How to Make Ina Garten’s 2-Ingredient Raspberry Royale

Making cocktails to order when hosting guests can be challenging, even for the most experienced of hosts. Often, my strategy is to pre-batch a mixed drink and serve it in a punch bowl, so I can avoid measuring and shaking each individual tipple as I entertain guests, but there’s something extra impressive about assembling and serving each cocktail individually.

Leave it to the queen of hosting, Ina Garten, to come up with a solution for all the issues above, creating a drink that’s both delicious and easy to whip up in two seconds as each guest arrives. Earlier this summer, the cookbook author and food television star shared a clip online demonstrating how to make a two-ingredient cocktail that she calls a “Raspberry Royale.”

If that name sounds somewhat familiar, it’s because it’s a riff on another classic cocktail, featuring a different fruity flavor. Garten’s creation is refreshing and subtly sweet, making it ideal for hot summer days, celebrations, and holiday parties. Simply put, there’s never a bad time to serve the Barefoot Contessa’s Raspberry Royale.

How to make Ina Garten’s two-ingredient Raspberry Royale cocktail

It’s time to get out your champagne flutes because this drink involves a bottle of bubbly. Before your guests arrive, you’ll pour one teaspoon of red raspberry liqueur into each glass. Garten doesn’t specify which brand of liqueur she’s using, but judging by the packaging of the bottle, it’s probably Mathilde Framboise raspberry liqueur.

You can find fruit liqueurs in most wine and spirits stores—just ask an employee where to find them. Of course, you don’t have to use red raspberry liqueur either. Chambord, a classic black raspberry liqueur, would be a great alternative.

After portioning out servings of raspberry liqueur, Garten waits to top each glass with Champagne just before serving. (Although the Food Network star recommends Champagne for this, judging by the DOC label on her bottle in the Instagram clip, she’s likely using Prosecco. Any dry, bubbly wine would work, and the bright, crisp flavors of Prosecco would pair perfectly — and cost less — when mixed with a liqueur.)

Garten doesn’t specify how much Champagne to pour into each glass, and you really don’t need to measure it. If you’re using a standard Champagne flute or any similar-sized glass, just pour as much as you typically would for a plain glass of sparkling wine.

As the Barefoot Contessa mentions, you can optionally garnish the drink with two or three raspberries, but it’s not required. While Garten doesn’t suggest this herself, I’d recommend using frozen raspberries for a garnish if you’re serving these cocktails when it’s hot out — they’ll help keep the drink cold without diluting it.

This is a take on another classic cocktail

The name of Ina Garten’s simple drink clearly hints at its inspiration. The Raspberry Royale is a variation on a Kir Royale, a nearly identical two-ingredient cocktail made with Champagne and crème de cassis, a black currant liqueur. (This, in turn, is a variation of a Kir cocktail, which combines crème de cassis with still white wine.)

Raspberry or blackcurrant liqueurs aren’t the only options for making this simple tipple. You could whip up a Blackberry Kir Royale or try adding a touch of Heering Cherry Liqueur to a glass of bubbly. Feel free to make it your own. After all, the best way to be like Ina Garten is to experiment in the kitchen.