Carrabba’s Italian Grill has served its Blackberry Sangria long enough that it’s become one of the chain’s best-known drinks. It’s sweet and dark purple, with an almost dessert-like vanilla finish. That finish is the part that’s hard to recreate unless you know about Tuaca.
What Carrabba’s Serves
Carrabba’s describes the drink simply as a blackberry sangria made with red wine and fruit, served over ice. It doesn’t publish a recipe. The most widely shared copycat, posted on Food.com as “supplied by a bartender at Carrabba’s,” lists red wine, cranberry juice, blackberry syrup, Tuaca liqueur and Sprite. Other copycats swap the Tuaca for a nip of brandy or add vanilla flavoring separately, which suggests they were all chasing that same vanilla note.
We couldn’t confirm current prices, which vary by location, so check your local menu. The recipe below follows the bartender build, since it’s the one that best explains the drink’s flavor.
The Tuaca Secret
Tuaca is an Italian liqueur flavored with vanilla and citrus. That combination is what most homemade sangrias lack. Brandy, the traditional sangria spirit, adds warmth and depth but not vanilla. Half an ounce of Tuaca gives the sangria a rounded, almost creamy vanilla-orange finish, and that’s the “something” people taste in Carrabba’s version and can’t name.
If you can’t find Tuaca, the closest swaps are Licor 43 (also vanilla-citrus) or brandy with a drop of vanilla extract.
Why Most Copycats Miss
Besides skipping the Tuaca, most copycats use store-bought blackberry-flavored juice or too much soda, which makes the drink thin. Homemade blackberry syrup takes 15 minutes and tastes much better. Simmer the berries with sugar and water, mash them, strain out the seeds and add a squeeze of lemon. It gives you deep color, real blackberry flavor and enough sweetness that you don’t need extra sugar.
Cranberry juice is the other quiet helper. It keeps the drink tart and stops the blackberry and vanilla from turning syrupy.
The Technique
For a single glass, build it over ice: wine, cranberry, syrup and Tuaca, stirred to chill, then topped with a splash of lemon-lime soda. Keep the soda to about an ounce and a half. Its job is lift and a little citrus, not dilution.
For a pitcher, give the fruit time: one to four hours in the fridge with the wine, cranberry, syrup and Tuaca. Add soda only to individual glasses.
Pitcher Recipe
For about six glasses:
- 1 bottle (750 ml) fruity red wine
- 8 oz (240 ml) cranberry juice
- 5 oz (150 ml) blackberry syrup
- 3 oz (90 ml) Tuaca
- 1 cup blackberries, 1 orange in thin slices
Chill, pour over ice and top each glass with 1½ oz (45 ml) lemon-lime soda.
The Mocktail Version
Strong hibiscus tea is the best wine substitute for sangria: deep red, tart and slightly drying like wine. Mix it with red grape juice for body, then add cranberry and blackberry syrup as in the original. For the Tuaca, add a single drop of vanilla extract and twist an orange peel over the glass. It’s a small adjustment, but it’s what makes the mocktail taste like Carrabba’s instead of plain berry juice.
Serving
Serve with chicken Bryan, wood-grilled steaks or a plate of calamari, or by itself on the patio.
Quick Fixes
- Too sweet? Add more cranberry juice or a squeeze of lemon, and use soda water instead of lemon-lime soda.
- Can’t taste the vanilla? Add another ¼ oz Tuaca, or a drop of vanilla extract.
- Bitter after sitting? The orange peel was in too long. Take out the slices after 4 hours.
Enjoy responsibly — must be 21+.
See all Carrabba’s copycat drinks →
