Celebrate the holidays with our sparkling cranberry apple mocktail! It’s a bit lower in sugar and is also non-alcoholic so everyone can enjoy this drink for fall or winter celebrations (or any time of year).
If you’re planning ahead for holiday celebrations this year, we have a new/remade mocktail recipe for your celebrations!
I recently remade one of our older recipes for a cranberry apple mocktail and I made it even better. Our mocktail is a bit lower in sugar, plus it is garnished with super easy sugared cranberries.
This fun mocktail is beautiful enough for holiday parties but simple enough that you can have this whenever you want a sparkling, lower-sugar alternative to soda.
How to make our sparkling cranberry apple mocktail
Our cran-apple mocktail is easy to make and it’s a fun drink everyone can enjoy during the holidays or any time of the year.
I used my Spärkel soda machine on this drink to sparkle it (more on that below), but if you don’t have a soda maker at home that will sparkle juices, you can use sparkling apple juice in this recipe.
Here are the steps to make this mocktail (it’s just an overview, the full recipe is at the end of the post):
- In a measuring pitcher, mix together the apple juice, the Ocean Spray zero-sugar cranberry drink (I like this one since it uses stevia vs artificial sweeteners), and the cranberry juice.
- Cut a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger and peel it, then you can either dice it and add it to the juice or you can press some of the juice out of the fresh ginger by putting pieces of ginger in a garlic press and pressing out the ginger juices into your apple juice mixture.
- Add the cran-apple juice to a Spärkel bottle and carbonate at level 4 or 5. You can add ice cubes and apple pieces to your bottle as well if you want.
- Pour into 3 to 4 glasses and garnish with sugared cranberries.
- You can also add a little bit of Ritual Zero Proof Gin or Ritual Apertif alternative if you want more “cocktail flavor” without the alcohol.
The fresh ginger in this mocktail is optional, it’s not too strong and adds a subtle hint of ginger flavor that complements the cranberry without being overpowering.
How to make easy sugared cranberries
For the sugared cranberries, I took a small handful of washed and dried cranberries and added them to a small container with a little bit of maple syrup (only enough maple syrup to cover the cranberries, maybe 1 teaspoon).
Shake the container to coat the cranberries with maple syrup, then add the syrup-coated cranberries to a different container with some white sugar (or unbleached sugar) and shake them with the sugar to coat.
Add the cranberries to a cocktail pick and garnish your drink.
The Spärkel soda maker
This post is not sponsored by Spärkel, but I wanted to share it since I got this soda maker/machine for my birthday this year and I’m loving it!
I have wanted a soda maker for a while, but wanted one that would sparkle anything (juice, cocktails, etc.), not just water. I had done some research on different machines, and found the Spärkel and added it to my birthday wish list.
Not only will this machine sparkle juices, cocktails, and more, but you can even have solids in the cup (like ice and fruit), and it doesn’t use CO2 canisters. So you don’t need to do canister exchanges.
This machine uses carbonator powder packets that create consistent carbonation every time, and the carbonators don’t end up in your drink, just the CO2.
An older version of the machine had problems with leaking, so they remade it and fixed that issue. I have a newer machine and so far haven’t had any issues with leaking or uneven pressure.
This post was originally published in January of 2020. We recently re-wrote this blog post and updated the recipe, here is one of our older photos!
Check out our other healthy mocktail recipes:
- Sparkling Grapefruit Mocktail (Faux Rosé)
- 35+ Easy Mocktail Recipes
- Ginger Apple Sparkling Cider
- Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade (Low Sugar)
- Healthy Cranberry Apple Mocktail (Lower Sugar)
Sparkling Cranberry Apple Mocktail (Lower Sugar)
Ingredients
Sparkling cranberry apple mocktail
- 1 ½ cups 100% apple juice* (chilled)
- 1 ½ cups Ocean Spray zero sugar cranberry juice (chilled)
- ½ cup 100% cranberry juice (chilled)
- 1 inch peeled ginger pressed*
- Ice
- Optional: Ritual Gin alternative or Ritual Apartif alternative
Sugared cranberries
- ¼ cup fresh cranberries, washed and dried
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
Equipment
- Soda maker that will sparkle juice, (I have a Spärkel)
Instructions
Cranberry mocktail
- In a measuring pitcher, mix together the apple juice, zero-sugar cranberry drink, and the cranberry juice.
- Cut a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger and peel it, then you can either dice it and add it to the juice or you can press some of the juice out of the fresh ginger by putting pieces of ginger in a garlic press and pressing out the ginger juices into your apple juice mixture.
- Add the cran-apple juice to a Spärkel bottle and carbonate at level 4 or 5. You can add ice cubes and apple pieces to your bottle as well if you want.
- Pour into 3 to 4 glasses and garnish with sugared cranberries.
- You can also add a little bit of Ritual Zero Proof Gin or Ritual Apertif alternative if you want more “cocktail flavor” without the alcohol.
Sugared cranberries
- For the sugared cranberries, I took a small handful of washed and dried cranberries and added them to a small container with a little bit of maple syrup (only enough maple syrup to cover the cranberries, maybe 1 teaspoon).
- Shake the container to coat the cranberries with maple syrup, then add the syrup-coated cranberries to a different container with some white sugar (or unbleached sugar) and shake them with the sugar to coat.
- Add the cranberries to a cocktail pick and garnish your drink.
Notes
Nutrition
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Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie which she founded in 2011. Sarah is based in Wyoming and has been managing food allergies for herself and her 2 children for over 20 years. Sarah was also a certified personal trainer for 12 years, as well as a group fitness instructor, health coach, running coach, and fitness nutrition specialist.