Fresh Tomato Bloody Mary

By
Molly Watson
Molly Watson
An award-winning food writer and cookbook author, Molly Watson has created more than 1,000 recipes focused on local, seasonal ingredients.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 07/25/21
Fresh Tomato Bloody Mary

The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Chill: 60 mins
Total: 80 mins
Servings: 2 to 4 servings
Yield: 2 to 4 cocktails
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
74 Calories
1g Fat
16g Carbs
3g Protein
Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2 to 4
Amount per serving
Calories 74
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 1g 1%
Saturated Fat 0g 1%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 200mg 9%
Total Carbohydrate 16g 6%
Dietary Fiber 5g 17%
Total Sugars 10g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 43mg 216%
Calcium 53mg 4%
Iron 1mg 6%
Potassium 857mg 18%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

It takes a lot of fresh, ripe tomatoes to make a fresh tomato bloody mary mix. So when all those summer tomatoes are available, and all the soups, stews, pasta sauces, and caprese salads have already been at your table, it's time to try this spicy and flavorful mix made with juicy and ripe tomatoes. You'll need about half a pound of tomatoes per person, so when tomatoes are at their peak and very flavorful and relatively inexpensive, it's the best time to try this easy recipe. The fresh, bright flavor will knock your socks off when compared to commercial mixes, which are made with cooked tomatoes and have more additives and preservatives than you'll ever want to drink.

Since the tomatoes are getting chopped and blended, they don't have to look absolutely perfect. But they do need to be really ripe. Some farm stands will sell big baskets of slightly dinged tomatoes for a much lower cost, and those would work perfectly for this recipe.

While this is the base for an alcoholic bloody mary, the mix is so delicious that a virgin mary is also a great option. The more of this mix you make, the more chances you'll have to try both drinks. Serve it at brunch, as a pre-lunch drink, with or without the alcohol. Most importantly, try to have fun and personalize the amounts in the recipe to find the perfect balance of heat and spice that will make you want to come back for more. Tasting is the key to ending up with a mix that meets your ideal vision of what a tomato-based drink should taste like.

Ingredients

For the Mix:

  • 2 to 2 1/2 pounds fresh ripe tomatoes

  • 1 small shallot

  • 1 small fresh green or red chile pepper

  • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste 

  • Salt, to taste

  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

  • Hot sauce, to taste 

  • Grated horseradish, to taste

  • Celery stalks, or pickled green beans, for garnish

For the Bloody Mary:

  • 6 ounces vodka

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Fresh Tomato Bloody Mary ingredients

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

  2. Roughly chop tomatoes, shallot, and chile, if using.

    Roughly chop tomatoes, shallot, and chile on a cutting board

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

  3. In a blender or food processor, puree tomatoes, shallot, and chile until smooth. Do this in batches, if needed.

    puree tomatoes, shallot, and chile in a blender

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

  4. Run pureed mixture through a sieve or food mill to remove seeds and peels.

    tomato mixture strained through a sieve into a bowl

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

  5. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, and hot sauce or horseradish. Taste test and add more lemon juice or seasonings if needed.

    lemon juice, salt, pepper, and hot sauce added to the tomato mixture in the bowl

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

  6. Place in a pitcher and cover. Chill spiced-up tomato juice mixture until very cold, at least an hour, and up to two days.

    tomato mixture in the pitcher

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

  7. To make the cocktails, pour 1 1/2 ounces of vodka into each highball glass filled with ice. Pour 3 ounces of tomato juice on top of the vodka, or skip the vodka and use the mix to serve a virgin mary. Add extra seasonings to taste if using.

    tomato mixture added to the vodka and ice in a glass

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

  8. Garnish with a celery stalk or pickled green bean.

    Fresh Tomato Bloody Mary in a glass

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

How Strong Is a Bloody Mary?

With the appropriate serving of 1.5 ounces of vodka per cocktail, a bloody mary's alcohol content will be around 10 percent ABV (20 proof), similar to a glass of light wine.