Highest Calorie Cocktails: The Drinks That Can Rival a Full Meal

A single Mudslide or frozen Margarita can deliver more calories than a Big Mac, and a typical night out with high-calorie cocktails can add 1,000 to 2,000 calories from drinks alone.

What You'll Learn:

• The highest-calorie cocktails ranked with calorie counts for each

• Why cream, coconut, multiple spirits, and sugar syrups drive calorie counts up

• Hidden calorie bombs most people overlook, from brunch drinks to party punch

• Smarter swaps for every high-calorie cocktail on the list

• When the calorie math points to a pattern worth paying attention to

Most people would never sit down and eat two cheeseburgers as an appetizer before dinner. But order a couple of Mudslides or frozen Margaritas at happy hour, and you may have consumed the caloric equivalent without even realizing it.

Cocktails are some of the most calorie-dense things you can consume, and the highest-calorie versions are in a league of their own. A single serving can carry 400, 500, or even 600 calories -- more than many full meals -- yet it goes down in minutes and barely registers as "eating."

This guide ranks the highest-calorie cocktails, explains exactly why they pack such a punch, and shows you smarter alternatives for each one. We will also be honest about what it means when the calorie math starts pointing to a pattern worth paying attention to.

The Cocktails That Hit Hardest -- A Ranked Calorie Breakdown

Not all cocktails are created equal. The difference between a vodka soda (around 97 calories) and a Mudslide (over 550 calories) is enormous -- and it has almost everything to do with what goes into the glass alongside the alcohol.

Here are some of the highest-calorie cocktails you are likely to encounter, ranked from most to least calorie-dense. Keep in mind that these are approximate counts for standard recipes. Restaurant and bar versions often run higher due to oversized pours and extra sweeteners.

• Mudslide -- approximately 550 to 600 calories. Vodka, coffee liqueur, and Irish cream combine with ice cream or heavy cream. This is essentially a boozy milkshake.

• Pina Colada -- approximately 490 to 550 calories. Rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice create a tropical drink that is deceptively smooth and extremely calorie-heavy.

• Frozen Margarita (restaurant-sized) -- approximately 350 to 500 calories. A standard Margarita sits around 270 calories, but frozen versions use sugary mixes and are often served in 16- to 20-ounce glasses, easily doubling or tripling the count.

• White Russian -- approximately 350 to 400 calories. Vodka, coffee liqueur, and heavy cream. The cream alone can contribute 150 or more calories per drink.

• Mai Tai -- approximately 310 to 350 calories. Two types of rum plus orgeat syrup, curacao, and lime juice. The double-spirit base and sweet syrups add up fast.

• Long Island Iced Tea -- approximately 290 to 400 calories. Vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and triple sec are combined with sour mix and a splash of cola. Five spirits in a single glass is a calorie equation that works against you quickly.

• Margarita (standard) -- approximately 270 to 400 calories. Tequila, triple sec, and lime -- the baseline version is moderate, but sweet-and-sour mixes and salted rims push it higher.

• Zombie -- approximately 300 to 350 calories. Multiple rums, fruit juices, and grenadine make this tiki classic a sugar-and-alcohol heavyweight.

• Eggnog cocktail -- approximately 350 to 450 calories. Eggs, cream, sugar, and bourbon or rum create one of the most calorie-dense seasonal drinks.

• Amaretto Sour -- approximately 250 to 300 calories. Amaretto is one of the most sugar-laden liqueurs, and pairing it with sweetened sour mix only compounds the problem.

To put these numbers in perspective: a single Mudslide contains roughly the same number of calories as a McDonald's Big Mac. A Pina Colada is comparable to a large slice of cheesecake. These are not beverages in the usual sense -- they are meals in a glass.

If you are curious about how the calories from cocktails interact with weight over time, our guide to alcohol and weight gain covers the full picture, including how alcohol changes the way your body stores fat.

Why These Cocktails Are So Calorie-Dense

Three factors push certain cocktails into extreme calorie territory.

Multiple spirits. A Long Island Iced Tea combines five different liquors. Each standard pour adds roughly 97 calories of pure alcohol. Stack five of them together and you are already approaching 500 calories from the alcohol content alone, before a single mixer is added. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism notes that a standard drink in the United States contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol, which translates to roughly 98 calories. Multi-spirit cocktails can contain three to five standard drinks in a single glass.

