Spiced Cranberry Sangria

Spiced cranberry sangria is the perfect drink for celebrating this holiday season! This sangria is made with red wine, cranberry, lime and orange juice, plus fresh cranberries, oranges, limes and cinnamon. Make a batch or a few and gather around with your favorite people to celebrate the season!

When it rolls around to the holiday season, I am always looking for new festive recipes to try out.

This year, I've been on a cranberry kick.

I am obsessed with those ruby-red berries, in everything from cranberry orange scones to cranberry prosciutto crostini with goat cheese.

I really wanted to figure out a fun way to use fresh cranberries in a drink recipe.

Spiced Cranberry Sangria recipe

This spiced cranberry sangria turned out exactly how I envisioned.

It's flavorful, spicy (in the best way possible), and fruity all wrapped into one.

You can even call it Thanksgiving sangria or Christmas sangria, because it incorporates cranberry juice, red wine, fall fruits and spices for a truly warm and refreshing holiday drink.

Tips for making sangria

Every time I serve sangria at any sort of gathering it always goes quick. This Peach Raspberry Sangria is always, always, always a hit in the summer.

One way to make sure you have enough for everyone is to make two batches. Or even three!

Store the extras in the fridge. It will keep for a few days.

You can either make multiple batches of this or simply have a few extra bottles of the same wine and some extra fruit for garnishing.

Store the extra garnishes in a food storage container in the fridge.

Once your first pitcher runs out, fill it up with a new bottle and extra garnish if needed.

Try some more of my tasty cocktail recipes:

Can you use fresh cranberries in sangria?

Fresh cranberries are a fun addition to a holiday sangria! It's a perfect way to balance a sweet sangria.

This recipe also adds cranberry juice as well. Be sure to buy pure cranberry juice and not "cranberry juice cocktail," which has added sugars.

What kind of alcohol do you put in sangria?

A dry red wine is a perfect base for sangria. Use one that is fruity, but dry — and not too acidic.

Pinot Noir, Malbec and Merlot are all good choices for sangria.

There is often a hard liquor added to sangria as well.

Triple sec or a top-shelf orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Cointreau is the standard, and delicious for its added citrus flavor.

You can also use rum, gin or vodka. This recipe uses spiced rum.

The spiced rum in this sangria is just enough to make it flavorful but without being too strong. If you prefer a stronger cocktail, you can definitely add more.

We've been enjoying Kraken Black Spiced Rum that I also used for these Mini Apple Spiced Rum Cakes.

How do you make sangria sweeter?

If you prefer sweeter sangria, you can try making a simple syrup to add to the mixture.

You can either do a basic simple syrup or try your hand at making a cranberry simple syrup or orange simple syrup.

You can also sprinkle in a spoonful of sugar in the pitcher and stir until dissolved.

What type of wine should you use for sangria?

This cranberry sangria uses red wine.

Choose whichever red wine you usually like because the fruit will enhance the flavor of the wine, but it won't change it completely.

You want to choose one that is fruity but also dry, and not too acidic either.

You can use a merlot, cabernet sauvignon, or pinot noir. Malbec is another good choice.

How do you make sangria with cranberries?

1. Place halved cranberries, orange wedges, lime wedges, cinnamon sticks at the bottom of a pitcher.
2. Pour in orange juice, lime juice, spiced rum and a bottle of red wine.
3. Give the sangria a stir and refrigerate for at least an hour.
4. Serve in your favorite wine glasses and top with extra lime wedges and whole cranberries.

Serve the Spiced Cranberry Sangria alongside some of our favorite appetizers:

More Holiday Cocktails

• Cherry Champagne Floats
• Irish Coffee
• Ginger Strawberry Bellini Recipe
• Pomegranate Moscow Mules
• Wassail Recipe