Easy Campari Cocktails That Aren’t Just The Negroni

Looking for a comprehensive list featuring the best Campari Cocktails?

We’ve traveled to the trendiest cocktail bars in Italy on the hunt for the most satisfying Campari recipes.

If you’re a fan of the dark red amaro, sip your way beyond the classic Negroni by shaking up these delicious Italian mixed drink recipes at home!

What Is Campari?

Campari is an Italian liqueur, considered an apéritif, obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit in alcohol and water. It is a bitters, characterized by its dark red colour. It tastes bitter, with a citrusy flavour and some spice-forward notes, like clove and cinnamon.

Campari was invented in 1860 by Gaspare Campari in Novara, Italy. It was originally coloured with carmine dye, derived from crushed cochineal insects, which gave the drink its distinctive red colour.

Campari is often used in craft cocktails and is commonly served with soda water or citrus juice (most often pink grapefruit juice), garnished with either blood orange or lime slice and mixed with prosecco as a spritz.

Campari is an essential ingredient in several world famous IBA official cocktails: the Negroni, the Americano, the Boulevardier, and the Garibaldi.

Campari Cocktail Recipes

We’re big fans of Italian aperitivo hour!

We’ve spent years traveling from the sun-soaked Amalfi Coast to the bustling bars in Rome to sip all the Campari Cocktails we can!

If you’re an Campari newbie, start with a classic Negroni then explore other tipples that marry the Italian amaro with spirits like vodka and bourbon.

Negroni Spritz

A Negroni Spritz is a play on the classic Negroni that adds bubbly to the beverage via soda water or sparkling wine like prosecco. It’s the perfect sipper for those looking for a refreshing drink with a lower alcohol content, while still staying true to the flavours of a traditional Negroni.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Gin
• 1.5 oz Campari
• 0.5 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 2 Orange Slices
• Soda Water

Instructions

1. Add the gin, campari, vermouth and bitters to a rocks glass.
2. Fill the glass with ice. Squeeze an orange slice into the glass and drop it into the cocktail. Top with soda water.
3. Stir and garnish with an orange slice.

Strawberry Negroni Cocktail

A Strawberry Negroni is a play on the classic Italian cocktail (featuring gin, sweet red vermouth, and Campari) that is sweetened with a strawberry infused simple syrup.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Gin
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
• 1 oz Strawberry Syrup

Instructions

1. Add the gin, Campari, sweet vermouth and strawberry syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice, and stir until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice cubes.
3. Garnish with a fresh strawberry slice.

Negroski Vodka Negroni

A Negroski is a refreshing play on the classic Negroni, which substitutes gin for vodka. It’s the perfect drink for vodka-lovers to order at aperitivo hour.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Vodka
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Sweet Red Vermouth

Instructions

1. Stir all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a chilled rocks glass.
2. Garnish with a slice of orange.

Negroni Sour

A Negroni Sour is a refreshing play on the classic Negroni and Whiskey Sour. The creamy egg white foam that rises to the top of the glass contrasts nicely with the herbaceous bittern flavours of Campari.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Gin
• 1 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
• 1 oz Campari
• 1.5 oz Lemon Juice
• 0.5 oz Simple Syrup
• 1 Egg White

Instructions

1. In a cocktail shaker dry shake the egg white for 30 seconds.
2. Add the gin, vermouth, campari, lemon juice, and simple syrup then add ice and shake until cool and strain into a chilled coup glass.
3. Garnish with orange peel.

Garibaldi Campari Orange Juice Cocktail

This Italian cocktail is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, a crucial figure in the liberation of both Italy and Uruguay. The red-orange drink represents the red shirts worn by Garibaldi’s followers, known as Garibaldini.

Campari, which hails from Piedmont in northern Italy, along with the orange juice and wedge (both nods to Sicily in the south), together represent the idea of the country’s unification.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Campari
• 4 oz Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

Instructions

1. Squeeze orange juice then blitz at high speed in a blender without ice to make frothy.
2. Pour Campari and half of the orange juice into a glass over 2 ice cubes and stir with a cocktail spoon.
3. Fill the glass with more ice and fill with the remaining frothy orange juice.

Espresso Coffee Negroni Cocktail

An Espresso Negroni is a fun play on the classic Italian cocktail, which adds a shot of high quality coffee to the aperitivo to keep you buzzing.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Gin
• 1 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Espresso Coffee

Instructions

1. In an ice-filled rocks glass add gin, vermouth and Campari. Gently stir to combine with a bar spoon.
2. Add the the orange slice to the glass.
3. Use a large spoon to gently pour the espresso into the glass.

Americano

The Americano is an IBA official cocktail composed of Campari, sweet vermouth, and for the sparkling version, club soda and garnished with a slice of lemon.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz Campari
• 1 1/2 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
• Soda water, to top

Instructions

1. Fill a highball glass with ice, then add the Campari and sweet vermouth.
2. Top with soda water and stir gently to combine.
3. Garnish with orange twist.

Boulevardier

The Boulevardier cocktail is an alcoholic drink composed of whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Campari. It originated as an obscure cocktail in late 1920s Paris, and was largely forgotten for 80 years, before being rediscovered in the late 2000s as part of the craft cocktail movement, rapidly rising in popularity in the 2010s as a variant of the Negroni.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 oz Bourbon
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth

Instructions

1. Add bourbon, Campari and sweet vermouth into a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a rocks glass over ice.
3. Garnish with orange twist.

Negroni Sbagliato

A classic Negroni contains equal parts gin, vermouth, and Campari. While a sbagliato, which translates to “mistake” in Italian, swaps prosecco for gin. Supposedly, a bartender grabbed sparkling wine instead of the spirit as he was making a Negroni, and the drink stuck.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
• 1 1/2 oz Campari
• 1 1/2 oz Prosecco

Instructions

1. Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice.
2. Add vermouth and Campari and stir.
3. Top with Prosecco and stir again.
4. Garnish with an orange slice.

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