Spiced Apple Cider Sangria

This Fall spiced apple cider sangria is fresh, easy to make and perfect with either red or white wine. With warm flavors like cinnamon, apple and orange, this sangria is the perfect Fall cocktail and deserves a spot at your Thanksgiving table!

I don’t know about you, but Fall is my faaaavorite time of year. The air is crisp, the leaves are changing, it’s my birthday (!), and we have so many delicious flavors for baking/cooking like apple, cinnamon, pumpkin and more.

This Fall inspired apple cider sangria is my favorite recipe on Thanksgiving, but it’s honestly perfect all season long. It takes about 5 minutes to prep and makes a generously sized pitcher so it’s perfect for all sorts of parties and get togethers.

This recipe features fresh fruit like apples and oranges, though it’s also great with the addition of pear and pomegranate, plus your favorite wine (red or white), apple cider, cinnamon and brandy to top it all off. You could even top this off with prosecco to add some sparkles! Enjoy this alongside my sweet potato casserole, gluten free pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins.

Quick tips

• I like sticking with a drier red wine here such as a Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinot Noir is another great choice! The apple cider and orange juice will add plenty of sweetness.
• For the best flavor, I suggest making this sangria one night before you plan on serving. That way, the flavors have a chance to marinate but it doesn’t start to ferment at all.
• The recipe doesn’t call for it, but 1-2 chopped up pears are also delicious in this recipe. Great alongside my pear crumble!

How to make apple cider sangria

Chop the apples and slice the orange and add to a large pitcher. Add in the cinnamon sticks, brandy, wine, orange juice and apple cider. Stir together with a spoon.

Let sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours, but longer is better to really let the flavors mingle. The longer you let it sit, the better the flavor is, especially in regards to the apples and cinnamon.

If you can, make it at night or in the morning (depending on when you’ll be drinking it!), so it has a chance to sit in the fridge for 8+ hours.

Pour into glasses (see notes for the cinnamon sugar rim) and enjoy! If using white wine, it’s great with a splash of club soda to serve, but when using red I like to leave it as is.

Key ingredients

Red or White Wine: I love red wine for all things Fall/Winter, but you are more than welcome to use white (Pinot Grigio is good for sangria). Either red or white pairs well with the apple and cinnamon, so you really can’t go wrong here!

Apple Cider: We’ll be using a generous 2 cups of apple cider for this recipe which adds some natural sweetness and plenty of apple flavor.

Apples: Honey crisp are my go to apple for everything and anything. Pies, crisp, muffins, and even sangria. They’re crispy and perfectly sweet with a slight tartness that pairs really well with the rest of the flavors here. They tend to be pricy, so another tart variety like granny smith is also delicious in sangria.

Cinnamon Sticks: These are a must! Whole cinnamon sticks sit with the rest of the ingredients for a few hours and infuse a nice warm flavor into the sangria. You definitely don’t want to use ground cinnamon, so be sure to grab some cinnamon sticks at the market.

Oranges/Orange Juice: Orange juice is typical in a classic fruit/Spring sangria, but works really well in this Fall version. It adds some extra sweetness and tartness so we don’t need any added sugar.

Brandy: The brandy really compliments the flavors of this recipe well, but if you prefer to leave it out, you can easily do so. You can also sub for another liqueur like triple sec.

Should I peel the fruit?

I usually don’t, but you can! The orange peel adds a nice strong flavor and gives the final recipe a bit more tang than if you were to remove the peels. Since the fruit is just for infusing and not for eating, I like to keep the skin on.

You can slice/chop the apples and oranges however you like. For this recipe, I roughly chopped the apple and sliced the orange with the skin on both.

DIY Cinnamon sugar rim

If you want to sugar the rim, (which I recommend!), mix together 3 tablespoons of fine white sugar plus 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Get the rim of your glass slightly damp with a wet paper towel (or a bit of apple cider), dip into the cinnamon sugar, then pour the sangria into the glass.

You’ll also love..

• Sweet Potato Muffins
• Apple Pie Cruble Bars
• Blackberry Margarita
• Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

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