Spicy Bloody Mary Recipe

This Spicy Bloody Mary recipe is so delicious and full of flavor. It’s about to become your new weekend favorite.

What Is A Bloody Mary Cocktail?

The Bloody Mary is a popular brunch beverage that is sometimes lauded as a hangover cure. The base of this cocktail is tomato juice and vodka. There’s also usually lemon or lime juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. 

Other spices and ingredients may be included depending on the recipe and they are often served with fun garnishes. There are even Pickle Juice Bloody Marys if you love that briny flavor and the Bloody Maria which uses tequila instead of vodka.

What Makes It A Spicy Bloody Mary Recipe?

This cocktail recipe is a fairly standard Bloody Mary but with a bit more hot sauce and horseradish than usual. Keep in mind, hot sauces can range in heat levels from fairly mild hot sauces like Franks and Tabasco to very hot sauces made from habanero or ghost peppers, so select one perfect for your taste and preferred level of heat.

There are other things you can add for extra heat, like some jalapeno slices, a pinch of black pepper, the juice from spicy pickled okra or spicy pickled green beans, some sriracha, a bit of chipotle in adobo, the list goes on.

In terms of adding extra flavor in other ways, a lot of people like to add some pickle juice or olive brine. I would substitute that in for the lemon juice but add a bit extra.

Should I Use A Cocktail Shaker?

Some people make their Bloody Mary directly in the glass, measuring the ingredients in and stirring it up. I find that a cocktail shaker gets everything really cold and my finished drink doesn’t get any waterier from the ice in the glass because it’s all already so cold. 

But I will say that I also always chill my tomato juice before making this cocktail. That means that even less ice is going to melt and dilute things. We’re after such a nice spicy flavor here, we don’t want to water any of it down.

Making A Batch Of Cocktails

The recipe at the bottom is for one drink. However, I do find that the best way to make the best Spicy Bloody Mary is to make it in a batch that can then sit in the fridge where the flavors meld and deepen. To do that, you’ll get out a pitcher and measure in the following.

• 4 cups of tomato juice
• 8 ounces vodka
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. horseradish
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. hot sauce

1. Stir it and then put it into the fridge for at least 2 hours, but a good 24 hours is the best. Then you can skip the cocktail shaker because it’s already so cold.
2. Instead, prep 4 glasses by cutting a slit in a wedge of lime and running it along the rim of the glasses. Then dip the wetted rims in celery salt. If you’d like more explanation on how to do this, here’s my tutorial for salting the rims of glasses.
3. Add 1/2 cup of ice cubes to each glass and then pour in the mixture you’ve made.

If you look at the recipe closely, you’ll see it’s a bit different in terms of amounts than the one below. That’s because you’re not going to get the ice melting in the cocktail shaker and watering things down. So, to make up the difference, I increase the amount of tomato juice, but then slightly decrease the amount of lemon juice, lime juice, and horseradish so that they’re a bit less harsh.

Don’t Forget Garnishes!

I’m a purist and like my Bloody Mary garnished with a simple stick of celery. But, if you want to show off, here are some Bloody Mary garnish ideas.

Or, garnish with a pepperoncini pepper, maybe put it on a skewer with some spicy pepperoni or black pepper crusted bacon. So good! I also have enjoyed spicy pickled okra or spicy pickled green beans as garnishes, so those are great if you have them. You can also get fancy by adding shrimp to your garnish. Or try a spicy rim by replacing the celery salt around the glass with a spicy blend like Tajin seasoning.

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