By the third week of January my freezer drawer is wall-to-wall watermelon. I buy a whole one because it’s cheaper than the pre-cut tubs, the kids eat half of it in an afternoon, and then there’s this enormous cold lump in the fridge that nobody wants to commit to. So I cube the rest, freeze it flat on a tray, and most of it ends up in this drink over the following week.
It’s the one recipe my two will actually make themselves. Four things go in a blender, the lid goes on, somebody presses the button, and I get to sit down for a minute while they do the loud part. That’s a fair trade in my house, and it’s the whole reason this one has survived years of school holidays.
The original came off the Golden Door menu, and it has stuck around because it’s genuinely good and there’s almost nothing to it. No sugar, no fuss, no twelve-step morning. Just a cooling glass of something pink that tastes like the back half of summer, made in about ninety seconds flat.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 6 cups cubed chilled watermelon
- 500ml coconut water, mineral water or sparkling mineral water
- Squeeze of fresh lime
- Ice if needed
A quick word on the watermelon before you start. Seedless makes life easier with little ones helping, but if yours has seeds, don’t fuss over picking them all out; the blender deals with most of them and a few black flecks never hurt anybody. The riper the fruit, the sweeter the drink, so this is a brilliant way to use up a melon that’s gone a touch soft and grainy and isn’t great for eating in wedges anymore.
Method
- Place all ingredients in the blender and blend til smooth.
Garnish with a sprig of mint, and that’s it. One step, no straining, no second bowl to wash. If you want to push it a little further, add 1 tsp finely grated ginger for its anti-inflammatory properties and a bit of warmth against the cold fruit. Pour it over more ice if the afternoon calls for it.
If you like a smoother finish you can pass it through a sieve, but I almost never bother. The little bit of pulp is part of the point, and it’s what makes a glass of this feel like it’ll actually keep a hungry kid going until dinner rather than disappearing in two sips.
Make-ahead, swaps and keeping the kids happy
This is built for a hot week, so I treat it like one. I freeze watermelon cubes on a lined tray until they’re solid, bag them up, and use them straight from frozen. Blended that way you skip the ice altogether and the drink comes out thick and almost slushy, which is the version my youngest votes for every single time. Frozen fruit also means you can make it on a whim without planning ahead, and there’s no watered-down puddle at the bottom of the glass twenty minutes later.
The liquid is yours to play with, and it changes the whole feel of the drink. Coconut water gives you a softer, rounder flavour and a hit of potassium, which is handy after a morning at the pool or running around the netball courts. Plain mineral water keeps it clean and simple and lets the fruit do all the talking. Sparkling mineral water makes it fizzy enough to feel like a treat, and that’s honestly how I get it past anyone who insists they don’t like healthy drinks. The squeeze of lime is the part you don’t skip; it lifts everything and stops the sweetness tipping over into cordial territory.
From there it’s an easy thing to make your own. A handful of mint or basil straight into the blender takes it somewhere a bit more grown-up for a barbecue. A few strawberries or a wedge of cucumber stretch it further when the watermelon is running low. If you’ve got a glut of fruit, it freezes beautifully as ice pops too, poured into moulds before the ice has a chance to melt; that’s become our standard after-school job in February, and it costs next to nothing compared to the boxed ones. For the grown-ups, I’ll sometimes blend a slightly thicker batch and leave the bubbles out so it pours like a proper juice for breakfast.
Made up, it sits in the fridge for a day in a jug with the lid on, though honestly it never lasts that long here; give it a good stir before you pour because it does separate as it stands. Good hydration matters more than people give it credit for, especially through an Australian summer when the kids are outside from breakfast on. Better Health Victoria has a plain-English run-down if you want the why behind it, and the Healthdirect site is my go-to when I want to sanity-check anything about feeding the family well without all the hype.
For the days you want food alongside it rather than just a drink, this slots in nicely next to a slow breakfast like our green smoothie bowl or a batch of Golden Door breakfast balls the kids can grab on the way out the door. The same frozen-fruit trick works a treat in our copycat pink drink when they’re after something a bit fancier. When the weather turns and we want something warm instead, I switch the whole family over to a honey and lemon tea. There are plenty more easy ones in the drinks recipes if you’re building out a proper summer rotation.
One small confession: I tell everyone the ginger is optional, but I sneak it in nearly every time and nobody has ever once picked it. Don’t tell my eldest.
— Nicole Barnes, Golden Door Living kitchen
