Batch drinks are the easiest way to run a game day party. Mix one pitcher or one punch bowl before kickoff, set it next to its alcohol-free twin, and spend the afternoon in the room instead of behind the counter. They also stretch the budget: one published recipe turns a single bottle of tequila into 20 to 24 margaritas, and a bottle of wine becomes 8 servings of sangria.
Super Bowl LXI is Sunday, February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Each drink below lists the servings the recipe makes, a make-ahead note and a mocktail version. For how much to buy for 8, 12 or 20 guests, see the Super Bowl party on a budget guide .
How to batch a drink so it still tastes good
- Chill everything first. The recipes that go over ice work best with cold ingredients, and the margarita recipe notes that a drink tastes sharper warm and undiluted than it will once chilled.
- Add the bubbles last. Seltzer, tonic, sparkling wine and ginger beer go in just before serving or into the glass, so the pitcher does not go flat.
- Pour over ice in the glass. Ice in the pitcher dilutes the batch by halftime.
- Label every pitcher with its name and whether it contains alcohol, and use matching pitchers for the twins.
- Make the mocktail twin as big as the cocktail. It is the drink everyone can have, including drivers.
| # | Batch drink | Serves | Mocktail twin | Make ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Classic margarita pitcher | 6 | Lime, agave and sparkling water | Chill a couple of hours |
| 2 | Margaritas for a crowd | 20 to 24 | Same lime-agave twin, bigger pitcher | Mix just before serving |
| 3 | Red wine sangria | 8 | Non-alcoholic sangria | Rest 1 to 4 hours |
| 4 | Moscow mule pitcher | 4 to 6 | Ginger beer and lime | Mix just before serving |
| 5 | Spiked Arnold Palmer | 6 | Iced tea and sparkling lemonade | Mix in a pitcher, serve over ice |
| 6 | Pitcher of Bloody Marys | 6 | The mix without vodka | Mix, then add vodka per glass |
| 7 | Cranberry, tangerine and pomegranate punch | about 20 | The juice base, topped with sparkling water | Juices ahead, top each glass |
| 8 | Mulled apple cider | about 20 cups | Skip the brandy | Simmer 45 to 60 minutes |
1. Classic margarita pitcher
The simplest batch on the list and the one most people already know. Four ingredients, one pitcher, no shaker.
Serves 6. Ingredients:
- 2 cups blanco tequila
- 2 cups lime juice, plus extra for rimming the glasses, plus 1 lime, sliced
- 3/4 cup orange liqueur
- 1/3 cup agave syrup
- Sugar, for rimming the glasses
Stir the tequila, lime juice, orange liqueur and agave in a large pitcher. Add ice if you are serving right away, or chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours if you are making it ahead. Dip each glass in lime juice, then in sugar. Add ice to the pitcher, pour, and garnish with lime slices.
Mocktail twin: the recipe has no alcohol-free version, so build one from the same idea: lime juice and agave in a pitcher, topped with sparkling water at the last moment. It keeps the lime-and-rim feel. For a ready-made alcohol-free grapefruit-and-lime pitcher, try our spicy grapefruit paloma mocktail . More margaritas to try: cranberry margarita and winter spiced margarita .
2. Margaritas for a crowd
This is the one to use if you are hosting 20 or more, because one bottle makes 20 to 24 drinks. It is served the way a bartender would, so it takes a little more effort at the table, but the mix is made once.
Makes 20 to 24 margaritas. Ingredients:
- 1 750-milliliter bottle silver tequila (use a 100 percent agave tequila)
- 1 to 2 cups orange liqueur (Cointreau or triple sec)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, plus several tablespoons extra for rimming the glasses
- Several tablespoons coarse salt, for rimming the glasses
- About 1 gallon of ice cubes
Just before serving, combine the tequila, the smaller amount of orange liqueur and the lime juice in a half-gallon pitcher. Taste it and add more liqueur if you want it sweeter. The recipe points out you are tasting it warm and undiluted, and that chilling and dilution will mellow the lime. To serve, measure 2 ounces of the mix per drink, shake it with ice for 10 to 15 seconds and strain it into a salt-rimmed glass. A 2-ounce ladle left in the pitcher makes this faster.
