Cosmopolitan Recipe

I’ve always thought a cosmopolitan cocktail was a slightly deceptive. Hear me out! The first time I ordered one I honestly didn’t know what was in it—I had just heard the name cosmo before, so I thought I’d give it a try.

Given that the cocktail is pink, I thought it would be some version of a very sweet martini. Not so! This cosmopolitan recipe is actually a very balanced drink with just a little sweetness from Cointreau (orange flavored triple sec) and the sweet and sour blend of cranberry juice. Although a cosmopolitan cocktail is sweeter than sipping vodka, it’s not a very sweet drink at all.

Related: 45+ Fun Cocktails to Make at Home and 12 Easy Martini Recipes.

The cosmopolitan drink was invented by bartender Toby Cecchini in the 1980s. Although it gained a lot of popularity and became a simple for New York sophistication thanks to Sex and the City‘s Carrie Bradshaw.

Ingredients

• Vodka
• Cointreau
• Cranberry juice
• Lime juice
• Orange peel – for garnish

You can use any brand of vodka you prefer for this cocktail.

How to make a Cosmopolitan

• In a cocktail shaker, add the vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, lime juice, and ice. Shake until the shaker feels very cold in your hands. 
• Strain into a martini glass or coupe and garnish.

And here’s how I make those little orange spirals. You can buy a fancy peeler to assist with this, but as I have been KonMari-ing my kitchen this year I found I just don’t use that kind of thing enough to have it at home.

So, I use a potato peeler to scrape off a large piece of orange peel, and then simply use my kitchen shears to cut strips and curl them.

This would be too labor intensive to be practical if you were bartending and busy, but if you’re just shaking up a small number of these or have time to make these orange spirals ahead I’d do it because they really do elevate the drink just a little. I mean, THEY ARE CUTE.

I like to serve this cosmopolitan recipe in a martini glass (bonus points if you chill the glass in your freezer beforehand), but a coupe is really cute too. Whatever you serve this cosmo in, enjoy—cheers!

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5 from 4 votes

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Get the Recipe

a balanced cocktail with cranberry and vodka

Yield 1

Prep 4 minutes mins

5 minutes mins

Cook 1 minute min

Total 10 minutes mins

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 ounces vodka
• ▢ 1 ounce Cointreau
• ▢ 1 ounce cranberry juice
• ▢ ½ ounce lime juice
• ▢ orange peel (for garnish)

US CustomaryMetric

Instructions

• In a cocktail shaker, add the vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, lime juice, and ice. Shake until the shaker feels very cold in your hands.
• Strain into a martini glass or coupe and garnish.

Notes

Use any brand of vodka you have or prefer. 

Course Drinks

Cuisine American

Keywords cocktail recipe

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Cosmopolitan Recipe

Amount per Serving

Calories

167

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

0.1

g

0

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

0.02

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

0.01

g

Sodium

 

1

mg

0

%

Potassium

 

43

mg

1

%

Carbohydrates

 

10

g

3

%

Fiber

 

0.03

g

0

%

Sugar

 

9

g

10

%

Protein

 

0.1

g

0

%

Vitamin A

 

13

IU

0

%

Vitamin C

 

3

mg

4

%

Calcium

 

2

mg

0

%

Iron

 

0.1

mg

1

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.