Green Mimosas

Mix up a few Green Mimosas for St. Patrick’s Day. These green mimosa cocktails — made with orange juice, blue curaçao and your favorite champagne — will bring the luck of the Irish.

St. Patrick’s Day requires a green cocktail every now and again.

While I love a Guinness float or an Irish coffee, some of the traditional cocktails are so heavy and sometimes I just want something lighter — especially the years when it’s 80 degrees on March 17.

That’s where this green mimosa comes in.

Green Mimosa recipe

Also called the leprechaun mimosa, the Green Mimosa is an emerald-hued version of the classic orange juice mimosa.

This green drink is festive for a St. Patrick’s Day party but you can also enjoy it for Mardi Gras Easter or even for a wedding signature cocktail.

If you have a sports team that wears green jerseys, this drink would be perfect for game watching. (And if their other color is black, mix up these black champagne cocktails to go with it.)

Or, you can serve them at Christmastime as a Grinch mimosa, alongside your cranberry mimosas. They’d be a fun addition to a Christmas tree mimosa bar.

What is a leprechaun mimosa?

The Leprechaun mimosa is made with orange juice, blue curaçao and champagne.

Blue curaçao is an orange-flavored liqueur that contains blue food coloring. Because it is orange-flavored, it only strengthens the orange flavor.

When mixed with orange juice (which is more yellow than orange, isn’t it?), the blue curaçao creates a bright, green color that’s perfect for spring.

Ingredients

You only need three ingredients from the grocery store to make a leprechaun mimosa. Don’t forget to get out the champagne glasses!

Orange juice

Orange juice is the classic choice for the traditional mimosa. I always recommend using freshly squeezed orange juice if you can.

I like to use this electric juicer, especially when I have a lot of citrus to juice. You can also use a hand-squeezed type. Be sure to strain off as much pulp as you can with a fine-mesh strainer.

Storebought orange juice will work just fine, too. Consider opting for a no-pulp option so the pulp doesn’t float to the top when you add the champagne.

Blue curaçao liqueur

Named for the island of Curaçao and its crystal clear waters, blue curaçao is an orange-flavored liqueur with blue food coloring added. It is available at any liquor store. After you’ve made these St. Patrick’s day mimosas, use it to make a batch of blue margaritas this summer.

If you like, you can substitute add a few drops of blue food coloring to your mimosa. Green food coloring works too, but you will get a different color.

If you go the food coloring route, I still recommend adding add 1 ounce of Grand Marnier, Cointreau or triple sec for some extra orange flavor.

Sparkling wine

For your mimosa, you can choose any kind of sparkling wine — champagne, cava or prosecco will all work.

Since orange juice is somewhat sweet, it would be best to choose a sparkling wine that’s dry, not sweet. Look for “brut” on the label. Look at my guide to sparkling wine to help you pick out a bottle.

How to make a green mimosa

The recipe for a mimosa with a splash of blue curaçao is easy peasy. It is easy to whip up for a St. Patrick’s Day brunch or another festive gathering.

Take your champagne flute (stemless or with a stem — it can even be a wine glass!) and fill it with 2 ounces of orange juice.

Then top it with your favorite sparkling wine! Champagne, prosecco, cava — there’s not really a wrong answer here. No matter what you choose, these will still turn out to be tasty drinks.

Garnishes

I used shamrocks (that I washed!) from my yard to garnish this cocktail, but you can use a myriad of other things to dress up this drink:

• a rim of green sprinkles
• an orange wedge (which works because the Irish flag is green, white and orange)
• a lime wedge
• a sprig of mint, thyme or rosemary

Variations and substitutions

There are a few ways you can change up this cocktail.

Make it without orange juice. Pineapple juice adds a similar color to orange juice, and it has a bright, tropical flavor. Mango juice or passion fruit juice would also work!

Use blue food color instead of blue curaçao. Three or four drops should be perfect, but add as much as you need until you reach your desired green color. Green food coloring works too!

Make it without blue food coloring. Instead of orange juice, use this green herbal limeade or other green juice. Instead of blue curaçao, use triple sec or another clear orange liqueur.

Make it non-alcoholic. Use sparkling cider or sparkling lemonade, orange juice and a few drops of blue food coloring.

St. Patrick’s Day cocktail recipes

These St. Paddy’s drink recipes would be perfect for lucky party guests, especially if served alongside this green mimosa.

The Black Velvet is another one in the family of champagne cocktails, but much darker. It’s dark and bubbly. Guinness fans should not wait another day before trying this mysterious beauty!

Made with ginger beer, lime and Irish whiskey, the Irish Mule puts an Irish twist on the classic Moscow mule.

Celebrate with Guinness floats, which are Irish coffee-inspired ice cream cocktails starring Guinness, Ireland’s most famous beer. Coffee ice cream, smooth stout beer and chocolate sauce are an indulgent combination you can enjoy all year long.

Homemade Irish cream liqueur is a delicious boozy coffee creamer for iced Irish coffee, or you can sip it on its own.