Mocktail twin: use the same pitcher of lime juice with agave and sparkling water, as in number 1, in a bigger quantity.
3. Red wine sangria
Sangria is made for rich party food and it improves with a rest. One bottle becomes 8 servings.
Serves 8. Ingredients:
- 1 bottle Spanish red wine
- 1/3 cup superfine sugar
- 1 orange, thinly sliced
- 1 red apple, thinly sliced
- 1 mango, pit removed and sliced
- 1 cup orange juice
- Pinch of salt
- One 12-ounce can seltzer water
- Ice cubes
Stir the wine and sugar in a large pitcher until the sugar dissolves. Add everything except the seltzer and mix. Chill the pitcher for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. Just before serving, stir in the seltzer and ice.
Mocktail twin: non-alcoholic sangria. Makes 4 servings, so double it for 8.
- 1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 orange, juiced
- 1 orange, sectioned
- 3/4 cup cranberry-grape juice frozen concentrate, thawed
- A tiny pinch of ground cinnamon
- 3 cups seltzer water
Stir the apple and lemon juice in a pitcher, then add the orange juice, the orange sections, the juice concentrate and the cinnamon. Let it sit for 1 hour, up to 12 hours. Just before serving, add the seltzer and pour over ice. More sangria for a party: blood orange cranberry sangria , winter sangria recipes and our non-alcoholic sangria for pitchers .
4. Moscow mule pitcher
Ginger beer, vodka and lime in a pitcher. No syrup to make, no muddling.
Serves 4 to 6. Ingredients:
- 36 ounces chilled ginger beer
- 2 cups chilled vodka
- 1 lime, juiced
Fill a 2- or 3-quart pitcher halfway with ice. Add the ginger beer, vodka and lime juice and stir. Serve in copper mugs, or plain glasses.
Mocktail twin: the same pitcher without the vodka is a ginger beer and lime drink. For a fuller alcohol-free mule, see our peach Moscow mule mocktail ; for the cocktail, the cranberry Moscow mule .
5. Spiked Arnold Palmer
Iced tea and lemonade is easy to love and easy to serve to people who do not want a heavy drink.
Serves 6. Ingredients:
- 3 cups iced tea
- 1 1/2 cups sparkling lemonade
- 1 1/2 cups limoncello
- Citrus ice cubes, optional
Combine the tea, lemonade and limoncello in a pitcher and stir. Divide among 6 glasses filled with ice and serve with straws.
Mocktail twin: leave out the limoncello. The iced tea and sparkling lemonade is already a complete drink. To pour a pitcher that works for both groups, keep the tea and lemonade in one pitcher and put the limoncello in a small jug next to it for guests to add. See also bourbon peach sweet tea .
6. Pitcher of Bloody Marys
A savory one for an afternoon game. The mix is alcohol-free on its own: you add the vodka to the glass, so the mocktail twin is the same pitcher.
Serves 6. Ingredients:
- 6 limes, juiced
- 1 tablespoon celery seeds
- 3 tablespoons grated fresh or prepared horseradish
- 2 quarts tomato juice, chilled
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups pepper vodka, chilled in the freezer
- Celery stalks, cucumber spears and fresh cilantro, for serving
Combine the lime juice, celery seed and horseradish in a pitcher and muddle with a wooden spoon. Pour in the tomato juice, hot sauce and Worcestershire, season with salt and pepper and stir. Divide the vodka among 6 tall, chilled glasses filled with ice, fill with the mix, add the celery and cucumber and garnish with cilantro.
