A sidecar cocktail with lemon peel garnish beside a bronze cocktail shaker

Classic sidecar cocktail

Name: Classic sidecar cocktail
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 60ml cognac; 30ml lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best); 30ml Cointreau; orange peel twist to garnish

Hannah Guinness

Save recipe

Serves 1

Easy

Prep: 5 mins

A star rating of 5 out of 5.8 ratingsRate

loading...

Get 5 months for £5 when you subscribe today

Try this sidecar cocktail recipe, make from a simple mix of cognac, lemon juice and Cointreau – it tastes more complex than you might think

Skip to ingredients

Alternatives

Complete the dish

Showing items 1 to 3 of 3

Cosmopolitan

A star rating of 5 out of 5.1 rating

Fruity sex on the beach cocktail to get a party started

A star rating of 5 out of 5.21 ratings

Woo woo

A star rating of 5 out of 5.26 ratings

Try our sidecar cocktail recipe then check out our manhattan cocktail, cosmopolitan cocktail, picante cocktail, white russian cocktail and more cocktail recipes. Our drinks expert, Hannah Guinness, shares her at-home bar tips to help you take your sidecar to the next level.

What is a sidecar?

Thought to have originated around World War One, this classic cognac-based creation is winningly easy to make with just three ingredients. Zingy and citrussy, it’s a great choice for those who like sour cocktails – if you enjoy drinking margaritas then you’ll love the sidecar.

Sidecar ingredients

Opt for a younger cognac here, where the fruity and floral flavours will work well in the drink. Freshly squeezed lemon juice is also best. A sidecar is open to variation so feel free to play around with the base ingredients. You can swap the cognac for aged dark or golden rum, or bourbon whisky. Alternatively, try using a ginger liqueur instead of the Cointreau.

Bar hacks and garnishes

A sidecar is often served with a sugar rim on the glass to sweeten the cocktail as you sip. It’s not essential but as the cocktail is fairly dry and sour, it can balance out the flavours if you have a sweeter tooth.

Sidecar recipe

Ingredients

60ml cognac
30ml lemon juice

(freshly squeezed is best)
30ml Cointreau
orange peel twist

to garnish

Method

step 1

Put all the ingredients, except the orange peel, in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well until the outside of the shaker feels cold, then strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with the orange twist.

Discover more delicious citrus cocktail recipes.

Authors

Hannah GuinnessSenior sub editor and drinks writer

Comments, questions and tips

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?1 star out of 52 stars out of 53 stars out of 54 stars out of 55 stars out of 5

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

CommentQuestionTip

Overall rating

A star rating of 5 out of 5.8 ratings

Want to see this content?

This page contains olivemagazine content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.

Accept and continue