Apple Cider Mimosa

Published 11/8/2022 • Updated 11/5/2024

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This festive Apple Cider Mimosa is the perfect combination of sweet, tart and bubbly! Made from just 2 ingredients (apple cider and champagne!). Cheers!

The Best Apple Cider Cocktail

We’re big fans of making festive cocktails for get-togethers, which is why we’re comin’ atcha with a festive and seasonal champagne cocktail.

This apple cider mimosa is a twist on the classic mimosa. This cocktail is one part apple cider, one part champagne, and oh so delicious. Cheers!

Looking to have a few other cocktail options for your next gathering? A batch of these apple cider mimosas + this mulled wine + these rosemary collins will do just the trick.

Reasons to love this mimosa

It is the perfect brunch cocktail: You can mix this cocktail up for brunch just like a classic mimosa.

Sweet + tart: Nobody likes an overly sweet cocktail. This mimosa has a bit of sweetness from the apple and tartness from being a sider. The bubbly from the champagne adds a nice bite and fizz.

Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any holiday: When you are hosting for the holidays you want simple recipes that are also elegant. This recipe is perfect for any holiday for those reasons.

Ingredients You Need

Who doesn’t love a cocktail that only calls for two ingredients. This mimosa is an elevated version of a classic mimosa. Here are the simple two ingredients you need.

Apple cider: we prefer a spicy apple cider to a sweet apple cider that tastes more like apple juice. If you can get your hands on some fresh apple cider, you’d take this mimosa up a notch.
Champagne: don’t skimp on the champagne. You don’t have to buy the most expensive champagne on the shelf, but the better champagne you buy the more delicious this cocktail will be.

Store Bought or Homemade Apple Cider?

We love this Instant Pot apple cider recipe, but if you don’t have an Instant Pot, feel free to pick up store-bought cider — nothing wrong with taking that route either!

Ingredients for the Garnish

Cinnamon: the cinnamon adds both color and a bit of warm flavor to this cocktail.
Turbinado sugar: turbinado sugar is a coarse sugar that adds a bit of sweetness to the rim of the champagne glass and it looks beautiful, too.
Fresh rosemary: fresh herbs make a beautiful garnish. We chose a seasonal fresh herb for a garnish, but feel free to use your favorite herb.

Pouring an apple cider mimosa into a glass.

How to Make this Apple Cider Mimosa

Prepare your glass. Add your cinnamon sugar mixture to a plate and mix the two ingredients together. Wet the top of a champagne glass and dip the top of the glass into the sugar and set aside.
Add the cider to the glass. Pour apple cider at the bottom of your glass.
Top with champagne. Top the apple cider with champagne until it reaches the top of the glass.
Garnish. You can garnish the apple cider mimosa with fresh rosemary, fresh apple, or citrus.

Brut or prosecco work for this cocktail?

YES! Champagne (cava or brut) or prosecco will all work for this cocktail. Prosecco tends to be a bit sweeter than champagne, and brut much drier than both champagne and prosecco. So, you do you!

If you don’t have champagne or prosecco a white sparkling wine would work, too. Just be sure it’s not too sweet.

Can you make a large batch?

Looking to serve a crowd with this cocktail? To make sure your champagne doesn’t lose its bubbles before you drink it, we recommend keeping the cider and bubbly separate.

Instruct guests to pour equal parts champagne to cider into a champagne glass. Keep your bottle of champagne on ice, and serve your cider in a festive pitcher or mason jar.

Our Favorite

Stemless Flutes

We love our stemless champagne flutes. No stem means less spills. Here are our favorites!

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Mimosa Substitutions

Love the idea of this festive bubbly cocktail, but want to sub out a few ingredients (or don’t have all of these on hand)? Here are a few easy substitutions to make sure you’ll be cheers-ing away in no time:

Bubbly

Champagne not your jam? Prosecco or brut will work just perfectly for this drink recipe. Or, looking to go alcohol free? A seltzer, soda water or even a La Croix will add the fizziness you’re looking for.

If you are out of bubbly but still want to make a fun cocktail, try topping the apple cider with a delicious hard cider for extra apple bubbly goodness.

Apple Cider

While we can’t say enough good things about homemade cider, store-bought cider will also work for this recipe. And a spiced cider will make the apple cinnamon flavors even more prominent.

Don’t have apple cider? Go with a classic mimosa and use orange juice instead.

Sugar Rim + Garnishes

The cinnamon sugar rim on this drink offers just the perfect amount of sweet to this cocktail. Jazz it up with a little cinnamon, or opt for no sugar rim if you’re looking to keep this less sweet.

Flavor tip: It could be fun to use homemade chai spices on the rim, too!

We love garnishing this champagne cocktail with a slice of apple, but a slice of citrus , a cinnamon stick, or star anise would be gorgeous, too.