Cream, coconut, and dairy. Ingredients like heavy cream, Irish cream liqueur, coconut cream, and ice cream are calorie powerhouses. One ounce of heavy cream contains about 100 calories. In drinks like the Mudslide, White Russian, and Pina Colada, these ingredients are not garnishes -- they are the structural backbone of the drink.

Sugar syrups and sweet mixers. Simple syrup, grenadine, orgeat, sweet-and-sour mix, and fruit juices all carry significant sugar calories. A single ounce of simple syrup contains about 65 calories. Frozen drink machines in restaurants often use pre-made mixes that are heavily sweetened, adding even more. And because the sweetness masks the taste of alcohol, these drinks tend to go down faster, which means you are more likely to have a second or third.

Hidden Calorie Bombs You Might Not Expect

The cocktails ranked above are the obvious heavy hitters, but several other categories of drinks quietly deliver just as many (or more) calories.

Frozen and blended drinks. Almost any cocktail becomes more calorie-dense when you blend it. The frozen versions typically use sweetened mixes rather than fresh ingredients, and the serving sizes are significantly larger. A frozen Daiquiri at a beach bar can easily run 400 to 500 calories -- roughly double the classic shaken version.

Brunch cocktails. Mimosas seem light, but a bottomless brunch can add up fast. Each Mimosa runs about 150 calories, and if you have four or five over a two-hour brunch, you are looking at 600 to 750 calories from drinks alone, on top of whatever you eat. Bloody Marys are deceptively calorie-heavy too, especially loaded versions with bacon, cheese, and extra garnishes that can push past 350 calories per glass.

"Party" drinks and punch bowls. Jungle juice, spiked punch, fishbowl cocktails, and boozy slushie machines are nearly impossible to calorie-count accurately. They combine multiple liquors, sugary fruit juices, and sometimes soda, all in portions that are far larger than a standard serving. A single 16-ounce cup of spiked punch can carry 300 to 500 calories, and most people do not stop at one cup.

Oversized glassware. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many people underestimate how much they are actually drinking because of non-standard glass sizes. A Margarita served in a standard rocks glass is a very different caloric proposition than one served in a 20-ounce fishbowl. The menu may list it as "one Margarita," but nutritionally, it could be two or three.

A Night Out in Calories -- The Math That Adds Up Fast

This is where the numbers become genuinely eye-opening. Consider a fairly typical night out:

• Pre-dinner cocktail: a Margarita at the bar (approximately 350 calories, frozen version)

• Dinner drinks: two glasses of wine (approximately 250 calories total)

• After-dinner drink: a White Russian or an Espresso Martini (approximately 360 calories)

That is roughly 960 calories from drinks alone -- before you factor in appetizers, dinner, or a late-night snack. Swap those wine glasses for two more cocktails, and you can easily cross the 1,500-calorie mark.

Now consider a Saturday pool party or a night at a tiki bar:

• Two Pina Coladas (approximately 1,000 calories)

• One Mai Tai (approximately 320 calories)

• One Long Island Iced Tea (approximately 350 calories)

That is close to 1,700 calories from four drinks. An entire day's worth of food for some people, consumed in liquid form over a few hours.

This "meal in a glass" dynamic is one of the reasons people struggle to lose weight despite eating well and exercising. If you have noticed that your midsection is not responding to diet changes the way you expected, the cocktails may be a larger factor than you realized. Our article on alcohol belly explains how alcohol specifically contributes to visceral fat storage around the abdomen -- a pattern that goes beyond simple calorie surplus.

Smarter Swaps for Every High-Calorie Cocktail

You do not have to abandon cocktails entirely to make a meaningful difference. For every calorie bomb on the list, there is a lighter alternative that still feels like a real drink.

• Instead of a Mudslide (~560 cal): Try an Espresso Martini made with vodka, espresso, and a half-ounce of coffee liqueur (~225 cal). You keep the coffee flavor without the heavy cream.

• Instead of a Pina Colada (~490 cal): Try a rum and coconut water with a splash of pineapple juice (~160 cal). You get the tropical profile at a fraction of the calories.

• Instead of a frozen Margarita (~400 cal): Try tequila, fresh lime juice, and soda water over ice (~140 cal). Crisp, bright, and roughly 260 fewer calories.

