Cranberry martini is a simple and delicious cranberry cocktail with vodka and a hint of orange. It’s fruity, slightly sweet, and refreshing. You’ll love sipping on it the whole holiday season long!
I decorated the glasses with sugared cranberries.
Ingredients and tools
Cranberry martini is an elegant cocktail that tastes fruity and refreshing. The classic martini is made with gin and vermouth. I started testing this recipe with substituting vodka for gin (which is basically just spiced vodka) and adding cranberry juice – but I was missing something. Every time I’m making something cranberry-flavored I end up adding some orange flavor to it. Both of these flavors are just meant for each other. So I ended up with this cocktail which only resemblance to the classic martini is the glass in which it’s being served in. Nevertheless, just trust me that this cocktail is delicious and would be perfect for celebrating holidays!
Here’s what you need to make this cranberry martini:
- vodka – you can buy cheap vodka for this drink, there are many other ingredients here that will mask all the flavor nuances of pricey vodka – you can use leftover vodka to make cosmopolitan cocktail or sea breeze cocktail
- cranberry juice cocktail (sweetened cranberry juice) – you can use leftover juice to make malibu bay breeze, sea breeze cocktail, cranberry mimosa, or cosmopolitan cocktail. Check out all my cocktail recipes with cranberry juice to see how you can use up the leftovers.
- orange juice (store-bough or freshly squeezed)
- orange liqueur – the best is Cointreau, you can use leftover Cointreau to make this sidecar cocktail or apple cider sangria
- simple syrup – this is just sugar and water syrup
- lemon juice – freshly squeezed please
You can also make this cocktail with the orange syrup leftover from the sugared cranberries recipe (shown on the photos). Simply use 1 oz (30 ml) of orange syrup instead of orange juice in this recipe and omit the simple syrup.
Tools needed to prepare this cocktail:
- Cocktail shaker – if you don’t have one, a mason jar and a fine mesh strainer will also do!
- Jigger – to measure out the ingredients. If you don’t have a jigger you can measure out the ingredients with a shot glass which usually measures 1 1/2 fluid ounces (45ml). You may also want to check your egg cups! I measured mine and it holds exactly 30ml which is 1 fluid ounce!
- A glass for martini cocktail: traditionally a martini glass is used for this cocktail. It’s a conical glass shown on the photos. I also like to use a coupe glass (another type of cocktail glass) for this cocktail. I would actually recommend coupe glass over martini glass because it can hold more liquid and it’s more stable. From the ingredients listed in the recipe card you will get a little more liquid that can fit in a martini glass (well it will fit, but almost to the brim) but it fits perfectly in a coupe glass.
- Why is martini shaken and not stirred? Shaking the cocktail with ice cools the ingredients, ice cubes melt slightly diluting the cocktail which makes it easier to drink. Shaken ingredients are also better combined than stirred.
Step by step instructions
STEP 1: Make simple syrup: add equal amounts of granulated sugar and water into a small saucepan (for example 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water). Heat the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Cool the syrup.
STEP 2: Measure out all the ingredients.
STEP 3: Add ice cubes to the shaker.
STEP 4: Add all the ingredients to the shaker.
STEP 5: Close the shaker and shake intensely for 10-20 seconds.
STEP 6: Strain into a martini or cocktail glass.
Enjoy!
How to make it ahead
You can stir all the ingredients (tripled or quadrupled) and serve with ice cubes in a pitcher.
You can also shake one cocktail in a shaker, strain it to a glass, and store it in the fridge. It’s important that the cocktail is chilled.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Cranberry Martini
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz vodka 45ml
- 1 oz Cointreau 30ml, orange liqueur
- 2 oz cranberry juice 60ml
- 1 oz orange juice 30ml
- 1/2 oz lemon juice 15ml
- 1/2 oz simple syrup 15ml
- 7-8 ice cubes
Instructions
- Make simple syrup: add equal amounts of granulated sugar and water into a small saucepan (for example 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water). Heat the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Cool the syrup.
- Measure out all the ingredients and add to a shaker.
- Add ice cubes. Close the shaker and shake intensely for 10-20 seconds.
- Strain into a martini or cocktail glass.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- The recipe calls for cranberry juice that is a blend of cranberry juice and other fruit juices. You can also use a cranberry juice cocktail (100% cranberry juice sweetened with sugar). Do not use unsweetened 100% cranberry juice which would be too tart for this recipe. If this is what you have, you can add more simple syrup to the drink.
- You can store leftover simple syrup in the fridge for up to a month.
- You can also make this cocktail with the orange syrup leftover from the sugared cranberries recipe (shown on the photos). Simply use 1 oz (30 ml) of orange syrup instead of orange juice in this recipe and omit the simple syrup.
- This recipe yields a little bit more liquid that can fit in a martini glass (I mean it will fit, but almost to the brim). Fill your glass 2/3 full then reserve the remaining liquid for another drink (store it in the fridge so that it’s chilled). You can also serve it in a coupe glass – the whole recipe will fit in this type of glass.
- Calories = whole recipe. This is only an estimate!
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