Cranberry Mimosa

Enjoy a twist on a classic brunch cocktail with this cranberry mimosa. Tart cranberry juice combines so well with a splash of orange juice in this sparkling wine/champagne cocktail recipe!

I’m not a huge bruncher, but it’s hard to find anything wrong with a mimosa. Easy to make, easy to sip, and not so heavy on the booze, there’s a reason they’re known as a classic daytime cocktail.

A simple way to jazz things up when making them at home is to add cranberry to the mix. This cranberry mimosa has a burst of juicy sweetness that matches up well with both sweeter and drier sparkling wine, as well as a hint of citrus.

Now everyone has their own preferences of making mimosas, so feel free to deviate from recipe ingredients here to your liking. As written below, I’ve used a 1:1 ratio of sparkling wine to juice. You can certainly bump up the sparkling wine to 2:1 or just eyeball it, take a sip, and adjust as needed. I definitely don’t measure mimosas precisely every time I make them.

What type of Champagne to use for mimosas?

There are options here, and you might not even choose to use Champagne at all! While known for it, mimosas aren’t beholden to Champagne in particular. Other sparkling wine varieties, such as Prosecco or Cava, also make an excellent choice of bubbles, so it’s really your personal preference.

Prosecco, probably the most known Italian sparkling wine, tends to be sweeter than Champagne, for those whose drink tastes skew that direction versus drier. Specifically in a cranberry mimosa, its sweetness would pair well with the tarter cranberry juice.

Then there’s Cava, which is a Spanish sparkling wine. Taste-wise it’s closer to the Champagne end of things than a sweet Prosecco, which makes it a wonderful, all-purpose middle ground. I feel like it’s been quickly rising in popularity over the past several years. In fact, the “champagne toast” at my wedding was actually Cava. 😉

No matter which variety of sparkling wine you use, you don’t need to break the bank and splurge on a pricy variety. I’ve found you can often get a higher quality Prosecco or Cava than Champagne for the same lesser-expensive price point.

Other ingredients

Now for the cranberry juice. Honestly either 100% juice or cranberry juice cocktail would work here, though I’d steer away from real deal 100% cranberry juice which is totally unsweetened and way tart for this drink.

Popular brands of 100% juice cranberry (the placement of the word ‘cranberry’ makes a difference!) feature cranberry juice as one of the ingredients, but cut it with sweeter fruit juices with mild flavors like apple or white grape juices. They’ll call this out on the nutrition label. They may or may not have added sugars.

Cranberry juice cocktail on the other hand may feature just cranberry juice, however it contains added sweeteners to make it more palatable to drink.

All that’s left is a splash of orange. I’m not picky here and have used both store-bought orange juice and freshly-squeezed. I prefer squeezing an orange but store-bought certainly works just fine for convenience.

An average-sized orange will yield about two ounces or so of juice, so enough to make four cranberry mimosas. Of course, you can alter the quantities here very easily to suit your tastes.

Other cocktail recipes you may enjoy

Cranberry makes an excellent addition to another classic cocktail, a moscow mule. This cranberry moscow mule is a great one for my fellow ginger beer lovers out there. 

This cranberry apple margarita is a reader favorite! Cranberry this time pairs with apple cider and tequila for a decidedly fall take on a margarita.

Believe it or not champagne combines with tequila in this champagne paloma for a tart and citrusy cocktail. Grapefruit ties it all together in a delicious way.

Recipe notes

• Be sure your sparkling wine and cranberry juice is well-chilled as there isn’t any ice here.
• To prevent a potential mess, pour the sparkling wine into the glass first. That way you won’t risk spillover in case it fizzes up.
• Don’t stir your cranberry mimosas as the stirring action can lessen the fizzy carbonation.
• The champagne flutes pictured have a seven ounce capacity, which this recipe in the quantities written below fills up to the tippy top.