Keto Cosmopolitan Cocktail

This keto cosmopolitan drink recipe is a simple sugar free cocktail that does not use triple sec. It’s a low calorie drink that is easy to make and tastes delicious! Each one has only 139 calories and 2g net carbs so it’s a great cocktail on a low carb diet.

You might also like this keto lemon drop martini recipe!

Cosmopolitan cocktails always remind me of Carrie Bradshaw and her girls hanging out in NYC. I was watching a rerun of SITC and realized how easy it would be to make a keto cosmopolitan drink recipe.

This low carb cocktail has a beautiful blush color and a sweet and tart taste. It’s the perfect cocktail for anyone on a low carb diet.

What is in a classic cosmopolitan cocktail?

The cosmopolitan’s roots date back before WWII with the Vodka Gimlet (vodka + lime juice + simple syrup). It then morphed into a Kamikaze with the addition of triple sec and finally in the 1980’s they added cranberry juice to become the cosmopolitan, Carrie Bradshaw’s signature cocktail.(learn more)

So the ingredients in a classic cosmopolitan cocktail is vodka, triple sec (or Cointreau), simple syrup, cranberry juice and lime juice.

What is in this keto version?

Most hard liquors like vodka, whiskey, tequila, etc. have no carbs but others like triple sec and Cointreau do. So I had to eliminate that as well as find a sugar free cranberry juice.

So the ingredients in this drink are Absolut Mandarin vodka, orange extract, sugar free cranberry drink and lime juice. The mandarin vodka and orange extract makes a good substitute for the triple sec.

Below you can see the cranberry drink I found at Aldi. I had no carbs and 20 calories in the whole bottle. Because it was sweet I didn’t need to make a simple syrup. See the Recipe Tips and Notes section below for substitutions.

How many calories in a cosmopolitan?

My keto cosmo has 139 calories and 2g net carbs. You could eliminate the carbs altogether by using Realime instead of fresh lime juice as that is the only ingredient that has carbs.

A classic cosmo has roughly 167 calories and 10g net carbs (source).

Let’s make our keto cosmopolitan recipe!

• For 1 cocktail, add 2 oz of Absolut Mandarin vodka, ½ teaspoon of orange extract, ⅓ cup of Aldi cranberry sugar free drink and 1 tablespoon of lime juice to a cocktail shaker.
• Add a few ice cubes, shake and strain into a martini glass to get rid of the ice cubes.
• Garnish with a slice or wedge of lime. Please scroll down and print the recipe card for later.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• The only thing that has carbs in this recipe is the lime juice. However if you use Realime juice there will be no carbs in this drink.
• I used a sugar free cranberry drink I found at Aldi. Other things you can use are a low calorie or diet cranberry juice, cranberry tea (will need sweetener though) or sugar free cranberry drink mix with water. You could even use a cranberry sparkling water but you would need to add sweetener to this too.
• I used mandarin Absolut vodka because I wanted the extra orange flavor however you can just use regular vodka. Though I would suggest you use a good brand because you are using a good bit of it.

While alcohol on a keto diet can knock you out of ketosis, I do like a glass of wine or keto cocktails on the weekend. But that is totally up to you.

I hope you give this low carb cosmo a try. Especially if you are on a low carb diet and like to indulge once in a while. It’s so tasty and light but it sure does pack a punch. Check out all of my keto drink recipes here.

The nutrition information for 1 cosmo is
139 calories and 2g net carbs.