Our Christmas cranberry cocktail is holiday cheer in a glass, making it the perfect signature cocktail for your holiday party. It’s made with simple ingredients and can be served no matter how many party guests you have!
At our annual Christmas party I always try to come up with a new festive cocktail that is easy to make, but that also looks pretty too. Our Christmas sangria was a big hit, and we even turned that into Sangria jello shots.
During Christmas time I always have cranberries on hand, so what better way to use than making holiday drinks! Another festive twist is adding sugared cranberries before serving.
If you need a good whiskey cocktail to serve at your holiday parties, go with our peanut butter whiskey float. Cinnamon Toast Crunch shots are made with Fireball and are the perfect way to warm up on a cold day! These holiday cocktails can also be served at a New Years Party. We also have a Dirty Snowman for dessert or the peanut butter frozen hot chocolate for the kids.
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🎄 Ingredients:
Cranberry Cinnamon Simple Syrup Ingredients:
- granulated sugar and water – this is the base to any simple syrup recipe.
- cinnamon sticks and fresh or frozen cranberries – adds an extra punch of cranberry flavor.
Cranberry Christmas Cocktail Ingredients:
- cranberry juice – we used regular, not cranberry juice cocktail. A blend is a little sweeter than 100% cranberry juice and may add too much sugar since we are using simple syrup.
- cranberry cinnamon simple syrup
- vodka – we used regular but you could also use cranberry vodka.
- lemon-lime soda – any brand will work.
- Ice
- Sugar – for the rim of the glasses.
- Garnishes – fresh or frozen cranberries, limes.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
Garnish this festive Christmas cocktail with more cranberries, lime slices, a sprig of rosemary, or orange slices.
Substitutions and Variations
- Sweeter drink – adjust the amount of simple syrup.
- Ginger ale – substitute regular or cranberry ginger ale for the lemon-lime soda.
- Orange flavor – orange juice and orange liqueur (like Triple Sec or Grand Marnier) has a great citrus flavor that pairs well with the cranberry.
- Mocktail – leave out the vodka and add more soda. You can also opt for our easy Christmas punch.
- Punch bowl – if desired, turn this festive holiday cocktail into one that you can serve on a large scale from a punch bowl. We recommend making it ahead of time and chill. Don’t add the ice before serving or else it will dilute the mixture.
🔪 Instructions:
Step 1: Add the sugar, water, cinnamon stick, and cranberries to a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then strain.
Step 2: Use a lime or lime juice to moisten the rim of the glass. Then dip into sugar to coat the rim.
Step 3: Fill champagne flutes, martini glasses, or stemless wine glasses with ice cubes.
Step 4: Pour in the cranberry juice, simple syrup, and vodka. Give it a little stir.
Pro Tip: Adjust the amount of alcohol, cranberries, soda, and syrup based on your personal preferences.
Step 6: Top with lemon-lime soda.
Step 7: Garnish your cranberry cocktails with whole cranberries, a rosemary sprig, and/or a lime slices.
Recipe Tips for the Cranberry Cocktail
- There’s no need to use a cocktail shaker, that will flatten the soda.
- The cranberry simple syrup is a great way to sweeten and add more flavor, but isn’t necessary. You can also use regular simple syrup.
- 1.5 ounces is a standard shot of vodka.
- Whole, fresh cranberries are typically sold in the produce section of the grocery store in November and December. You can usually find frozen cranberries in the frozen foods department of most grocery stores year round. They actually freeze quite well – they stay plump, vibrant, and you almost can’t tell the difference from fresh!
Fun Fact
Since cranberries are 90% water and contain little pockets of air, they will float to the top, making festive drinks. – Always the Holidays
Recipe FAQs
We find that lemon juice is a little too tart and that limes pair better with the cranberry flavor.
Cranberry juice cocktail is made from a combination of cranberry juice, water, and sweeteners. It’s different from 100% pure cranberry juice, which is made solely from pressed cranberries without added ingredients. The cocktail version is typically a blend of cranberry juice, water, and other fruit juices or sweeteners to create a sweeter drink.
More Festive Drinks To Try This Season
If you tried this Christmas Cranberry Cocktail Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Christmas Cranberry Cocktail
Ingredients
Cranberry Cinnamon Simple Syrup Ingredients:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ cup fresh or frozen cranberries
Cranberry Christmas Cocktail Ingredients:
- 1 ½ ounces cranberry juice
- ½ ounce cranberry cinnamon simple syrup
- 1 ½ ounces vodka
- 1-2 ounces lemon-lime soda
- Ice
- Sugar to rim the glasses
- Lime wedges for garnish and/or to moisten the rim of the glass
- Fresh or frozen cranberries for garnish
Instructions
- To make the cranberry cinnamon simple syrup, place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer while stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes. Strain.
- To prepare the cocktail, run a lime around the rim of the glass to moisten (you can also use a little simple syrup or even water). Dip the glass onto a small plate of sugar to coat the rim.
- Fill glass with ice.
- Add cranberry juice, then simple syrup, then vodka and stir together.
- Top with lemon-lime soda.
- Garnish with fresh or frozen whole cranberries and/or a slice of lime.
Notes
Nutrition
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