Holiday Sangria With Cranberry and Apple Cider

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Let’s get merry with some festive cranberry-apple cider holiday sangria because the jolliest time of the year is here! You’ll love how very sip is full of warm spices with a sparkling finish to make the perfect sipper for toasting this holiday season. This sangria will be a party favorite.

A close-up of a glass of holiday sangria on a white feathery surface with twinkling lights in the background.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
Recipe FAQs
Expert Tips
Perfect Pairing
Love Your Holiday Drinks?
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Instantly puts everyone in a festive mood with those holiday flavors.
Calls for make-ahead preparation to make holiday entertaining as simple as can be.
Adds a touch of elegance to your holiday celebration with that bubbly finish.
Makes the perfect signature cocktail for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah or New Year’s Eve.
Perfect for serving a crowd.

Related: For more fun holiday cocktails, you’ll also love this bourbon eggnog, cranberry mimosa, cranberry French 75 and kinderpunsch.

Ingredients

Pinot noir: Pinot noir a light-bodied, fruit-forward wine with low tannins, so it’s perfect for red sangria recipes.

Apple cider: I recommend a spiced apple cider, which is mulled with those wonderful spices, like cinnamon, cloves and allspice.

Cranberry juice: We want to use cranberry juice cocktail rather than 100% cranberry juice. Think Ocean Spray. Straight cranberry juice is super tart and would need more sweetener to smooth out the flavor.

Orange liqueur: Triple sec works for a more economical option, or you can go with Grand Marnier or Cointreau for a top-shelf sangria.

Soaking fruit: We use a simple combination of apples and orange slices to infuse the sangria with more fruity flavor.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: We grab a pitcher and pour in a bottle of pinot noir (photo 1).

Pouring a bottle of pinot noir into a large glass pitcher on a white marble surface.

Step 2: Now we stir in the cranberry juice, apple cider, brandy and triple sec (photo 2).

Pouring a glass bowl filled with cranberry juice into a large glass pitcher after adding the pinot noir.

Step 3: We next drop in some apple slices, orange slices and a couple cinnamon sticks and let the mixture sit in the refrigerator overnight (photo 3).

A hand stirring a brown wooden spoon to mix together the sangria ingredients before refrigerating.

Step 4: Right before serving, we pour in some ginger ale, which gives this holiday sangria the perfect level of sweetness and a little lift from the carbonation (photo 4). If you’re feeling extra fancy, I recommend serving this holiday sangria with a cinnamon-sugar rim.

A can of ginger ale being poured into the sangria after refrigerating and before serving.

Just like that, we’re ready to sip our holiday sangria and enjoy this cup of cheer. And for more big-batch party drinks, you can also try Rudolph's Tipsy Punch or some classic mulled wine. After all, the holidays call for plenty of libations, right?

Recipe FAQs

Can you use a different red wine than pinot noir?

Yes, you can use another fruit-forward red wine. Some nice options are a grenache, zinfandel or tempranillo.

Can you make a nonalcoholic sangria?

Absolutely, you can swap regular wine for a zero-proof wine. Orange juice works for the orange liqueur, and you can skip the brandy.

How long should you refrigerate sangria?

I recommend refrigerating the sangria for at least eight hours, but overnight is best.

Looking down on a pitcher of the holiday sangria with cinnamon sticks, orange slices and fresh cranberries to the side.

Expert Tips

Don’t spend too much on your wine: Save your fancy wine to drink on its own. Get a wine that you’d be willing to drink on its own but doesn’t break the budget.

Plan ahead: It takes time for those fruits to infuse, so this isn’t a recipe you can save to the last minute.

Add the ginger ale immediately before serving and no earlier: Otherwise, those delightful bubbles will go flat.

Feel free to experiment: Prefer pomegranate cherry to cranberry juice? You can easily swap them. Ginger liqueur also works great as a substitute for the orange liqueur if you want more spice.

Perfect Pairing

To kick off the holiday season, you’ll love serving this sangria on Thanksgiving as an aperitif. With that in mind, this holiday sangria is great with these Brie and cranberry pretzel bites.

Brie is one of those cheeses that can work with sweet or savory flavors, so it’s perfect with this fruity, slightly spiced sangria. You’ll also find the carbonation from the ginger ale and the acidity from the pinot noir help cut through the Brie’s creamy body.

With the holiday season here in full force, I hope you get a little festive and try this cranberry-apple cider holiday sangria. This delicious sipper will have you feeling those fun holiday vibes in no time.

Cheers!

A glass of holiday sangria with a cinnamon stick garnish on a white feathery piece of fabric with a pitcher and twinkling lights in the background.

Love Your Holiday Drinks?

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Comments

5 from 127 votes (116 ratings without comment)