Even if you can’t celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Brazil, or other places where the festivities are enjoyed, you can still create an authentic Fat Tuesday atmosphere. Our friends at The Mixer have provided recipes for some classic and unique Mardi Gras cocktails to share with Real Food Traveler recipes. Whip some up for your home celebrations.

Save these six recipes for festive Mardi Gras cocktails to Pinterest. Graphic by Real Food Traveler.

People all over the globe will soon be celebrating Mardi Gras with street parades, music and colorful costumes. Meaning ‘Fat Tuesday’ in French, It began as a religious day observed before Lent, when people were meant to use up all the fats in their home in preparation for fasting. Today, however, it has evolved to encompass weeks of partying, starting in early Jan and building to the climax of the official Mardi Gras, which is February 21, 2023.

The most famous Mardi Gras carnivals are in New Orleans in the US and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where thousands of people descend on these cities to take part in the festivities and enjoy delicious party food and drinks.

If you can’t make it to southern Louisiana, our mixologists at The Mixer have hand-picked the perfect cocktails to help recreate the carnival vibes at home. These drinks are sure to get you up and dancing!

Hungry for more? Get our guide to Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras Cocktails: Sazerac

Ingredients per person:
2 oz Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey
0.5 oz absinthe or anise liqueur
1 sugar cube per cocktail
A few dashes of bitters per cocktail
To garnish, a lemon twist per cocktail
Ice

Method:
1. Chill a rocks glass by filling it with ice and setting it aside as you prepare the rest of the cocktail
2. Soak the sugar cube with the bitters and muddle it in a mixing glass, crushing the cube
3. Add the Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey and stir
4. Take the ice out of your chilled glass and rinse it with a small amount of absinthe – swirl the liquor around and then discard
5. Pour the Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey mixture into the chilled, absinthe-rinsed glass
6. Squeeze the lemon twist gently over the drink to release its oils – some will use it as a garnish on the rim of the glass afterwards, but rarely drop it into the drink itself

Sazarac Cocktail – photo provided by The Mixer.

Mardi Gras Cocktails: Grasshopper

Ingredients per person:
75 oz Crème de cacao
75 oz Crème de menthe (green)
75 oz Heavy cream
Chocolate shavings to garnish
Ice

 Method:
1. Prepare a frosted martini glass by chilling it in the freezer for about an hour
2. Add a dash of either crème de cacao or crème de menthe to one plate, and chocolate shavings to another
3. Dip the rim of the martini glass into the liqueur and then into the chocolate and set aside
4. Add cracked ice to a cocktail shaker, followed by crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and cream
5. Shake it up (until you feel you might get frostbite on your hands)
6. Strain into the frosted chocolate rimmed martini glass and serve

Grasshopper cocktail – photo courtesy The Mixer.

Mardi Gras Cocktails: French 75

Ingredients per person:
1 oz Gin
2 oz Champagne or Prosecco
0.5 oz Lemon juice
0.25 tsp sugar syrup (or to taste)
Sugar and a lemon slice (for the rim of the glass)
Maraschino cherry, to garnish
Ice

Method:
1. Prepare the glass by running a slice of lemon around the rim and dipping it into a shallow bowl or saucer with sugar
2. Add the gin, lemon juice, and sugar syrup to a shaker with ice – cover and shake
3. Strain the mixture into your prepared glass
4. Top off with Champagne or Prosecco
5. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry and enjoy

French 75. Photo courtesy The Mixer.

Hungry for more? Learn about New Orleans’ Oyster Trail.

Mardi Gras Cocktails: Vieux Carré

Ingredients per person:
0.75 oz rye whiskey
0.75 oz cognac
0.75 oz Cinzano Vermouth Rosso
A few dashes of bitters
0.5 oz herbal liqueur

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir well
2. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice
3. Garnish with a cherry or a lemon twist.

The Vieux Carre cocktail – photo courtesy The Mixer.

Mardi Gras Cocktails: Bourbon Hot Toddy

Ingredients per person:
2 oz Wild Turkey Bourbon Whiskey
0.25 oz Fresh lemon juice
2 tsps brown sugar
5 Cloves
Sliced lemon
Boiling water

Method:
1. Take a slice of lemon, press the cloves into the lemon round and set aside
2. Boil water and fill a mug to the three-quarter mark
3. Pour in the whiskey and lemon juice and stir in the sugar until dissolved
4. Add the clove-studded lemon wheel and allow to infuse
5. Serve in a warmed mug

Bourbon Hot Toddy photo courtesy The Mixer.

Mardi Gras Cocktails: Ramos Gin Fizz

Ingredients per person
2 oz gin
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
a few dashes of orange flower water
1 oz cream
1 egg white
2 oz club soda

Method:
1. Add all the ingredients, apart from the club soda, to a cocktail shaker and dry shake for a full minute without ice.
2. Add ice and shake until well-chilled.
3. Strain into a serving glass (we like a Collins) and top with soda.

The Ramos Gin Fizz cocktail photo courtesy The Mixer.

Hungry for more? Get The Mixer’s twists on the Negroni cocktail.

-By Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher and Managing Editor, Real Food Traveler

Save these Mardi Gras Cocktail recipes to Pinterest so you can make them anytime. Photo courtesy The Mixer. Graphic by Real Food Traveler.