Real talk: it’s 5:30 PM. The living room looks like a Lego factory exploded, the kids are finally settled into a movie, and suddenly the doorbell rings. It’s your neighbor popping by, or maybe it’s just been one of those days. You want to be the “hostess with the mostess,” but your brain is fried and the idea of chopping fruit for a traditional Spanish sangria feels like a mountain you’re not ready to climb. Enter: the 5-minute white wine sangria, my favorite emergency sangria recipe.

This is what I call the “sweatpants of cocktails.” It’s comfortable, it’s reliable, and it’s exactly what you need when you want to feel like a human being again without doing any actual work. We aren’t measuring, we aren’t peeling, and we definitely aren’t waiting four hours for things to “marinate.”

Why Frozen Fruit is a Game-Changer for an Emergency Sangria Recipe

In a traditional recipe, you’d spend twenty minutes dicing apples and oranges, only for them to take hours to flavor the wine. Plus, you’d need ice, which eventually waters the whole thing down.

In my house, the freezer is my best friend. By making a frozen fruit sangria, we solve three problems at once:

1. The Chill: They keep the drink ice-cold without diluting the wine.
2. The Flavor: Frozen fruit releases its juice almost immediately when it hits the liquid.
3. The Effort: You just open the bag and dump. No cutting board required!

The “Pantry Pour” Method for Easy Sangria with Ginger Ale

I am a huge fan of recipes that don’t require me to dig out my measuring cups. For this 3-ingredient white sangria, we use the “Ratio Rule.”

Think of it as two parts wine to one part fizz. If you’re making a single glass, fill it halfway with wine, toss in three frozen peach slices, and top with a splash of ginger ale. If you’re making a pitcher for the neighborhood moms, it’s one bottle of wine to one can of soda.

It’s flexible, it’s forgiving, and honestly? Perfect is the enemy of fed (or in this case, quenched).

Tips for Making Quick Sangria for Guests

• The Wine: Don’t reach for the top-shelf stuff. A budget-friendly Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc is perfect here. The ginger ale provides the sweetness and the fruit provides the aromatics, so the wine just needs to be a crisp base.
• The Fizz: I use ginger ale because it acts as a two-in-one ingredient. It provides the bubbles and the sugar, so you don’t have to mess around with making simple syrup. If you prefer things less sweet, you can use half ginger ale and half sparkling water.
• The Vessel: If your fancy glass pitcher is buried in the back of a cupboard, use a large mason jar or even a clean flower vase. I’ve served this in coffee mugs on the back porch while the kids played tag. No judgment here!

This recipe is proof that you can still have a “fancy” moment in the middle of a chaotic week. It’s fast, it’s cheap, and it’s been tested (and very much approved) by this tired mama. Cheers to the small wins! For more inspiration, check out our Best Sangria list.