Blood Orange Dirty Shirley

This post may contain Affiliate Links. Please see my Full Disclosure Policy for more details.

This take on a dirty shirley cocktail is a fun twist using sweet blood oranges! Make it for a crowd or just for yourself, it's a refreshing cocktail to drink during the holiday season and beyond.

This Thirsty Thursday it's a Blood Orange Dirty Shirley recipe, which are perfect because blood oranges are in season this time of year! This alcoholic shirley temple cocktail is made with simple ingredients and is a delicious and fun cocktail.

Jump to:

• What is a Dirty Shirley Temple?
• Make a Dirty Shirley
• Making Dirty Shirley for a Crowd
• Some delicious drink recipes you need to try!
• Recommended Tools
• 📖 Recipe

What is a Dirty Shirley Temple?

When non-alcoholic beverages have alcohol added, it makes it 'dirty', hence the name 'dirty' Shirley.

So a dirty shirley is the adult version of your favorite fun mocktail, the Shirley Temple.

The classic Shirley Temple drink was named after child actress Shirley Temple (yes, the 'animal crackers in my soup' girl from those old infomercials!) for her to drink at Hollywood parties by the bartender at the Brown Derby Restaurant. Newsflash: she hated it, it was too sweet.

But for our modern kids? They love it as a special occasion drink, it makes them feel so fancy. Made with lemon lime soda, a splash of grenadine syrup, ice cubes, and some lovely maraschino cherries...more than one. Don't be stingy. Everyone likes extra cherries in their drink.

Just toss lots of cherries in my son's (and mine!). And we better have free refills, too!

Make a Dirty Shirley

So for this adult shirley temple, we take that super sweet non-alcoholic drink and grow it up with fresh blood oranges, homemade grenadine (or a store bought grenadine syrup, like Rose's), your choice of good vodka (or dark rum, for a Shirley Temple Black, a homage to her married name), and a bubbly mixer.

The most popular mixers are ginger ale, ginger beer for some spice, lemon lime soda, and club soda for those who don't want a sweet drink. Mix it together and serve in a tall glass with ice.

P.S. if you use cola instead of light colored soda you can make a Roy Rogers!

For this recipe, I squeezed in some blood orange juice for a citrusy twist as well as served them with slices in the glass. Blood oranges are sweet and their deep red juice makes for great red drinks (looking at you, Black History Month and Juneteenth!). Honestly, this would be a fantastic halloween drink (blood orange?! Yes!) as well as a fun one for Thanksgiving and New Year's, too. Blood orange is just versatile like that.

For variety I really like vanilla vodka, which goes so well with the blood orange's sweet-tart citrus flavor. You can also use cherry vodka, which can be sweet, so choose your mixer wisely to balance that flavor. Instead of using the classic lemon-lime soda, you may want to use club soda or ginger beer.

What is grenadine syrup?

To put it simply, grenadine is pomegranate juice and sugar, reduced down into a thick, sweet-tart syrup. I know many people are surprised to find that it isn't a cherry flavor at all!

Grenadine is used in a lot of different cocktails and mocktails to add a fun twist of color. There are many grenadine brands that you can find at your local liquor store or at your local grocery store in the liquor aisle.

To make it homemade, it's very much like making a simple syrup. You'll need pomegranate juice and loads of sugar, a 1:1 ratio, and boil it down until you have your pomegranate syrup. Let it cool and put into a lidded container in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

Making Dirty Shirley for a Crowd

Making a big batch of blood orange dirty shirley for a party isn't a problem at all! In a large punch bowl, gently stir together 3 cups of vodka, 1 cup blood orange juice, 1 ½ cups of grenadine, 6 cups of your bubbly mixer, and a good handful of maraschino cherries.

I personally love adding thin blood orange slices to the punch bowl, they're so pretty! And they're just as stunning to decorate the inside of your glass. I used double old fashioneds but it's more common to drink this in a highball glass or a collins glass.

If you're looking for more fun cocktails and mocktails to try throughout the year, you can look through my Thirsty Thursday archives!

Some delicious drink recipes you need to try!

• Sparkling Apple Cider Sangria
• Authentic Coquito Recipe (Coconut Eggnog)
• Strawberry Gin Smash
• Brazilian Caipirinha Cocktail

Recommended Tools