5 Easy, Fun Nonalcoholic Drinks to Help You Get Through Dry January

These booze-free beverages are easy to make and bound to delight.

Published Jan. 22, 2025Updated Jan. 22, 2025

January is a month of fresh starts. Among the many resolutions — diets, goals, plans and promises — you may have committed to cutting back alcohol altogether, or just pausing for the month and observing Dry January. Wherever you are in your journey, these delicious drinks are fantastic alternatives to alcohol, and all use simple techniques, pantry staples and refreshing flavor combinations to add a note of brightness to your day, any time of day.

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

“Recipes like this make me feel like I can participate in the fun complexity of cocktail crafting, even though alcohol isn’t my friend,” said one reader about this salty-tangy-slightly sweet drink from Rebekah Peppler. Preserved lemons, store-bought or easily homemade, make this drink a little savory, and a teaspoon of sugar adds a gentle sweetness: “Not too sweet” is a common phrase in the comments, meant as high praise.

Two glasses filled with a red liquid, ice and a lime wedge sit next to a pitcher of the same beverage.

This ruby-red punch, which takes inspiration from Caribbean sorrel drink and Mexican agua de Jamaica, might just be the tart answer to your evenings. If you can’t find dried hibiscus easily, hibiscus tea, which is sold in many markets, works great.

A tall glass filled with ice, a yellow green liquid and lime slices sits on a marble surface.

If you have some chamomile tea, limes and seltzer, you have all the ingredients for this refreshing, floral drink. The chamomile simple syrup is easy to make and lasts for up to two weeks in the fridge.

Two clear glasses, photographed against a black background, filled with ice and a red liquid, topped with cherries.

Let this recipe convince you that you can, and should, make yourself a Shirley Temple as a treat, well into adulthood. Everything about the drink — the cherry-red nostalgia, the soda’s sweetness, the maraschino garnish — invokes whimsy at any age.

Two glasses of cucumber mint coolers on a white table with a wooden spoon and green napkin.

This spin on a gin and tonic substitutes the classic drink’s herbiness with the flavors of cucumber, lime and mint. You could add a dash of bitters, which contains trace amounts of alcohol, but the drink is flavorful enough on its own, thanks to the fresh ingredients.