When the temperature hit 80 degrees F last week, my thoughts turned to summery drinks. Perfect timing for this red wine single serve sangria. Sure, you can double or triple the recipe if you’re having a romantic evening or have invited guests over. You could even make a huge pitcher for a big group.
But if you’re in the mood and the weather cooperates, don’t feel obligated to make more than this single glass for your own enjoyment.
I was inspired to try this fruity wine drink by my Secret Recipe partner for April, Sarah, of Things I Make for Dinner. Sarah, a Canadian, says her hobbies are cooking, travel, and sleeping. I had to laugh at that description; it takes self-confidence to tell the world that you love to sleep. I’ll bet she has wonderful dreams.
If you aren’t familiar with the Secret Recipe Club, here’s how it works. We each get randomly assigned another blogger, whose site we check out and introduce to our own readers. Then we pick a recipe from that site to make, or to use as inspiration.
My favorite part of Sarah’s blog is her magazine challenge. After realizing that she had 5 years worth of Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food and hadn’t used the magazines to make many recipes, Sarah began her recipe challenge. Since 2013 she has posted a list of the recipes in each issue of that magazine, with links to the recipes she has made and blogged about.
Reading her recaps has tempted me to try Vietnamese steak sandwiches (also known as Banh Mi), pork tenderloin with rosemary, and coffee cake muffins. But when it came time to pick a recipe to blog about, I chose one of her own, pineapple sangria.
Sarah’s recipe makes a huge pitcher of sangria. My first idea was to simply cut down her recipe to make a single glass. However, as I began to pull together the ingredients, instead I decided to provide a template. My red wine single serve sangria has only one required ingredient, the wine. All the rest of the ingredients are choices within categories; fruit juices, fruit, and a sparkling component. If too many options or open-ended directions make you crazy, just follow the specifics of what I used.
There is no cooking and barely any preparation involved. Cutting up a few fruits and stirring the juice and fruit into the wine take no time at all.
Tips for Making Red Wine Single Serve Sangria
- Choose a wine that goes well with fruit. I tend to like lighter reds, but a medium-bodied red such as Merlot works too. This post has an interesting list of possibilities. The wine need not be expensive, just drinkable.
- The flavors of wine and fruit need time to meld together and the drink is best when it is well-chilled. If you can plan ahead, put the wine and fruit elements together in the morning for drinking at night.
- Use a variety of fruits. Colorful bits of fruit look divine floating in the sangria. Pineapple tastes great; just keep in mind that pineapple bits take on the red tint of the wine.
- For a sweeter sangria, use pineapple, apricot, or similarly sweet juices, or mix one of them half-and-half with orange juice. A medium-sized navel orange yields about 2 tablespoons of juice, half of the required juice component. Some sangria recipes include sugar, but I prefer one like Sarah’s that relies on the fruit for sweetness.
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Red Wine Single Serve Sangria
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1/4 cup fruit juice E.g. orange, pineapple, or similar sweet - not lemon or lime)
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup thinly sliced or small pieces of fruit E.g. orange, apple, raspberries, strawberries, pineapple
- 1/2 cup seltzer sparkling water, club soda or lightly sweetened soda
Instructions
-
Add the fruit juices and the sliced and/or chopped fruit to the red wine. Refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour, preferably longer.
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Just before serving, add the sparkling component.
Sid says
Love your choice this month. I love Sangria but have never made it, because I’m the only one who would drink it here. And I rarely want more than just a glass of it. This is perfect for me. Great choice, and directions.
Laura says
Thanks Sid. Hope you’ll now be able to enjoy many (single) glasses of sangria while others drink whatever they want.
SallyBR says
Very popular drink in Brazil, I must admit I never had it, though – I like the idea of making just one glass or a couple of glasses to share with a special someone
the idea of having a ton of sangria around is a bit dangerous, I imagine it’s the kind of drink that can easily turn into a hangover next morning 😉
Laura says
Haha Sally. You’re right that it’s a bit dangerous to have a pitcher hanging around. I only had this one glass and enjoyed it while I cooked dinner. Glad I didn’t make more:)
Katie Zeller says
This sounds much more refreshing than the typical Spanish sangria. And I like making it in the morning… Then I can sit on the balcony and watch the sun set while I sip.
Laura says
Katie, It’s definitely less sugary than typical sangria – and that’s a plus for me. And as to sitting on the balcony sipping it, can I join you? I promise to bring my own glass of sangria and not mooch off yours:)
Katie Zeller says
And true Spanish sangria has brandy in it – which makes it rather strong lol
Laura says
Katie, Hmm, I didn’t know that. Thanks for letting me know. Guess I’ll stick to the inauthentic kind, so I don’t get truly soused.
Anna says
What a perfect recipe! I never thought of making a single glass of sangria, though it seems so obvious. I love that you wrote it up as a template. So many choices! Would it be bad to try them all?
Laura says
Anna, Thanks. You should definitely try all the possibilities:) After all, when the warm weather arises, you’ll want to know which is your favorite.
pam says
Sounds perfect! I would love it if you would link it up to Tipsy Tuesday at Grey is the New Black!
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables says
This is such a cool idea!! I generally save sangria for parties because I have to make a big batch but this is perfect!
Laura says
Liz, So nice to “see” you. I love your blog. Definitely worth trying this single glass – so nice to have one when you’re not having a party.
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says
Hey, I want MY new hobby to be sleeping! Love your formula recipe here…very practical.
Great SRC choice!
Laura says
Dorothy, So you can join me in the new hobby club – Sleepytime. And I don’t mean tea. Thanks for your kind words about the blogpost.
Katie says
This is great! Have you tried it with white wine too? I prefer red but most of my friends only like white wine.
Laura says
Katie, I haven’t tried it with white wine, but I’ll bet it would be just delicious. If you do try it, let me know what you think. Hmmm, wondering if I should try it tonight:)?
Paul v Kirker says
Would something like 7-uo work in this Sangria?
Laura says
Personally, I would find 7-up too sweet to use in this recipe and I prefer to let the sweetness of the fruit shine through. But if you like 7-up, go ahead and try it.