5-Minute Thanksgiving Vodka Drink That Tastes Like Apple Pie
This Thanksgiving vodka drink is apple juice, vanilla vodka and an ounce of Fireball, shaken cold and poured over ice in a glass rimmed with brown sugar and cinnamon.
One glass takes five minutes, and the pitcher version mixes the day before, so once guests arrive you’re pouring instead of shaking.
Sounds good? Grab your shaker and let’s make it!
Why you’ll love it
- Five minutes from empty glass to cinnamon stick, with nothing to cook or cool first.
- Three pours make the whole drink, and the rim is two pantry staples.
- The brown sugar and cinnamon rim dresses up a plain glass with no garnish skills needed.
- It scales straight to a pitcher for 8, so a full table doesn’t mean more time at the counter.
When and Who This Is For
Pour it while coats are still coming off, or during the half hour the holiday turkey rests before carving. It suits a crowded Thanksgiving table and a small Friendsgiving alike, and the same pitcher carries straight on into December parties.
There’s no dairy in any of the ingredients. For guests who aren’t drinking, set the cranberry and lime mocktail out beside it, so they have a glass of their own for the toast.
What Goes Into This Thanksgiving Cocktail: Vodka, Fireball and Apple Juice
Serves 1
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon (1 g) ground cinnamon
- 3½ oz (105 ml) apple juice, chilled, plus a little extra for the rim
- 1½ oz (45 ml) vanilla vodka
- 1 oz (30 ml) Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, or another cinnamon whisky
- Ice
- Apple slices and a cinnamon stick, for garnish
Pro tip
If you only have plain vodka, add 1 to 2 drops vanilla extract or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp vanilla syrup.
Any brand of vanilla vodka works, and the bottle in the photos is Smirnoff Vanilla. If you only have plain vodka, add 1 to 2 drops of vanilla extract to the shaker. Whipped cream vodka works in its place too.
Fireball brings the cinnamon. Make sure the label says Cinnamon Whisky, because there’s a lower-strength Fireball sold in stores that don’t carry liquor (more on that in the questions below). If vodka is the only bottle in your house, any cinnamon whisky works here.
Clear, filtered apple juice gives you the golden color in the photos. Apple cider works too and turns the drink cloudy. Skip hard cider and anything with vinegar on the label. Pour it straight from the fridge, since cold juice leaves the ice less melting to do.
How to Make It
1. Rim the glass
Stir the brown sugar and cinnamon together on a small plate, breaking up any lumps of sugar with a fork. Pour a little apple juice onto a saucer, dip just the top edge of the glass in it, then press the rim into the sugar and turn until it’s coated all the way around. I always rim the glass first, so the sugar gets a minute to set while I measure and shake. Keep the juice on the very edge, because whatever runs down the outside of the glass takes sugar with it.
2. Add fresh ice
Fill the rimmed glass with ice, lowering the cubes in rather than tipping them in from the bag, which knocks sugar off the edge.
3. Shake.
Fill a cocktail shaker three quarters full with ice. Add the apple juice, vanilla vodka and Fireball, and shake for 12 to 15 seconds, until the outside of the shaker is very cold.
4. Strain over the ice
Strain into the glass, pouring into the center so the drink doesn’t wash over the rim. Leave the shaker ice behind. It’s already breaking up, and fresh cubes keep the glass cold longer.
5. Garnish
Lay an apple slice across the rim with a cinnamon stick on top, and slip a second slice into the glass if you like.
How to Make a Pitcher for 8
- 3½ cups (840 ml) apple juice
- 1½ cups (360 ml) vanilla vodka
- 1 cup (240 ml) Fireball Cinnamon Whisky
Stir everything together in a pitcher and chill for at least 4 hours. It comes to 6 cups, so a 2-quart pitcher holds it with room to spare, and it can go in the fridge the day before. Leave the ice out until you pour, or it melts into the batch and waters it down.
Rim the glasses before guests arrive and stand them upright on a tray. To serve, fill each glass with ice and pour in about 6 oz (180 ml), which is one recipe’s worth.
Tips and Variations
- Too sweet? Add ¼ oz (7 ml) lemon juice or 2 to 3 dashes of aromatic bitters to the shaker.
