Cranberry champagne margaritas are a quick and easy cocktail to whip up – you only need 5 ingredients and 5 minutes! They’re tart, slightly sweet, and the perfect festive drink for the holidays. For something even simpler, try a Cranberry Mimosa, and check out all my other champagne-centered recipes that are perfect for New Year’s Eve!
Each year I do a champagne-centered recipe for New Year’s Eve. Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane:
- 2015: Champagne Cupcakes (honorable mention to the Cranberry Mimosa, which wasn’t for NYE but fits the theme)
- 2016: Mimosa Jello Shots
- 2017: Nutella Champagne Dip
- 2018: White Chocolate Champagne Truffles
Now we can add these Cranberry Champagne Margaritas to the list for 2019!
As you might remember from past years, each year for New Year’s Eve my husband and I make tacos and margaritas. Then we’ll pick one of the NYE countdown shows to put on in the background, and do a puzzle. We really live life on the wild side over here.
P.S. This year it’s a Bob’s Burgers puzzle and I’m unreasonably excited about it.
Since we always have a Mexican inspired meal, I figure it’s about time I incorporated my champagne theme to our New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Making cranberry champagne margaritas
They’re certainly not difficult to whip up, but I do want to share a few tips to make them perfect for your personal taste preferences:
Garnish the rims with salt or sugar, or both! For these, I like to use a mix of King Arthur Flour Sparkling White Sugar (aff link) and margarita salt, but you can obviously use whatever you’d like. Just wet the rims of each glass with a little water or lime juice, then dip to coat.
Use cranberry juice, not cranberry juice cocktail. The bottles of cranberry juice cocktail usually contain water, cranberry juice concentrate, sugar, ascorbic acid, vegetable concentrate… 100% cranberry juice just contains water and cranberry juice concentrate and is unsweetened.
If you’d prefer a sweeter drink, add a little simple syrup. Once you’ve shaken and poured your drink into the glass, give it a little taste – if you want it a little sweeter, add a tiny bit of simple syrup and give it a quick stir.
Choose the right champagne for your tastes. I prefer to use an Extra Dry or Brut, but you can use whatever type you prefer. This picture shows you the different variations in sweetness if you need help deciding.
I like to garnish mine with a few fresh cranberries and a lime wedge – it adds a little flair, and who doesn’t want a more of that during the holidays?
We can’t very well stick a string of lights in our drinks to make them more festive, so fruit garnish will have to do.
If you’re not back around the blog after today, have a happy holiday and a happy New Year. Roarin’ 20s, here we come!
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Cranberry Champagne Margaritas
Ingredients
- Margarita salt or sugar, optional
- 1 cup cranberry juice*
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- ½ cup tequila
- ¼ cup orange liqueur, like Triple Sec or Cointreau
- Champagne, to top (about 1 ounce per drink)**
- Simple syrup, optional
- Fresh cranberries and lime wedges, to garnish
Instructions
- Fill a small plate with margarita salt or sugar (or a mix!), and wet the edges of your glasses with lime juice or water. Dip tops of glasses in the salt/sugar to rim the edges. Fill each glass with ice.
- In a cocktail shaker, combine cranberry juice, lime juice, tequila, and orange liqueur with ice and shake well.
- Strain into prepared glasses. Take a quick taste and adjust as needed for personal preference - if more sweetness is desired, add a little simple syrup and give it a stir.
- Top each glass with champagne, garnish with fresh cranberries and/or lime wedges and serve immediately. Cheers!
