How to make a Pornstar Martini at home (the easy, bar-quality way)

The Pornstar Martini has topped the UK's cocktail sales charts for years, and for good reason: it's sweet, sharp, creamy-textured and comes with a shot of fizz. It's also one of the easiest cocktails to get slightly wrong at home — too sweet, no foam, or a passion fruit syrup that tastes like a boiled sweet.

Here's how to make one that tastes like the one you order, without buying six ingredients you'll use once.

What's actually in a Pornstar Martini?

The original (created by Douglas Ankrah in London in the early 2000s) is vanilla vodka, passion fruit purée, passion fruit liqueur, lime and vanilla sugar, shaken hard and served with a shot of prosecco on the side. The prosecco is not poured in — it's sipped between mouthfuls to cut the sweetness.

Made from scratch, that's five ingredients plus fresh passion fruit, and the balance is fiddly. Our mix does the balancing for you: real passion fruit purée and juice, a little pineapple for body, natural vanilla and a plant-based foaming agent so you get that proper velvety head every time. All you add is vodka.

Used in this recipePornstar Martini Mix — 750ml, makes 10£11.25 · just add vodkaShop now →

Which vodka should you use?

Honestly, any decent vodka. The passion fruit does the talking, so a supermarket own-label premium vodka works perfectly well. If you want to be fancy, a vanilla vodka nods to the original recipe — but our mix already has natural vanilla in it, so don't feel you need to.

Because you supply the spirit, a finished Pornstar Martini costs roughly £3 a glass with a mid-range vodka. That's less than half what you'd pay for a pre-bottled cocktail, and about a fifth of the price in a bar.

Do you pour the prosecco in?

No — and this is the hill we'll die on. The prosecco is a chaser. Sip the cocktail, sip the fizz. It resets your palate so the last mouthful tastes as good as the first. If you're making a round for friends, pour one bottle of prosecco into shot glasses and everyone gets their side.

How to get the foam

Three things make the difference between a flat drink and one with a proper cap of foam:

• Shake hard and long. Twelve seconds, until the outside of the shaker frosts.
• Use plenty of ice. Half-empty shakers don't aerate.
• Chill the glass. Two minutes in the freezer or a swirl of ice water while you shake.

No shaker? A jam jar with a tight lid genuinely works. Or pick up our Mini Shaker, which is sized for exactly one or two drinks.

The mocktail version

Swap the 50ml vodka for 50ml chilled water (or soda for a lighter, fizzier drink) and shake exactly the same way. It's one of the few mocktails that doesn't feel like a consolation prize, which is why it's the most-requested alcohol-free option at our mobile bars.

Making a round

For four people, add 300ml mix and 200ml vodka to a jug with ice, stir well for 20 seconds and pour — you'll lose a little foam versus shaking, so if you want the full effect, shake two at a time. For a party of 20, read our guide to batching cocktails for a crowd.

Common questions

Why does mine taste too sweet?

Usually too little spirit or too much melt. Stick to 75:50, use fresh ice and serve immediately.

Can I make it in advance?

Pre-mix the mixer and vodka in a bottle in the fridge for up to a day, then shake individual serves with ice when guests arrive. Don't add ice to the batch or it will dilute.

How long does the mix keep?

Six months unopened. Once opened, keep it in the fridge and use within two weeks — which, in our experience, is never a problem.

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