Drunken Cherries
Inside: Boozy, drunken cherries made with just 3 ingredients, no refrigeration needed, and a bonus payoff — vodka infused with deep cherry flavor, ready for sipping or cocktails.
These easy to make drunken cherries are boozy and intense. Made with just 3 ingredients and 15 minutes of prep this simple pickling method infuses sweet cherries with vodka while simultaneously steeping the cherry’s flavor and ruby red hue into the spirits. They’re great for a tipsy snack or enhancing craft cocktails.
Why this recipe works:
My friend, Nola, introduced me to the concept of soaking fruit in alcohol several years ago with this easy drunken cherries “recipe.” I use quotation marks because it’s less of a specific recipe and more loosey-goosey assembly — and that’s exactly why it works. This is such an easy DIY to do at home, and you won’t believe the results!
It’s also not a new trick. Spiking fruit to preserve it goes back to at least the 18th century, when these were known simply as “brandy fruits” and served after a meal, like dessert. The sugar draws moisture and flavor out of the cherries, while the alcohol does the opposite — soaking into the fruit to preserve it, while pulling the cherry’s color and flavor into the spirits. That same trade is what makes Italian limoncello work, just with citrus instead of cherries — you end up with a flavored fruit and a flavored liquor in one jar.
Sweet cherries, fortified with sugar and your favorite vodka, make for awesome adult snacking. Put out a bowl of these cherries while you’re playing Euchre with your friends and let the fun begin.
These cherries are POTENT, and the longer they soak, the more soused they become. Want a non-boozy option? My pickled cherries use vinegar instead of alcohol for a totally different — but just as addictive — preserved cherry.
Ingredients:
- Fresh Cherries – I use Bing cherries, but Rainier work too. Leave the pits in — it’s Nola’s method, and honestly it’s just easier than pitting a few pounds of cherries by hand. Trim the stems to about ½-inch so you can pack more fruit into the jar, with just enough stem left to grab with your fingers when you’re pulling cherries out later. (Bonus: the pits are said to add a faint almond note as they soak, though that’s not the main reason we leave them in.)
- Sugar – Plain granulated sugar is all you need. It’s doing real work, not just sweetening: it draws the juice out of the cherries and helps build the syrup that becomes that boozy, fruit-infused liquid over time.
- Vodka – I don’t use anything fancy or expensive here (usually just Tito’s), but proof matters more than brand: stick with 80-proof (40% ABV) or higher — that’s what keeps these shelf-stable at room temperature instead of needing the fridge. Want to swap in bourbon, brandy, rum, or gin instead? Jump to Swaps & Variations below.
- Jar or Airtight Container — a pint-to-quart-sized mason jar (or a clean pickle jar) with a tight-fitting lid. The seal matters more than the jar style since these sit at room temperature for weeks to months at a time — a loose lid is the fastest way to end up with leaks and/or spoiled fruit instead of drunken fruit.
How to make drunken cherries:
- Wash the cherries under cold running water and drain in a colander. Use a pair of clean shears to trim the cherry stems to about ½” long. You want them to be just long enough to have something to hold onto.
2. Pack the cherries tightly into glass jars (pint to quart, or larger) and pour the sugar over the top (You want to fill the jar by about ⅓ with sugar. Note: this will be a different amount of sugar depending on the size of the jars you’re using. For a pint, I use about ¼- ⅓ cup.
3. Pour vodka over the cherries and fill the jar to the top. Seal with a tight fitting lid.
4. Shake the jar vigorously to agitate the sugar and dissolve it into the vodka. Set the jar in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks and up to 5-6 months. Shake the jar every week to agitate the contents.
5. After two weeks, the cherry color will have leached into the vodka, turning it a ruby color, and the cherries will have absorbed some of the vodka. Soak them longer, and the cherries will turn a mottled red/grey while the vodka gets even darker red.
