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A Pumpkin Pie Mimosa is just the right way to start your Thanksgiving, or any brunch during the month of November! Fabulous glasses of pumpkin spice juice and champagne make this a simple cocktail that brings bubbly cheer to any occasion. Topped with whipped cream and pumpkin spice sugar, and you’ll feel like you are sipping on pumpkin pie (the classy way).
I have a secret to tell you…
I don’t like pumpkin pie.
GASP.
I KNOW. I used to like it. I used to look forward to it every Thanksgiving. But honestly, it’s not my cup of tea slice of pie (?). It’s just TOO much pumpkin and it tends to be too sweet.
Now I like my pumpkin spice. Not in the “OMG I’m going to line up outside Starbucks for the first PSL of the season!!” way, but in the “I love cinnamon, nutmeg and all the other flavors in pumpkin pie spice – sparingly”.
That is why I made this oh-so fabulous, fancy AF cocktail for the morning of Thanksgiving.
It’s my pumpkin pie fix without eating pumpkin pie!
This is such a simple, elegant cocktail to bust out on Thanksgiving morning, whether you are hosting your family all day or it’s just you and your boo, snuggling up for a late morning before the onslaught of family socializing.
It has a lovely burst of pumpkin in every sip, but the bubbly brut champagne makes it so the cocktail itself isn’t really sweet. Instead it’s bubbly, perfectly spiced and just fantastic.
The little dollop of whipped cream and the pumpkin spice rimming sugar provide just the touch of sweetness to balance out the crisp champagne and the rich pumpkin spice flavors.
You’ll find yourself definitely wanting to indulge in more than one, so feel free to double or triple the recipe below to meet your needs!
Heck, with all that family and booze in one room, you know that you’ll be needing one extra drink to make it through the day without going insane 😉
Pssssst, this is also a great one to bust out the day after Thanksgiving with leftovers!
This Recipe’s Must Haves
To make the pumpkin juice mixture, you will need your favorite saucepan to bring it all together. You’ll also need a fine mesh sieve to strain everything through.
I really love these Schott Zwiesel Tritan Crystal Glass Champagne Flutes
, which are the flutes that you see used here!
I like to use a traditional rimmer set that you would usually use for margaritas for the rims. It makes it super easy to rim the champagne flutes with the cinnamon sugar mixture for the pumpkin pie mimosa.
Pumpkin Pie Mimosa
Make this Thanksgiving more festive with a riff on pumpkin pie, for brunch! This fancy mimosa has just the right amount of sugar, spice and everything nice.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Juice
- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- 2 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 cup water
Rimming Sugar
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1/4 cup sugar
Cocktail
- Champagne
- Garnish: whipped cream, cinnamon stick, rimming sugar (recipe below)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, sugar, and water. Cook the mixture down slightly, stirring constantly, for approximately a few minutes. The mixture should still be a puree, so don't cook it down too far!
- Remove mixture from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Discard remaining puree. Cool completely before using in the refrigerator.
- When you are ready to make the drinks, in a small bowl, stir together ingredients for the rimming sugar. Wet the rims of 4 champagne glasses and rim them with the pumpkin spice sugar. Set aside.
- Add 1 1/2 oz of the strained pumpkin juice to the champagne glasses and give the mixture a stir.
- Fill each glass to the top with champagne.
- Top each with whipped cream, a cinnamon stick and a sprinkle of the remaining rimming sugar.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Troubleshooting:
- The mixture for the pumpkin juice should be pretty loose to start with, like a smooth sauce. If it's thick, add more water until it's thinned out some.
- Be sure to not let the mixture thicken up on the stove. It should stay loose - the cooking is to solidify the flavors only! If it thickens on the stove, you've cooked it for too long or the heat was too high.
- Do not use pumpkin pie filling, only 100% pumpkin puree.
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Jen says
Thanks for the recipe! I just tried making the pumpkin juice ahead of time and ended up with a thick pumpkin paste. Are the ingredients correct for the juice? Should there be more water perhaps? I cooked and stirred, but it never thinned out. I doubt anything would have made its way thru the sieve. (I ended up just using this puree for my Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake, so no harm, no foul.)
Meghan B. says
Hi Jen! Thanks for trying the recipe out! It sounds like the puree may have reduced a little too much if it formed a thick paste. It should be more of a puree still after you cook it and then when you let it strain through the sieve, you end up with a thicker juice (it’s not watery, but it’s not thick like a puree or smoothie). I would try stirring in some more water to get it back to a puree and then push the juice through the sieve!
Karen says
Yea I tried this. Ended up with purée in the pot and in know way did this work in the champagne. Tried watering it down to get liquid and it lost all the flavor. No go pumpkin mimosas this thanksgiving.
Meghan Y. says
I’m sorry to hear that! Did you run it through a sieve to get the juice? The mixture shouldn’t have been added to the champagne directly from the pot. If it didn’t yield juice after straining, it was like cooked down too much.
Jen says
Is there supposed to be water in with the pumpkin? The directions never say to add the water. I read the other comments and just watched someone try this on Instagram as well and everybody is getting a thick paste instead of a purée. I would love to see you do this as a video to see how yours was done.
Meghan Y. says
Hi there! Yes, the water should be added in the first step – sorry for the typo in the recipe! If it is turning into a thick paste, the mixture is likely being overcooked and the moisture evaporated. Try cooking for less time if you run into issues!
Sherry Montgomery says
Just tried this. And like everyone else had the same outcome. I had it on medium and stirred often, only to have it pretty much stay a thick puree with nothing that would remotely be juice…tried adding pear nectar to it and no go
Meghan Y. says
Some purees can be thicker than others so it sounds like you probably ran into that. It should be pretty loose to start with! I suggest adding more water so that it’s smooth and sauce-like before you start cooking it.
Blaine Butler says
Hello potential Pumpkin Pie Mimosa makers!
This recipe worked well for me with the following modifications:
I added a full cup of water to the pumpkin puree (which is always very thick out of can) in the saucepan, then quadrupled the sugar and pumpkin spice to make up for the extra water.
I simmered it for approximately a few minutes before running the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to extract the juice. I think this is a critical step some of the other reviewers missed because if you don’t strain it to get the juice, your just left with a thick puree which would not be good in a drink like this. You MUST strain the puree to get the juice. Don’t worry about the thickness of the puree, if you strain it through a sieve you will get juice.
This mimosa went over very well with our crowd! I skipped the sugar rim and whipped cream because that’s not really my thing.
I would highly recommend this recipe! Very unique.