Have you ever had a Caesar or Bloody Mary cocktail before?
Caesar’s were my absolute favourite drink growing up- the virgin, non-alcoholic kind, mind you! It was a rare occasion when my family wouldn’t have a few supersized bottles of Mott’s Clamato in our pantry. If our stock ran out, my sister and I would often fight over who got the last glass. Or, we’d drink so much that my dad would go to make himself a glass and there would be none left for him.
“Did someone drink the rest of the Clamato juice…??”
Uh oh.
“Kristi did it!!!”
We’d pour a huge, celery-salt rimmed glass of Clamato juice, add in some Worcestershire sauce, ice, a few drops of Tabasco, and a stalk of celery. Nothing was better.
Admittedly, I always thought a Bloody Mary was simply a virgin Caesar with vodka added to it; however, I recently discovered that Caesar’s and Bloody Mary’s are two different drinks.
A Bloody Mary is a cocktail that uses tomato juice as the base and includes other ingredients such as vodka, celery salt, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, olive, cayenne pepper/Tabasco sauce, lemon juice, and occasionally even bouillon. Sometimes instead of celery it’s garnished with pickled asparagus or other vegetables. The origin of the drink is unclear and there is dispute over who created it, although many speculate the drink came from the US (1).
A Caesar cocktail, on the other hand, is made up with a base of clam and tomato juice (think Clamato juice), containing similar ingredients like Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vodka, celery, and a celery-salt rimmed glass. It’s said to originate from Calgary, Alberta in 1969 (2). Walter Chell created the drink for the opening of his new restaurant in Calgary (3).
As you can see, the two drinks are strikingly similar, save for a different base, a few seasonings, and traditional garnishes.
When people ask me what foods were the most difficult to give up when I went vegan, many are surprised when I say “Clamato Juice”. But it’s true! I used to drink this stuff like water and it only occurred to me recently that I should try making my own vegan-friendly version at home.
My mission started rather abruptly, with a V8 explosion. I opened this bottle a couple months ago, forgot it in the back of the fridge, and was rewarded with this little mess when I opened it. Needless to say, I did not use this sour V8 in my cocktail! The smell of it would make your nose hairs curl. It was just awful.
Enter, new, unopened vegetable juice.
Using this Homemade Bloody Mary recipe from Kristina as a guide, I dumped the juice in a bowl and added the ingredients all to taste.
I suggest you do the same. You may prefer more or less of the seasonings I used. When it tastes good to you, it’s done!
After tasting and testing and adjusting the seasonings (feel free to pretend you’re a crazy cool Mixologist), it wasn’t long before I decided that my drink was perfect. I also added a pinch of kelp granules to give it a hint of the sea, without the clams.
The mix turned out so similar to my childhood favourite I’m not sure I could pick out the original in a blind taste test. I guess the real test will be making this for my dad when he comes to visit. I predict he will like this version better, but I may be biased. ;)
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Homemade Vegan Caesar Cocktail
Yield
Two 500ml servings
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
Is this a vegan version of a Caesar cocktail or is it an adapted version of the Bloody Mary? I can’t decide. Whatever you call it, this is one fantastic drink with a whopping 4 servings of vegetables per 500 ml glass. Be sure to add the seasonings to taste and you can’t go wrong. Adapted from Former Chef.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (32 oz) vegetable juice
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1-1.5 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce (I use The Wizard’s brand)
- 2-2.5 tsp hot sauce, or to taste
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 3/4 tsp celery seed
- Sprinkle of Herbamare or kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Vodka, to taste (optional)
- Kelp granules, to taste (optional)
- To garnish: celery salt, lime, celery stalks, ice
Directions
- In a large bowl or pitcher, add the vegetable juice. Now whisk in the rest of the ingredients all to taste.
- Grab two 500-ml glasses and rim the edge with a lime wedge. Now dip glass rim into a shallow bowl of celery salt. Pour drink into glasses and garnish with a lime wedge, celery stalk, and ice. Serve immediately.
I didn’t have any celery salt on hand, so I used kosher salt. I wouldn’t really recommend it though, it was more for the photo than anything!
After a tough workout yesterday, this was the best, thirst-quenching drink to happen to my taste buds in a long time!
With 4 servings of vegetables per glass, it was also a great way to sneak veggies into my day with minimal effort.
So glad you liked the recipe and I love your photos of it and the tweaks you made. Have you seen Japanese seaweed salt? That might be a good option too (besides the kelp granules).
