Thanksgiving Martini

Made with a festive combination of apple cider, pumpkin pie syrup, and vodka, this Thanksgiving Martini is perfect for celebrating the holiday and goes wonderfully with Thanksgiving turkey and all the sides!

Jump to:

• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🍸 How to make
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 🥳 Can I make a big batch?
• 🦃 More Thanksgiving recipes
• 🎃 More Thanksgiving drinks
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

There's an ongoing debate about which fall flavor is better: apple or pumpkin. I can never actively take part in this debate because there's no way I can decide. I love both and I love both equally.

Give me apple pie and give me pumpkin pie and even better, give me a bite of each on one single fork. They are both incredible fall flavors on their own and they also go so well together.

A couple years back, I made a Thanksgiving margarita, but got lots of requests for a vodka drink instead of tequila.

So, I'm thrilled to share with you this pumpkin and apple packed Thanksgiving martini!

🗒 Ingredients

This festive fall cocktail is incredibly easy to make with just a few simple ingredients. Here's everything you need (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

• Granulated sugar: for glass rim
• Ground cinnamon: for glass rim
• Vodka
• Apple cider
• Pumpkin spice sauce or syrup: You can make your own with the ingredients and instructions in this pumpkin spice syrup post or purchase a bottle of pumpkin spice sauce
• Lemon juice
• Apple slices: optional for garnish

🍸 How to make

The first step to these Thanksgiving martinis is optional, but highly recommended. Especially if you're serving these drinks at a gathering.

A cinnamon sugar rim on a martini makes a fall drink so much more festive and delicious!

To do this, simple mix sugar and cinnamon together on a plate and brush a little water, lemon juice, or syrup along the rim of you glass.

Place glass upside down on plate and rotate to coat rim in mixture.

Now that your glasses are prepped, you can mix up the martinis!

Add vodka, apple cider, pumpkin spice sauce, and lemon juice to an ice-filled shaker and shake well to combine.

And pour the martini into the prepared martini glass.

Garnish the drink with an apple slice and more cinnamon if desired.

Take a sip and you'll immediately see how perfectly pumpkin and apple work together.

See? The two fall ingredients don't have to be rivals- they can work together to create the ultimate fall-themed drink!

This martini is definitely on the sweeter side, but I wouldn't call it a dessert martini. I think it's the perfect way to start the Thanksgiving day festivities.

Plus, it pairs wonderfully with turkey.

🎉 Variations on recipe

I love the simplicity of this Thanksgiving martini and the ease in which they can be made for a crowd.

But there are also lots of easy adjustments you can make to suit this drink more to your tastes.

Here are some ideas:

• Use gin instead of vodka
• Use bourbon instead of vodka
• Add orange liqueur for a hint of citrus
• Add soda water or tonic for some fizz
• Muddle rosemary or thyme or the fresh herbs of your choice into the shaker
• Instead of pumpkin spice syrup, use a pumpkin cream liqueur (like Baileys)
• Use a flavored vodka like caramel vodka or whipped cream vodka
• Add a caramel sauce drizzle

🥳 Can I make a big batch?

These martinis are pretty easy to mix individually if you're having a handful of guests for Thanksgiving dinner.

But if you'd rather mix up a big batch ahead of time and let people serve themselves, you can do that, too!

Here are the amounts you'd want to use to serve about 10 people:

• 3 cups vodka
• 2 cups apple cider
• 1 ¼ cups pumpkin spice sauce/syrup
• 1 cup lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients together in a big pitcher and put in the fridge to chill.

Prep your glasses by adding the cinnamon sugar rim to them. If you want, you can chill the glasses, too. Set out a little bowl of apple rounds (I recommend drizzling lemon juice over them to prevent browning) and rosemary sprigs.

Let guests pour the martini mixture into their own glasses. They can add ice if they prefer, but I don't recommend adding ice to the pitcher as it will water the drink down.

You can even leave out the vodka bottle in case guests want to add a little extra splash into their martini!

And if you want to make this into a mocktail for kids to enjoy, too, I recommend simply replacing the vodka with soda water.

🦃 More Thanksgiving recipes

Obviously, I recommend serving these drinks on Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving or any other festive fall celebration.

Here are some fabulous Thanksgiving dishes that are also perfect for the day:

I'm also happy to share my super easy roasted turkey recipe with you.

And, of course, this drink works for dessert, too. Now, you just need to decide if you want to serve pumpkin pie or apple pie.

🎃 More Thanksgiving drinks

And if you want to serve a variety of cocktails and mocktails for everyone attending your holiday celebrations, I have lots of great ideas.

Here are some of my favorite fall drinks:

Kids and adults will also love this Starbucks copycat Cran-Merry Orange Refresher and this Pumpkin Pie Milkshake for dessert!

No matter what you're planning to serve for Thanksgiving day dinner, you can check the cocktail off your list!

This Thanksgiving martini will make all your guests happy and will finally end the pumpkin or apple debate.

📖 Recipe