Paloma Mocktail Recipe: Grapefruit, Lime, Salt, Soda (and the Two-Second Version)
By Jason LaValla, founder, Casamara Club · September 2026
Jump to: What a paloma is · The recipe · The grapefruit question · The salt rim · A pitcher for eight · Three variations · The two-second version · FAQ
A paloma is the easiest great cocktail to make without the spirit, because the tequila was never the point. Grapefruit, lime, salt, and bubbles do the work, and all four stay in the glass. Here is the from-scratch version with real measures, a pitcher for a crowd, and a two-second version for nights you would rather open a can.
The short answer: Build it in the glass over ice: 2 oz fresh grapefruit juice, ½ oz fresh lime juice, ¼ to ½ oz agave syrup, topped with 3 to 4 oz cold sparkling water, in a glass with a salted rim and a grapefruit wedge. Stir once. No shaker, no mix.
What a paloma is
A paloma is tequila, grapefruit, lime, and salt, served long over ice.
In Mexico it is the everyday tequila drink, more common than the margarita, and usually built with grapefruit soda: tequila over ice, a squeeze of lime, a pinch of salt, a bottle of grapefruit soda on top. American bars rebuild it with fresh grapefruit juice, a little sweetener, and soda water, a sharper, drier drink. Pull the tequila and you lose two ounces of volume and a little bite; everything that makes it taste like a paloma stays.
The virgin paloma recipe
Fresh grapefruit, fresh lime, a little agave, soda, salt. Built in the glass in under two minutes. Start with ¼ oz of agave; a ruby grapefruit often needs no more.
Virgin Paloma (makes 1)
- 2 oz (¼ cup) fresh grapefruit juice, about half a large grapefruit
- ½ oz (1 tablespoon) fresh lime juice, about half a lime
- ¼ to ½ oz (½ to 1 tablespoon) agave syrup or simple syrup, to taste
- 3 to 4 oz cold sparkling water
- Kosher or flaky salt and a lime wedge for the rim
- Grapefruit wedge or wheel to garnish
- Salt the rim (see below). Fill a highball or Collins glass with ice.
- Pour the grapefruit juice, lime juice, and agave over the ice. Stir until the agave dissolves, about ten seconds.
- Top with sparkling water, poured down the side of the glass so it keeps its fizz. Stir once, gently.
- Garnish with the grapefruit wedge. Drink it cold.
The grapefruit question: juice or soda, pink or white
Fresh juice plus soda water gives you a drier drink you control; grapefruit soda gives you the Mexican original, sweeter and faster.
| Fresh juice + soda water | Grapefruit soda | |
|---|---|---|
| Taste | Tart, bitter edge, dry finish | Sweet, soft, candy-grapefruit |
| Sugar per drink | You set it: roughly 7 to 14 g from ¼ to ½ oz of agave, plus about 5 g from the juice | Fixed by the bottle: about 25 g in 8 oz of a typical grapefruit soda |
| Time | Two minutes and a juicer | Thirty seconds |
If you use grapefruit soda, drop the agave and keep the lime and salt.
On the fruit: ruby red or pink grapefruit is sweeter, less bitter, and gives the drink its blush. White grapefruit is sharper, more bitter, and paler. Ruby is the safer choice for a mocktail, because the bitterness has no tequila to hide behind; with white, use the full ½ oz of agave and do not skip the salt. Either way, juice it fresh. Bottled grapefruit juice is pasteurized and reads flat next to a squeezed one. The Botanical Index entry on grapefruit covers the fruit and its peel.
The salt rim
Salt the outside of the rim only, before the drink goes in, with a coarse salt.
Wet the outer edge with a lime wedge, roll it through coarse salt on a plate, tap off the loose grains. Half the rim if you want the choice with every sip; the full step-by-step is in our virgin margarita recipe.
Salt matters more here than in a margarita. Salt suppresses the perception of bitterness, and grapefruit is a bitter fruit, so a salted rim makes the drink rounder and a little sweeter without adding sugar.
A virgin paloma pitcher for eight
Mix the juice base ahead, keep it cold, and add the soda and ice at the table.
Virgin Paloma Pitcher (makes 8)
- 16 oz (2 cups) fresh grapefruit juice, from about 4 large grapefruit
- 4 oz (½ cup) fresh lime juice, from about 4 limes
- 2 to 4 oz (¼ to ½ cup) agave syrup, to taste
- 24 to 32 oz (3 to 4 cups) cold sparkling water, added at service
- Grapefruit wheels, lime wedges, and salt for the rims
- Stir grapefruit juice, lime juice, and agave in a pitcher until the agave dissolves. Taste and adjust.
- Refrigerate, covered, up to 4 hours, with no ice in the pitcher.
- Salt the glasses and fill them with ice.
