Thanksgiving Cranberry Cocktail: An Easy 2-Ingredient Mimosa

A flute of cranberry and cold Champagne is the glass to hand out while the turkey rests and the kitchen fills up. This Thanksgiving cranberry cocktail is a two-ingredient mimosa poured in equal parts (so super simple!), finished with a wedge of lime on the rim.

It pours in a minute once everything is cold, and the cranberry ties it to the sauce on the table.

Grab your flutes and let’s make it.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Two ingredients, plus a lime wedge for the rim if you like.
A champagne cocktail for Thanksgiving with no shaker, no syrup and nothing to measure beyond equal parts.
One bottle of brut stretches to about eight glasses.
Swap in non-alcoholic sparkling wine and the kids’ table raises the same red glass at the toast.

A flute glass filled with a red drink, garnished with a lime wedge on the rim. In the background, Mimosas with cranberry juice are set alongside a champagne bottle, lime halves, and a white cloth on a marble surface.

When and Who This Is For

This is for the host who wants one drink that feels like you’ve tried without pulling you away from the stove for long, and for the early arrivals hovering by the oven. It fits a few other moments too:

Friendsgiving, where everyone brought a side and somebody still needs to bring the bubbles
Thanksgiving morning, with the parade on and the pies cooling on the counter
The long weekend after, when there’s cranberry juice left in the fridge and a slow brunch to fill

Neither ingredient contains dairy, egg, gluten or nuts. The one thing to check is the bottle, since some sparkling wines are clarified with egg white, isinglass or casein (a milk protein). If you’re pouring for vegans or someone with an egg or milk allergy, look for a bottle labeled vegan. For anyone skipping alcohol, the easy fall mocktail with cranberry juice and lime is built on the same juice.

A single flute glass filled with a bright red thanksgiving cranberry cocktail.

What You Need for This Thanksgiving Champagne Cocktail

Makes 2 drinks

6 oz (180 ml) brut Champagne, well chilled
6 oz (180 ml) cranberry juice, well chilled
Lime wedges, for the rim (optional)
Fresh cranberries, a rosemary sprig or a strip of orange peel, as an alternative garnish (optional)

Brut Champagne. Any dry sparkling wine labeled brut works here, whether it’s Champagne, Cava, Prosecco or a domestic bottle, so there’s no need to spend Champagne money on a drink that’s half juice. The word on the label matters more than the region. Brut is the dry end of the scale, and extra dry is confusingly sweeter, which makes a difference when the juice brings sugar of its own.

Cranberry juice. The bottle you grab decides how this drink tastes, so it’s worth checking the back label, not just the front.

Cranberry juice cocktail is sweetened and mild, and it gives you the softest, sweetest glass.
100% juice means no added sugar, not 100% cranberry. Many of these blend cranberry with apple or grape juice, so they land sweet-tart.
Pure, unsweetened cranberry juice is cranberry and nothing else. It’s intensely tart on its own, and at equal parts with brut I’d add a small splash of simple syrup.

If you’re pouring for a crowd, the first two are the safer picks.

Lime. The wedge on the rim is optional, but it’s useful too. If a glass comes out sweeter than you like, squeeze it straight in.

A green bottle of champagne with a gold foil top stands next to a large, clear plastic bottle of cranberry juice—perfect for making mimosas with cranberry juice—on a white marble surface with a white tile background.

How to Make It

Chill everything well ahead. The Champagne and juice need several hours in the fridge to get properly cold. It’s really important because warm sparkling wine foams up when you pour it and goes flat faster in the glass. The flutes can go in the freezer for about 10 minutes just before you pour.
Pour the Champagne first. Tilt a flute and pour 3 oz (90 ml) down the inside of the glass, which fills a standard flute about halfway. If it foams up, pause and let it settle, then finish the pour. The Champagne goes in before the juice on purpose: sparkling wine poured onto juice fizzes up fast and can run over the rim, while juice poured into the wine sinks and does the mixing for you.

A glass of champagne, perfect for mimosas with cranberry juice, sits beside an open green bottle on a marble surface, with a white towel in the background.

3. Add the cranberry juice. Pour 3 oz (90 ml) of cranberry juice in slowly. It sinks through the wine and blends on its own, so skip the stir, which only knocks the bubbles out. Leave a little room at the top for the garnish. In a smaller flute, keep the parts equal and pour a little less of each.

4. Garnish and serve. Cut a small slit in a lime wedge and set it on the rim, or use one of the alternatives: a few fresh cranberries (they float), a rosemary sprig or a strip of orange peel. Serve right away, while it’s still fizzing.

