Slip into your pastel shirt, roll up your blazer sleeves, and let the stubble show for this Virgin Miami Vice—all the fun of the ’80s classic without the danger of actually driving around with Crockett and Tubbs.
For those too young to know, Miami Vice was a TV show that featured a pair of male cops hired to bring down the drug scene in—you guessed it—Miami. I daresay it was more influential on fashion than on television, as the protagonists (Crockett and Tubbs) were fond of wearing pastel blues and pinks and rolling their blazer sleeves up (probably to get some of that Florida sun on their arms). For undercover detectives, they stood out a ways.
In any case, the show also influenced the cocktail world. Soon, every bar across the country was serving up a Miami Vice—a mix of rum, lime juice, strawberry puree, coconut, and pineapple. While I don’t recommend on-duty cops sipping one of these bad boys, I do recommend it for those on nearby Miami beaches. And you know what? If Crockett and Tubbs couldn’t resist this cocktail, they could always indulge with this Virgin Miami Vice, which delivers all the taste without any of the alcohol, which might hinder your ability to fight crime.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces pineapple juice
- 4 ounces cream of coconut
- splash grenadine syrup (for color) *optional*
- 3/4 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 cups ice cubes
- fresh pineapple and strawberry (for garnish) *optional*
Instructions
- Piña Colada mix: Blend together the pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and 1/2 cup of ice until smooth. Pour into a separate container and set aside.
- Strawberry Daiquiri mix: Blend the frozen strawberries with 1/2 cup of ice until slushy.
- In your serving glasses, pour the Piña Colada and the Strawberry Daiquiri mixes at the same time from opposite sides of the glass. Garnish with a pineapple chunk and a strawberry wedge.
Nutrition
Tips & Tricks to Making a Perfect Virgin Miami Vice
- If pouring both mixes into the glass simultaneously scares you, you can add the Pina Colada mix first. It’s heaviest so it should go on the bottom. It will also make a layered effect.
- Crush your ice before adding it to the blender. Your blades will thank you.
- Use coconut milk instead of coconut cream If you want a lighter beverage.
- Don’t use pre-made mixes. It tastes synthetic and will undoubtedly contain so many ingredients you don’t need.
- You can sweeten you drink with a homemade simple syrup (1:1 ratio of water and sugar stirred over low heat). Simply add 1/2 tablespoon to your drink.
FAQs
Go for a hurricane glass if you have one. If not, a tall highball will do nicely. For the garnish, I suggest a slice of pineapple or strawberry.
As this is a blender drink, you can only store it in the fridge a short while before it starts to melt and dilute. You’ll have to store it in the freezer if you plan to keep it more than hour. When you’re almost ready to serve, take the Miami Vice out of the freezer and let it thaw to the desired consistency.
Our recipe clocks at 431 calories, mostly due to the cream of coconut. You can use coconut milk instead to reduce that number.
Certainly. For a Miami Vice, you can go with a sugared rim (perhaps mix in some orange or pineapple zest), a coconut-flake rim, a chili-lime rim (mix chili powder with lime zest).
Certainly. I suggest shaking it with ice though to make it as chilled as can be.
Similar Cocktails to the Miami Vice
Watermelon Margarita: A refreshing twist on the class Margarita, with pureed watermelon stepping up to add flavor.
Blue Hawaiian: A beautiful blend of Blue Curaçao, pineapple juice, rum, and coconut. Almost as pretty as a Miami Vice!
Mai Tai: Another Hawaiian import, this time with rum, pineapple, and mint.
Strawberry Daiquiri: One half of a Miami Vice.
Pina Colada: The other half.
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