Caramel Apple Sangria is a light, refreshing, delicious, and easy fall sangria recipe that’s perfect for crowds. This apple pie sangria is made with apple cider, caramel vodka, white wine, ginger ale, cinnamon, and fresh fruit in a pitcher. I call this my Thanksgiving Sangria because it’s Autumn in a glass, and it’s always a hit on holidays!
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What’s in this Fall Sangria Recipe?
This apple sangria tastes like a slice of apple pie! You only need a few things to make this tasty caramel apple pitcher cocktail. It’s one of my favorite sangria recipes!
- Apple Cider: Apple cider creates a sweet, juicy, and fresh apple flavor for the base of this sangria. Use your favorite cider from the store or apple orchard, or try making Instant Pot apple cider.
- Wine: Use a white wine of your choosing–dry or sweet both work, depending on your taste preference. I recommend Pinot Grigio.
- Caramel Vodka: This is what adds that sweet caramel apple flavor to this cocktail. You can make this apple pie vodka instead.
- Apples: I love honeycrisp apples, but you can use your favorite type. These will sit in the pitcher of sangria and infuse more flavor.
- Pears: More fruit to infuse flavor into the sangria.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon sticks will infuse a warm spiced flavor just by sitting in the liquid.
- Ginger Ale: Ginger ale adds a bubbly texture and a kick of ginger flavor.
Pro Tip: If you like sweet wines, try this caramel apple sangria with moscato instead! You could also use a sparkling apple cider to increase the bubbly effect.
Can I make this apple sangria with regular vodka instead?
Absolutely! If you use a regular, unflavored vodka, you’ll still have a delicious apple pie sangria recipe. If you don’t have caramel vodka but still want that extra flavor, add a generous amount of caramel sauce or syrup at the bottom of the pitcher with the fresh fruit.
For best results, I recommend making a caramel simple syrup, or use a caramel flavored coffee syrup.
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This caramel apple sangria can be made with whichever wine you prefer, but it will change the overall flavor. I recommend a dry white wine like Pinot Grigio. A sweet white wine like moscato or riesling will, obviously, make it taste much sweeter and fruitier. A sparkling white wine will add a fizzy component.
If apple juice is all you have, you can use it instead, but I highly recommend using apple cider for the best flavor. Cider and juice are made differently, so cider has a much deeper and more authentic apple flavor, while juice is much weaker.
In order for all of the ingredients to mix and meld together, I recommend refrigerating your apple pie sangria for at least 2 hours before serving. The longer it sits, the more the cinnamon and fresh fruit flavors will infuse into the liquid.
How to Make Ahead and Store
This caramel apple sangria needs time to “marinate” in the refrigerator, so it’s best to make it at least 2 hours ahead of serving time. Combine ingredients, stir, and simply let it sit in the fridge. Leave the ginger ale out until right before serving.
If you have leftovers, store the pitcher in the fridge up to 2 days. The ginger ale will lose its carbonation, but it will still taste yummy.
Serving Suggestions
This caramel apple pie sangria recipe tastes amazing with all your favorite apple desserts and dishes. Serve it along with apple baked brie, apple butter and skillet bread, apple cake, or apple crisp. For dinner, it pairs beautifully with apple butter pork chops or apple ginger glazed ham.
If you make this recipe be sure to upload a photo in the comment section below or leave a rating. Enjoy!
Caramel Apple Sangria | Apple Pie Sangria
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Ingredients
- 2 bottles white wine standard size white table wine or pinot grigio
- 5 cups fresh apple cider
- 1 cup caramel vodka (or make your own Apple Pie Vodka!) (see note)
- 4 honey crisp apples chopped
- 2 pears chopped
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 cup ginger ale
Instructions
- Cut the fresh apples and pear, and place in the bottom of your pitcher or jug.4 honey crisp apples, 2 pears
- Add white wine, apple cider, caramel vodka into the pitcher, and stir well.2 bottles white wine, 5 cups fresh apple cider, 1 cup caramel vodka (or make your own Apple Pie Vodka!)
- Let sangria sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
- About 1 hour before serving, add the cinnamon sticks into the pitcher of sangria. Stir well and refrigerate.2 cinnamon sticks
- Stir in the ginger ale just before serving.2 cup ginger ale
- Serve chilled or over ice.
- Enjoy!
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
Nutrition Information
Help!! Made for tgiving and the white wine I used is more bitter and dry…how can I sweeten this drink up for tomorrow???? THANKS
You could double the batch, add more cider, vodka, and then use moscato. That should sweeten it quite a bit and mask the other wine. Possibly adding more cider alone would really help. I hope it works out!!
THAT WORKED! TY!!!
I’m so glad!!!
I made mine last night also it was kind of better I added more caramel vodka and if it’s still better this morning I think I’m going to add some brown sugar
did the brown sugar help? hope you guys had a happy thanksgiving!!
