Cranberry Lime Mocktail
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Let’s make a Cranberry Lime Mocktail! Crisp, refreshing, and beautiful, this non-alcoholic cranberry mocktail recipe is an easy holiday drink everyone can enjoy.
It’s really starting to feel like the holiday season!
In-between testing holiday cookie recipes, and nailing down our holiday menus, I’ve been having so much fun mixing up some fun holiday mocktails lately, and this cranberry lime mocktail is a major winner.
I love the fresh taste, vibrant colors (that red and green!!!), and how beautiful they look in a cute glass. We’re already planning to make some for our holiday celebrations, since they can easily scale up to serve a crowd.
I love a good non-alcoholic drink for the holidays that EVERYONE can enjoy. Kids, grown-ups, pregnant ladies, it’s safe for everyone! This one’s nice and simple–no special skills or cocktail shaker required!
Here’s what you need to make this easy cranberry mocktail recipe…
Start With Simple Ingredients
- Ice. Because an ice-cold mocktail is the best mocktail.
- Mint Simple Syrup. This quick 3-ingredient simple syrup adds a fresh, bright flavor that layers with the other ingredients to feel so light and refreshing.
- Fresh Lime Juice. Citrus and cranberries are delicious together, so we’re using a little fresh lime juice in this drink.
- Cranberry Juice. You can use straight unsweetened cranberry juice (so long as you add more mint simple syrup to temper the tartness), but I usually recommend a cranberry juice blend with 100% juice. It’s less sweet than cranberry juice cocktail that’s sweetened with sugar. Cranberry-pomegranate juice is my favorite! If you have to watch your carbohydrates or sugar intake, feel free to use a diet cranberry juice blend.
- Sparkling Water. Then, you’ll cut the sweetness by topping off the drink with a little club soda or sparkling water. I usually use sparkling water like Perrier.
- Pretty Garnishes. More on this in a minute, but you can easily dress this cranberry mocktail up for any occasion or holiday by switching up the garnishes!
How To Make Cranberry Lime Mocktails, Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe, with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.
Start By Making The Mint Simple Syrup
- Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat and add fresh mint leaves.
- Steep the mint for at least 30 minutes up to 2 hours, then cool to room temperature.
- Strain the syrup through a fine mesh sieve and store in a glass jar.
- Mint syrup will keep several weeks in the fridge and can be made in advance.
Then, Make Your Mocktail
- Fill a glass with ice.
- Build your drink. Pour in mint simple syrup, fresh lime juice, cranberry juice, and 1/4-1/2 cup sparkling water to fill the glass the rest of the way.
- Gently stir to combine, then top with your favorite garnishes.
Pretty Garnishes For A Holiday Mocktail
Since cranberries are in season in fall and winter, this cranberry mocktail recipe is a perfect holiday drink. It’s easy to dress it up for special dinners, gatherings, and parties for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and more.
- Fresh Mint. Since it’s a cranberry lime mocktail, fresh mint makes a perfect garnish! A few leaves muddled in the drink, a mint leaf or two on top, or a sprig of mint added to each glass make for a gorgeous green pop of color next to the red drink. So festive!
- Fresh Lime. Lime slices and lime wedges make a great garnish to play up the flavors in this drink. Add them to the drink itself, or use a lime slice on the edge of your cup. (Cut a small slit to the center of the lime slice, then slide it onto the side of your glass.)
- Sugared Cranberries. If you have leftover mint simple syrup, you can use it to make a batch of sugared cranberries. They have such a beautiful, sparkly, frosted effect that makes these cranberry lime mocktails seem extra cold and festive. Add a few to a cocktail pick to decorate your drink!
- Fresh or Frozen Cranberries. Or, keep things simple with some fresh or frozen cranberries. Frozen cranberries can even help keep your drink cold!
- Pretty Ice Cubes. Use a fun ice tray mold to get shaped ice, or use your regular ice cube tray and add cranberries, mint, lime, orange, or rosemary to the ice cubes as they freeze!
- Rosemary. Especially when I make this as a Christmas mocktail, adding a sprig of fresh rosemary looks gorgeous. I find even one little rosemary sprig adds another subtle layer of flavor that can be fun!
FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The BEst Cranberry Lime Mocktail
Can I Make This Naturally Sweetened? It’s possible to make simple syrup using honey, agave, or pure maple syrup, but I find that honey and maple syrup definitely impact the flavor of this drink and I don’t recommend them. I help keep the sugar down by using 100% juice rather than cranberry juice cocktail, which is usually a blend of juices sweetened with sugar.
Can I Add Alcohol? I don’t drink, so admittedly I’m not the best person to offer booze advice, but I would think so! Rum or vodka are both common pairings for these flavors (cranberry, lime, mint).
Scale It Up! If you’re serving a crowd, you can easily scale this recipe for a pitcher or punch bowl. You use 1 part simple syrup, 2 parts lime juice, 4 parts cranberry juice, and 2-4 parts sparkling water/soda water.
Mix It Up! (Variations To Try)
Want to try another spin on this cranberry lime mocktail recipe? Try one of these variations:
- Make It With Orange. Use orange juice and orange slices instead of lime. Orange and cranberry are delightful together!
- Swap The Simple Syrup. Try it with ginger-mint simple syrup, ginger simple syrup, orange simple syrup, or rosemary simple syrup instead!
- Add A Splash Of Ginger! Or, add a bit of extra warmth and depth with a splash of spicy ginger beer (non-alcoholic) or milder ginger ale. Ginger + lime + mint + cranberry are delightful together! It’s sort of like a cranberry twist on a virgin moscow mule!
