Nonalcoholic Negroni
Published Sept. 30, 2025
- Total Time
- 2¼ hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 10 minutes, plus 2 hours’ cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1medium navel orange
- 10hibiscus tea bags, such as Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger
- 1tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 1tablespoon whole cloves
- ½cup sugar
- 2(12-ounce) cans tonic
- 1cup unsweetened grapefruit juice
- Ice, for serving
- Orange wedges, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
109 calories; 1 gram fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 24 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 15 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Use a vegetable peeler to peel the orange, avoiding as much white pith as possible. In a small saucepan, combine the orange peel with the tea bags, peppercorns, cloves and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- Step 2
Add the sugar and cook, stirring, until dissolved, about 1 minute. Cover, remove from the heat and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Strain the tea and discard the solids. The cooled, brewed tea can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
- Step 3
To serve, in a large pitcher, stir together the tea, tonic water, grapefruit juice and about 1 cup ice. Divide among rocks glasses filled with ice and garnish with orange wedges.
- To make one serving, fill a rocks glass with ice. Pour in 1 ounce of grapefruit juice, 2 ounces of the tea and 3 ounces of tonic water; stir to mix. Garnish with an orange wedge.
Private Notes
Comments
There is a non-alcoholic substitute for Campari. It is Sanbitter, made in Italy. It can be purchased in the US and is nearly indistinguishable from Campari. Highly recommend it. Just pop open the bottle and use. They also have an Aperol substitute.
Many of my friends will not drink grapefruit juice because grapefruit and its juice interfere with the medications they use. Is there any other juice that would be suitable in this recipe?
@BJ I use Fresca for my mocktail and bitters . And why are we not calling this a phony Negroni.?
Delicious and well worth the minimal effort and cost for such a complex and pretty NA drink! Only steeped for 45 min before straining due to my lack of prep pre-party, also could only fit half the tonic in my pitcher, so left a bottle of tonic for people to add to their liking.
Okay, I agree with previous commenters that calling this a non-alcoholic Negroni is kind of false advertising — but hey, it got me to try the recipe! And it's absolutely one of the best mocktails on NYT Cooking, so no harm no foul! Also, it's a brilliant way to use up tonic that has gone flat. For me, best results were achieved by muddling the grapefruit in the glass, because the oils and pulp add more than the juice alone.
You lost me at a tablespoon on cloves.