Ever wanted to have some key lime pie... but in boozy drink form?
This Key Lime Pie Crush Cocktail is sweet, tart, and totally refreshing. It tastes just like a boozy piece of key lime pie, but in a glass!
Looking for more vodka cocktails? Give my Vodka Collins and Watermelon Crush a try! If you're in need of more key lime goodness, try the Shameless Tart (a key lime pie martini!).
Jump to:
🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
It's delicious and refreshing. These drinks just plain taste good. They're sweet, tart, and so refreshing.
It's easy to make. Can you pour some stuff into a glass? Then you can make this!
You can enjoy it all Summer long. This supremely refreshing cocktail is perfect for Summer sipping.
💭 What is a Crush Cocktail?
If you are, you know what the hype is all about.
If not... well, let me enlighten you. A Crush is a cocktail that's named for "the swift yanking of an industrial press juicer that flattens fresh orange halves sending frothy OJ plummeting into a pint glass filled with ice, vodka and triple sec.” Orange is the OG Crush cocktail flavor, hence the previous description.
Basically, Crushes tend to be made up of a few key ingredients: fresh fruit juice, vodka (sometimes plain, sometimes flavored), triple sec (sometimes), and lemon lime soda. Oh, and lots of crushed ice, naturally. With that basic formula, you can achieve a variety of delicious flavors.
You'll find Crushes on the menu at bars and restaurants all over the Baltimore and DMV region (the area where Delaware-Maryland-Virginia meet). And for good reason. They're great all year round, but especially during the summer when the weather heats up and the humidity gets a bit out of control.
💭 What is a Key Lime Crush?
This Key Lime Crush is a delicious variation on the original Orange Crush. It uses whipped cream vodka and key lime juice in place of plain vodka and orange juice to create a drink that tastes like a big slice of boozy key lime pie in a glass.
📝 What ingredients go into this Crush?
- Whipped cream vodka: Spend a little time poring over the flavored vodka section of your liquor store and you're sure to spot a bottle of whipped cream vodka. I often see Pinnacle brand.
- Key lime juice: You can juice a bunch of key limes if you can find them in stores (they're pretty small, so it takes quite a few), or feel free to use a good quality bottled variety of juice. Given that key limes are often not available in stores (and how good the bottled juice can be), this is the one of the few instances where I'll give the okay to sub a bottled juice in place of fresh. I like to use this one. I've found it to be readily available in Harris Teeter, Publix, and Safeway grocery stores. Hopefully your store will have it on hand, too. You can also use regular lime juice in a pinch, but the flavor won't be exactly the same as if you used key lime juice.
- Lemon lime soda: Use Sprite or something similar.
- Whipped cream: No need to be fancy and make your own from scratch. Just grab a can of whipped cream and get to spraying!
- Lime wheel: Technically optional, but very much recommended. It looks very pretty!
🔀 Substitutions or Variations
- Use fresh juice. If you have the time and the inclination, you can totally use fresh key lime juice.
- Use a different vodka. Though I definitely recommend finding the whipped cream flavor, a vanilla vodka could serve as a substitute in a pinch.
👩🏻🍳 How do you make a Key Lime Pie Crush Cocktail?
It's easy enough!
Vodka and key lime juice are added to a tall glass with ice. Top that with lemon lime soda, and stir.
Now, it's time to garnish the drink. A healthy amount of whipped cream and a lime wheel round things out!
🔗 Other Crush recipes
You owe it to yourself to try out as many as you can. They're so refreshing and delicious! Though I did say that regular orange is the OG flavor (a great option!), I haven't yet blogged about it. (Note to self: do that soon!)
🔗 Other vodka cocktails
Need more drinks made with vodka? Click on any of the photos below to be taken straight to the recipes!
❓ FAQs
I'm almost always going to advocate for using freshly-squeezed juices in your drinks. However, key limes are tiny and sometimes hard to find. Bottled key lime juice will do just fine in this case.
Smirnoff and Pinnacle both make a whipped cream-flavored vodka, and are widely available.
A Crush is a cocktail made with fresh fruit juice, vodka (sometimes plain, sometimes flavored), triple sec (sometimes), and lemon lime soda. It hails from the DMV region of the U.S.
I'd love to know what you thought of this recipe! Don't forget to leave a comment and ⭐️ star rating below!
✨ Recipe
Key Lime Pie Crush
Equipment
- Cocktail jigger
- Bar spoon
- Citrus juicer
- Collins glasses
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz whipped cream vodka
- 1.5 oz key lime juice see notes
- lemon lime soda
- whipped cream and lime wheel for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Add the whipped cream vodka and key lime juice to a tall glass with ice.
- Top with lemon lime soda and stir gently.
- Garnish with whipped cream and a lime wheel, if desired.
Video
Notes
- Freshly squeezed OR store bought key lime juice can be used here. You can also use regular lime juice in a pinch.
- Feel free to decrease the amount of key lime juice in your drink. I like mine pretty tart.
Disclaimer: Nutritional information is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.
Kathleen Underwood
That's way too much lime juice. I couldn't even drink it. I did 3/4 oz. Great idea though and it it was very good. Ty
laurenpacek
Glad you could make it work for you! =)