Pro-Tips:
- Use the “eyeball method” for proportions. There’s no fixed cherry-to-sugar-to-vodka ratio here — it depends on the size of jar you’re using. Pack the jar snugly with trimmed cherries, then pour in sugar until it comes about ⅓ of the way up the jar (roughly ⅓ to ½ cup for a small 8-ounce jar, or 1¼ to 1½ cups for a quart jar), then top off with vodka until it covers the fruit and reaches the top. Shake until the sugar dissolves — the amounts scale automatically with whatever container you grab.
- Skip the sterilizing. Unlike jam or pickles, this isn’t a food-safety-sensitive canning project — it’s booze. As long as your jar is clean and the lid seals tightly, you don’t need to sterilize it the way you would for actual preserving.
Mistakes to avoid:
- Using vodka under 80 proof. Lower-proof spirits don’t have enough alcohol content to keep the cherries shelf-stable at room temperature. Stick with 80-proof (40% ABV) or higher — that’s not just a preference, it’s what keeps these safe to store outside the fridge.
- Not sealing the jar tightly. A loose or ill-fitting lid lets air in and undermines the whole point of the alcohol-and-sugar preservation method. Make sure the lid seals tight before the jar goes into its dark spot to soak.
- Letting cherries float above the liquid line. The alcohol is what’s protecting the fruit, so any cherries poking out above the vodka miss out on that protection. Top off the jar until the liquid fully covers the cherries.
- Using frozen cherries without adjusting the soak time. Frozen cherries have already been through one transformation and aren’t as firm as fresh fruit. If that’s what you’ve got, shorten the soak to two weeks max and eat them sooner rather than later.
- Expecting them to taste like candied cherries. These aren’t sweet the way “preserved fruit” might suggest — they’re boozy first, sweet a distant second. Go in expecting a cherry shot, not a maraschino cherry, and you won’t be disappointed.
- Using bruised or overripe fruit. Soft spots break down fast over a multi-week soak and can introduce a risk of mold. Pick through your cherries first and set aside anything soft, split, or bruised before it goes in the jar.
Best vodka for drunken cherries
Everyone has their preferences from Smirnoff to Absolut, Grey Goose to Tito’s, so I recommend going with whatever brand of spirit you’re accustomed to sipping. I used Tito’s for this batch.
I’d use a vodka that you like to drink.
Swaps and Variations:
- Other cherries. I use Bing or other sweet black cherries — that’s mostly what’s available where I live in South Florida — but if you’ve got a better selection, Rainier, Morello, and Queen Anne will work well. Want something more tart? Montmorency (sour) cherries swing the flavor in a totally different direction.
- Other fruit entirely. This method isn’t cherry-exclusive. Peaches, apricots, blueberries, and pineapple all take well to the same sugar-and-vodka soak — swap in whatever’s in season.
- Other spirits. Vodka is the base recipe, but gin, rum, and tequila all work as 1:1 swaps. Brandy and bourbon are worth calling out specifically: brandy gives the cherries a warmer, slightly sweeter edge, and bourbon leans into classic old-fashioned-garnish territory. Follow the same soak times regardless of which spirit you use.
FAQs
Not quite. Cherry vodka from the store is vodka flavored with cherry extract. This recipe works the other way around — real cherries soaking in plain vodka and sugar until the fruit and the spirit trade flavors. You end up with two things in one jar: boozy cherries to eat, and cherry-infused vodka to sip or mix into cocktails.
Theoretically, yes, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Frozen cherries have already been through one transformation and aren’t as firm as fresh, ripe fruit. They’ve also been seeded. If you do use them, soak them for a shorter time—up to two weeks—and enjoy them sooner.
The longer the cherries soak, the more purplish-gray they become. They’re still perfectly fine to eat — that color shift is just the alcohol and sugar doing their job, pulling flavor and color out of the fruit (see Why This Recipe Works above for the full explanation).
Nope. I get this question a lot — people are naturally skittish about letting fresh fruit sit at room temperature for weeks or months, and I get it. But these cherries are covered in two classic preserving ingredients: sugar and alcohol. As long as your spirit is at least 40 proof (80 proof), it’ll keep the cherries from spoiling.
