Opinion Cheers! 10 festive vegan drinks to make this Christmas

Discover the best recipes for vegan eggnog, mojitos, mulled wine, Christmas punch, and spiced hot chocolate, plus tips for finding vegan-friendly alcohol in stores!

A quick heads up if you’re looking to buy or make vegan-friendly drinks this Christmas: There are plenty of options out there, but not all alcoholic beverages are vegan. 

Weird, I know! Most hard liquors like gin, rum, whiskey, vodka, and bourbon are free from animal products – apart from a few that contain honey – but many wines and beers are filtered using egg whites, isinglass (derived from fish bladder), and gelatine (derived from animal bones). 

Thankfully, more and more brewers these days are using animal-free filtration alternatives like bentonite clay, limestone, carbon, plant casein, or kaolin clay, which frankly all sound like much more palatable options 😅🌿 

I highly recommend bookmarking Barnivore’s directory of vegan-friendly beer, wine, and liquor to save yourself from having to squint at any ingredient labels in stores. 

With that tipple-tip out the way, here are some of the VegKit team’s favourite cocktails, winter warmers, and mocktails to get you in the Christmas spirit:  

Boozy Beverages

Christmassy ‘Eggnog’ with Soy Milk

It’s actually super easy to make decadent, creamy eggnog without using any egg! So … just ‘nog’, I guess? Short and definitely sweet, this classic drink is a must-have for any self-respecting Christmas menu. 

White Christmas Mojito

Dare you to find a more ironic refreshment for the inevitably muggy Aussie Christmas day we have every year … If we can’t have an actual white Christmas, the next best thing is to stay cool by sipping on one!

Cranberry Orange Mimosa

Add another burst of colour to the table with these ridiculously easy-to-prepare cranberry orange mimosas. Only four main ingredients required!

Classic Mulled Wine

No festive drinks list would be complete without at least one cosy mulled wine recipe. This one’s my absolute favourite because it includes specific tips about which wines work best, which is great for mulled wine first-timers – taking out all the guesswork! 

Ginger Cranberry Fizz

This ginger cranberry fizz recipe is amazing spiked with gin or white whiskey, but you could easily leave it out and serve it as a mocktail instead. Such a good flavour combo!

Oaty VegNog 

Because one vegan eggnog recipe just wasn’t enough 😉 This version features a slightly different blend of spices, uses a light oat milk base rather than soy, and has sweet chocolate cream dolloped on top!

Christmas Punch

Another lively recipe that’s easily converted into a mocktail if you prefer. It looks gorgeous either way and is packed with the bright, zesty notes of cranberries, oranges, and pomegranate.

Maple-Spiced Mulled Cider

This golden, spiced mulled cider only takes 20 minutes to brew, and it tastes just as glowy and comforting as it looks!

Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Spiced Hot Chocolate 

With subtle notes of chilli, turmeric, and orange bringing out the richness of the dark chocolate, this might just be the best hot chocolate recipe around.

Cucumber & Lime Mocktail

This gloriously green mocktail is ridiculously easy go-to for Christmas. Light, minty, and refreshing, it’s the perfect palate cleanser to sip in between bites of rich festive dishes.

That’s drinks sorted! Onto the rest of the menu…

Whatever it is you still need recipe ideas for – whether it’s a ’meaty’ main course, sides, salads, vegan cheeses, platter ideas, pastas, ‘seafood’ alternatives, Christmas puddings, mince pies, or other decadent desserts, VegKit’s got you covered.

And who says the feast has to be all home-cooked? There are heaps of delicious vegan Christmas food items available in stores and online that can help simplify your festive meal plan (and save you some time and energy).

As someone who firmly believes we all deserve to spend less time in the kitchen and more time luxuriating in a blissful food coma over the holidays, I’ll cheers to that!

Header image: © Cupful of Kale