Thanksgiving Sangria

This delicious and easy Thanksgiving sangria is made with red wine, apple brandy, cinnamon sticks and fresh fruits. It will become your go to cocktail every year for thanksgiving dinner.

This is the perfect cocktail for chilly weekends and holiday festivities. Each glass is bursting with fall flavors like cranberry, citrus, apple, and cinnamon. We love to top ours with bubbly ginger beer and a garnish of star anise and cinnamon sticks. This is the perfect thanksgiving cocktail if you like red wine.

Reasons to Love Thanksgiving Sangria

• It looks so pretty and is the most festive for the holiday season. It's so pretty I almost (almost!) didn’t want to drink it. The dark reddish purple color is so appealing, especially when you rim the glass with cinnamon sugar and garnish it with a cinnamon stick. Bonus points for cutting your apple and pears into fall shapes, like these leaves!
• Stir this Thanksgiving sangria recipe together in a few minutes.
• Save yourself time on Thanksgiving day and make this recipe ahead of time so you have a glass to hand to guests when they walk in.
• Easy to customize with whatever seasonal fruit you have on hand (see ingredient notes section below).

Ingredient Notes

Here are the simple ingredients to make Thanksgiving sangria. Jump down to the recipe card for exact measurements.

• Red wine: traditional sangrias call for a Spanish red wine like a Tempranillo or Garnacho, however, we've tested this with other red wines, like a red blend or pinot noir and really loved it. Don't make a special trip for a special type of wine. All red wine will work, even sweet red wine. See FAQs below for a white wine option.
• Mix of fruit: we used orange slices, apple slices and pear slices because the apples and pears were perfect for the fun shapes. A few other fruit options include pomegranate seeds, fresh cranberries, and blood oranges.
• Apple cider: we love the cider in this for fall, but an apple juice would work too.
• Cranberry juice: we recommend a 100% cranberry juice rather than a cranberry juice cocktail.
• Brandy: apple brandy is great for fall sangria recipes, but triple sec, or another orange liqueur, is another great option.
• Spices: cinnamon sticks and star anise.
• Ginger beer or club soda for a little fizz.
• Cinnamon and white sugar for rimming the glass.

How to Make Thanksgiving Sangria

Here are the simple steps to make Thanksgiving Sangria (with photos). Jump down to the recipe card for the full printable recipe.

1. Mix the wine: Pour the red wine, fruit juice, and brandy (or triple sec) into a large pitcher and stir quickly to combine.
2. Slice the fruit: Cut fall shapes out of the apples and pears, if desired, then slices the oranges. Chill for 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
3. Mix sangria: Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and sliced fruit to the sangria. Chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours.
4. Cinnamon sugar rim: Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Run an orange wedge around the outside of a wine glass. Dip the wine glass in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
5. Serve: Fill the wine glass with ice then pour in the sangria.
6. Garnish: Top with ginger beer and garnish with the wine-soaked fruit and a cinnamon stick.

Favorite Sangria Products

• We love this large pitcher for all of our holiday drinks (apple cider sangria and winter sangria are amazing!). You could also use a punch bowl.
• A stemless wine glass is perfect for coating in cinnamon sugar. These red wine glasses are so pretty (the ones we used in these pictures).
• Cocktail spoon stirring everything together.
• Mini fall cookie cutters to cut the fruit to make it even more festive.

Frequently Asked Questions

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