Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Homemade Copycat Sprite Recipe -- Easy, Frugal


I don't usually get so ridiculously excited by a post, let alone a recipe, but then again, I don't usually end up with something so perfect that it's pretty much better than the original.

So soda. I like it. My kids like it. But I rarely buy it, because I find it too overpriced. (Not to mention the extra weight of lugging home bottles from the grocery store without a car.)

I do, however, have a Soda Stream seltzer maker at home and sometimes I play around with what I can make with it. I don't buy any of the syrups, because again, too overpriced in my mind, and the ones they sell locally mostly have fake sugar in it, which is something I abhor and avoid at all costs.

One day I wanted something to drink that wasn't plain water or seltzer and I didn't have any special drinks in the house. I could have just made lemonade, but decided to up my game a bit and try to make lemon soda using the seltzer. It tasted great, and I realized just how similar to Sprite it was, only it needed a drop of lime juice, since Sprite is lemon lime soda. Once I added the lime juice, it was perfect, though I noticed mixing in the sugar until it dissolved made the carbonation go away. I realized I needed just a bit of tweaking to get it right.

So then I decided to make a sugar syrup. But instead of simple syrup with sugar and water, for easy dissolvability, I'd dissolve the sugar in lemon and lime juice, so as to not water down the seltzer too much. I hit the proportions on the nose the first time, and it has been extremely popular in my house ever since.
My kids tell me I should sell it.
Or they tell me I should put it in Sprite bottles and serve it to people and nobody will know the difference.


So first all of, before I continue, I just want to say that I am not remotely claiming this is remotely healthy. This is sugar. Have it in moderation. But its not with corn syrup at least. So its allergy friendly.
And its cheap to make. Especially with bottled lemon and lime juice bought with good prices.

This amount makes 5 cups of syrup.

Homemade Copycat Sprite Recipe -- Easy, Frugal

Syrup Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup lime juice

Sprite Ingredients:
Scant 1/4 cup syrup
1 cup seltzer

Instructions:

1. Mix your sugar with your water, lemon juice, and lime juice in a pot.

2. Heat up, mixing constantly, until all the sugar dissolves.

3. Let cool. Refrigerate until use.

4. Pour 1/4 cup or so into a large cup, then pour the seltzer on top of it. The act of pouring should mix the syrup into it, but if not, give it a quick stir.

5. Drink immediately!

Enjoy!

Variations:
If you don't have seltzer, feel free to use this with water. You'll just have a tasty lemon line drink instead of Sprite.
Feel free to halve this recipe if you don't want to make so much.

Are you a fan of Sprite? Ever try making your own copycat version? Does this look like a recipe you'd try?

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this recipe. I've been making a form of this myself for years even with elderberry but never thought to make the syrup first so this is very helpful.

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