Champagne
15 Best Champagne Cocktail Recipes to Elevate the Everyday
From a mimosa to French 75, top off these cocktails with a bit of bubbly.
Most of the time, I want to enjoy Champagne or prosecco unadorned in a Champagne flute. It’s the simplest drink, yet the most elegant. For years, I’ve celebrated every anniversary, birthday, and obviously New Year’s Eve with at least one glass (and sometimes, an entire bottle) of Champagne. But I have to admit: Champagne cocktails are really great. The first one I was ever introduced to was a French 75. If you’re skeptical of Champagne cocktails, this is a delightful introduction into the category—it’s made with simple syrup, gin, and lemon juice. Serve it in a Champagne glass and garnish with a lemon twist. I’m not the only one who thinks that this is a fabulous cocktail. “It’s light, citrus-forward, and contains all the bubbly. What’s great about this cocktail is how versatile it is. You can make it with pretty much any spirit of your choice: gin, vodka, tequila, cognac, the list goes on,” says Food52’s Resident Bartender.
With every Champagne cocktail here, you can always use a more budget-friendly sparkling wine instead. Here are our best Champagne cocktail recipes, ready to serve at the drop of a (top) hat.
1. Champagne Cocktail
Dropping a sugar cube in a glass of Champagne is pure fun, because it riles up the crowd of bubbles. This cocktail calls for a little bit of that flourish, plus a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters and a lemon twist for garnish.
2. The Fall 75 - Fall Champagne Cocktail
This autumnal twist on the aforementioned French 75 recipe swaps blood orange juice in place of the usual lemon juice. There’s also a vanilla berry simple syrup, because why not?
3. Cockney Champagne Cocktail
“Same but different,” my Aunt Diane likes to say in a deep Southern drawl about two things that are quite similar, but also quite different. This is the exact recipe for a French 75, but under a new name. See? Same but different.
4. The Final Countdown
This gin-based Prohibition-era cocktail got a bubbly upgrade. Shake up a combination of dry gin, Green Chartreuse, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, and lime juice; pour into a coupe glass and top off with Champagne.
5. Strawberry Juice & a Champagne Cocktail
Strawberries and Champagne are kind of a classic combination, are they not? Serve this simple stunner for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or all summer long when berries are at their brightest.
6. Mother's Ruin Punch
Leave it to a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in the heart of Manhattan to develop a punch recipe with 10 ingredients, a couple of which might be a little tough to find (like tea-infused sweet vermouth). But if you’re up for a challenge and want to wow a crowd, you should definitely try this one.
7. Crimson Bulleit Punch
“This elixir has everything I look for in a holiday punch, a delicious ruby red color, the effervescence of Champagne, a hint of ginger spice, and enough sweetness (but not too much) to coax this rather potent punch down with ease,” writes recipe developer Oui, Chef.
8. Kiss the Ring, a Riff on the French 75
Top off this gin and Cointreau cocktail with a splash of brut Champagne or prosecco. If you can get your hands on them, it’s best with fresh-squeezed blood orange juice.
9. Not-Your-Typical Rum & Cola
Rum and Coke lovers may scoff at this Champagne cocktail…until they taste it. With amaro, dark rum, Angostura bitters, cola, and Champagne, there’s a lot going on but somehow it all just works together like absolute magic.
10. Pom Fizz
“Homemade, one-ingredient pomegranate syrup is your bar's new best friend. Here, it's paired with sparkling white wine and pomegranate seeds for a simple-but-stunning cocktail,” writes recipe developer Joanna Sciarrino.
11. Nardini Spritz
This Champagne cocktail calls for Amaro Nardini, which has intense notes of milk chocolate flavor, black licorice, and plenty of peppermint.
12. Honeyed Peach Melba Bellinis
Bellinis are usually a two-part combination of sparkling wine and peach purée, but in this roundup, we’re sharing the best of the best. This version features a homemade raspberry simple syrup and homemade honey peach sorbet. It seems like a lot of work (and it is!), but it’s so worth it for a crowd-friendly cocktail.
13. Holiday Sparkler
Wait, you mean there are holiday cocktails beyond eggnog? Yes! Think of this one as a more festive cosmopolitan—it’s made with cava, fresh mint, triple sec, freshly squeezed lime juice, and cranberry juice.
14. Blueberry Orange Spritz
There’s a double dose of fizz in this cocktail, thanks to both Champagne and soda water. With muddled blueberries and Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur), I will take one poolside, on repeat all afternoon, please and thank you.
15. Our Best Classic Mimosa
“As legend would have it, the world’s very first mimosa debuted in 1925 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Paris. Which seems fitting for a cocktail that’s effervescent, equal parts sweet and tart, and unapologetic about its ABV at brunch,” writes recipe developer Ella Quittner. For such a simple Champagne cocktail, it sure has quite a robust history.
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