The Best Bloody Caesar Recipe

The Caesar is a classic Canadian cocktail that is similar to a Bloody Mary, except that it uses Clamato juice instead of tomato juice. That small difference makes it extra salty and extra delicious!

Caesar Cocktail Ingredients

Now, you’ll see a lot of recipes for Caesars on the internet, but I can tell you that the one below really is the classic. This is what you will get in 90% of Canadian restaurants. It’s simply vodka, Clamato juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. It’s not fancy – it hasn’t been changed up or made unique. It just is what it is.

Having said that, this drink is very easy to add your own twist to. Just like a Bloody Mary, you can add some pickle juice, or a dab of horseradish. These aren’t usual Caesar ingredients, but I’ve definitely had good versions that include them.

Rimming The Glass

If you don’t know how to rim the glass for a cocktail, there are detailed instructions here. Basically, you put your rim ingredients onto a plate. Then you take some lime juice or water and run it around the drinking edge of the glass. Or, you can make a notch in a lime wedge and run that notched bit of lime around the glass. Then you dip the moistened edge into your rim ingredients.

The rim of a Caesar glass traditionally just has celery salt, but you can absolutely flavor the rim seasoning in different ways. I never skip the celery salt entirely because it really is a huge part of the drink. But, I have mixed in some Montreal Steak Seasoning and a bit of garlic powder.

If I’m only making one or two Caesars, I will usually tip a bit of the celery salt into the glass from the rimming plate. I’ll also squeeze the rest of the lime juice from the wedge I used to rim the glass into there.

Garnishes Beyond Celery

Just like a Bloody Mary, there is often a garnish that involves food on a Caesar cocktail. The usual suspect is a stick of celery. I actually really love this. It sits in the briny drink picking up some flavor, and then I swipe it along the rim to get some of that seasoning before taking a salty bite.

One of my favorite ways to play with the garnish on a Caesar is to put a rib of celery into the glass and then use a toothpick to attach other things to it. Some ideas are a dill pickle, an olive, a folded piece of salami, or a strip of bacon. A cube of cheese is always a nice touch too (you know how much I love cheese!).

If you want to get even fancier with the garnishes, have a look at my Bloody Mary garnish ideas over here. These are really fun and easy to make, and they work just as well on a Caesar as the do on a Bloody Mary.

Difference Between Bloody Mary and Caesar

The main difference between a Bloody Caesar and a Bloody Mary is the kind of juice used. For the Bloody Mary, it’s just regular tomato juice. For the Bloody Caesar, you use clam-tomato juice. Clam-tomato juice tends to be a lot saltier than regular tomato juice, so the main difference is the salt flavor.

Another big difference is that Bloody Mary mixes usually have some horseradish and citrus juice in the mix. Like I said above, you can add things like this to a Caesar, but that isn’t standard. When I used to make them in restaurants, some places had us put a squeeze of lime into the glass along with the Worcestershire and hot sauce, but most places didn’t.

What is Clamato Juice

The usual brand of clam-tomato juice that people get is Mott’s Clamato, and honestly, that’s the only brand I’ve ever even tried so I can’t speak to others. Clamato juice has tomato juice, spices, clam broth, sugar, and MSG. It doesn’t really taste like clams at all though, and it’s not in any way fishy. The flavor I get most is salt. And so, when I explain the difference between tomato juice and Clamato juice to people, much like the main difference between a Caesar and a Bloody Mary, it’s about the salt.

Note that the Mott’s Clamato brand also sells an extra-spicy version of their Clamato juice. If you use that when making your cocktails, you probably won’t need the hot sauce, unless you like it extra-extra-spicy!

So that’s the info about what a Bloody Caesar is. If ever you’re in Canada, be sure to walk up to any bar and ask for a Caesar. I promise that if you like Bloody Mary’s, you’ll enjoy it. Or, go ahead and get yourself a bottle of Clamato and try making it at home using the classic basic recipe below.

More Canadian Recipes

Here are some more favorite Canadian recipes to try:

• Butter Tarts
• Honey Dill Sauce
• Beer Cheese Soup

Podcast Episode: Making Bloody Caesars