9 Bartenders Share Their Favorite 3-Minute Cocktails to Make at Home

Sometimes at the end of a long day, nothing sounds better than a well-made cocktail. The thought of heading into a crowded bar and standing shoulder-to-shoulder while competing for a bartender’s attention, though? That doesn’t sound quite as nice. So instead, you head home to enjoy a drink from the comfort of your couch — something you can make quickly like a simple highball or maybe a Spritz.

But what if you didn’t have to sacrifice quality for speed at home? There are dozens of complex-tasting cocktails made with just a few ingredients, most of which you likely already have on hand. The greatest part? They can all be made in three minutes tops.

To narrow down the list, we asked bartenders from across the country to name their favorite cocktail to make at home when the hankering for a quick drink strikes. From Negronis and Garibaldis to Bee’s Knees, Daiquiris, and more, these are the nine best three-minute cocktails to make at home, according to bartenders.

Daiquiri

While often unfairly criticized as a frozen sugar-bomb or resort staple, the standard Daiquiri is a classic cocktail that, when done right, seriously hits the spot. Some bartenders even consider ordering one to be a telltale sign that the guest is in the industry. Luckily, making one at home is relatively easy, requiring just three ingredients: rum, lime juice, and sweetener.

“I love the Daiquiri for its simplicity and versatility. With just lime, sugar, and rum, it highlights the quality of the base spirit while allowing for exploration across different styles and regions,” says Willy Mesa, beverage manager at Las’ Lap in Miami Beach, Fla. “Whether you’re using a crisp white rum or a richer aged expression, the Daiquiri adapts beautifully, making it fast to build without ever sacrificing flavor or quality.”

Kathryn “Pepper” Stashek of NYC’s Bar Kabawa concurs, adding that “it’s a cocktail you can make in under three minutes, and drink in under one, ‘while it’s still laughing at you,’ as the famed Savoy Hotel bartender Harry Craddock once advised.”

It’s also a highly riffable cocktail that allows for experimentation with various rums or even fruit juices if you’re craving something a little different from the original.

“The Daiquiri is easily one of the simplest cocktails to make and it always delivers,” says Oscar Simoza, spirits director for Boston-based BCB3 Hospitality. “Want to mix it up? Add a splash of passion fruit or mango for an extra tropical twist. Prefer to keep it spirit-forward? Skip the extra juice and try a flavored rum. I’ve heard Planteray (formerly known as Plantation) Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum makes an absolutely outstanding Daiquiri. Simple, versatile, and hard to mess up. What more could we ask for?”

Willy Mesa’s Daiquiri Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 ounces rum (white, aged, dark, or spiced)
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• ¾ ounce simple syrup

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice and shake vigorously.
2. Strain into a chilled coupe.

Kathryn “Pepper” Stashek’s Daiquiri Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 ounces rum (your choice, traditionally white, lightly aged, or unaged)

Directions

1. Juice and strain the lime into a shaker tin.
2. Add sugar to the lime juice and stir, or froth with a milk frother until well integrated.
3. Add the rum of your choice and ice, then shake.
4. Strain into glassware of your choice.

Oscar Simoza’s Daiquiri Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Planteray Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• ½ ounce to ¾ ounce simple syrup (to taste)

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice and shake vigorously.
2. Strain into your preferred glassware.

Bee’s Knees

As beverage director Luke Kingsley of Schulson Collective argues, cocktails don’t need to be overly technical to be well executed. Take the Bee’s Knees. Made with just gin, honey syrup, and lemon juice, the cocktail tastes like a blossoming spring garden despite its short ingredient list. Kingsley recommends using a non-juniper-dominant gin, which will result in a softer, easier-drinking cocktail.

“At their core, most drinks are simply a balance of spirit, citrus, and sweetness that are already available in a home kitchen,” he says. “Juice, soda, and fresh fruit can form the foundation of a great cocktail when used thoughtfully.”

Luke Kingsley’s Bee’s Knees Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce honey syrup (1:1 water to honey)
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice and shake.
2. Strain into a rocks glass with ice.

Negroni

The Negroni is the world’s most popular cocktail. It’s also probably the easiest to make, with a three-ingredient equal-parts recipe that’s almost harder to forget than it is to remember. Gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. That’s it.

