Tell me your favorite sangria recipe
Posted by veggydog on Jun 12, 2010 · Member since Sep 2006 · 1196 posts
I've been having a hankerin' for sangria lately, but I've never made it myself. There are 4 million different recipes on the web and I don't know which one to use. So tell me your favorite, please!
Well...from the city that invented it... ;)b
You can use any decent, not terribly expensive red wine. Some people bump it up by adding a couple of shots of brandy or gin. I don't. If you do, add 1/4 c sugar to the spirits, dissolve, and put in the bottom of the pitcher, then add the juice of one orange and one lemon, then pour the wine on top. Some people dilute the mixture with club soda or 7UP for the fizz. Again, I don't, but if you use 7UP you don't need sugar added.
Cut up oranges and any other fruit you fancy; bruise a couple of cinnamon sticks (one or two cloves are optional) and add all this. Chill well. Ice in the pitcher, or in the glasses.
1 bottle red wine, 1 bottle white wine. juice of 1 orange. Add chopped fruit: lime, lemon, orange, grapes, pears, whatever. I add a couple shots of fruit flavored brandy along with a splash or fruit juice (pineapple is great).
I like to make a white sangria in the summer. Which is 1 bottle white wine, 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup lemon lime soda (for the fizz), peach, plum, a sweet apple, berries or mango.
It is kind of just a matter of finding a wine you like and the right combination of citrus to cut it and which fruits are in season, ripe and delish to add to it.
A friend of mine makes great Sangria. Actually, I don't know if it's technically sangria. She uses a tasty red wine--whatever strikes her fancy and cuts up TONS of fruit to put in it: apples, strawberries, melons, oranges, blackberries--and lets it sit in the fridge overnight. It's very tasty. But since nothing else is added it may just be wine with fruit and not really Sangria.
To purists here, the absolute bedrock recipe is: red wine, fruit, juice of the lemon and orange, cinnamon sticks. Clove optional, most people find it overpowering if it has to sit long. Spirits, sugar and fizz are options.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys! I'm going to try it out for a get together this weekend. I think I'm leaning toward Yabbit's more traditional red wine version. Fruit flavored brandy also sounds like a fine idea. I'll let you know how it comes out.
Yabbit, I wouldn't have thought of the cinnamon sticks, but it sounds really right. How, pray tell, does one bruise cinnamon sticks? Hit em with a hammer?
You can tap them with a small hammer, or if you have a mortar and pestle, give em a bash or two with the pestle. Don't break them up, just tap the bark to release the oil. If you have long sticks, break them up by hand into shorter pieces, about 2 in long, and roll them between your fingers as you drop them into the jug. Or drop them in your jug and press hard with a wooden spoon against the bottom.
I followed Yabbit's recipe, with added sugar and lemon/lime seltzer. Next time I won't add the seltzer; it really diluted it too much. I guess I'll just have to practice all summer until I get it right. ;)
I followed Yabbit's recipe, with added sugar and lemon/lime seltzer. Next time I won't add the seltzer; it really diluted it too much. I guess I'll just have to practice all summer until I get it right. ;)
Poor you...looks like it's gonna be a rough summer! ^-^
I have to say, if you can get Yago brand ready-made sangria it is not half bad.
And...if you're tempted to slice bananas into sangria...well, just don't. My housemother did when I was a student--sangria was her way to use up fruit on Saturday. But bananas are not a felicitous choice.