Fresh Bellini Cocktail

Name: Fresh Bellini Cocktail
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 4 medium ripe peaches (1 1/2 pounds), plus a few peach slices for garnish if desired; 1 bottle Prosecco, chilled

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Cheers! It’s peach season, which means it’s also bellini season. Bellinis are sparkling Italian cocktails made with two simple ingredients: Prosecco and peach purée. They’re fizzy and refreshing, with more body than your average cocktail.

Bellinis are easy to make, and perfect when you’re hosting brunch or soaking up a lazy summer weekend. They’re a fun alternative to a mimosa, and feel a little more fancy. Maybe because they’re Italian.

Too often, bellinis are made with overly sweet peach nectar or peach liqueur. My bellinis are made with real peach purée, which doesn’t need any added sugar to taste like a treat.

You can make bellinis with defrosted frozen peaches, too. You’ll find instructions for each option below. Are you ready to make bellinis this weekend?

Peach Notes & Tips

Authentic Italian bellinis are made with white peaches. Yet, I had a surplus of yellow peaches and they made beautiful golden bellinis. White peaches must not grow well near me, because they’re always hard and refuse to ripen.

Which brings me to my next point: Great peaches make great bellinis, and lousy peaches make lousy bellinis.

Those are the rules. If you can’t find great peaches, use frozen peaches.

Watch How to Make Fresh Bellini Cocktails

How to Peel Fresh Peaches

Peeled peaches make the best peach purée. I tried blending peaches with the skin on, and the purée required straining and didn’t taste quite as good. So, peel your peaches first!

You can simply peel your peaches with a paring knife or vegetable peeler, but you’ll lose some peach juice and flesh along with it. Here’s a better way, and I promise it’s not as much trouble as it sounds:

Bring a pot of water to boil.
Slice a very shallow, inch-long “x” across the base of each peach.
Dunk each peach into the boiling water for about 20 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon or tongs. (Most will tell you to then dunk the peaches into an ice bath, but I didn’t find that necessary for these purposes.)
Peel off the skin, starting at the “x.” It comes off right off. Discard the skin, cut the peach in half, remove the pit, and make purée.

How to Make Bellinis with Frozen Peaches

Good news: You can make bellini cocktails with frozen peaches. You’ll need to use good frozen peaches, not old freezer-burned peaches, lest your cocktails taste like freezer burn.

The only other trick is to let your frozen peaches completely defrost before blending, or they won’t blend. You can defrost them at room temperature in three-and-a-half to four hours, or throw them into the refrigerator overnight.

One upside to using defrosted frozen peaches is that your peach purée will be chilled and ready to serve immediately after blending.

Please let me know how your bellinis turn out in the comments! I hope you like them as much as I do.

Looking for more fizzy summertime cocktails? Here are a few favorites:

Fresh Bellini Cocktail

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Author: Cookie and Kate
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes (plus 30 minute chill time)
Yield: 5 cocktails 1x
Category: Cocktail
Method: Blended and poured
Cuisine: Italian

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4.9 from 10 reviews

Bellini cocktails are perfect for summertime! For this simple and delicious recipe, you’ll only need ripe, juicy peaches and Prosecco. Recipe yields 5 bellinis; multiply for a crowd.

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Ingredients

4 medium ripe peaches (1 ½ pounds), plus a few peach slices for garnish if desired
1 bottle Prosecco, chilled

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Instructions

First, make peach purée: Peel your peaches, slice them in half, and remove the pits. Place the halved peaches in a blender or food processor, and blend until the purée is completely smooth. Peach purée is best served chilled, so place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to cool.
When you’re ready to serve, pour 2 ounces (¼ cup) chilled peach purée into a Champagne flute. Pour in some chilled Prosecco, being careful not to overflow the glass. Gently stir with a spoon to combine.
Top off the drink with another splash of Prosecco and garnish with a peach slice, if desired. Serve at once!

Notes

Prepare in advance: You can make the purée in advance, and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. Wait to add Prosecco until you’re ready to serve so your drinks are nice and bubbly.

Leftover peach purée: This recipe yields 2 cups purée, and it will keep in the refrigerator for about 5 days. If you have leftovers, you might enjoy it mixed with a splash of club soda and served over ice. Or, drizzle it over a scoop of vanilla ice cream or Greek yogurt.

Frozen peaches variation: Defrost 1 ½ pounds sliced peaches, either at room temperature (it will take 3 to 4 hours) or in the refrigerator overnight. Blend the defrosted peaches until completely smooth in a blender or food processor. Then, you’re ready to go!

▸ Nutrition Information

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.

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