“The Negroni is one of those drinks that’s simple but always delivers. It’s fast to make and packed with character — it’s a perfect one-minute cocktail,” argues Jean-Baptists Barré, beverage manager at Miami’s Bagatelle Miami River. “Equal parts, poured straight into the glass with no fuss. Simple, consistent, and full of flavor.”

Should you wish to make it fussy, though, you’re more than welcome to. Just like the Daiquiri, the Negroni has endless variations, making it easy to tailor to your personal preferences. Don’t like gin? Swap in mezcal. Want it to be less boozy? Nix the base spirit and swap in soda water for an Americano.

“For me, making a Negroni, or any Negroni variation, is usually an easy, quick, and accessible option,” explains head bartender Keith Larry of New York’s Dandelion. “Brighten it with orange or lemon zest, swap it for an Americano or a Sbagliato, and you’ll always have a complex cocktail on hand in minutes. For this reason, I always keep Campari and vermouth in the house.”

Keith Larry’s Riffable Negroni Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ounce spirit of choice
• 1 ounce Campari
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• 1 dash orange bitters
• Optional: club soda or Prosecco

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a rocks glass with a large ice cube and stir.
2. Try it without the spirit and add club soda for an Americano, or swap in Prosecco for a Sbagliato.

Garibaldi

Named for Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Garibaldi, like the Negroni, is a classic Campari cocktail, with the bitter, red liqueur serving as the drink’s only booze source. The rest of the cocktail is composed of orange juice. Its revival came courtesy of fluffy orange juice, a trendy ingredient popularized at New York City’s Dante in the mid-2010s. To perfectly froth your juice, Princess Johnson of Allegory in Washington, D.C., suggests using a handheld milk frother or roughly shaking the juice in a tin with a coiled spring.

“A Garibaldi, for me, is a quick and perfectly balanced cocktail with texture. They’re slightly sweet, bitter, and acidic — perfect for any time of the day,” she explains. “It has a great mouthfeel and goes down smooth from the fluffiness of the orange juice. Garibaldis are low-ABV classics packed with some much needed vitamin C.”

Princess Johnson’s Garibaldi Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ½ ounces Campari
• 4-5 ounces fresh, frothy orange juice
• Garnish: orange wedge

Directions

1. Fill a Collins glass with ice.
2. Add Campari and top with frothy orange juice.
3. Garnish with an orange wedge.

White Negroni

As established, the Negroni comes in all shapes and sizes. One of the most popular, standardized riffs is the White Negroni. While other takes might swap out one ingredient in favor of another, the White maintains only the classic’s base ingredient: gin. Rather than Campari, it’s liqueurs like Suze or Salers Gentian Aperitif that act as the bittering agent, while the sweetener is blanc vermouth instead of red.

“The White Negroni is easy, requires no prep, and has only three ingredients, four if you count a lemon peel. It’s bitter, bracing, and equally at home in the summer, winter, spring, or fall,” remarks Max Schikora, bar manager at Ann Arbor, Mich.’s Echelon Kitchen and Bar. “If you want to cut it up or make it more seasonal, you can garnish with rosemary, fresh basil, thyme, tarragon, anything you like.”

Max Schikora’s White Negroni Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ounce London Dry Gin, such as Beefeater
• 1 ounce Dolin Blanc Vermouth
• 1 ounce Salers Gentian Aperitif
• Garnish: lemon peel

Directions

1. Add all liquid ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir.
2. Strain into a rocks glass with ice.
3. Garnish with a lemon peel.

Yuzu Highball

Highballs are inherently simple, but nobody ever said they had to be basic. This Japanese whisky-based spec from bicoastal Korean BBQ hotspot Jeong Yuk Jeom’s head bartender Tana Kokanot is all the proof you need that just spirits and soda can make drinks that are easy, layered, and immensely satisfying.

“This is our go-to when we want something refreshing but still structured. It’s bright, citrus-forward, and incredibly quick to build, no shaking required,” she says. “The highball format keeps it elegant yet effortless, making it perfect for home bartenders who want something polished in under three minutes.”

