Strawberry Coconut Rose Sangria for Valentine's Day

Take Valentine’s Day to a whole new level this year with a pitcher of this strawberry coconut rose sangria. Loaded up with strawberries (fresh, if you’re feeling fancy), vodka and coconut rum, this rose sangria recipe is a much better thing to pour your special someone than a standard glass of wine.

It’s safe to say that none of us will be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year like we normally do. Romantic weekends away, long leisurely brunches, gourmet candle-lit dinners…it’s all gone out the window. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate at all.

Instead of a love-filled escape, plan an intimate date night at home. Light some fancy candles (or whip out your modern LED candles — that’s what we’ll be doing around here!), put on some great music, gather the ingredients for your favorite dishes and fill up a jug with strawberry coconut rose sangria.

The best rose sangria recipe, in my opinion at least, this rose sangria recipe is the perfect thing to sip on Valentine’s Day. Deliciously smooth, wonderfully sweet and a great color to celebrate this special day with, this rose cocktail will soon become your annual Valentine’s tradition.

Rose sangria with vodka

If you’re not that into spirits/liquor, you’ll love this rose sangria with vodka. Vodka has got to be the most subtle spirit with the least flavor. It’s a great way of adding a kick to any cocktail or sangria recipe without overwhelming the other flavors.

Not a big fan of coconut? No problem! Ditch the coconut rum and make this rose sangria with vodka only. The coconut rum is the only coconut flavor in the rose sangria recipe, so get rid of that and it’s gone. All that’s left is amazing rose and sweet strawberries. Yum!

What’s the best rose wine for rose sangria?

I always say the best wine for sangria is a wine you like drinking on its own and that’s exactly the case for this rose sangria recipe. My favorite rose wine to drink is a white zinfandel, which is what I use in this cocktail. Don’t let the name fool you. A white zinfandel is a type of rose wine, not a white wine.

White zinfandel is super sweet — too sweet for some people. If you prefer a dryer wine, I suggest you make this rose sangria recipe with a dry rose wine, like a grenache or a pinot noir. As an added bonus, by using a dry rose wine, you’ll also cut down on calories.

How many calories in sangria?

This sangria works out at 216-163 calories per glass, depending on how generous you are with your pour.

If you follow the strawberry coconut rose sangria recipe below using a sweet type of rose like white zinfandel, the entire jug will come to 1,300 calories. Split the jug into 6 glasses and each will be 216 calories. Split the jug into 8 glasses and each will be 163 calories.

There are several tips you can follow to lower the calorie-count of this rose sangria recipe...

How to make this strawberry coconut rose sangria healthier

Contrary to what you might think, a little bit of alcohol, including that found in rose wine, actually does you good. Cheers to that! But we all know cocktails like this are loaded with sugar and calories. If you want to lower the sugar and calorie-count, take note of these tips.

Instead of a white zinfandel, choose a dry rose, such as a grenache, pinot noir, sangiovese or syrah. All of these varieties contain less sugar and therefore fewer calories than a white zinfandel.

Another way to reduce the sugar and calories in this rose sangria recipe is to only use 1 type of spirit — vodka or coconut rum. By sticking to only one, you automatically reduce the jug’s calorie-count from 1,300 to 1,000. You’ll also make the cocktail cheaper to prepare. Not bad!
Every little helps, right? Although it will only lower the calories by around 100, you can swap the standard Sprite or 7UP for Sprite Zero. This has 0 sugar and essentially 0 calories. I wouldn’t recommend substituting Sprite or 7UP for soda water, as the strawberry coconut rose sangria will end up watery and just bleh.

Looking for some more sangria recipes?

Here are some other sangria recipes to relax with while you sip in the sunshine...or surrounded by crisp fall leaves/gentle snowfall, depending on the season:

• Easy Sangria Recipe, perfect for sangria newbies.
• Frozen Sangria, take the recipe from above, freeze it with some lemon-lime soda and voila!
• The Best Red Wine Fall Sangria, flavored with orange, cinnamon and apple.
• Caramel Apple Sangria, another fall spin on classic sangria.
• Sparkling Summer Sangria, loaded up with sparkling wine, oranges and lemons.
• Mulled Sangria, great for keeping warm over the holidays.
• Christmas Sangria, an excellent addition to the Christmas dinner table.

How long will this strawberry coconut rose sangria last?

This is a tricky one, because it normally gets drunk in my house immediately! I recommend you whip up this rose sangria recipe 30 minutes in advance and leave it in the fridge for the strawberry flavor to fully come out before serving. But because it includes fizzy soda, I don’t recommend you leave it in the fridge any longer than 3-4 hours, otherwise the fizz will go.

📖 Recipe