Make The Easiest 3-Ingredient Cocktail With This Grocery Store Drink

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Let's be honest: complicated cocktails can be a real treat but are often best left to the experts when you go out. At home, and especially when serving up a group of guests, the simpler, the better. You want a quick and streamlined recipe that still produces something special and flavorful. There are plenty of delicious cocktails that only require three ingredients, but there's one in particular that's refreshing, complex, sophisticated, and so easy to make, especially with one very available grocery store ingredient you might already have in your fridge. It's the cherry pomegranate martini, using POM pomegranate cherry juice.

This vibrant pink cocktail is similar to the classic cosmopolitan in both color and flavor profile, making it one of the best drinks to make for a Galentine's Day. A cosmo calls for a combination of tart, bittersweet cranberry, sweet yet bright citrus, and acidic lime for its balanced character. The cherry pomegranate martini achieves the same harmony with pomegranate, cherry, and lemon. And using POM juice simplifies your ingredient list because you can check two flavor boxes with one juice. This POM variety is super flavor-forward with the bright tartness of pomegranate, which also weaves in subtle tanginess and earthiness, plus the sweetness of cherry. All you need to add is lemon for some acid and vodka for the cocktail's actual booze.

While consuming alcohol is a bit of an indulgence and never healthy, it doesn't hurt that POM brings some nutrition to this cocktail. This juice is a good source of potassium, which boosts muscle health and can help reduce blood pressure. Pomegranate itself is rich in antioxidants — it can also aid in lowering blood pressure, supporting heart health, warding off infections, and decreasing inflammation. 

To make this cherry pomegranate martini, add the POM, lemon juice, and vodka to a cocktail shaker over ice, shake, and then strain into a chilled glass. Vodka keeps the flavor profile centered on the pomegranate, cherry, and lemon, but such a fruity combo would work well with other spirits like rum, tequila, or gin. The first two could take this drink in a more tropical direction, while gin would offer some botanical complexity.

If you are up for adding a fourth ingredient and want to get creative, especially as you return to this recipe for various occasions, there are plenty of options. Make it bubbly by adding soda water (but not before you shake it). You can bolster the cherry, pomegranate, or lemon with similarly flavored seltzers or add a new flavor like orange or lime. Add a liqueur like Chambord or Cointreau for a touch of extra booze and sweetness with raspberry or orange flavors. Or, make a flavored simple syrup with orange zest, cherries, or rose. To garnish, add maraschino cherries, a lemon peel, or both.