Nothing makes the weekend feel like a mini-staycation quite like a bubbly breakfast cocktail. This Blood Orange Mimosa recipe puts a fun spin on the brunch staple while celebrating winter’s finest citrus. Cheers!
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About This Recipe
Sweet, crisp, effervescent, and endlessly riffable, breakfast mimosas are a classic choice for daytime drinking with a gorgeous color. As an added bonus, they generally only require two ingredients: sparkling wine and juice. This recipe for blood orange mimosas uses a specialty citrus variety that showcases the finest that California has to offer.
In case you didn’t know it, winter is actually prime citrus season. I’m so thankful for that - biting into a bright, sweet-tart blood orange, grapefruit, mandarin, or pomelo does a wonderful job of introducing a little sunshine into the darkest days of the year.
Blood oranges are a variety of citrus that looks nearly identical to a regular orange on the outside, but has gorgeous, ruby-red hued flesh. While the flavor is also similar to naval oranges, they’re often sweeter, easier to peel, and have fewer seeds than their “normal” counterparts.
Here in Los Angeles, we have access to a wide range of citrus because we are one of the nation’s top growers! If you are looking to buy whole blood oranges, peak orange season runs from December till April.
Make this mimosa for any special occasion -like an upcoming Easter brunch cocktail, Mother's day breakfast or Valentine's day treat! Using fresh blood oranges instead of regular oranges bring these traditional mimosas up a notch. All of a sudden this classic cocktail or classic mimosa has extra flavor with a gorgeous blood orange hue.
Looking for more brunch cocktails to try? Try this Passion Fruit Spritz, Vodka Sunrise, or a Blood Orange Pisco Sour.
Ingredients & Substitutions
This simple recipe for blood orange mimosas requires just a few ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to gather:
- Chilled Sparkling Wine - Don’t go splurging on a bottle of Cristal for this recipe; opt for a mid-level sparkling wine instead. Since you’re adding in sweet juice, I recommend a dry wine (often marked as “brut”) . Also, since champagne *must* come from the Champagne region of France, feel free to swap in other, less expensive varieties. A bottle of Prosecco, Cava, or even a California sparkling chardonnay will do the trick.
- Fresh Blood Orange Juice - When it comes to citrus juices, the flavor of fresh squeezed simply can’t be beat. If you’re unable to get your hands on this beautiful fruit in whole form, you can feel free to swap in a high-quality bottled juice brand like Natalie’s.
- Fresh Orange Juice - I use a 50/50 split of fresh-squeezed orange juice and blood orange juice in this mimosa to stretch my fancy citrus a little further. Feel free to use exclusively blood orange juice if you prefer.
- Blood Orange Slices - Cocktails feel more festive and fancy with a garnish, and the shockingly deep red color of blood oranges is a real attention grabber. In a pinch, feel free to omit them.
Equipment
One of the best things about mimosas is that they don’t really require a lot of equipment - all you have to do is pour! That said, here are a few things I find useful, especially if I’m hosting a mimosa brunch with simple ingredients:
- Ice Bucket - Sparkling wine should be served well-chilled. Having an ice bucket on hand means you can eat your brunch in a more leisurely fashion, without having to jump up every time someone needs a refill on their bottomless mimosas!
- Champagne Flutes - While coupe glasses were all the rage for serving champagne for a spell, champagne glasses are where it’s at. The pointed base of flutes helps the bubbles form and remain constant, whereas the wide surface area of a coupe can cause your bubbly to fizz out and become flat more quickly.
- Champagne Stopper - Investing in a special champagne stopper may sound a bit bougie, but I can assure you that it is entirely worth the minimal expense. Regular corks can’t contain the effervescence of sparkling wines without being forced out of the bottle. The locking hinges on a champagne stopper ensure that you can save the last of your bottle for a couple of days without going flat.
- Small Beakers with Pouring Lips - You don’t need much juice to make a perfect blood orange mimosa. These tiny containers are excellent for measuring liquids in the kitchen, and the pouring lip ensures the liquid goes right where you want it to.
How To Make/The Method
If you’re new to the world of mixology, you’re going to love how easy it is to make this blood orage mimosa. Here’s how it’s done:
- Pour champagne into your flute glass, followed by orange juice and blood orange juice.
- Finally, garnish with a slice of blood orange before serving. Cheers!
Expert Tips
- Save the orange rinds. Spending money on specialty fruit for just the juice can feel a bit wasteful. Get the most out of your purchase by saving your orange rinds! They can be turned into candy, used for making a simmer pot, or even turned into an all-natural kitchen cleaner.
- Make sure your wine is very cold. Have you ever taken a swig of room-temperature sparkling wine? If you have, you know how awful it is. Make sure your wine is properly chilled. If you forgot to refrigerate it ahead of time, hack your way to a cold bottle in just 10 minutes flat with this awesome hack.
- Use the right kind of glass. Champagne flutes aren’t just pretty, they’re also functional! Flutes help to keep your sparkling wine tasting dry and making bubbles for longer.
- Set up a mimosa bar. Hosting a larger event? Do yourself a favor and set up a serve-yourself mimosa bar. Have an ice bucket or two out with your open sparkling wines, keeping any backup bottles chilled in the fridge or in a cooler beneath the table. Set out an assortment of different juices in small beakers so your guests can mix and match their way to a perfect mimosa!
Frequently Asked Questions
Don’t go breaking the bank when buying sparkling wine for these blood orange mimosas. Bottles in the $8-15 range should do just as well as the $40+ bottles, without the hefty price tag. Search for bottles labeled “Brut” or “Sec” to ensure you get a nice, dry wine; sweet bubbly can be overpowering with the addition of juice.
Sure! The two are interchangeable in this recipe. However, you can’t make a blood orange mimosa without blood orange juice; if you use only regular orange juice, you’ll simply have a mimosa. 🙂
One thing I love about breakfast mimosas is that they are essentially a blank canvas for your favorite juices. Some of my favorites (other than traditional orange and this blood orange) include:
- Grapefruit juice
- Cranberry juice
- Peach nectar (for bellinis!)
- Ginger beer
- Pear nectar
- Pomegranate juice
You can also spike your mimosas with a little liqueur in place of juice (a splash of grand marnier, or an ounce of orange liqueur like triple sec). You can also sweeten with simple syrup if you prefer. Try using cassis to make a kir royale, or another fruit-flavored liqueur in its place for a great cocktail.
More Cocktail Recipes
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Blood Orange Mimosa
Equipment
- Knives
- Champagne Flutes/Serving Glasses
Ingredients
- 5 ounces Sparkling Wine
- 1 ounce Blood Orange Juice
- 1 ounce Orange Juice
- Sliced Blood Orange for Garnish
Instructions
- Cut oranges and blood oranges in half, then juice over a strainer secured onto a liquid measuring cup.
- Pour champagne into your flute glass, followed by orange juice and blood orange juice.5 ounces Sparkling Wine, 1 ounce Blood Orange Juice, 1 ounce Orange Juice
- Finally, garnish with blood orange slice before serving. Cheers!
Notes
- Grapefruit juice
- Cranberry juice
- Peach nectar (for bellinis!)
- Ginger beer
- Pear nectar
- Pomegranate juice
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