Thanks Kristina! I haven’t tried Japanese seaweed salt but it sounds interesting! I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
My husband and I recently took a trip to Ontario to visit friends and were introduced to clamato juice – We had never heard of it before! Caesars were a delightful addition to brunch… it’s funny that the trend didn’t seem to cross the border. Maybe we can start a new trend :)
I’ve always liked to say that drinking bloody marys is “a great way to sneak in some extra veggies” too. Although really any excuse to drink a bloody mary in the morning (especially after a long night ) is awesome. Thanks for the recipe. I can’t wait to make one of these… very very soon :)
oooo delicious!! 4 servings of veggies?? awesome!
I’ve recently learned the wonderful taste of bloody marys and this recipes looks fabulous! When my farmers’ markets open back up, I plan on making a juiced version! Here’s a recipe: http://www.divinecaroline.com/33612/29372-fresh-tomato-bloody-mary
I love Caesars! And I have to laugh reading the (I’m assuming) American commenters note that they’ve never heard of them. Years ago on a trip to Texas my dad and I went out to dinner at a nice restaurant. Being a teen at the time, I ordered a virgin Caesar. The waiter looked a little puzzled but left with our order. A couple of minutes later he comes back and said “You ordered a virgin Caesar…we don’t normally have alcohol in our Caesar salads.” Haha! When we described the drink to him he said “Oh! A Bloody Mary!” :)
hah too funny! That’s happened to me before too in the US.
thank you thank you for this post! the story you wrote about your sister and your dad could have been me growing up! my sister and i also used to drink clamato juice like water, and yup, drinking caesars is the thing i miss the most after going vegan (as strange as that sounds to others, especially non-canadians). i’d recommend using Frank’s for the hot sauce and a little bit of pickle juice. yum, can’t wait to make this! you’re a legend!
pickle juice? Somehow I think you are a genius!
This looks so delicious. I have been wanting to make bloody marys at home with fresh tomatoes and my juicer and I keep forgetting about it, then I had a delicious bloody mary at brunch yesterday and my obsession was reignited.
For me, I really love the idea of balancing out vodka with an ungodly amount of vegetables. That’s a guilt-free cocktail if there ever was one.
What? Four servings of veggies in a glass and vodka added “to taste?” Where do I sign up? So, perhaps the “to taste” part shouldn’t be so loosely interrpreted as mine turned out slightly clearer of a liquid than yours…. =)
Yummy!! I’ve never heard of a Ceasar, but I LOVE Bloody Mary’s. I must try a Ceasar!!
Caesars are my favourite too! They are sooooo good! Extra spicy, and with a little Dijon mustard!
Thank you for this recipe! I actually discovered that I’m allergic to clams, so I can’t have Clamato juice anymore either. I can’t wait to try this recipe! It will be the perfect refresher in the summer!
Hello! I recently cut out dairy, meat and eggs and can’t believe how good I feel and am slowly learning what to eat. It’s definately a learning process! I wanted to try your vegan chocolate chip cookies but am unsure of what to buy for chocolate chips…all the dark chocolate ones I look at have some type of dairy in them. Sorry to be off-topic…I’ve really been enjoying your site so thought I’d start here! Thank you!
hey Shelly,
I find that many “dark” chocolate chips are vegan. You can also use semi-sweet chips quite often too…just be sure to check the label.
Thank you so much for getting back to me! Sorry to be so naive…but the dark and semi-sweet chips I looked at have cocoa butter and milk fat I think is what it said…I just saw butter/milk and instantly thought dairy…I’m trying to stay away from any dairy. Maybe I’m misunderstanding the ingredients? Is there a brand name that you buy? I’m from Michigan so not sure we would have the same brands?
Oh my goodness…just did a little research online about cocoa butter and found out it has nothing to do with “butter” at all…this is going to take a bit to get the hang of! Sorry about that…will double check the chips ingredients again:)
Wonderful! Will be fun to try this. Spicy Caesars are hands-down my favourite cocktail – if you don’t count red wine, of course.
I wish I liked ceasers but I can’t stomach them :( My mom on the other hand, loves them!
Fresh and comforting at the same time. Yum…btw – your food styling is excellent!
Thank you!
I never knew the difference between the drinks…see you learn something new every day! I’m gonna get on to making this stat.
Never tried either a bloody mary or a caesar, but I’ll have to give your version a try!
What a fun new drink to learn about-and so healthy too!! Thanks for sharing, and the pictures are beautiful.
Very healthy! But it’s a must to surprise my guests some time with this presentation :) They are not gonna believe if I tell them it’s a super-duper healthy vegan cocktail :)