- Just before serving, add the sparkling water, stir once, and pour. A grapefruit wheel in each glass.
A large grapefruit gives 4 to 5 oz of juice; a lime gives about an ounce. Buy one more of each than the math says.
Three variations
Same base, one change each.
- Spicy: two or three thin slices of fresh jalapeño in the glass before the ice, and a salt-and-chili rim. Seeds in for heat, seeds out for flavor.
- Rosemary: swap the agave for rosemary syrup (simmer ½ cup water, ½ cup sugar, and two sprigs for five minutes, cool, strain) and garnish with a sprig.
- Frozen: blend a serving with a cup of ice, no soda, and a touch more agave, since cold mutes sweetness. The frozen method in full: our virgin margarita recipe.
The two-second version: Sera over ice
When you would rather not juice a grapefruit, our answer is Sera: Sera over ice with a lime wedge and a salted rim.
This is ours, so weigh it that way. Sera is our Riviera Style Botanical Soda: apéro spritz aromatics with an extra dry finish, tart grapefruit and delicate spice, with the crisp, refreshing character of a dry sparkling rosé. The aromatics on the can are cinnamon and allspice (warm), grapefruit and rhubarb root (tannic), orange blossom and chinotto (floral). It is sweetened with orange blossom honey and soured with lemon juice, and a 12oz can is 15 calories and 4g of sugar. That is the tart, barely sweet profile the recipe above is chasing, already carbonated; the salt rim and lime wedge finish it as a paloma. It is available now; 12 cans are $54.
For the tequila version, this is the copy on the Sera product page: "Start with your spirit of choice and ice at the bottom of your favorite small, unfussy glassware. Pour your soda down the wall of the glass, not directly over the ice. We prefer the bottles for mixing, because they are carbonated higher but cans will do. Garnish with an orange or grapefruit twist. We think Sera mixes particularly well with rum or tequila, for a paloma." The house pouring method is in How to Serve Casamara Club.
Our recipes page lists Sera's highball as "rum or tequila — a paloma," and its full Paloma is written on Como, our Alpine soda, which also carries grapefruit: "2 oz tequila, 1 oz grapefruit juice, ¾ oz lime juice, ½ oz simple syrup, Como, to top. Garnish: grapefruit wheel half. Add tequila, juices, and syrup to an ice-filled Collins glass. Top with Como. Stir gently to combine." Swap Sera in for a pinker glass. Leave the tequila out and the soda brings its own grapefruit, so an ounce of fresh juice is plenty.
Available now
Sera
Riviera Style Botanical Soda
The sea goes dark under a warm, pink twilight sky. Street lamps flicker on.
Shop Sera →Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is a paloma the same as a greyhound?
A: No. A greyhound is spirit and grapefruit juice, usually vodka or gin, no bubbles; with a salt rim it becomes a salty dog. A paloma is tequila, grapefruit, lime, and salt, lengthened with soda.
Q: Can I use bottled grapefruit juice?
A: You can, and the drink will taste like it. Bottled grapefruit juice is pasteurized and loses the sharp top notes of the fresh fruit, and some brands are sweetened. If it is the only option, choose an unsweetened one, cut the agave, and lean on the lime and the salt.
Q: Ruby red or white grapefruit?
A: Ruby red for most people: sweeter, less bitter, pink. White makes a paler, drier, more bitter drink. With white, use the full ½ oz of agave.
Q: How do I make a paloma less bitter?
A: Salt the rim, use ruby grapefruit, and add sweetener a quarter ounce at a time. Salt is the biggest lever: it suppresses bitterness directly, where sugar only covers it. Straining the juice through a fine sieve also helps, since pith and membrane carry much of the bitterness.
Q: Can I add tequila later?
A: Yes. Add 1½ to 2 oz of blanco tequila to the glass before the ice and cut the soda by the same amount. With Sera, start with the tequila and ice in the glass and pour the soda down the wall, per the product page copy above.
Sources
- Paloma definition, Mexican grapefruit-soda build, and popularity in Mexico: Difford's Guide, "Paloma"; Liquor.com, "Paloma"; David Wondrich, The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (2021), "Paloma."
- Fresh-juice paloma proportions and build-in-glass method: Serious Eats, "Paloma Recipe"; Liquor.com, "Paloma."
- Greyhound and salty dog definitions: Difford's Guide, "Greyhound," "Salty Dog."
- Salt suppressing bitterness: Breslin and Beauchamp, "Salt enhances flavour by suppressing bitterness," Nature 387 (1997).
- Grapefruit juice yield, agave and juice sugar, and grapefruit soda sugar content: USDA FoodData Central; manufacturer nutrition panels. Ruby vs. white sweetness and bitterness: Ask the Food Geek, "Grapefruit varieties."
- Juice aging and bottled citrus: Dave Arnold, Liquid Intelligence (2014), juicing chapter.
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