14 Savory Garnishes To Pair With Your Favorite Cocktails

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From conventional to creative, savory cocktail garnishes have lots to offer drinkers. When it comes to giving your cocktails more show-stopping appeal, nothing screams "look at me" more than a unique garnish. If it's savory enough to eat, even better. The ultimate drink for savory garnishes is a Bloody Mary, and that's what most of us think of first. However, the world of savory garnishes has a whole lot more to offer than topping just one cocktail. If you're ready to elevate your bartending skills and venture into the realm of savory garnishes, you've come to the right place.

With 10 years of bartending experience and another 10 years working in restaurants and bars, I'm well-versed in the language of cocktail garnishes. With this in mind, many of the 14 savory garnishes you'll find below are ones I've used many times, and they will likely be familiar; others not so much. Regardless, you can trust they have what it takes to provide a cocktail with all the finishing flair it needs. Plus, leaning into the unique flavors and aesthetic is a surefire way to make your cocktails the envy of all your friends.

Everyone knows that celery is the classic, dare I say, ideal garnish for a Bloody Mary and other variations on the recipe, like a Bloody Maria (which is made with tequila instead of vodka). Fortunately, though, its garnish potential doesn't stop there.

A new trend I've noticed around town is making cocktails with fresh, out-of-the-ordinary juices — such as carrot or green juice — and celery makes a perfect garnish for these types of drinks. It keeps with the fresh, healthy flavor profile and gives you a bit of bite. You can make a mean carrot or green juice cocktail with just about any type of spirit, too. Tequila is my favorite, but whiskey is fantastic with carrot juice, and white rum and vodka go great in either. You could even opt for gin, but I'd stick to Hendrick's because it has a subtle cucumber flavor.

If you'd rather eat your celery with peanut butter, I get it. You can still cut the leafy greens off the ends and use them to garnish drinks, though. In fact, I'd say a sprig of celery leaves looks better on many drinks.

Edible flowers are having a moment in the sun right now, for both drinks and foods. While some edible flowers aren't really considered savory, like violets and honeysuckle, others have an undeniably savory edge. Chrysanthemum, marigolds, calendula, and chive flowers are just a few to get you started.

From earthy to spicy to grassy, edible flowers have a lot of potential when it comes to enhancing your favorite cocktails. Not only are they flavorful, but they look phenomenal garnishing a drink. Even if you just float a couple of petals on top, you can expect audible gasps of joy when people lay their eyes on them. Of course, after that, you can also expect people to ask if the blooms are actually edible, but can you blame them?

If you're looking for cocktails to garnish with edible flowers, the sky's the limit. Flavorful martinis and mixed drinks with a touch of citrus are a great place to start, though. Once you get a feel for a particular edible flower, let your imagination run wild, and your drinks will be tastier and prettier as a result.

Not all fresh herbs are savory, like mint, but some of them are, and they make the best cocktail garnishes. Take rosemary and thyme, for example. They both have an earthy, savory flavor that pairs perfectly with a slew of different spirits and mixers, and a little sprig of either in a glass looks nothing short of stunning — at least as far as drink garnishes are concerned. My favorite spirit to garnish with rosemary or thyme is whiskey, and this includes bourbon. It matches the sweet, complex flavor profile of the spirit beautifully. As for mixers, anything with grapefruit juice can easily get a rosemary or thyme garnish, like a Paloma or a Salty Dog.

Cilantro is another eye-catching savory herb that easily works as a garnish. It's delicious muddled into a traditional or pineapple margarita as well. However, cilantro isn't for everyone, so always check with whoever is enjoying the drink before tossing cilantro into the mix. Basil isn't the most savory fresh herb — some say it actually tastes sweet. Even so, the savory elements are there, and it's another fantastic garnish to add to your repertoire. You can seamlessly integrate basil into a long list of drinks, and then garnish them with a little leaf of the good stuff as well. Some of the most popular drinks you can infuse with basil include gimlets, margaritas, mojitos, bourbon cocktails with lemonade or smashed berries, and anything with strawberry or watermelon.

