Great Sangria Recipe – No Steeping Required

As a teenager I spent a year abroad in Spain – and I can remember the preparation of the sangria for a town festival – with the long steeping of the fruits and the brandy and the Rioja and all that.

I have a general understanding of what a good authentic Sangria tastes like; and I’ll tell you right off the bat here, that this recipe doesn’t taste much like an authentic sangria…I actually think it tastes better, but I will definitely concede to a lack of authenticity.

OK, so that said, here is a great, very quick and easy recipe for a sangria that takes no advance planning whatsoever and can be made and ready to drink in minutes. This is light tasting, fruity, a little sweet, bubbly and loved by everyone I’ve ever served it to (which is a lot of people, since we serve it at the restaurant nightly!)

Easy Sangria Recipe (makes about a quart – multiply as needed)

• 2 ounces of orange juice
• ¾ ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 4 ounces of simple syrup (50% sugar – 50% water – boiled together to make a syrup)
• 2 cups of dry red wine (we use a moderately priced wine for this recipe – preferring to spend a little more on wines we’ll drink straight and a little less on wines we’ll mix with sugar, fruit and soda!)
• 1 cup of sliced mixed fruit – a lolt of different fruits will work well here, we use pineapple, banana and watermelon – but use what you have
• 1 cup of soda water

• Ice

1. Mix everything together and then taste, adding more sugar syrup or lime juice as necessary to balance out the sweet and the tart. Serve over ice cubes.

Since this is light tasting, icy cold and bubbly, it makes a great day-time drink for a warm day – but be careful, this tastes so light and goes down so easily…it’s too easy to have a little too much!