16 Vodka Cocktail Recipes Perfect for Summer

Vodka's neutral taste gives way to classic and creative cocktails, from the cosmo to unique sours.

By
Rabi Abonour
Rabi Abonour is a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Rabi Abonour
Rabi Abonour is a planner specializing in transportation, but has also been a photojournalist, writer, and editor for several online and print publications.
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Updated August 07, 2024
A tall glass of strawberry mint sparkler garnished with mint leaves next to three whole strawberries.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

When temperatures are soaring and your party guests are parched, check out this collection of summery vodka cocktails. Vodka is famous for it's clean finish and neutral taste, so it really lets the other cocktail ingredients shine through. This allows for classics like bloody marys, but also creative twists like a lemongrass sour or pamplemousse cooler.

When it's high summer and you need refreshing and boozy, check out this collection of our favorite vodka cocktails.

  • Lemongrass Sour

    A lemongrass sour garnished with lime zest on a green wooden surface.

    Serious Eats / Elana Lepkowski

    A far cry from the vodka sour you'll find in the average bar, this cocktail is made with lemongrass-infused vodka and shaken with egg white to produce an elegant foam. You can take a week or two and infuse vodka the old-fashioned way or use a whipped cream canister to do it instantaneously.

  • Thyme for a Salty Dog

    An overhead view of a pretty pink salty dog garnished with fresh thyme.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    One reason to use vodka over, say, gin, is that its more neutral flavor gets out of the way and lets other ingredients be the star. That's the case in this spin on the Salty Dog, which is all about the bitter grapefruit and woodsy thyme. Don't skip salting the rim—it further amplifies the flavors.

  • Spicy Bloody Mary With Cilantro and Fried Shallots

    An overhead view of a bloody Mary garnished with fried shallots, a lime wedge, and a white and orange striped straw.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    A classic bloody mary is never a bad choice for a summer brunch, but this intense Thai-style variation is even better. We start with the standard vodka and tomato juice, but replace the Worcestershire with fish sauce and the Tabasco with sambal oelek. Cilantro brightens the drink up, a brown sugar simple syrup adds sweetness, and beer gives it a little fizz.

  • Moscow Mule

    Two Moscow mule cocktails in copper mugs garnished with lime wedges.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    My first choice when it comes to vodka cocktails any time of year, the Moscow Mule is even more refreshing once the temperature starts to rise. It's so simple that you don't really need a recipe—just spike ginger beer with vodka and squeeze in half a lime. The copper cup isn't required, but I swear the drink doesn't taste right without it.

    Continue to 5 of 16 below

  • Pamplemousse Cooler (Vodka-Cucumber Cocktail With Grapefruit LaCroix)

    Pamplemousse cooler garnished with a cucumber wheel and lemon slice.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Simply pouring booze into LaCroix might sound good, but it doesn't really work—most of the flavors have a bitterness that doesn't work with alcohol without some help. Bring other ingredients into play and the story changes—this pamplemousse LaCroix and vodka cocktail is brought together with simple syrup, elderflower liqueur, and muddled cucumber.

  • El Gallito (Pineapple-Chipotle Pitcher Cocktail)

    A savory pineapple cocktail garnished with half a cherry tomato.

    Serious Eats / Kelly Puleio

    This rare treasure, an umami-rich sweet/salty/smoky chipotle number, balances juicy pineapple with grassy, green cilantro. It straddles the line between sweet and savory: A handful of cherry tomatoes tamps down the fruity flavor without pushing the drink into full-on bloody mary territory.

  • Fizzy Ginger Cocktail With Pickled Watermelon Rind

    Two fizzy ginger cocktails garnished with pickled watermelon rind on a silver cocktail tray.

    Serious Eats / Elana Lepkowski

    This crisp, slightly spicy cocktail is made with bubbly prosecco, dry vermouth, and vodka infused with fresh ginger. What really makes the drink is the garnish of watermelon rind pickled in a sweet and spicy brine flavored with cinnamon, peppercorns, clove, and red pepper flakes.

  • Great Gatsby

    A pale pink Great Gatsby cocktail garnished with an orange slice.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Sometimes you want to keep it simple, so we make this drink with just three ingredients: grapefruit juice, vodka, and Lillet Blanc (a citrusy wine-based aperitif). With such a short ingredient list it's important that each one is high quality—squeeze the grapefruit juice fresh and pull a decent bottle of vodka off the bar.

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  • Honey and Marmalade Sour

    A honey and orange marmalade sour cocktail in an up glass with a spoon and jar of marmalade out of focus behind.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Orange marmalade may be sweet, but it also offers an underlying bitterness reminiscent of burnt caramel. Lemon juice helps the citrus sing while honey mellows the whole thing out in this intensely flavorful vodka sour. It's the kind of versatile cocktail that's equally appropriate day or night, all year round.

  • Lady Grey

    A Lady Jane cocktail next to a pitcher, half a lemon and fresh mint.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Mixing one or two individual drinks is fine, but pitchers are the way to go for summer entertaining. Next time you throw a cookout try stirring up a batch of this complex sipper made with Earl Grey tea, vodka, lemon juice, mint, and ginger syrup. Even better for entertaining, the tea and syrup can be made well ahead of time and kept in the fridge.

  • L'Aventura Punch (Vodka, Mint Tea, and Amaro Cocktail)

    An overhead view of a bowl of l'aventura punch garnished with lime wheels and fresh mint.

    Serious Eats / Kelly Puleio

    Vodka adds a neutral kick of booze, allowing the more intriguing flavors of amaro, vermouth, and a mint tea syrup to come through.

  • Strawberry-Mint Sparkler

    A tall glass filled with a strawberry mint sparking cocktail, garnished with fresh mint next to strawberries.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    I never let strawberry season pass without mixing at least a few cocktails. To make this one we muddle the fruit with simple syrup, lime juice, and mint leaves, shake with vodka, and top with club soda. Muddle the strawberries first before adding the mint—you want the berries to be completely pulverized, but the mint will turn bitter if you're too rough with it.

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  • Cosmopolitan

    Two cosmopolitans in up glasses garnished with an orange twist on a marble surface.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    I can't think of many drinks that are as maligned as the poor Cosmopolitan, and I don't doubt that most versions are less than stellar. But all it takes are better ingredients to make the Cosmo into a drink worth keeping in rotation—we make ours with citrus-flavored vodka, high quality triple sec, unsweetened 100% cranberry juice, and freshly squeezed lime juice.

  • Rhubarb Ginger Cocktail

    A tall glass with a rhubarb ginger cocktail garnished with a lime wedge.

    Serious Eats / Kelly Carámbula

    Rhubarb is puckeringly tart, so recipes often pair it with sweet fruits like strawberries or raspberries. Here we go in a different direction, making the rhubarb into a syrup and mixing it with spicy ginger ale (or ginger beer, if you want it even stronger). If you're looking for something non-alcoholic, this tastes great without the vodka.

  • The Phil Collins

    A Phil Collins cocktail in a tall glass next to a stack of books.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    The Tom Collins—made with gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup—is ripe for variation. Scott Marshall of The Hawthorne in Boston came up with this version, swapping the gin for cucumber vodka, which gets mixed with lime juice, Yellow Chartreuse, and a dash of cranberry bitters.

  • The Best Bloody Mary

    Two bloody Marys on wooden coasters garnished with celery and lemon wedges.

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    To make the best bloody mary skip the mix and doctor up your tomato juice from scratch with horseradish, Worcestershire, and hot sauce.

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