5 Haute Low-Cal Cocktails You Will Love

In a city like ours, there are one too many excuses to go out for drinks. On weekdays, we often go out for a drink to catch up with friends or because it’s five o’clock and we’ve had a long day. On weekends we drink because… well, because it’s the weekend, and on Sunday mornings we justify the cocktail because it’s brunch day and mimosas are bottomless. Like I said, too many excuses. We get it, and we also get that this way of life completely ruins all diets. For this reason, we’ve put together a list of low-cal cocktails that will get the job done and still keep you looking fab.

From new recipes of timeless classics to low-calorie solutions to your favorite bar drinks, these skinny mixes will save your cocktail-loving life  on days when you don’t feel like taking in any excess sugars or empty carbs… so every day.  All made with natural ingredients such as celery, lime, tomato, orange and basil – as well as alcohol, of course – these five light yet tasty drinks may even make it into your strict post-holiday diet. We’ve all got those drink-less work-out-more New Years resolutions, so let’s try to stick to them!

We promise that after trying these easy recipes, you’ll leave with nothing but a healthy tummy and a low-cal buzz.

Sugarless Orange Margarita – A classic, reinvented

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces white tequila
• 2 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 ounce vodka
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• 1 tbsp powdered Swerve sweetener (optional)
• Crushed ice
• Kosher salt for rimming (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a cocktail shaker or a measuring cup, combine tequila, lime juice, vodka, orange extract and sweetener, if you must.
2. To create a salted rim, run a wedge of lime around the outside of the glass before filling with ice and dip in a plate of kosher salt.
3. Fill a tall glass halfway with crushed ice and pour in mixture.
4. Get a pink straw and sip away! (140 Cal.)

Skinny Sea Breeze – The healthy cousin of your usual vodka cranberry 

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. of grapefruit juice
• 1½ oz. of unsweetened cranberry juice
• 1 oz. of vodka
• Ice

Instructions:

1. Build all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice.
2. Garnish with lime wedge and enjoy! (180 Cal.)

Diet Vodka Ginger – Simple, semi-healthy sweetness

Ingredients:

• Ice
• 1 oz. of vodka
• can of diet ginger ale
• 1 lime
• mint leaves

Instructions:

1. Pour one ounce of vodka and two ounces of diet ginger ale into a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake the drink and strain it into a chilled glass
3. Garnish it with citrus peel and mint leaf. (70 Cal.)

Healthy Bloody Mary – Like tomato soup but drinkable, and with vodka:

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce vodka
• 4 ounces tomato juice
• 2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 dashes Tabasco
• ½ lemon, juiced (optional)
• 1 stalk celery, trimmed
• Ice

Instructions:

1. Mix vodka, juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and lemon juice in a medium sized glass.
2. Fill a tall glass with about five ice cubes.
3. Pour drink over ice cubes and stir with celery stalk. (89 Cal.)

Light Basil Gimlet – It’s green all over, so it must be healthy!

Ingredients: