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Here are all the top orange juice cocktails that highlight this beautiful citrus fruit! Try everything from a mimosa to a tequila sunrise.
Love the bright and beautiful citrus flavor of an orange? Turns out, OJ is a top notch mixer for cocktails. It works with almost any liquor: mix it with vodka for a screwdriver, champagne to make a mimosa, or tequila for a tequila sunrise! You can even use blood orange juice, even sweeter than the standard and bright pink in color.
As two cocktail experts, here are all the best orange juice cocktails we recommend! There are drinks for morning, evening, and everywhere in between. Keep in mind that freshly squeezed orange juice makes drinks with the best flavor, but bottled juice also works in a pinch!
Our top orange juice cocktails to try!
Here's a famous and beautiful orange juice cocktail: the tequila sunrise! It’s beautiful and vibrant, with layered colors of a summer sunset. All you need is 3 ingredients: and no special techniques or equipment. Use fresh squeezed orange juice for the best effect. The flavor is refreshingly sweet, with just a hint of tequila.
Ingredients: Orange juice, grenadine, tequila
The most popular orange juice cocktail of them all is the mimosa! We like to use Prosecco instead of champagne for a sweeter, nuanced flavor: but you could use either! Pour the bubbles with a heavy hand, and add a dash of orange liqueur. It’s tart, just sweet enough, and bubbly as all get out.
Ingredients: Orange juice, Prosecco or champagne, Cointreau
Here’s a refreshing, citrus-forward spin that we like almost even better than the original: try the Orange Margarita! Add fresh squeezed orange juice to this classic cocktail and you get a zingy, sweetly perfumed drink that’s absolutely irresistible.
Ingredients: Orange juice, tequila, lime juice, triple sec or Cointreau
The Screwdriver is one of the easiest cocktails there is, ideal for afternoon drinks or brunch. Cocktail connoisseurs might call it low brow, but there are lots of great two-ingredient drinks! Here's how to make a traditional Screwdriver and a few ideas of interesting spins on this drink.
Ingredients: Orange juice, vodka
Here’s a unique orange juice cocktail: the Garibaldi! This Italian cocktail has so much going for it, it’s hard to know where to start. Orange juice is the perfect sweet balance to bitter Campari. There’s a little textural little flair with a foamy topping. It comes out ultra refreshing with bitter, sweet and tangy notes all intermingling3.
Ingredients: Campari, orange juice
Looking for a quick and easy orange juice cocktail? Make a Madras! This vibrant pink vodka drink is zingy and refreshing, pairing orange with cranberry juice for tartness and color. It takes no time at all to make: just mix it right in the glass and serve on ice!
Ingredients: Cranberry juice, vodka, and orange juice
The Fuzzy Navel is a cocktail born in the 1980’s, a marriage of peach schnapps and orange juice. Adding the peach flavor is like taking the Screwdriver or Harvey Wallbanger up a notch. You'll be won over by this one and its “pleasantly peachy” aroma.
Ingredients: Orange juice, peach schnapps
Here's a refreshing, well balanced orange juice cocktail: the Amaretto Stone Sour! You may know the Amaretto Sour, that classic boozy sour cocktail with the retro egg white foam. The stone sour is a sour made with orange juice! It’s light and refreshing, perfect for sipping at brunch or on a lazy afternoon with a book. It’s sweet tart with just right right finish of nutty amaretto.
Ingredients: Orange juice, amaretto, sweet and sour mix
The Hurricane is a classic New Orleans cocktail made with light and dark rum and passion fruit syrup. The passion fruit gives it a tropical nuance, the orange a citrus spin, and a hint of grenadine gives it extra sweetness and a rosy-golden color. It’s a unique rum cocktail that’s festive and fun!
Ingredients: Light rum, dark rum, passion fruit syrup, orange juice, lime juice, grenadine
The Ward 8 is a riff on the whiskey sour needs reviving, in our opinion. Where the whiskey sour can be on the sweet side, the Ward 8 is perfectly balanced and tart. It features rye whiskey, but it’s not overpowering: there’s just a hint of spice on the finish. Add sweet orange juice and bright red grenadine for sweetness and color.
Ingredients: Rye whiskey, lemon juice, orange juice, grenadine
Here’s a creamy orange cocktail you need in your life: the Golden Dream! This classy drink was popular in the 1960’s and 70’s, and we think it’s time for a reprieve. It tastes like a boozy Creamsicle! It’s creamy with a strong orange flavor: and the finish isn’t too sweet, with subtle notes of herbs, licorice, and vanilla.
Ingredients: Orange juice, Galliano, Cointreau, heavy cream
Step up the liquor quality in this 1970's drink and you’ve got yourself a first-rate highball cocktail! It’s bold, fruity and balanced: great for sipping on the patio, at the lake, or just on a lazy afternoon. Here we’ve given a few little tweaks to the Alabama Slammer to take it up a notch and give it a new and improved vibe.
Ingredients: Orange juice, amaretto, bourbon, sloe gin
Here's a classic orange juice cocktail that uses blood orange juice instead: the Blood and Sand! It’s similar to a Manhattan or Martinez, but with with blood orange juice and cherry liqueur. It’s light and semi-sweet, with a balanced and cherry-forward flavor. This one will please even people who are on the fence about Scotch.
Ingredients: Scotch, cherry liqueur, vermouth, blood orange juice
It’s time for another 1970’s orange juice cocktail: the Harvey Wallbanger! This easy highball cocktail is the Screwdriver‘s more sophisticated cousin. It might sound low-brow, but this drink stars Galliano, an herbal Italian liqueur invented in the 1890’s. It gives this otherwise boring brunch drink a complex, funky herbal finish.
Ingredients: Vodka, orange juice, Galliano
Want a great rum mixer? Look no further than good old OJ! Rum and Orange Juice is the way to do it. We’ve got two secrets that give it a sweetness and a zing, making it an irresistibly delicious cocktail. Another classic rum and orange juice combo? The Brass Monkey.
Want a simple makeover for your margarita? The Italian margarita is a fusion of the best of Italian and Mexican cuisines. This spin on the classic cocktail swaps out orange liqueur for amaretto, and the almond essence adds a distinctly Italian vibe. Blood orange juice brings in a brilliant color, but you can also use straight orange juice too!
Ingredients: Tequila, orange juice, amaretto, lime juice
More cocktail recipes
Outside of these orange juice cocktails, here are so many great cocktail recipes to try! Here are some of our best drink collections:
- Vodka Cocktails Try the greats like the Gimlet and Mule.
- Gin Cocktails All the classics: Gin Fizz, Tom Collins, Gin & Tonic, etc.
- Bourbon Cocktails Try these bourbon greats, like the Old Fashioned and Manhattan.
- Amaretto Cocktails From the Amaretto Sour to the Italian margarita.
- Vermouth Cocktails All the best drinks using dry or sweet vermouth.
- Sour Cocktails All the very best sours: Whiskey Sour, Sidecar, Mojito and more.
- Cointreau Cocktails All the great drinks using this orange liqueur.
- Mezcal Cocktails This smoky liquor gives a unique spin to classic drinks, like the Margarita.
- Scotch Cocktails Unique mixed drinks using this Scottish whisky.
- Campari Cocktails Brilliant red cocktails starring this bitter liqueur.
Last updated: November 2020
At one time I.had a 8.5 × 11 card with recipes for all well known drinks. Do you know of one that is available?
I’m not sure, sorry!