Easy And Festive Pomegranate Mocktail Drinks
Beautiful and delicious non-alcoholic pomegranate mocktails perfect to serve on special occasions, New Year's Eve, during dry January, or to celebrate your favorite holiday season. This drink is fun, refreshing, and healthy—perfect for when you are pregnant, have kids who want to join in on the toast, or simply want to avoid alcohol!
Servings: 1 quart total or 945 ml (about)
Calories: 145kcal
Ingredients
For the pomegranate mocktails
- 2 ½ cups unsweetened 100% pomegranate juice 20 fl.ounces or 600 ml
- ¾ cup unsweetened fresh orange juice 6 fl. ounces or 187 ml, the juice of about two to 3 large oranges
- 6 to 8 large fresh mint leaves plus more to garnish
- 1 cup sparkling water 8 fl. ounces or 236 ml
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or light brown sugar or enough to coat the rims of the glasses
- orange slices cut crosswise (for wetting the lip of the glasses and for decoration)
Garnishes (optional)
- pomegranate arils, fresh orange lime and lemon slices, frozen or fresh cranberries, extra mint leaves, and fresh rosemary leaves.
Instructions
Make the pomegranate mocktail drink
- Place the pomegranate juice, orange juice, and mint leaves in a blender.2 ½ cups unsweetened 100% pomegranate juice, ¾ cup unsweetened fresh orange juice, 6 to 8 large fresh mint leaves
- Blend until everything is well combined and the mint leaves are shredded to bits.
- With a slotted spoon, gently skim off most of the foam built up on top of the juice. Set aside some of the foam.
- Pour the juice through a sieve into a large pitcher.
- Stir in the sparkling water and a little reserved foam to simulate the bubbles of champagne (optional).1 cup sparkling water
- At this point, you can add the garnishes if you plan to serve the mocktail in a pitcher or punch bowl. Or proceed to garnish the individual glasses.pomegranate arils, fresh orange lime and lemon slices, frozen or fresh cranberries, extra mint leaves, and fresh rosemary leaves.
How to create a sugar rim
- Slice crosswise through the orange and cut out a thick round slice—use the rest for garnish.orange slices
- Place the orange slice on a flat surface or cutting board. Place the coconut sugar on a small plate next to the piece of orange.1 teaspoon coconut sugar or light brown sugar
- Take small champagne glasses or serving glasses of choice.
- Turn each glass upside down, gently dip the top of each glass into the orange slice first, and then immediately into the sugar, coating each rim lightly slowly turning the glass around to cover all sides of the outer edges.
- Turn the glass back right-side up. Add any garnishes, gently fill up your glasses, and don't let the liquid splash the rim.
How to prep the glasses for a festive look (optional)
- You can continue to decorate each glass with ⅓ of the orange slice (see picture in post). I always drop extra pomegranate arils into each glass. It's a fun surprise (optional).
- Alternatively, take extra fresh mint leaves, and with a scissor, cut a tiny opening at the bottom of a leaf. Then rest the cut side on the rim of a glass. Repeat for the other drinks (optional).
- Serve immediately or chilled to ring in the New Year or make your ritual toast. Enjoy!
Notes
Double the ingredients for a punch bowl, a larger crowd, or extra servings.
If you don't want to add any fizz: omit the sparkling water and serve the pomegranate drink over ice cubes or as-is. Count on the fact that you will have a bit less to serve around and might need to make a bit more.
Juicing fresh fruits versus using store-bought juice: you'll need about 5 large pomegranates or arils equivalent to 5 pomegranates if you plan to juice the fruits yourself. And about 2 to 3 large oranges. The color will also differ—a lighter red versus a darker red.
You can use a blender to blend the arils, oranges, and mint leaves. Then, squeeze out the juice with a nut milk bag or use a strainer before adding sparkling water and garnishes. It's a bit more work and messier, but it tastes incredible. Count on 30 minutes of total prep time instead of 10.
Steps for juicing at home:
- Blend everything until you get a beautiful red juice smoothie;
- Then pour the liquid through a strainer or nut milk bag into a large pitcher;
- If you use a nut milk bag, squeeze out the juice until only a dry pulp is left.
- Discard the pulp;
- Continue to make the drinks as per the recipe above.
Nutrition
Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 145kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 430mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 18IU | Vitamin C: 41mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 0.5mg