- More cinnamon: add a pinch of ground cinnamon to the shaker, or an extra ¼ oz (7 ml) of the cinnamon whisky. Pour through a fine strainer if you use ground cinnamon, so the specks stay behind.
- Half rim: coat only half the glass, so each sip can come with sugar or without.
- Apple slices ahead of time: keep them in cold water with a squeeze of lemon so they don’t brown before they reach the glass.
Ways to Serve It
- As a self-serve station: set out the chilled pitcher, an ice bucket, and a tray of rimmed glasses with apple slices and cinnamon sticks beside them. Guests pour their own while you stay at the stove.
- For the kids’ table: rim a few extra glasses and fill them with cold apple juice and a cinnamon stick, so the youngest guests get the same glass as everyone else.
- With dessert: put it next to a tray of pumpkin pie cookies, which bring the custard and whipped cream without anyone cutting a pie.
- As part of a bigger lineup: my roundup of Thanksgiving drinks has sparkling pours, mocktails and warm mugs to set out beside it.
Questions You May Have About This Drink
Why won’t the sugar rim stay on the glass?
Usually it’s too much liquid. Juice that runs down the outside of the glass dissolves the sugar it touches, and the rim slides with it, so dip only the top edge and let any excess drip off before it meets the sugar. Give the rim a minute to set, lower the ice in instead of dropping it, and pour into the middle of the glass. Clumpy brown sugar is the other cause, since the lumps leave bare patches, so break it up with a fork first.
Does it matter which Fireball I buy?
Yes. Look for the words Cinnamon Whisky on the label. There’s also a product sold simply as Fireball Cinnamon, made from malt or wine instead of whisky so it can be sold where liquor isn’t, and the bottles look nearly the same. It’s 16.5% or 21% alcohol against 33% for the whisky, so it makes a noticeably weaker glass. For a Fireball Thanksgiving drink that comes out the way this recipe is written, pick up the whisky.
How strong is this drink?
Each glass holds 2½ oz (75 ml) of spirits, which works out to roughly 1.3 to 1.5 standard drinks, depending on the proof of your vanilla vodka. Sweet, cold drinks tend to go down faster than their strength suggests. Pitcher pours also start out a little stronger than shaken ones, because no ice has melted into them yet. For a gentler glass, add ½ to 1 oz (15 to 30 ml) more apple juice.
More Recipes for Thanksgiving Week
- Apple Cider Thanksgiving Cocktail. Apple whiskey and fresh cider over crushed ice with diced apple and rosemary, and it batches for eight too.
- Pumpkin Pie Cookies with Custard Filling and Whipped Cream. Spiced pumpkin custard on a wide brown sugar cookie, with no crust to roll out or crimp.
- Easy Holiday Turkey With Garlic, Lemon and Rosemary. Brined overnight and roasted with butter, lemon and rosemary, with the pan vegetables as a built-in side.
- 14 Best Thanksgiving Drinks. Sparkling pours, two mocktails, and warm mugs for after dinner, to round out the drinks table.
Pour the First Round
Picture the first guest through the door with a cold glass in hand, sugar on the rim and a cinnamon stick across the top, while the turkey is still in the oven. A pitcher waiting in the fridge is what makes that moment easy. Shake a test glass this weekend so the Fireball makes the shopping list, and save this to your Thanksgiving board on Pinterest. 🍎
5-Minute Thanksgiving Vodka Drink That Tastes Like Apple Pie
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar 25 g
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 g
- 3½ oz apple juice 105 ml, chilled, plus a little extra for the rim
- 1½ oz vanilla vodka 45 ml
- 1 oz Fireball Cinnamon Whisky 30 ml, or another cinnamon whisky
- Ice
- Apple slices and a cinnamon stick for garnish
Instructions
- Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon on a small plate, breaking up any lumps. Pour a little apple juice onto a saucer.
- Dip just the top edge of the glass in the juice, press it into the sugar mix and turn to coat. Fill the glass with fresh ice.
- Fill a cocktail shaker three quarters full with ice. Add the apple juice, vanilla vodka and Fireball, and shake for 12 to 15 seconds, until the shaker is very cold.
- Strain into the glass over the fresh ice.
- Lay an apple slice across the rim with a cinnamon stick on top.
