Pop the bubbly and sip on this spiced cranberry mimosa for Christmas morning! The holidays are here, and we need a jolly mimosa to celebrate in style. With its vibrant hue and bundle of holiday flavors, this cranberry-spice Christmas mimosa is the perfect cocktail for a festive brunch.

Straight cranberry or pomegranate mimosas are always popular during the holidays. While both plain juices make for a tasty mimosa, we can make a cranberry or pomegranate mimosa any time of year. The holidays call for an extra special sipper that’s unlike any mimosa you’ve ever tried.
My secret to upping your Christmas mimosa game? Add warm spices and fresh orange zest and you instantly taste an explosion of holiday flavors.
Ingredients
And now to gather our ingredients for the perfect holiday mimosa, so we can start celebrating ASAP. Here’s everything we need.
- Cranberry juice
- Dark brown sugar
- Cinnamon sticks
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Ginger
- Fresh orange zest
For the cranberry juice, I used the cranberry cocktail variety rather than 100 percent pure cranberry juice. Think Ocean Spray or something like that.
Best Wine for Mimosas
Please don’t feel like you need to get overly fancy here with pricey Champagne. In fact, I advise against it. The good stuff is meant for sipping unadorned. A $10 bottle of Champagne works perfectly.
As far as wine varieties, go with something dry. I typically use a brut Champagne, though you can’t go wrong with a prosecco and cava either. Just avoid the sweet sparkling wines and you’re good to go.
How to Make
To get those festive flavors, we create an infused cranberry juice. This is as simple as adding cranberry juice, orange zest, dark brown sugar and spices to a small saucepan and bringing the mixture to a boil. Once it boils, we turn off the heat, steep the mixture, strain and chill in the refrigerator.
Because this cranberry mixture needs to chill, I recommend making it the night before serving. That way, you don’t have to worry about lukewarm mimosas, and your hosting duties will be a breeze. How’s that for a win-win?
After chilling, we simply pour our Champagne into flutes and top with our spiced cranberry juice, clink and sip away.
Related: For more Christmas cocktails, try my peppermint-chocolate martini, cranberry bourbon smash and cranberry old fashioned.
Can You Serve at Night?
Totally! Honestly, I served this cranberry-spice Christmas mimosa for some friends at our annual “Elf” watch party, and everyone gushed over them.
If you feel weird about serving mimosas for an evening holiday party, you can always rebrand them and call them cranberry-spice holiday sparklers or something like that.
These Christmas mimosas were such a hit that I plan on bringing them back for our New Year’s Eve party. For someone who loves to constantly try new recipes, you know it’s a seriously delicious cocktail when I plan on serving it back to back like that.
Can You Make Nonalcoholic Mimosas?
Absolutely! Simply substitute your favorite fizzy drink for the Champagne.
Ginger ale is a delicious option, and you can even pick up a cranberry version this time of year. A lemon-lime soda also works. Sprite recently released a spiced cranberry variety that would be perfect, though the traditional soda is also tasty. Of course, your favorite sparkling seltzer water or club soda both work well.
Best Glassware
Champagne flutes are the obvious choice. That slender shape maintains those fizzy bubbles we all love. Besides, sipping out of Champagne flutes always makes me feel extra fancy. ?
However, if you don’t have Champagne flutes, you can always use white wine glasses.
Perfect Pairing
You need my gingerbread waffles with this festive mimosa. The spices all play perfectly together while the acidity from the cranberry and bubbles keep your palate refreshed from those rich waffles and syrup.
To help celebrate the holidays, I hope you try this spiced cranberry mimosa. I have no doubt it will become your new favorite cocktail for Christmas morning.
Cheers!
Need More Holiday Cocktails?
- Buddy the Elf's favorite maple eggnog
- Sugar Plum Fairy Martini
- Cranberry-apple cider holiday sangria
- Thanksgiving mimosa
If you love this recipe, please leave a comment with a five-star rating — or simply hit the five-star button in the recipe card. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter, and you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.
📖 Recipe
Spiced Cranberry Mimosa for Christmas Morning
Equipment
- Small saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups cranberry cocktail juice
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg preferably freshly grated
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- Pinch of ground cloves
- 1 Champagne bottle
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add the cranberry juice, cinnamon sticks, dark brown sugar, orange zest, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar, and turn off heat. Allow to steep for 20 minutes. Strain and chill in the refrigerator.
- In each Champagne flute, pour in 2 ounces of spiced cranberry juice. Top with 4 ounces of Champagne. Alternatively, you can pour the spiced cranberry juice in a pitcher, top with a bottle of Champagne and gently stir. Enjoy!
Notes
- It's best to make the cranberry juice ahead of time to give it time to chill, but if you don't get a chance to make it ahead of time, you can always add it to a cocktail shaker with a handful of ice and shake until chilled. You can make the spiced cranberry juice several days in advance.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Tonje says
Such a festive drink! We had these Christmas morning, and it was lovely. We also made a non alcoholic version for the kids, and they loved it too.
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Love hearing that, Tonje!
Chris Collins says
I can see me sipping on way too many of these this festive season! looks delicious 🙂
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thanks, Chris! It goes down easily!
Beth says
Made a batch for Christmas and it was good! The flavor was great!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Yay! Hope it was a fun way to celebrate.
kim says
Love this recipe! So easy and yummy! I'll definitely be making again and again!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
Thanks, Kim! So glad to hear it.
Jessica Formicola says
We had these mimosas on Christmas morning and they were wonderful! We might make them for NYE, too!
Amanda McGrory-Dixon says
I hope you do! I'm right there with you. ?