Tropical Mule Recipe: Bright Caribbean Cocktail

This low carb tropical mule recipe has enough bright Caribbean cocktail flavor to make you forget the gray slush and chilly temperatures outside your window. Pineapple, coconut, lime, and ginger combine in a sparkly drink that’s perfect for weekend sipping. Just 1 carb and 135 calories per serving.

For this recipe you’ll need: fresh ginger, pineapple vodka, coconut vodka, pineapple-coconut water enhancer, limes, sugar free ginger beer, club soda, frozen cranberries for garnish.

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I don’t know about y’all but I’m sick of winter. I’m tired of looking out the window at bright, sunny days that promise blessed heat and slap me in the face with 20 degree winds when I open the kitchen door to let the dogs out.

This year my Christmas gift to the family was a week long cruise in the Caribbean. We left January 7 and experienced really beautiful weather for the most part – although a few of our sea days were choppy and chilly. I could tell who the northerners were – they were the ones in the pool when I was on my balcony in a coat.

I did spend a glorious day on the beach where I managed to hold styrofoam long enough to snap this picture (I have sensory issues and styrofoam …YUCK). Yes, I did the one thing that everyone does but I never had… I sipped a frozen pina colada on a tropical beach. Actually I sipped several of them – I’m just sorry they weren’t served in coconuts.

All vacations come to an end, however, and I’m back on low carb only. I managed to spend a week on a cruise ship and not gain anything so that made me happy, but I did miss those yummy cruise ship cocktail concoctions.

This mule recipe has pineapple, coconut, and ginger flavors in a low calorie, low carb format. I’ve added the frozen cranberries for color and to keep the drink chilled without watering it down but (1) you don’t have to add them, and (2) they don’t add calories OR carbs because you don’t eat them.

It’s sparkly from the ginger beer and club soda. If you like your drinks a little heavier and a little sweeter then use all ginger beer – the club soda lightens it up.

This is a great low carb cocktail for chilly weekend afternoons curled up on the couch with Netflix and a 1960s bikini movie but it’s also great for entertaining. I swear one of these days I am going to do a 1960s style Hawaiian luau party!

Mule Recipe FAQs

Here are some facts and trivia about the mule cocktail.

• How do you make the best Moscow Mule? Be sure to use a good vodka. There aren’t a lot of ingredients in this cocktail so the ones you use must be high quality. Use a spicy sugar free ginger beer not store brand ginger ale.
• Why does a Moscow Mule have to be in a copper cup? Besides tradition, the benefit of serving a moscow mule in a copper cup is that the copper keeps the drink extra cold. Personally I don’t like the feel of copper on my lips so I always ask for mine in glass.
• Are ginger beer and ginger ale the same? Not at all. Ginger beer is brewed and fermented, although it remains non-alcoholic. Ginger ale is just ginger flavoring added to carbonated water.
• Can ginger ale be used as a substitute for ginger beer? Yep, it can – but it’s not nearly as good. See above.
• Do flavored vodkas have carbs? Some of the cheaper ones do. The bigger, higher end companies make their in such a way that the flavors do not give the vodka carbs or extra calories.
• How do you make a Kentucky mule? A Kentucky mule uses bourbon instead of vodka. Bourbon is too heavy in this particular mule recipe – stick with vodka.

Low Carb Tropical Mule Recipe

This easy, low carb mule recipe works as well in the dead of winter as it does on a bright summer day by the pool! Keep everything chilled – and drink responsibly. Remember, alcohol can stall you so limit the number of cocktails you drink. If you love this recipe please give it a five star rating.

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Click on the image to see the recipe. From left to right (all low carb): Bourbon Milk Punch, Vanilla Old Fashioned, Hot Mulled Wine