Honestly, in my house they don’t last long enough to find out — between snacking and gifting, a jar rarely survives long enough to test its limits. But since they’re preserved in the same alcohol and sugar that keep them safe at room temperature during the soak, there’s no real shelf-life clock ticking on a sealed jar. Once you start eating from it, keep the remaining cherries covered by the liquid and store it in the same cool, dark spot you used for soaking (or, if it makes you feel better, stash it in the fridge).
There’s real research behind why this combination works.
A 2022 food safety study from Utah State University tested E. coli O157, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes in ethanol mixtures and found that at 40–50% ethanol — the same 80-to-100-proof range this recipe calls for — all three pathogens were undetectable within 48 hours.
“You are not going to get ANY bacterial growth in bourbon (or vodka). 40% alcohol is enough to kill any bacteria or funghi (I work with microbiologists). They are perfectly safe to eat as well. That said, they will lose some of their natural color. Which is why commercial cherries, even the fancy Italian ones, are always dyed a dark color. The alcohol alone leaches out the color even on red cherries, though they still taste great.” — via ChowHound from StriperGuy, July 23, 2009
Ways to Enjoy Your Drunken Cherries:
Once your cherries are ready, here’s where they shine:
- Straight up — the original tipsy snack, no occasion required.
- In a cocktail — drop a few into an Old Fashioned or Manhattan in place of a maraschino, or top off a cherry vodka soda with the infused liquid itself.
- On dessert — spoon them over ice cream, layer them into a chocolate cake, or fold them into a cheesecake topping.
- As a gift — jar them up with a ribbon for hostess gifts, holiday giving, or anyone on your list who appreciates something a little boozy.
More ways to preserve fruit you might like:
- Vanilla Bean Pickled Cherries
- Passion Fruit Syrup
- Guava Vanilla Simple Syrup
- Rhubarb Syrup
- Peach Syrup
More boozy fruit combos you might like:
- Tipsy Fruit Salad
- Passion Fruit Vodka Soda
- Rum Spiked Tropical Fruit Salad
- Rum Raisin Old Fashioned
- Tropical Planter’s Punch
Drunken Cherries
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
- glass jars with tight fitting lids
- small funnel
INGREDIENTS:
- cherries
- sugar
- vodka
DIRECTIONS:
- Rinse cherries and pick out any bruised, soft or damaged fruit.
- Use a pair of kitchen sheers to trim the stems to about ½" long.
- Pack the cherries into a jar, filling it tightly and to the top.
- Use a funnel to fill the jar about ⅓ of the way with sugar.
- Fill the jar to the top with vodka and seal the lid on tightly.
- Shake and roll the jar in your hands until the sugar has dissolved.
- Place the jar in a cool dark spot for at least two weeks or longer (My friend Nola goes a full six months). Shake or roll the jar every so often a few times if you're going with a shorter soak and at least once a month if you're going for longer.
RECIPE VIDEO:
NUTRITION:
Nutritional Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate only and is provided as a courtesy. Values are calculated automatically based on the ingredients and quantities in each recipe and may vary depending on specific brands, exact measurements, and substitutions made. For precise nutritional guidance, especially if you have a medical condition or dietary restriction, please consult a registered dietitian or run the ingredients through your own nutrition calculator.Pin “Drunken Cherries” for later!
These look incredible — I love how simple the three-ingredient method is. I’m planning a batch for cocktail night soon, and I’ll be sharing this recipe with my friends.
Love how simple this is — just three ingredients and patience. The six-month soak tip is perfect for holiday gifts. Cannot wait to try these in a cocktail.
Drunken cherries – absolutely.
One way to use them is to make a chocolate layer cake. Sandwich the layers together with a few of the cherries and a couple of spoons of the liquid (not too much or your cake will disintegrate). Spread chocolate ganache over the UNDERSIDE of the layer before you press it down. Delicious.
My wife and i did this about 40 years ago and still have the same jar.
It can last a lifetime like this. Cheers