Making this tomorrow! :) I couldn’t find caramel vodka but found salted caramel vodka. Hope it’s still as good with that!
Ooooo I bet that will be tasty!
Im making this for thanksgiving tomorrow and just went to the store to buy everything for it. I couldn’t find the honey crisp apples so i just got granny smith and red delicious. Im also going to do a caramel sauce rim with cinnamon sugar and i also bought fresh cranberries to add some color. Im going to make it with a couple bottles of Riesling since thats what i have on hand. thanks for the recipe im really excited to make it since i love sangria and my family does too.
Wow that sounds delicious!!! I LOVE all of your ideas! Thanks so much for sharing. Let me know how you like it!!
Going to be making this tonight for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I’m using moscato. All of my in laws are big wine drinkers and I’m hoping this will be a nice change to the expensive bottles of wine we drink at every get together. Thanks for the recipe!
oh I totally agree about the cost factor. I love that about this drink. I hope they love it!!! thanks for checking it out, happy thanksgiving!!!
hi i am going to double this for our thanksgiving get together what do you think of caramel vodka and apply pie moonshine just a thought
I’ve never had apple pie moonshine but I’ve heard it’s fantastic. I would add take out a little of the cider and replace with the moonshine, taste as you go to get the right combo. I bet a little goes a long way. Good luck and happy thanksgiving!!
I can’t wait to try this – it looks delicious, and I am planning to make it for Thanksgiving! just wondering if you have ever tried using one bottle of a sweeter wine, with one bottle of a drier wine, say a bottle of moscato and a bottle of pinot, instead of using 2 bottles of the same. Just wondering how you think that would turn out. I’m reading your recipe and the comments, and just trying to decide which type of wine to use, and I’m wondering how it would work using one bottle of each wine…..I’m leaning towards using a table wine or a moscato, but just wondering if you had an opinion on how that might turn out. Thanks!
i actually think that would be delicious! very good idea. we made it on Saturday again for thanksgiving, and I had one and a half bottles of table wine, and 1/2 bottle of sauvignon blanc….so I improvised. it turned out great. I hope you like it!! let me know how it turns out if you use both kinds. happy thanksgiving!
I made this with a bottle of moscato and a bottle of pinot grigo. I also ended up having to use apple juice – I couldn’t find apple cider anywhere! – and it still came out very good! Everyone enjoyed it and there was almost nothing left in the jug at the end of the day! I used the Simply Apple – to me it seemed the closest to cider than the other apple juice options out there. Next time I find apple cider though, I am going to buy some just to make this!
yay! love hearing that!! I think I would like it with apple juice too…the cinnamon probably helps it end up tasting quite a bit like cider still. I’m so glad you enjoyed it, thank you so much for the feedback :)
Will chardonnay or sauvignon work? Which would be better?
Hi Emily- I think either would work, although they would make the drink much less sweet. If you like the taste of Chardonnay or Sauvignon I think it would be good. I think the Sauvignon would probably be the better of the two. If you want the drink to be sweet, go with a white blend or a moscato. Hope that helps!
Made this drink for thanksgiving and it was a HIT!!! Made it with moscato and after next day I drained all the wine from apples in a strainer and used the apple and pears for an adult apple pear crisp with vanilla ice cream OMG BEST EVA ;) I recommend everyone try this, you will not be disappointed ;)
yay!!!!!! I’m so glad it worked out. and your idea about using the fruit is genius!!! I can’t wait to try that.
Can you tell me how many people you feel this wil serve?
i think it would serve 8-10 if they had 1-2 large drinks each. 4-5 if more than 2 drinks each. hope that helps!
Going to surprise family in Chicago for thanksgiving think I will make this over there, going to use a Pinot Grigio and put cinnamon on rims, thanx for sharing ;)
what a cute idea on the cinnamon! I love that!
Gianna- ive tried it with both pinot and with a sweet table wine like is listed in the ingredient list. we liked it both ways, but I do prefer it sweeter (so the table wine or a moscato) but my husband liked it less sweet and preferred the pinot grigio. all personal preference. hope you enjoy it! let me know!
Actually when I made the Sangria this past weekend, I used a very dry Pinot Grigio and the general feeling was that a Moscato would have been a better fit. I know IF I ever made it again, and you should never say never, I would use a Moscato. I think you if you are not a big wine drinker, and we are not, something a little sweeter and bubbly would be more tantalizing. Just a thought!
good advice! thanks for the input
We made this to enjoy while watching the Chief’s game tonight. Delicious and a fun drink even for those who don’t enjoy wine. This will become a game-day favorite. If the Chiefs win, it will become our good-luck drink and we will make it again next week.
So glad you guys like it! I want to make it for thanksgiving when bill and Betty are over. GO CHIEFS!!!!!