• Instead of a White Russian (~360 cal): Try a vodka with cold brew coffee and a splash of oat milk (~130 cal). Similar flavor, less than half the calories.

• Instead of a Long Island Iced Tea (~350 cal): Try a single-spirit highball like a gin and soda with lemon (~100 cal). One spirit instead of five makes an enormous difference.

• Instead of a Mai Tai (~320 cal): Try a rum and soda with a squeeze of lime and a dash of bitters (~110 cal). You still taste the rum, without the syrup overload.

The underlying principle is consistent: fewer spirits per glass, less sugar from mixers and syrups, and no cream or coconut-based ingredients. Choosing drinks built on a single spirit plus a zero-calorie mixer (soda water, sparkling water, fresh citrus) is the simplest way to keep cocktail calories under control.

For a broader comparison of how different types of alcohol stack up, our guide to beer calories offers a useful reference point -- especially if you are deciding between a cocktail and a pint.

When the Calorie Count Points to Something Bigger

Sometimes the search for cocktail calorie counts starts as a straightforward nutrition question and gradually uncovers something more personal.

You might notice that the calorie math is not really about one cocktail -- it is about the three or four you consistently have every weekend, or the two you have most evenings after work. You might realize that the reason the numbers bother you is not just the calories themselves but the pattern they represent: drinking more than you intended, more often than you planned, and finding it harder to dial back than you expected.

If that resonates, you are not alone, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Research published in the journal JAMA shows that alcohol consumption increased significantly across the U.S. population in recent years, with many people developing heavier drinking patterns gradually and without recognizing the shift.

The relationship between alcohol and your body goes deeper than calories. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism explains that regular heavy drinking affects sleep quality, hormone balance, liver function, mood regulation, and long-term disease risk. On the weight front specifically, alcohol disrupts fat metabolism -- your body prioritizes burning off alcohol over burning stored fat, which is why even moderate drinking can stall weight-loss efforts. A study indexed on PubMed found that alcohol intake is positively associated with waist circumference and abdominal obesity, independent of total calorie intake.

In other words, it is not just that cocktails contain a lot of calories. It is that alcohol changes how your body processes everything else you eat and drink, making it harder to maintain a healthy weight even when the rest of your diet is on point.

Support That Meets You Where You Are

If counting cocktail calories has led you to think about your drinking in a broader way, that is a sign of awareness, not weakness. You do not need to be in crisis, and you do not need to give yourself a label. Wanting to feel better, lose weight, sleep more soundly, or simply feel more in control of your choices is reason enough to explore your options.

For many people, willpower alone is not enough -- and that is not a personal failing. Alcohol affects the brain's reward pathways in ways that make moderation genuinely difficult over time. That is why evidence-based approaches exist.

Naltrexone is an FDA-approved oral medication (50 mg) that works by reducing the pleasurable effects of alcohol in the brain. It does not make you sick if you drink. Instead, it gradually lowers the reward signal, helping many people naturally drink less over time. It has been studied across thousands of participants in clinical trials and is recommended by major medical guidelines for alcohol use disorder.

Choose Your Horizon (CYH) offers naltrexone-assisted treatment that is entirely online, physician-supervised, and private. There are no clinic visits, no group meetings, and no one-size-fits-all rules about your goals. Whether you want to cut back, take a break, or stop entirely, the program adapts to you.

If you are curious whether this kind of support could help, you can take a free, private online Alcohol Use Assessment to see if CYH's naltrexone program is a good fit. It takes just a few minutes, and there is no obligation.

Key Takeaways

The highest-calorie cocktails -- Mudslides, Pina Coladas, frozen Margaritas, White Russians, Long Island Iced Teas, and their relatives -- can deliver 300 to 600 calories per glass. A single night out can add 1,000 to 2,000 calories from drinks alone, and much of it comes from ingredients you might not think twice about: cream, coconut, sugar syrups, and stacked spirits.

Knowing which drinks carry the heaviest calorie load is a practical first step. Swapping to simpler, single-spirit drinks with low-sugar mixers can cut hundreds of calories per round. But if you find yourself recognizing that the issue is not just which cocktails you choose but how many and how often, that awareness matters too.

Change does not have to be dramatic. It can start with a smarter drink order, or it can start with an honest look at your relationship with alcohol. Either way, you are moving in the right direction -- and support is available whenever you are ready for it.