- Use Half Sparkling Cider. You can also give this a cranberry-apple vibe by using half cranberry juice and half sparkling apple juice or cider. Chop or slice some apples to garnish! (I recommend lemon juice instead of lime juice for this variation!)
🌟 Did You Make This Recipe?
Tell me all about it! Leave a star rating below when you try our Cranberry Lime Mocktail recipe. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Cranberry Lime Mocktail
Ingredients
For The Mint Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
For ONE Mocktail:
- Ice
- 1 oz. mint simple syrup
- 2 oz. fresh lime juice
- 4 oz. cranberry juice**
- 2-4 oz. sparkling water/soda water
- Optional garnishes: lime slices fresh mint leaves, fresh cranberries or sugared cranberries, rosemary sprigs
For a Pitcher (6 Servings):
- Ice (at least 2-3 cups!)
- 6 oz. mint simple syrup (3/4 cup)
- 12 oz. fresh lime juice 1 1/2 cups)
- 24 oz. cranberry juice** (3 cups)
- 12-24 oz. sparkling water/soda water (1 1/2-3 cups)
Instructions
Start By Making The Mint Simple Syrup
- Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat and add fresh mint leaves.
- Steep the mint for at least 30 minutes up to 2 hours, then cool to room temperature.
- Strain the syrup through a fine mesh sieve and store in a glass jar.
- Mint syrup will keep several weeks in the fridge and can be made in advance.
Then, Make Your Mocktail
- Fill a glass with ice.
- Build your drink. Pour in mint simple syrup, fresh lime juice, cranberry juice, and 1/4-1/2 cup sparkling water to fill the glass the rest of the way.
- Gently stir to combine, then top with your favorite garnishes.
For a Pitcher Of Drinks
- Add at least 2-3 cups ice to a large pitcher. Pour in simple syrup, lime juice, cranberry juice. Stir to combine, then top with sparkling water and garnishes right before serving.
Notes
- Simple syrup will keep in the refrigerator several weeks. If you don’t think you’ll use it all, feel free to cut the simple syrup ingredients in half, so you use 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup mint leaves.
- Juice. I use a 100% cranberry juice blend, not a sweetened cranberry juice cocktail. It’s usually a blend of juices, like cranberry-pomegranate, or cranberry, apple, and pear juice, etc. I just choose one without added sugar.
- Scale It Up! If you’re serving a crowd, you can easily scale this recipe for a pitcher or punch bowl. You use 1 part simple syrup, 2 parts lime juice, 4 parts cranberry juice, and 2-4 parts sparkling water/soda water.
Video
Find the recipe:
sweetsandthankyou.com/cranberry-lime-mocktail/
Hello,
I’m planning a medieval-themed November wedding, and along with hot mulled red wine and mulled alcoholic Cider as our dinner wine, I’m planning on having a non-alcoholic drink table for people to either enjoy as is or add their shot of choice from the bar. I’m trying to find 3 elevated tea mocktails that I can pre-batch in 3-gallon dispensers. Could this recipe be used with green tea in place of sparkling water, like you mojito recipe? also do you have any other recommendations from your site? Thanks in advance, I’m enjoying reading your posts!
Hi, Misty! Congratulations on your wedding!
I am an herbal tea girl, so I haven’t made any of my mocktails with green, white, or black teas. I do love pairing herbal tea with fruit & mint flavors, so you could absolutely experiment with that!
Our Orange Citrus Mocktail could be lovely with a citrus herbal tea, this Cranberry Lime mocktail could work with a hibiscus or fruity tea, or you could go for a big batch of our Moscow Mule or Cranberry Moscow Mule mocktails. Our Grapefruit Mocktail scales nicely and could be fresh and lovely with the notes of rosemary for the fall!
Otherwise, if you’re set on tea, you might love the tea drinks at Oh How Civilized. She’s a tea pro! (Literally–she’s a certified tea Sommelier!)
Hi there! hoping to try this recipe for a crowd of 12 soon. just wanted to confirm if I got this right – am I using 12 cups of water and 12 cups of sugar in this case?
Hi Drashti! This recipe is great for a crowd, but there are a couple things to keep in mind:
1. This recipe makes more than enough simple syrup for one drink, so you probably only need to make 1 1/2x the mint simple syrup recipe. So, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1 1/2 cups mint leaves for the syrup. (If you’re nervous, you can use 2 cups water, 2 cups sugar, and 2 cups mint leaves, so you have plenty)
2. Then, for the mocktail itself, for 12 people, you’d use: 12 ounces mint simple syrup, 24 ounces fresh lime juice, 48 ounces cranberry juice and 24-48 ounces sparkling water, depending on how much strong you’d like the drink to taste (more water = less strong tasting)
Hope that helps!
hi Emily,
thank you for your response. did you mean 1/5 cups each of water, mint and sugar should work well for 12 glasses of the drink?
Hi Drashti! No, I mean 1 1/2 cups each (1.5 cups) of water, mint and sugar. If you’re nervous you won’t have enough, you can use 2 cups each so you have some wiggle room.
Then, for the mocktail itself, for 12 people, you’d use: 12 ounces mint simple syrup, 24 ounces fresh lime juice, 48 ounces cranberry juice and 24-48 ounces sparkling water, depending on how much strong you’d like the drink to taste (more water = less strong tasting)
This feels like an elegant holiday, but is actually easy to make