Aaah, pineapple juice, one of the most refreshing drinks we enjoy during the summer. While you can drink it alone, we love making Pina Coladas from pineapple juice!
But you might be surprised to know that pineapple juice isn’t only a nutritious drink.
You can also find it in numerous cocktails, desserts, and savory recipes.
So, what would happen if your cocktail or recipe calls for pineapple juice and you’ve run out of it?
Read on to learn about the best pineapple juice substitutes!
How do you choose a substitute for pineapple juice?
We use pineapple juice because of its perfect sweet and sour taste balance. While it might not be easy to recreate that pineapple flavor perfectly, you can still find the ideal balance of that sweet and sour taste.
Numerous fruits from the citrus family have sweet and sour flavors so that you can use their juices.
If tropical fruits and juices aren’t an option, you can always use vinegar and sugar.
While we didn’t mention this above, you can also give plain yogurt a shot. It’s more sour than sweet and thicker than juice, but it’s a good option in salads, coleslaw, and smoothies to add slight sourness!
But let’s say you want to tenderize meat with pineapple juice, but you have none of the ingredients available… What do you do? You can use a meat tenderizer or meat mallet instead of other substitutes!
Fun fact: You can make your own pineapple juice if none of these options work! Simply blend fresh or canned pineapples with a blender.
The Best Substitutes for Pineapple Juice in Any Recipes
We all know pineapple juice, known for its extremely sour taste. However, we still see it as a sweet liquid, holding the perfect balance of flavors!
While you can easily find pineapple juice in grocery stores, there are numerous reasons why we need a substitute.
It may be due to an allergy to the tropical fruit, the grocery sold out, or you can’t leave the kitchen.
Regardless of the reason, replace pineapple juice with any of these alternatives:
1. Grapefruit Juice
Grapefruit juice is a citrus fruit, where pineapple juice belongs to. That’s why it’s an excellent pineapple juice alternative.
Grapefruit juice is sweet but with a hint of bitterness. When you incorporate it into your recipe, it will taste more like pineapple juice.
We’re a massive fan of the fact that grapefruit juice offers fantastic health benefits and has antioxidant properties. However, the flavors can range from sweet-tart to extremely sour, so you’ll need to adjust the recipe a bit to have it taste similar to pineapple juice.
If you feel like grapefruit juice tastes more bitter, we recommend adding sugar or another fresh fruit juice with a sweet taste.
2. Orange Juice
We consider orange juice as the most citrus among all citrus fruits! After all, it’s high in citric acid, which gives it the characteristic sourness.
It’s an extremely popular juice worldwide and readily available. In fact, you most likely have a carton of orange juice in your kitchen right now!
This sweet yet sour juice has a citric taste. It’s an excellent addition to recipes with fruit juice as the main ingredient.
Orange juice is an excellent substitute for pineapple juice when making ham. However, since orange juice is a bit sweeter, you can add orange juice to your sour recipes.
If you have no orange juice, the closest thing you can use is citric acid. It’s a good substitute for baking as a preservative, leavening agent, or flavor enhancer for a more acidic flavor.
3. Pomegranate Juice
You might be surprised to see pomegranate juice on here. Yes, we didn’t think it would work either until we tried it ourselves!
We know pomegranate juice doesn’t taste like pineapple juice at all. However, it’s one of the widely consumed fruits worth trying because of the health benefits it offers.
4. Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is an excellent substitute for pineapple juice because of its fantastic nutritional benefits. You can even use it for cleaning!
We love using lemon juice to substitute for pineapple juice when making sauces, salad dressings, coleslaw, or adding it as a final garnish.
You can also substitute lemon juice for pineapple juice, using them interchangeably because of their similarities.
If you think lemon juice is too sour, we recommend adding a bit of honey. It’s great for tenderizing meat, as lemons are naturally acidic.
5. Lime Juice
Lime juice is another refreshing beverage you can use as a pineapple substitute! But if you ask us, lime juice is too sour.
What we do is mix it with other fruit juices, like orange juice, creating a fruity cocktail. You can also use it in recipes that require pineapple juice for the acidity levels.
Understandably, lime juice may be too sour. You can use it with other liquids like orange and lemon juice.
