Hankering to make a Bloody Mary at home but missing some tomato juice? Fret not. We spoke to Deena Sayers, the beverage director from The Stand Restaurant & Comedy Club, who reveals that you can still make a stellar Bloody Mary sans the tomato juice. “For a tomato-less Bloody Mary, I’d suggest creating a vegetable juice with a blended mix of yellow and red peppers, celery juice, and beet juice,” she advises. “The balance of the vegetable juice’s acidity will be a great alternative when properly strained.”
In addition to the acidity and flavor, the blended red peppers will also provide the desirable shade of crimson that tomato juice offers. “Remember to use vegetables that are ripe,” Sayers notes, “which will have plenty of juice and are at peak flavor.” With that in mind, you can follow Sayers’s tips and make our tried-and-true Bloody Mary recipe. In place of the tomato juice, make the blended veggie juice as Sayers described. Alternatively, check out our best Bloody Mary cocktail recipe and swap out the tomato juice with freshly blended veggie juice.
With tomatoes and tomato juice out of the picture, you may think it best to change out some of the seasonings and other ingredients that go into a Bloody Mary. However, Sayers offers a different suggestion. “I’d still incorporate some of the base seasonings/flavors even without the tomatoes for the signature and familiar Bloody Mary flavor profile,” she explains.
Don’t swap out the other ingredients, but do consider adding more flavors
A tomato-juice-free Bloody Mary can still taste iconic. The key, as Sayers points out, is that you want to keep in the other flavors of a Bloody Mary, even when tomato juice is not in play. “Some of those classic flavors include horseradish for that signature kick, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce for heat, celery salt, and black pepper,” she elaborates. These flavors still work well with the recommended blended veggie juice.
While Sayers does not believe in subtracting ingredients from a classic Bloody Mary, she does believe in adding more when tomato juice isn’t used as the base. “I might introduce a touch of smoked paprika to deepen the savory notes and complement the pepper’s sweetness,” she emphasizes. “And possibly introduce green Tabasco and fresh herbs like dill.”
Sayers adds that “the key is to taste and adjust, finding the perfect balance with the new base flavors.” Thus, when you don’t omit the core components of a standard Bloody Mary and instead learn to add and adjust ingredients, you can easily take a Bloody Mary from good to great, even without tomato juice.
