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This Christmas Sangria recipe is just perfect for the holiday season! It combines a simple syrup with red wine, juices, fruits, and more. Orange Cranberry Sangria is fresh, fun, and festive, great for parties.
Orange Cranberry Sangria
You all know how much I love sangria. Any flavor, served warm or chilled, it doesn’t matter, I’m always happy with a nice glass of sangria. It’s the perfect cocktail for all occasions, including Christmas!
I’ve made a Holiday Sangria recipe before, but one just isn’t enough. And after making an Orange Cranberry Pork Loin just before Thanksgiving, I realized it was such a festive flavor combination! So mix all those ideas together and I came up with this beautiful Orange Cranberry Sangria for the holiday season.
This is the best Christmas Sangria recipe and it tastes absolutely delicious. It’s a chilled sangria which makes it extra refreshing and perfect for parties. Serve it at your holiday parties, on Christmas Eve, or on Christmas Day.
Why You’ll Love this Christmas Sangria Recipe:
- Easy: Sangria is such an easy drink to make. Whip up a quick simple syrup, then mix everything together and serve.
- Festive: Cranberries are the perfect fruit to celebrate the holiday season, and they’re featured heavily in the flavor of this cocktail.
- Party Drink: A pitcher of this sangria serves 8, and you can easily make more for larger gatherings.
Orange Cranberry Sangria is a tasty cocktail that’s perfect for the holidays. Make this your go-to Christmas sangria recipe and enjoy!
Festive Christmas Sangria Recipe
With Christmas just around the corner, I knew it was time for another holiday cocktail! My favorite holiday punch is a mix of cranberry and orange juice, and that combination translates perfectly to this Christmas sangria recipe. It’s flavorful, it’s festive, and it’s so much fun!
Cranberry Sangria Ingredients
- Red Wine: Use Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or your favorite dry red.
- Cointreau
- Cranberry Juice
- Orange Cranberry Simple Syrup: I’ll show you how to make this in the recipe card, and you can save extra for other drinks and cocktails.
- Lemon Juice
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Orange Slices
- Cranberries: Fresh or frozen cranberries both work.
This cranberry sangria is so simple to make. We start by making an orange cranberry simple syrup, then just mix that in with the other ingredients and let the sangria chill. Pour it over ice and it’s ready to serve!
How to Make Christmas Sangria
You can jump to the recipe card for full ingredients & instructions!
To make the simple syrup:
- Combine water, sugar, cranberries, orange zest, and cinnamon sticks in a saucepan.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer until the cranberries soften (about 5-7 minutes).
- Pour the syrup mixture through a fine mesh strainer to separate the liquid from the solid ingredients.
- Set the syrup aside to cool.
To make the sangria:
- Mix the simple syrup, red wine, cranberry juice, Cointreau, lemon juice, cinnamon sticks, orange slices, and cranberries in a pitcher. Stir well.
- Refrigerate the Christmas sangria until ready to serve.
Super easy to make and so delicious! This sangria will keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days, so you can easily store your leftovers or make it a bit ahead of time.
At its most basic, sangria is red wine mixed with chopped (often spiced) fruits. But recipes will typically contain other liquors and sprits as well, in addition to spices, fruits, or juices.
I recommend using a dry red wine since the other ingredients will really sweeten things up. Cabernet, Pinot noir, or Merlot would all work fine.
Yes! Mix and refrigerate all ingredients, and it will keep in the fridge up to 3 days.
Yes, you can use fresh or frozen cranberries to make this recipe.
There is never a bad time for this fruity cocktail, so of course I have a sangria recipe for every season. Any holiday, any party, any season, any reason, I’ve got the perfect recipe for you. After you try out this Orange Cranberry Sangria, start testing out some of my other favorites!
- Sweet Tea Sangria
- Red Sangria
- Grapefruit Vodka Sangria
- Pink Champagne Sangria
- Apple Pie Sangria
- Honey Bourbon Fall Sangria
Try this delicious Christmas Sangria this holiday season and let me know what you think of it! I’m sure the orange cranberry flavor will impress anyone who tries it.
If you make this recipe be sure to upload a photo in the comment section below or leave a rating. Enjoy! You can also jump to recipe.
Christmas Sangria (Orange Cranberry Sangria)
Ingredients
For the Cranberry Orange Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- Zest from 1 medium orange
- 2 cinnamon sticks halved
For the Cranberry Orange Sangria:
- Reserved Cranberry Orange Simple Syrup about 1 cup
- 1 750ml bottle red wine (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir or a Red Blend)
- ¾ cup Cointreau
- 32 ounces 100% cranberry juice
- Juice from ½ lemon
- 3 cinnamon sticks plus extra for serving
- 2 oranges sliced plus extra for serving
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries plus extra for serving
Instructions
For the Cranberry Orange Simple Syrup:
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine water, sugar, cranberries, orange zest and cinnamon sticks. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat to low and simmer until the cranberries have burst and have softened, about 5-7 minutes. Pour the syrup over a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium mixing bowl and discard. Set the syrup aside until cooled.1 cup water, ½ cup sugar, 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, Zest from 1 medium orange, 2 cinnamon sticks
For the Cranberry Orange Sangria:
- In a gallon container, pour the cooled simple syrup, red wine, Cointreau, cranberry juice, juice from ½ lemon, cinnamon sticks, orange slices and cranberries. Stir well.Reserved Cranberry Orange Simple Syrup, 1 750ml bottle red wine (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir or a Red Blend), ¾ cup Cointreau, 32 ounces 100% cranberry juice, Juice from ½ lemon, 3 cinnamon sticks plus extra for serving, 2 oranges, 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries plus extra for serving
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. To serve, pour sangria in an ice-filled glass. Add an orange slice, cranberries and a cinnamon stick, if desired.
- Cranberry Orange Sangria will keep up to 3 days refrigerated.
- Enjoy!
Becky’s Tips
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this? Leave a comment!
Delicious! I used (less expensive but still excellent tasting/quality) Gran Gala in place of the Cointreau. Will definitely make again!
S
I have made this 3 years in a row for our annual Christmas party – I make a triple batch and it’s always gone by the end of the night! It’s easy and tastes amazing!!! Also, I may or may not have made myself slightly ill by gorging on the warm cranberry mixture once strained – it’s amazing cranberry sauce!
When you say cinnamon sticks halved, how do you mean?
Just snapped in half so they’re not too long!
Can I leave out the Cointreau??
Yes, absolutely!
We made this sangria for our holiday party! It was a HUGE hit!
HOORAY!!
I love orange and cranberry together and this Sangria is a perfect blend of both!
Yes, some of the best flavors.
Sangria is so perfect for when friends come over. I love this holiday twist!
YES! Agreed!!
Such a pretty drink! Making virgin for my family this year with orange juice and cranberry juice.
LOVE THAT IDEA!!
Ooh, cranberry sangria is my FAVORITE! Love the orange in this version.
I can’t get enough!