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Home » Fruit Mocktails

Jun 13, 2023 by Kristin

Cranberry Mocktail

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This sweet, tart and refreshing vibrantly red drink is perfect for your next holiday get-together. Try out this easy to make cranberry mocktail that will leave your taste buds tingling and waiting for more. This beverage is the perfect balanced blend of citrus, cranberry and fizz.

Cranberry Mocktail on a wooden table with ingredients in the background.
Jump to:
  • 🍹 What is a Cranberry Mocktail?
  • ⭐ When to Make This Drink
  • 📖 Variations
  • 🥄 Equipment
  • 📋 Ingredients
  • 👩🏻‍🍳 Instructions
  • Recipe

🍹 What is a Cranberry Mocktail?

A cranberry mocktail is an easy and refreshing beverage that is a combination of cranberry juice, lemon lime soda and lime juice. The resulting mocktail has a sweet citrus zing that is quickly combined with a fizzy, and tangy cranberry flavor.

This bright red and festive mocktail is the perfect drink to serve at your next holiday party due to its tangy cranberry flavor. It is also easy to make as all you have to do is toss your ingredients together and stir them.

This is just one of many fruit flavored mocktails. Some other similar ones include an orange mocktail a blueberry mocktail and a watermelon mocktail.

This mocktail is a fantastic choice to add to your drink and making repertoire. And, if you’re still not sure why, here are a few reasons:

  • Bright & festive. It’s bright red color is perfect for serving at holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Or, even love themed holidays like anniversaries and Valentine’s Day.
  • Super easy and quick to make. It only takes three simple, everyday ingredients to make this mocktail. Additionally, all you have to do is pour them into a glass and stir them together. If you have 3 minutes that is more than enough to get this drink ready.
  • Flavor explosion. This beverage is the perfect combination of tart cranberry and citrus zing that is smooth with a little bit of bubbly sweetness. It is refreshing and delicious and sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face.

⭐ When to Make This Drink

If you’re not sure when to serve this one up, here are just a few of the occasions you might think of serving it:

  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas
  • Brunch
  • Baby showers

📖 Variations

One of the nice things about this mocktail is that you can very easily customize it to have some slight flavor variations or even ingredient substitutions. Here are just a few ideas to try:

  • Use a different soda. We really like to use Sprite. However, you could use a different lemon lime soda such as 7 up. Or, you could add a different soda all together like ginger ale if you wanted a spicy twist.
  • Dial down the sweetness. Instead of using an actual soda, just use a club soda, tonic water or seltzer water. All of which will still provide the fizz and bubble to the drink, but without the added sugar of a flavored soda.
  • Add some orange juice. Cranberry and orange is a classic flavor combination. You can dial down the amount of Sprite in the drink and substitute it partially with orange juice. Just make sure to use pulp Free.
  • Add a little simple syrup. Adding simple syrup is a great way to add a little sweetness to the drink. And, also to bring a little extra flavor. There are a wide array of different flavored simple syrups from mint simple syrup to honey syrup, orange simple syrup to ginger simple syrup. Decide what flavor you might like to add in and use the flavored simple syrup to bring it to the drink.
  • Substitute the lime juice. Keep it in the citrus family, but use lemon juice instead of lime juice for a slight flavor variation.

🥄 Equipment

  • Rocks/Scotch/Bourbon glass or Highball glass
  • jigger
  • cocktail shaker (optional)
  • Hawthorne strainer (optional)
  • bar spoon

📋 Ingredients

  • 3 oz Cranberry juice
  • 3 oz Sprite
  • .5 oz Lime juice
  • Ice
Highball glass with ice next to jigger, sprite, cranberry juice and lime juice.

👩🏻‍🍳 Instructions

Step one

Before you get started make sure you have everything you need. This should include highball glass, ice, bar spoon, jigger, Sprite, cranberry juice and lime juice.

Step two

Use the ice to fill the highball glass up to the top.

Pouring lime juice into a jigger.

Step three

Measure out 0.5 oz of lime juice with a jigger. Then pour that into the glass over the ice.

Pouring cranberry juice from jigger into highball glass.

Step four

Measure out 3 oz of cranberry juice with a jigger. Then add that to the glass with the ice and the lime juice.

Pouring sprite from bottle into a glass.

Step Five

Grab up the Sprite and pour it directly in the glass. You should top the glass off with the sprite. This will take around 3 oz.

Stirring a cranberry mocktail drink.

Step Six

Grab your bar spoon and stick it into the glass. Then, stir everything together well so that it is thoroughly mixed.

Recipe

Cranberry Mocktail on a wooden table with ingredients in the background.
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Cranberry Mocktail

Prep Time3 minutes mins
Course: Drinks
Keyword: Cranberry Mocktail
Servings: 1

Equipment

  • jigger
  • Rocks glass
  • bar spoon optional
  • cocktail shaker optional
  • Hawthorne strainer optional

Ingredients

  • 3 oz Cranberry Juice
  • 3 oz Sprite
  • .5 oz Lime Juice
  • Ice
Metric – US Customary

Instructions

  • Toss enough ice into the glass so that it is filled to the top.
  • Take the cranberry juice and measure 3 oz with the jigger. Then, dump the cranberry juice into the glass.
    *see notes below if you need amounts in cups and tbs instead of ounces.
  • Take the lime juice and measure .5 oz with the jigger. Then, dump the lime juice into the glass.
  • Take the sprite and measure 3 oz with the jigger. Then, dump the sprite into the glass.
    Pro tip: you can skip the measuring of the sprite if you want. Instead, just top the glass off by pouring the sprite directly into the glass.
  • Take a bar spoon and give a few stirs to ensure the drink is well mixed.

Notes

Variations:
  • Substitute lemon juice for lime juice.
  • Add orange Juice.
  • Use different soda like ginger ale, club soda or even sparkling water.
  • Use a flavored simple syrup.
Want to shake it?  If you want your drink shaken instead of stirred.  Then add ice and all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake it well.  Then, strain it into the glass.  If you don’t have a shaker, you can use a mason jar or any type of jar with a lid.
 
Measurements:
If you need to use cups instead of ounces.
  • ⅓ cup of cranberry juice
  • ⅓ cup of Sprite
  • 1 tbs of lime juice

More Fruit Mocktail Recipes

  • Cucumber lemon water in a pitcher on a wooden table.
    Cucumber Lemon Water
  • Watermelon mocktail with spring of mint in the glass on a wooden table.
    Watermelon Mocktail
  • Watermelon aqua fresca in a rocks glass with slice of watermelon on the glass.
    Watermelon Agua Fresca
  • Virgin strawberry daquiri in a hurricane glass on a wooden table.
    Virgin Strawberry Daquiri

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