Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Ginjinha
A sweet Lisbon liqueur of sour cherries steeped in aguardente, sipped from tiny glasses.
Portuguese · easy · serves 12
prep 15 min · cook 0 min
~256 cal · 0g protein · 32g carbs · 0g fat · 1g fiber · 31g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Ginjinha, or simply ginja, is Lisbon distilled into a single shot glass: sour morello cherries steeped for months in aguardente, a clear grape spirit, with sugar and a cinnamon stick until the liquid turns dark, sweet, and warming. It is one of the emblematic tastes of the Portuguese capital.
Its home is a scatter of tiny, historic hole-in-the-wall bars around Rossio and the old centre, some barely wider than a doorway, that have poured little else for generations. You drink it standing on the street, knocked back in a mouthful, and the classic question is "com ou sem?", with or without one of the boozy, softened cherries dropped into the glass.
It is sweet, intense, and unpretentious, an everyday ritual and a small pleasure rather than a formal drink. Increasingly it is served in a little cup made of chocolate to be eaten afterward, but the soul of ginjinha is still a quick glass shared standing in a Lisbon square.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 12
1 lb sour (morello) cherries, stems removed
Hard to find? jarred sour cherries in their own juice, drained - fresh morellos have a very short season; the jarred kind are the normal way to buy them and work perfectly. Sweet dessert cherries will not do, since the whole point is the sourness
3 cups aguardente (or a neutral grape spirit or vodka)
1.5 cups white sugar (never brown)
1 cinnamon stick
1 strip of lemon peel
Instructions
1
Rinse the cherries to take the dust off, pull off the stems, and dry them thoroughly with a cloth or paper. Prick each one a few times with a needle, or lightly crush a handful, so the spirit can draw out their juice.
✎ Chef’s note
Use ripe cherries with no bruises or nicks at all; one damaged fruit will turn the whole jar. Dry them properly after rinsing, because water left on them dilutes the liqueur. Leaving the pits in adds a subtle almond note over the long steep, which is traditional.
2
Fill a wide-mouthed jar about a third full with cherries, pour sugar over them until it reaches the level of the fruit, add the cinnamon and lemon peel, shake gently, and leave it overnight.
✎ Chef’s note
White sugar, never brown. Portuguese ginja makers are firm about this: brown sugar leaves the liqueur with an off character they call ficar com pe. Letting the sugar sit on the fruit overnight starts drawing the juice out before any spirit goes in.
3
Pour over the aguardente so the cherries are fully covered, then seal the jar tightly.
4
Shake the jar daily for the first week, then store it somewhere dark for at least three months, and preferably six to twelve.
✎ Chef’s note
Time is the ingredient. Three months makes a drinkable ginjinha; a year makes a very good one. Taste it after three months and stir in another spoonful or two of sugar if it needs it.
5
After steeping, taste: the liquid should be dark, sweet, and warming. Leave it longer for a deeper, rounder flavour if you like.
6
Strain the ruby liqueur through muslin into clean bottles, and set the boozy cherries aside.
7
Serve at room temperature in small glasses, com elas or sem elas, with or without one of the steeped cherries dropped in.
✎ Chef’s note
Com elas or sem elas is the actual question you are asked at a Lisbon ginjinha counter, of which the oldest, A Ginjinha in Largo Sao Domingos, has been pouring since 1840. In Obidos it comes in a little cup of chocolate that you eat afterwards.
Lisbon tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lisbon. Bacalhau is dried and salted cod that has to soak for a day or more before it can be cooked at all, which is part of why the repertoire around it is so large: it had to be worth the trouble. Portugal buys most of the fish from the North Atlantic rather than catching it off this coast.
🗺️
Portugal. Two things follow the ships home. The pastel de nata came out of the Jeronimos monastery at Belem and went commercial in 1837, and only the Belem shop's version may be called pastel de Belem. Piri-piri is a round trip: American chillies planted in Mozambique and Angola, then brought back as a Portuguese seasoning.
🌍
Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Portugal
Caldo VerdePortugal’s signature green soup: silky potato broth with ribbons of collard greens and smoky sausage.
Pastéis de NataBlistered puff-pastry cups filled with silky cinnamon-scented custard, Lisbon’s daily miracle, best warm.
Bacalhau à BrásShredded salt cod tangled with straw-thin fried potatoes and softly scrambled egg, dotted with olives.
Browse all Portugal recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Portugal meal
Bacalhau à BrásDinner
Pastéis de NataDessert
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Ginjinha?
A sweet Lisbon liqueur of sour cherries steeped in aguardente, sipped from tiny glasses.
Where does Ginjinha come from?
Ginjinha is a Portuguese dish from Lisbon, Portugal.
Can Ginjinha be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ginjinha recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ginjinha safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ginjinha take to make?
About 15 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 12.
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