A glass of red liquid, reminiscent of mimosas with cranberry juice, stands on a marble surface. In the background are a plastic bottle of the same liquid and a green glass bottle, with a white cloth off to the side.

Tips and Variations

Drier or softer. For a drier glass where the wine leads, go two parts Champagne to one part juice. For a softer one with less alcohol, flip it to two parts juice.
No ice. Ice waters the drink down, so drop in a few frozen cranberries to keep it cold instead.
Make it a Poinsettia. Add about 1/2 oz (15 ml) of orange liqueur, such as triple sec or Cointreau, to each glass along with the juice. That’s the drink usually called a Poinsettia, and it turns this Thanksgiving cranberry mimosa into something a little stronger with an orange edge.
Rosemary. Drop a sprig into the cranberry juice, let it steep in the fridge for 30 minutes, then strain before you pour. A fresh sprig in the glass makes a good garnish for this version.
Alcohol-free. Pour non-alcoholic sparkling wine or sparkling white grape juice in place of the Champagne, exactly the same way. Sparkling grape juice is already sweet, so it’s a good moment for the lime squeeze.

A flute glass filled with a red cocktail, inspired by mimosas with cranberry juice, garnished with a lime wedge and set on a marble surface. In the background, a green champagne bottle and sliced lime are visible.

How to Serve It on Thanksgiving

On the day itself, the hard part of a Thanksgiving champagne cocktail is getting a full glass into every hand at once, so a little setup helps.

Pour a whole tray at once. Line up the flutes, pour the Champagne into every glass, then go back down the line with the juice. The order stays right, and a full round takes a few minutes.
Time it to the turkey. A roast turkey needs to rest before carving, and the easy holiday turkey with garlic, lemon and rosemary rests for a full 30 minutes. That’s the window for the toast.
Set it out with something salty. Cheese, crackers and roasted nuts give people something to hold in the other hand while dinner finishes.
Keep a bottle for dinner. Dry sparkling wine is one of the easiest wines to pour with a Thanksgiving plate, so a second bottle of the same brut can go straight to the table.
Shop by the bottle. For each 750 ml bottle, pick up about 3 cups (720 ml) of cranberry juice.

A hand holding a glass of dark red Mimosas with cranberry juice, garnished with a lime wedge on the rim, against a light, blurred background.

Questions You May Have About This Cranberry Mimosa

Why does my cranberry mimosa taste too tart, or too sweet?

Usually it’s the juice bottle. Pure unsweetened cranberry juice makes a very tart glass, while cranberry juice cocktail can tip it sweet, especially with a sweeter sparkling wine. If it’s too tart, stir in a small splash of simple syrup, or swap part of the juice for cranberry juice cocktail on the next round. If it’s too sweet, squeeze in the lime wedge from the rim, shift to two parts Champagne to one part juice, and check that the label says brut rather than extra dry.

Why does it foam over the top of the glass?

Usually the wine is too warm, the juice went in first, or the pour was too fast. Cold wine holds onto its bubbles, so give the bottle its full chill. Pour the Champagne before the juice, keep the glass tilted, and stop when the foam reaches the rim. It settles within a few seconds and you can finish the pour. A flute still warm from the dishwasher makes it worse, so let the glasses cool or chill them first.

How do I keep the bottles cold when the fridge is full of Thanksgiving food?

Chill them early. Sparkling wine keeps in the fridge for weeks, so the bottles can go in before the turkey, the sides and the pies claim the shelves. If there’s no room left, a cooler or bucket of ice and water does a better job than ice alone, because the water touches the whole bottle. Give it plenty of time and set it up well before the doorbell starts. On a cold but not freezing day, a covered cooler in the garage or on the porch works too. I’d skip the freezer, where a bottle is easy to forget.

More for the Thanksgiving Table

2-ingredient fall mimosa with apple cider, the same two-ingredient pour made with cider, so the tray has a gold glass next to the red.

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Four festive thanksgiving drinks in glasses, each beautifully garnished with fresh fruits like lime, pomegranate, orange, and cranberries, with the text My favourite THANKSGIVING DRINKS in bold red letters across the center.

Raise a Glass Before You Carve

Right before carving there’s a moment when everyone finally stops moving, and a cold red glass in every hand turns it into a toast. Say what you’re thankful for, clink, and carry your glass to the table. Pin this now so it’s waiting for you on Thanksgiving week. 🥂

A flute of red Thanksgiving cranberry cocktail garnished with a lime slice, next to a bottle of sparkling wine and halved limes, with text overlay reading Thanksgiving Mimosa, Easy 2-Ingredient Cocktail.

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