With a sweet-tart flavor, Ruby Rhubarb Syrup is just the thing for the best cocktails and mocktails, and is a beautiful, delicious topping for pancakes, waffles, and desserts. Easy to make, with only 3 ingredients, plus water!
Easy Rhubarb Simple Syrup
This homemade Ruby Rhubarb Syrup has become a spring and summer tradition around here. I first started making it more than 10 years ago, treating friends and family to rhubarb margaritas and rhubarb mojitos…or simply swirling rhubarb syrup into tall glasses of ice with club soda.
Beyond drinks, we use this gorgeous flavored syrup as a topping for ice cream, cheesecake, pancakes, and waffles. It’s also pretty wonderful swirled into a bowl of morning yogurt. Anything that needs a pop of color & flavor.
This pretty, ruby-hued simple syrup is so easy to make, I’m certain it’ll become a staple of your summertime enjoyment, too!
What You’ll Need
I love the simplicity of this rhubarb syrup recipe. You only need 3 ingredients – some chopped rhubarb, sugar, and fresh lemon juice – plus water!
- Rhubarb – You can use either fresh or frozen to make this simple syrup. For the prettiest red/pink-hued syrup, use a red or pink variety of rhubarb.
- Sugar – This dissolves in the syrup to add sweetness.
- Lemon juice – Adds brightness and enhances the rhubarb flavor.
How To Make Rhubarb Syrup
This rhubarb simple syrup is truly “simple”! Here’s how to make it:
- Cook the rhubarb. Bring the rhubarb and water to a boil in a saucepan. Cook until the rhubarb is tender, then stir and smash it a bit to release all of its flavor and color.
- Strain the rhubarb. Strain the rhubarb through a fine mesh strainer lined with a double layer of cheesecloth. Once strained, add enough water to equal 3 cups of liquid.
- Dissolve the sugar. Add rhubarb liquid back to saucepan and return to a boil. Stir in the sugar and cook until it dissolves. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice.
- Cool. Strain again if you desire a super clear, pure look (or skip this straining). Then pour the finished syrup into a glass container with a lid and store in the refrigerator.
Recipe Variations
Rhubarb pairs so well with other fruit, especially berries, that you can easily change up the flavor to this simple syrup.
- Raspberry rhubarb simple syrup. We actually make this combination a lot since we have a raspberry patch in our yard. I love to use the syrup for this raspberry rhubarb cosmopolitan – and I add it to mojitos, margaritas, and gin & tonics as well. Just add raspberries along with the rhubarb, then cook and strain together!
- Strawberry rhubarb simple syrup. A classic combination, we love to make this after we pick strawberries at the local u-pick, or when we find great berries at the farmers market. We use it the same as I just mentioned above with the raspberries.
- Blueberry rhubarb simply syrup. This would be a lovely way to enjoy a blueberry lemonade – simply add some rhubarb along with the blueberries in my blueberry basil lemonade!
No matter what berry you add, always make sure you end up with 3 cups of liquid to combine with the sugar for the appropriate texture.
Serving Suggestions
The possibilities for how to use this rhubarb simple syrup are nearly endless.
A couple of my favorite things to make with this rhubarb syrup are the Rhubarb Margarita and the Rhubarb Mojito. These two beverages have been so fun for entertaining during the spring and summer. When our mint is flourishing (rather, taking over the herb garden!), the mojito is the absolute perfect way to enjoy its bounty!
In the cocktail category, beyond margaritas and mojitos, this syrup is also a beautiful addition to mimosas (in place of the traditional orange juice), gin & tonics, and vodka lemonades!
For a non-alcoholic beverage, we like to pour a bit of syrup over ice in a tall glass and then top it off with club soda. Or pour a bit into some lemonade. If you like mint, muddle a few leaves of fresh mint in the glass – our daughters love this drink!
But you don’t have to stop with drinks! This rhubarb syrup is fantastic poured over scoops of vanilla ice cream, cheesecake, and pound cake. And it has definitely made an appearance on our summertime breakfast table, replacing the traditional maple syrup – served with pancakes, waffles, and French toast.
How to Store Rhubarb Syrup
Properly stored in the fridge, this fresh syrup will keep well for 2 to 3 weeks. Store it in a sealed glass jar or container.
Can You Freeze This?
Yes! It’s easy to freeze this syrup! Simply pour the cooled syrup into a glass jar or container, leaving about 2″ at the top for expansion when it freezes and thaws. It’ll keep well frozen for about 6 months or so. When you’re ready to use it, just let it thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter.
More Rhubarb Recipes:
- Raspberry Rhubarb Skillet Coffee Cake
- Cinnamon Rhubarb Bread
- Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Freezer Jam
- Rhubarb Custard Pie
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Ruby Rhubarb Syrup
Ingredients
- 6 cups chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb – look for red/pink rhubarb for the prettiest color!
