I wanted to serve a tropical cocktail for the premiere of my Hawaii Five-0 episode, and what drink says “Aloha!” better than a Mai Tai!?
A typical Mai Tai is crazy high in sugar and calories. My Mai Tai recipe packs a lot of flavor, but none of the guilt! And when you’re throwing a Hawaii Five 0 viewing party, you’re going to want to save all your extra calories for Hawaiian themed treats like dole whip and haupia pie, right?!
Disclaimer: these cocktails are strong they could easily be made weaker by reducing the amount of rum. This recipe is to make 1 drink at a time, shaken, not stirred.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 ice cubes
- 3 ounces Light Rum (Bacardi)
- 3 ounces Dark Spiced Rum (Captain Morgans)
- 2 ounces Pineapple Coconut Juice (RW Knudson)*
- 1/2 small orange, squeezed (or
1 ounce oj ) - 2 ounces natural flavored no sugar lemon/lime soda (Zevia)
Cap full of Almond Extract (Simply Organic)- Pineapple slices for garnish
* RW Knudson makes a great natural pineapple coconut juice. If you don’t have that in your grocery store, just use regular no sugar added pineapple or a combination of
DIRECTIONS
Place all ingredients into a drink shaker and shake vigorously for 5-10 seconds, or until slightly frothy. Pour into glass and garnish with a drink umbrella and slice of pineapple!
Serve with salsa or guacamole inside of a hollowed out pineapple half and you’ve got yourself a luau! Bonus points if you use mermaid tail cups.
Luau Party Food
you’ve got a lot of options!
- Poke Station, where guests make their own poke bowls with all the toppings. Raw tuna cubes, rice, seaweed, ginger, soy sauce, mango, etc
- Acai bowl station, Acai base with options for granola, fresh fruit, coconut, honey, peanut butter, nuts, etc
- Hawaiian bbq with sliders or pulled pork on Hawaiian rolls with slices of pineapple. Serve with Hawaiian style potato salad
- O’ahu has a few infamous garlic shrimp trucks – that could be a fun idea too to serve garlic shrimp with corn on the cob and Hawaiian shaved ice for dessert.
- Or, if you’re feeling really fancy, you could do grilled
mahi mahi with mango chutney, served with Hawaiian fried rice and beans. - ….or just put out some pineapple salsa and taro or plantain chips and call it a day.