Tana Kokanot’s Yuzu Highball Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Japanese whisky (or bourbon)
• ¾ ounce yuzu juice (or fresh lemon juice as a substitute)
• ¼ ounce simple syrup
• Cold soda water
• Garnish: lemon twist

Directions

1. Add whisky, yuzu juice, and simple syrup to a highball glass with ice and stir briefly.
2. Top with soda water and garnish with a lemon twist.

Martini

Once you have your preferred spec dialed in, making a Martini at home is one of the simplest ways to treat yourself after a long day. And considering there are only really two or three ingredients used to make one, most iterations can be prepared in less than three minutes. You can even batch your Martini ahead of time and stick it in the freezer to save time, not to mention ensure you have a perfectly temperate ‘tini to sip on when the mood strikes.

“An at-home cocktail I often make for a nightcap is a 2:1 Martini with grapefruit bitters,” says beverage director Marshall Minaya of Valerie in NYC. “I keep a bottle of gin in the freezer, currently St. George Terroir gin. The texture and viscosity you get from a freezer-cold bottle, both when pouring and sipping, is such a satisfying feeling.”

Marshall Minaya’s Martini Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 ounces freezer door gin
• 1 ounce dry vermouth (such as Method or Little City)
• 4 dashes grapefruit bitters (homemade or Scrappy’s)
• Garnish: Kalamata olive, lemon twist

Directions

1. Chill a stainless steel mixing tin.
2. In the chilled tin, add gin, dry vermouth, and bitters.
3. Stir gently with ice until well chilled.
4. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish with a Kalamata olive and a lemon twist.

Caipirinha

When thinking of rum– and cachaça-based cocktails, labor-intensive creations like the Hurricane or the Zombie often come to mind. But enjoying a fun, tropical drink made with either spirit need not require a ton of preparation — just look at the Caipirinha. It’s a Brazilian drink with unknown origins made with cachaça, whole lime, and fine white sugar. And one thing is for sure: It’s just as easy to make as it is to enjoy.

“My easy go-to when I want something quick, lively, and fun is a Caipirinha. The cocktail hails from Brazil and showcases their most popular spirit, cachaça,” says Charlie Szur, head bartender at Confidant in Brooklyn. “Similar to rum, which is often distilled from molasses, cachaça is made from fermented fresh sugar cane juice for an earthier and fruitier flavor profile. This cocktail is the perfect balance of citrus, sweetness, and earthy funk, and best enjoyed while listening to a great Samba record.”

Charlie Szur’s Caipirinha Recipe

Ingredients

• ½ a lime, chopped into small pieces with the rind still on
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 ounces cachaça (such as Magnífica Cristal)

Directions

1. Muddle lime pieces and sugar in a shaker.
2. Add cachaça.
3. Shake to combine and pour everything, including the lime chunks and ice, into a rocks glass.

Ti’ Punch

If you enjoy spirits with a bit of grassy funk on them and the Ti’ Punch isn’t already on your radar, allow us to introduce you to this wonder from Martinique. The name of the drink is short for “petite punch,” but don’t let that fool you — this is a booze-forward cocktail that delivers none of the flavors one might expect in a party punch bowl. Made with just rhum agricole, cane syrup, and lime, it’s an understated drink packing a serious punch, pun intended.

“If I have three minutes and want something perfect, I’m making a Ti’ Punch,” says David Perez, assistant general manager and bar director at Agnes and Sherman in Houston. “Traditionally, it’s just rhum agricole, granulated cane sugar, and tiny lime coins with barely any pith, served without ice. Here at home, I like cutting my lime coins to half-dollar size with flesh, and I serve it with a couple ice cubes. The addition of water from the ice and lime flesh really opens the cocktail. I love it as a vehicle for almost any spirit, not just rhum agricole. Personally, I have an affinity for brandy.”

David Perez’s Ti’ Punch Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lime
• ¼ ounce cane syrup (simple syrup or turbinado syrup will do)
• 2 ounces rhum agricole (or the spirit or your choice)
• 2-3 ice cubes

Directions

1. Slice lime into half-dollar-size coins with the rind still on.
2. Add one lime coin and syrup to a rocks glass and muddle with a bar spoon.
3. Add rhum agricole and swizzle.
4. Add ice cubes and serve.