Cranberry Mimosas

Serve up a round of Cranberry Mimosas for every holiday event, from Friendsgiving to Christmas! These pretty, red champagne cocktails are made with just two ingredients, but you can make them extra boozy if you like!

Between planning meals, attending dinners and shopping for gifts (and groceries), there’s so much to do during the holiday season. For me, everything about them needs to be all about simplicity.

When I’m planning a holiday gathering, whether it’s a simple brunch or a snazzier party, I am all about the easy cocktail recipes with just a few ingredients.

Two- and three-ingredient cocktails like mimosas are an important set of recipes to keep in your back pocket.

That brings me to this easy 2-ingredient cranberry mimosa drink recipe, which is a perfect signature cocktail for holiday parties.

Cranberry mimosa recipe

The recipe for a mimosa with cranberry juice is so very simple. It’s a bubbly drink that makes the perfect holiday cocktail.

Get out your set of champagne flutes (stemless or with stem — it can even be a wine glass!) and fill them with 2 ounces of cranberry juice.

Then add your favorite sparkling wine to your champagne glass! And you have the perfect cocktail with which to toast any occasion.

Serve up a round of this sparkling cranberry mimosa recipe for a Friendsgiving gathering, for a Thanksgiving dinner, for Christmas morning or, really, for any kind of holiday brunch.

You can sometimes find pre-made cranberry mimosa bottles at Aldi or other shops where wine is available, but I much prefer to make them myself.

What is a mimosa?

The mimosa is a classic cocktail made with orange juice and champagne. Mimosas are similar to bellinis, which are made with peach puree and champagne.

Mimosas are the perfect drink because they are easy to customize. You can switch up the type of juice mixer, or you can add more alcohol.

Sometimes mimosas have an additional ingredient — triple sec or orange liqueur, like Grand Marnier or Cointreau.

Vodka, whiskey or rum are sometimes added, too. (The Seelbach is one of my favorite champagne cocktails with bourbon, though it’s not a mimosa.)

While traditionally served at breakfast or brunch, mimosas can be served any time. This Christmas cranberry mimosa cocktail is simply a twist on the classic that’s bubbly, zesty and fun.

You can mix up the OJ part of mimosas with other fruit juices as I did with these strawberry mimosas and guava mimosas.

Some people don’t like mimosas, but big deal! They can just enjoy a glass of champagne. Or perhaps what they don’t love is an orange-flavored standard mimosa, in which case they might fall in love with this Christmas cocktail instead!

Ingredients

This recipe calls for only two ingredients, so they need to be the best ones you can afford to make it the best cranberry mimosa recipe. However, you can add a garnish and some extra booze if you wish.

Technically, there are two more simple ingredients you can add if you want to get fancy, but they’re totally optional.

Cranberry juice

Pure cranberry juice is easy to find in the grocery store. Look in the juice aisle or the refrigerated section. Be careful of buying “cranberry juice cocktail,” which is loaded with extra sugar that you don’t really — cranberry juice is sweet enough on its own.

Sometimes you can find cranberry juice with other flavors mixed in, like blueberry or grape. But don’t worry if you grabbed the wrong thing — any of these would be delicious!

Champagne

Any kind of sparkling white wine, such as champagne, cava or prosecco, will work. Since cranberry juice is sweet and tart, you will want to choose a bottle of champagne that’s on the dry side. Look for “brut” on the label. I have a guide to sparkling wine to help you pick out a bottle if you need it!

It’s tough to know how much alcohol to buy for a party. Each standard 750-ml bottle of sparkling wine can make approximately 6 to 8 mimosas. For a 20-person party, and knowing that each guest will have two or three drinks, you’ll want to pick up 6 to 8 bottles of prosecco.

Triple sec

You can add 1 ounce of Grand Marnier, Cointreau or triple sec for some extra orange flavor. But if you want to keep things simple, feel free to skip the extra booze.

Cranberry garnish

Top your cocktail with a few fresh, whole cranberries, or make sugared cranberries as I did. You can drop them right into the drink, or you can stick a few on a cocktail pick. You also don’t have to have a garnish at all!

If you’d like to try some other garnishes, you can add a fresh sprig of rosemary or thyme to give it that red-and-green Christmas feeling!

Variations

There are a few ways you can update this cranberry mimosa for your holiday parties and turn it into the best holiday drink that your friends will look forward to year after year.

Instead of the 2 ounces of cranberry juice, try one of these ideas instead:

• Make a cranberry pomegranate mimosa with 1 ounce cranberry juice and 1 ounce of pomegranate juice, then top with champagne.
• A cranberry orange mimosa, AKA a Sunset Mimosa, can be made with 1 ounce of cranberry juice and 1 ounce of orange juice, plus bubbly.
• Create an apple cranberry mimosa with 1 ounce of apple cider or apple juice and 1 ounce of cranberry juice, then the champagne.

If you want to make a non-alcoholic cranberry mimosa, you can substitute the champagne with ginger ale or sparkling apple cider.

No matter how you make them your own, these will be delicious cranberry mimosas. You can even serve them for Valentine’s Day thanks to their brilliant, ruby red color!

Holiday cocktail recipes

If you love this Christmas mimosa with cranberry juice, then you will love more of these festive cocktails.

This poinsettia champagne cocktail is another gorgeous cranberry cocktail for the holiday season.

The pomegranate mimosa and the apple cider mimosa are wonderful for a holiday brunch. You can even set up a holiday mimosa bar with pitchers of apple cider, pomegranate juice and cranberry juice and a few bottles of prosecco.

Try setting up a champagne cocktail bar for a Christmas brunch, New Year’s Eve party or any kind of winter brunches.

My Yule Mule cocktails are one of my most popular recipes. They’re essentially cranberry Moscow mules, so if you love these mimosas, you’ll probably love this recipe too!

You can also try my cranberry sauce old-fashioned, which is made with leftover sauce from your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.

Let me know if this cocktail gets you in the holiday spirit. Leave a review or comment below!