Make this Cranberry Apple Sangria for the Holidays! It is enriched with orange liqueur, cloves, vanilla and cinnamon. You can also heat it up and turn it into a mulled wine.
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If you’re looking for a Thanksgiving dinner cocktail, here’s a great option: a sangria with all the seasonal flavors.
Thanksgiving sangria to celebrate the holiday!
When putting together drink recipes, I often draw inspiration from food. When I saw a recipe for cranberry sauce with apple and orange on Serious Eats, I couldn’t help but think, “I bet this would be good as a cocktail.” And it is!
We tend to think of sangria as a summertime drink, but with spices and autumn fruits it can be really nice in the colder months. Regardless, this sangria is almost like chilled mulled wine. The wine does a really good job of capturing and bringing together the flavors of the different fruits so that when you drink it everything feels like it should.
Which cranberry juice to buy
You can use either 100% cranberry juice (my preference) or cranberry juice cocktail; just know that the latter will be cuter.
Make Ahead Sangria!
How to serve sangria
Sangria is also great in the sense that it garnishes itself as all those lovely fruits are floating around and probably finding their way into your glass. If there’s any left over after serving all the sangria, it’s also a great snack—but beware, it can be very strong. You can serve this sangria over ice or heat it up and serve it as mulled wine.
For more information on apple varieties, see our guide to apples.
More celebratory drinks to share
- Pomegranate Paloma
- Advocaat
- Coquito (Puerto Rican Coconut Eggnog)
- holiday punch
- Hot rum with orange and vanilla
Cranberry Apple Sangria
ingredients
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2 apples such as Fuji or Gala, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
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1 Cup cranberry juice (100% juice preferred, or cranberry juice cocktail)
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1/2 teaspoon floor Cinammon
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1 vanilla beansplit lengthways
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12 all cloves
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1 Bottle dry red wine
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1/4 Cup triple sec (or other orange liqueur like Cointreau or Grand Marnier)
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1 orange
special equipment
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cheesecloth
method
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Gently heat the apples, juice and spices:
Place the cloves in a small bag of cheesecloth and tie with butcher’s twine. Place the apples, cranberry juice, cinnamon, vanilla bean, and sachets of cloves in a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until apples soften, about 7 minutes.
Take it from the stove and let it cool off.
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Combine the wine and triple sec with the orange:
Pour red wine and triple sec into a pitcher. Cut the orange into four quarters, cut into slices and add the slices to the pitcher as well.
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Make the sangria:
Add the apple and cranberry spice mix to the pitcher and stir. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least four hours, preferably overnight, or up to 2 or 3 days in advance.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 287 | calories |
| 1g | Fat |
| 46g | carbohydrates |
| 2g | protein |