- 1½ cups water
- 3 cups sugar
- ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the rhubarb and water to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook the rhubarb until it is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir to break up and release all of its juices.
- Set a fine mesh strainer lined with a double layer of cheesecloth over a large bowl. Pour the rhubarb mixture through the strainer to remove the pulp. To get the most rhubarb juice out, pull up the corners of the cheesecloth and gently press on it with a wooden spoon to squeeze out the remaining juice. Measure the strained juice and add enough water to equal 3 cups.
- Return the liquid to the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir in the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar dissolves, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and let cool. Strain again for the clearest ruby syrup, then pour into a container and refrigerate. Keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
Nutrition Information:
This post was first published in 2012, then updated in 2022.
This looks awesome! I too thought my mom was nuts with her rhubarb all the time. But I adore it now! I am pinning this right now to make it later.
I hope you like this, too!! Thanks for pinning.
Sharing a new cookbook by a friend of mine, Kim Ode, columnist for the Mpls Star Tribune: Rhubarb Renaissance. I’m not a rhubarb fan, but some of the recipes in her cookbook could make me change that!
http://www.foodsitemagazine.com/2012/03/29/rhubarb-renaissance/
Thank you so much, Sara!
Mmm that really sounds good. I had never done much with Rhubarb but back in 2010 I purchased the book “Eating Local” at SurLaTable and made the recipe Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce and put it over ice cream. I died and went to heaven it was so good. (http://in-homeculinaryclasses.blogspot.com/2010/05/strawberry-rhubarb-sauce.html)
I imagine this tastes sensational as well. I’m going to make it and what we don’t finish I’ll put in a jar for another day. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for sharing that strawberry rhubarb sauce – that sounds delicious, too!
Wow! Now this is one way I’m pretty sure I would enjoy rhubarb! Looking forward to posts on your future experiments with this.
This sounds lovely! My grandmother had rhubarb plants all along the side of her garden, about 25 plants. Have you seen the bulb? It looks like a hairy football.
LOVE this recipe….LOVE your sweet little green and white polka dotted bowl. Happy Friday!
Thank you, Avril! :)
Look at that gorgeous red! I need to plant some rhubarb in my garden this year!
This sounds lovely, and I can imagine it on so many things. Awesome idea!
That syrup is such a pretty color! It’s amazing how beautiful natural colors can be without the “aid” of red dye no. 45789435.
looks like heaven!
If I had any outside space at all, the very first thing I would grow would be rhubarb. This is such a wonderful colour!
Unfortunately my rhubarb syrup wouldn’t be red…my rhubarb never turned red last year & doesn’t appear to be turning red this year either. My husband & my daughter have been eating it even while green.
I think there is a green variety and a red variety. Mine is green too – but still delicious!
Yeah, the first year or two it was red & now it’s mainly green. I think I need to divide it though, the thing is huge!
Hi Michele – I know that there are green varieties, too. But I also dug around a little online and found that some claim that if you once had red rhubarb & it’s now green, that the big leaves make the soil acidic. I saw suggested to lay wood ashes around the plant, and that the following year would yield red stalks again. I have no idea if this actually works, but thought I would pass it along.
You are making me wish we had room for a proper garden in the backyard! I would be in heaven to have rhubarb growing there.
Oooooh I can’t wait to slather this on anything and everything!
I could imagine a drizzle of this syrup over your Honey Cornbread Donuts…yum!!! :)
This is just brilliant. I now know what to do with my second rhubarb picking. (The first I sent away to a good home.)
This is such a smart recipe. Can I admit to you that I’ve never had rhubarb? Ever? I think I need to change that this year!
I’m finding this recipe so versatile, and am loving it. I hope you get the chance to try some rhubarb this spring!
This looks like an amazing recipe. We have an abundant rhubarb harvest and I love it – it’s one of those veggies I grew up eating, and like you, that has fond memories! We just had our first taste of the season this week in blueberry rhubarb muffins & over pork tenderloin. Yum. I’ve pinned this one, and will certainly be trying it out. Do you think it would be tasty over Greek Yogurt? Over pancakes?
Over pork tenderloin…that sounds so interesting! Yum! It’s definitely good over Greek yogurt. And I am planning to try it out over waffles this week…
Yum! I need to move my rhubarb to a new spot as well. When I have made this in the past (kind of by accident, was hoping for jam) my kids really liked it on waffles ;)
I have been meaning to make waffles…it’s the first thing that came to mind when it was hot off the stove.
All these rhubarb posts are making me NEED to try rhubarb already! ;)
I’m not quite done yet!! ;)
mmmm, sounds delish! I think I had better go and pick some rhubarb from my garden. I wonder if it would be nice drizzled over a lemon & sourcream cake?mmmm, might have to try that too xx
That sounds excellent, Helen! Anything lemon would be lovely.