6. Passion Fruit Juice
Passion fruit juice is a great pineapple juice replacement as it has its own sweet and sour flavor. We love how juicy passion fruit is and that it’s available all year long.
There are various types of passion fruit to choose from, with all of them having yellow or purple flesh.
This juice tastes sweet and tart flavor, similar to pineapple juice. You can substitute pineapple juice with passion fruit in frappes and smoothies!
7. Apple Juice
Apples have a similar-sounding name to pineapple and make a suitable substitute! However, just because they sound the same doesn’t mean they appear similar. They have different appearances and textures, though apples have a flavor closer to pineapple.
That said, apple juice is sweeter and has a distinct flavor. It would work on specific recipes on the sweeter side instead of savory ones.
As for the benefits it offers, did you know that apple juice also promotes bone health? Proper bone health can prevent certain diseases, like osteoarthritis.
We recommend using apple juice in meats that require pineapple juice, such as chicken, beef, and pork.
8. Papaya Juice
Papaya juice has a sweet flavor with just a hint of bitterness. It’s sweeter than pineapple, but if you’re after the many health benefits than the high citric acid content, then this is a great alternative.
Papaya juice offers anti-inflammatory properties and toxin-reducing benefits! It’s one of the best substitutes for pineapple juice if you’re looking for a tenderizer or dessert.
9. Guava Juice
Guava juice is another fantastic substitute for pineapple juice. Like pineapples, it offers a lot of vitamin C and antitoxin compounds.
The ripe fruits taste sweet, but underripe guavas have a mix of sweet and sour with a slightly bitter undertone we appreciate. It’s not too sugar-sweet, but the perfect balance of flavors makes it one of the best pineapple juice substitutes.
10. Mango Juice
Mango juice doesn’t have a bitter nor sour flavor, but it’s actually sweet. If you’re looking for a drink with a sweet and tart taste, we recommend using this as a substitute for pineapple juice.
Plus, mango juice offers the similar nutrients pineapples offers. We like mixing mango and lime juice for marinades or apple cider to make coleslaw.
Fun fact: Mango has been one of the most favorite fruits worldwide for more than 4,000 years. It’s sometimes referred to as the king of the fruits!
11. Sugar and Vinegar for Sweet and Sour Sauce
This mixture sounds so weird, but it works! But honestly, we believe this is more of a last resort when you have no fruits at home and can’t find anything anymore.
Alternatively, you can use raw honey or other preferred sweeteners. You get the balanced flavor of sweet and sour. More specifically, we love using this substitute as a meat tenderizer!
Where do you use pineapple juice?
Frequently Asked Questions
Are you still wondering about this nutritious juice? Here are the frequently asked questions!
Where do you use pineapple juice?
There are so many ways you can use pineapple juice, and not just as a refreshing drink!
You can add pineapple juice to fruit salads, smoothies, create a sweet and sour sauce, add texture to baked goods, and much more!
Fun fact: As mentioned, pineapple juice is one of the main ingredients to Pina Coladas, a famous cocktail! If you have no pineapple juice for Pina Coladas, you can always use orange juice, the closest substitute.
What are the nutritional benefits of pineapple juice?
Whether you’re drinking it on its own or integrating it into sweet and sour dishes, pineapple juice has terrific benefits.
All fruit juices would have their own health benefits, and pineapple juice is no exception. It contains vitamin C, B6, along with iron and copper. It also offers antioxidant properties!
However, one of the essential nutrients it contains is vitamin C, which helps prevent inflammatory diseases. Vitamin C also contains antioxidants that help with our immune system.
What is bromelain?
This is a proteolytic enzyme you naturally find in pineapples. It’s responsible for the sweet and sour flavor you taste when eating fruit or juice.
Bromelain is said to function as an anti-cancer agent, so people consume pineapples. Plus, it helps in protein digestion.
In Conclusion
We hope you found the best substitutes for pineapple juice from our list. Try any of these ingredients for your sweet or sour recipe and achieve that delicious taste!
If you still have more questions about these substitutes for pineapple juice or want to share your experiences with any of these ingredients, share them in the comments section below. We appreciate all your thoughts!
