Cranberry mimosa: Easy holiday cocktail

However, Thanksgiving dinner itself can be a little tasking with an eye catching entrée, many side dishes, and pie to follow.

So it's nice to have a holiday cocktail that is ridiculously easy to make, as well as eye-catching.

A bubbly cranberry juice mimosa goes well with an holiday meal, because it isn't overly heavy.

It has a light effervescence that doesn't weigh you down.

Plus, with just three ingredients, it's simple to keep cranberries, cranberry juice, and sparkling wine on hand for impromptu holiday gatherings.

Fun fact: This colorful drink is also known as a Christmas mimosa. And with the addition of orange liqueur, it’s called a poinsettia cocktail.

In this post:

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.

Cranberries: Whole cranberries are used for a colorful garnish. Frozen or fresh cranberries will work. (Don’t use dried.)

Cranberry juice: Use either 100% cranberry juice or a cranberry juice cocktail blend.

Sparkling wine or Champagne: Any sparkling wine, Champagne, or Prosecco will work here. (Sparkling wine can only officially be called Champagne if it's from the Champagne region of France.)

Blanc de Blancs from Trader Joe's is vegan. Check Barnivore to find out what other sparkling wines & Champagnes are vegan-friendly.

This section shows how to make this recipe at a glance with process photos of the steps. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

1. Put a few whole cranberries into champagne flutes.

2. Pour cranberry juice into each glass, even with the cranberries. (Roughly one Tablespoon of cranberry juice per drink.)

3. Finish the glass with Champagne or sparkling wine.

4. Enjoy!

To serve a group, garnish each glass with cranberries, cover with cranberry juice, and finish with sparkling wine or Champagne.

One standard-sized bottle of champagne will serve 5 or 6 drinks, depending on the size of your Champagne flutes.

I don’t recommend mixing the Champagne & juice in a pitcher separately, because it will lose its bubbles.

You can make this drink your own by varying the ingredients or amounts.

• Add more cranberry juice for a bolder flavor
• Add less cranberry juice for a more muted flavor
• Replace cranberry juice with pomegranate juice
• Vary the type of sparkling wine to be drier or sweeter
• Add a squeeze of lime juice for brightness
• Add ½ ounce Cointreau or other orange liqueur for a poinsettia champagne cocktail
• Jazz up the garnish with a sugared rim, sugared cranberries, and/or fresh rosemary sprigs

Prefer this cocktail without alcohol?

Use any of the above in equal quantities as the sparkling wine.

(If using an unsweetened mixer like sparkling water, I recommend using sweetened cranberry juice. Otherwise, it will be too tart.)

📖 Recipe

Cranberry mimosa: Easy holiday cocktail

Author: Cadry Nelson

5 from 3 votes

This festive holiday cocktail is great for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, or other holiday get-togethers. With just three ingredients, it couldn't be easier to make.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 1 minute minute

Total Time: 1 minute minute

Servings: 1 person

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: French

Keyword: alcohol, champagne, cocktail

Ingredients

• ▢ 3 or 4 whole cranberries fresh or frozen
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon cranberry juice
• ▢ ⅔ cup sparkling wine or Champagne

Instructions

• ▢
  Put 3 or 4 whole cranberries into a champagne flute.
• ▢
  Cover the cranberries with cranberry juice.

  The cranberries float once they come into contact with the liquid. So you won't be able to measure it that way exactly. But it's basically one Tablespoon of cranberry juice per drink.

  There's no reason to be super scientific about this. A little more or less won't hurt anything.
• ▢
  Fill the glass the rest of the way with sparkling wine or Champagne.

Watch how to make it

Notes

Keep in mind that 100% pure cranberry juice is REALLY tart. You can use it for these cranberry mimosas because sparkling wine is on the sweet side.

However, pure cranberry juice won’t be as well suited for mocktails with sparkling water or club soda. So I’d recommend getting naturally sweetened cranberry juice for more all-purpose cranberry cocktails & mocktails.

How to serve a group

To serve a group, garnish each glass with cranberries, cover with cranberry juice, and finish with sparkling wine or Champagne.

One bottle of champagne will serve 5 or 6 drinks, depending on the size of your Champagne flutes.

I don’t recommend mixing the Champagne & juice in a pitcher separately, because it will lose its bubbles. 

Alcohol-free mocktail

For an alcohol-free version, use sparkling water, tonic water, sparkling grape juice, or club soda instead of sparkling wine.

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Nutrition

Calories: 84kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Sodium: 11mg | Potassium: 138mg | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin C: 1.4mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 0.6mg