This cranberry mocktail is an easy, fruity and festive non-alcoholic cocktail. Cranberry, orange and lemon juice topped with fizzy club soda, and served with a brown sugar rim.
Fancy mocktails like this strawberry mojito mocktail, are perfect for guests who don’t drink.
For other regular holiday cocktails, try this blackberry bourbon smash, bourbon rosemary cocktail, raspberry martini, gin espresso martini, or rosemary gimlet.
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Why this is the best cranberry juice mocktail
- Easy for a crowd. This is a really fast mocktail to make with simple ingredients. You can make a giant batch for a group of people in less than 5 to 10 minutes.
- It’s festive! Anything cranberry adds a little holiday touch which is perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner get-togethers.
- It’s just as fancy as a cocktail. Just because there’s no alcohol doesn’t mean it should be any less fancy. This mocktail is made in a cocktail shaker and looks so appetizing with a brown sugar rim.
Ingredients
Instructions
Rub a slice of lemon around the rim of each glass and then dip the edge into a small amount of brown sugar.
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake for 5-7 seconds, and then strain. Top with club soda and serve.
FAQ
Yes! Add about 1 oz of alcohol per cocktail for an alcoholic version. Vodka works best for this drink.
Yes. Homemade cranberry juice will taste especially fresh and delicious in this drink. However, it is much more work — but if you have the time, it’s worth it!
Expert Tips
- For extra stickiness, line the rim with simple syrup. If you find the lemon juice is not making the brown sugar stick as well as you’d like, line the rim with simple syrup instead.
- You don’t need a cocktail shaker. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, you can use a mason jar with ice instead. Or, you can just mix the ingredients together.
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📖 Recipe
Cranberry Mocktail
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 mocktails 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This cranberry mocktail is an easy, fruity and festive non-alcoholic cocktail.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 6 oz cranberry juice
- 3 oz orange juice
- 2 oz lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 9 oz club soda
- handful of ice
Instructions
- Rub a slice of lemon around the edge of each serving glass, then dip the edge in brown sugar.
- Add the cranberry juice, orange juice, lemon juice and a handful of ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake well for 5-10 seconds. Strain into the cocktail glasses with brown sugar rims and fresh ice.
- Top with club soda and serve immediately. Enjoy responsibly!
Notes
- If the brown sugar is not sticking well enough to the lemon juice, use simple syrup to line the rims instead.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Cocktails
- Method: Shaken
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 mocktail
- Calories: 66
- Sugar: 13.1g
- Sodium: 13mg
- Fat: 0.2g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 16.1g
- Fiber: 0.4g
- Protein: 0.6g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Delta
A little on the tart side. Swapped the club soda for cherry 7-Up. It was excellent with the enhancement.
Kerri
These mocktails are so good! I bet they'd be great for a kids option on Thanksgiving!
Jill
Saving this for the holiday season! Can't wait to try it...
Sheri Brown
Is the cranberry juice sweetened or unsweetened? It seems like most in the store are sweetened. Thanks.
The Littlest Crumb
Hi Sheri, I used cranberry juice that has “no sugar added”, but really any store bought cranberry juice should be fine for this recipe. Also, different sweetened brands will also vary in how sweet they taste from brand to brand. If you find the mocktail a bit too sweet, add in a tiny bit more lemon juice.
Kathy Millard
Could not be explained better Thank you. Will be with non-drinkers in Budapest this Christmas I can't wait to make it!