• Fruit Infused Water Recipe
• Cucumber Lemon Water
• Homemade Cold Brew Recipe
• Lime Water with Mint
• Frozen Sangria
• Favorite Whiskey Sour
• Kombucha Recipe
• Lemonade Slushie
• Cherry Blueberry Champagne Sparklers 
• Bloody Mary Recipe

Last updated: March 2021