Mocktail twin: serve the mix over ice with the same garnishes and leave the vodka out. The recipe is built so the alcohol is added to each glass, which makes this the easiest twin on the list.
7. Cranberry, tangerine and pomegranate punch
The punch bowl option for a big crowd: one bowl, one ladle, about 20 servings.
Serves about 20. Ingredients:
- 1 package (12 ounces) fresh cranberries, for the swizzle sticks
- 1 bunch fresh mint, for the swizzle sticks
- 2 cups pomegranate juice
- 3 cups fresh tangerine juice
- 5 cups cranberry juice cocktail
- 2 bottles (750 milliliters each) chilled champagne or other sparkling wine
Spear 3 cranberries and 2 mint leaves on each wooden skewer and chill them for up to an hour. Stir the fruit juices in a large punch bowl or pitcher. Fill glasses with ice, ladle in about 1/2 cup of punch, top with sparkling wine and garnish with a swizzle stick.
Mocktail twin: the juice base contains no alcohol, so offer the same punch bowl and top the glass with chilled sparkling water or ginger ale instead of sparkling wine. Guests top their own glass, so one bowl serves both groups. For more punch ideas, see our non-alcoholic Christmas punch , jingle juice punch and summer punch bowl station .
8. Mulled apple cider
The only hot drink on the list, and in a February game it is the one people will keep going back for. The brandy is added at the end, so the pot is a mocktail until then.
Makes about 5 quarts (20 cups). Ingredients:
- 1 gallon apple cider
- 3 Granny Smith apples
- 1 orange
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
- 1 tablespoon allspice berries
- 5 to 7 cinnamon sticks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup apple brandy or regular brandy
Pour the cider into a large pot over medium-high heat. Dice the apples and add them. Peel the orange rind in large pieces and add that, with the cranberries, allspice, cinnamon sticks and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar, bring to a low boil, then reduce to low and simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour. Add the brandy and simmer 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve warm.
Mocktail twin: simmer the same pot without the brandy, or ladle out a pot before adding it and put the brandy in the rest. Keep it warm in a slow cooker. Our own mulled apple cider page and the hot apple cider bar have serving ideas.
Serving and storage
- Count your glasses. Plan on more than one drink per person. Food Network’s party calculator says guests typically drink 2 drinks in the first hour and 1 each hour after.
- Ice. The same calculator says to buy 2 pounds of ice per guest.
- Cold, not warm. Keep pitchers in the fridge until guests arrive, then move them to a table on a tray.
- Hot cider. A slow cooker on the warm setting works, and the cord should stay out of the walkway.
Super Bowl batch cocktail questions
How many batch cocktails do I need for 20 people?
Use Food Network’s rule of 2 drinks in the first hour and 1 each hour after. This plan assumes a 4-hour party, which is 5 drinks per guest, or 100 drinks for 20. One bottle of tequila makes 20 to 24 margaritas in the crowd recipe and the punch serves about 20, so 5 batches of either would cover every drink. Many guests will drink water and soda too, so you will need fewer.
Can I make batch cocktails the night before?
Mix the base and add anything bubbly at the last moment. The sangria base rests 1 to 4 hours, the non-alcoholic sangria 1 to 12 hours, and the margarita pitcher can chill for a couple of hours. Do not hold the mixes longer than their recipe says.
What is the cheapest batch cocktail for a crowd?
The one with the most servings per bottle. The margaritas for a crowd (20 to 24 per bottle of tequila) and the cranberry punch (about 20 servings) scale the furthest. Prices vary, so compare the bottles at your own store.
What mocktails can I serve with batch cocktails?
Every drink on this list has an alcohol-free version, from the non-alcoholic sangria to the juice base of the punch. For more, see batch mocktails guests can pour themselves and batch mocktail recipes for large gatherings .
What should I pour them from?
A pitcher with a lid or a spout, or a punch bowl with a ladle. See the best pitchers for batch drinks and vintage pitchers for batch cocktails .