You'll find a lot of bars garnishing Bloody Marys of all kinds with bacon, and it works well enough. Who am I kidding? People love a big slice of bacon garnishing a drink. However, I far prefer jerky. Let me tell you why: For starters, it isn't nearly as greasy as bacon, so it doesn't interfere with the integrity of a drink as much. Secondly, it comes in a world of meaty flavors. Third, and possibly most important, it can be kept around for much longer. That is, of course, if you don't munch it all before it makes its way into a drink. Finally, I find that jerky gives cocktails a more sophisticated look. You probably never thought you'd hear someone refer to jerky as sophisticated, but in this case, it works.

So, what drinks benefit from a jerky garnish? Bloody Marys are a shoo-in. The salty, meaty goodness of jerky sings alongside a spicy tomato mix. Jerky also looks and tastes outstanding with red beers and bourbon cocktails like an Old Fashioned. It even makes a good chaser for shots or rocks pours of bourbon and whiskey.

Pickles are no stranger to the world of cocktail garnishes. Typically, you'll find them used to finish off a Bloody Mary, but they have long since branched out thanks to people's insatiable love for all things pickle. For example, you've probably heard of a pickleback. If not, it's a shot of whiskey or bourbon followed by a shot of pickle brine. You can also turn it into a cocktail by mixing the bourbon and pickle brine with a squeeze of lemon or lime and serving it on the rocks. So yeah, people can't get enough of the flavor, and as you can probably guess, a pickle garnish doesn't hurt either.

Beyond Bloody Marys and picklebacks, pickles make a wonderful garnish for vodka martinis and margaritas. Add a dash of the brine as well, and you'll be glad you did. Best of all, pretty much any kind of pickle works, too. Tiny little gherkins are perfect for skewering, and they look, well, adorable. Pickle slices and spears make the cut as well.

There aren't a lot of drinks that call for an olive garnish, but the almighty martini is one of them, and that's more than enough to keep these salty gems on hand. Most bar olives come pre-stuffed with pimentos — those little slices of pepper. However, stuffing olives yourself allows for unlimited possibilities. One of the most popular ingredients used to stuff olives is blue cheese because the flavors are basically a match made in heaven, but garlic-stuffed olives are my go-to. Not only is it super easy to stuff little pickled garlic cloves into olives, but the flavor is what dreams are made of. Really, though, you can stuff olives with whatever you like (even caviar if your heart desires) and pair them with a vodka martini.

In addition to a classic gin or vodka martini, stuffed olives make a fantastic garnish for pale ales, IPAs, and many other light beers. Red beers and Bloody Marys also crave a bit of saltiness, and stuffed olives are up for the gig. Some people even like olives on an Aperol Spritz. Whatever you decide to garnish with olives, stuffing them makes all the difference.

Cocktails full of fresh, healthy ingredients like carrot and green juice are all the rage these days, and I, for one, am here for it. Along with this shift, you get fresh, savory garnishes, one of which is carrot. Whether they come in the form of thin-sliced rounds, spears, ribbons, or even little shavings, carrots look fantastic on a wide range of cocktails. The leafy green tops also have what it takes to make an eye-catching garnish.

As noted, fresh drinks featuring green or carrot juice are obvious picks for a carrot garnish. However, cocktails featuring lemon and ginger also pair well with these vitamin-packed garnishes. You could also make a fun play on a margarita or daiquiri with carrot juice and a matching garnish. Or, if you're dreaming of days past, you can make a carrot cosmo that even Carrie and the girls would approve of. Just swap out the cranberry for a carrot and garnish it with a little carrot leaf or ribbon — fun!

I remember when cucumber martinis were the cool kid on the block, and while they may be somewhat dated now, their fresh appeal remains the same. Ask anyone who enjoys a Hendrick's gin martini, and they'll tell you the cucumber flavor makes the drink. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this, but cucumber garnishes are the only acceptable garnish for a cucumber martini.

Since mixologists are seamlessly adding more and more savory garnishes to the scene these days, you may find cucumbers popping up on the rims of other drinks now, too. Cucumber margaritas, cucumber mojitos, cucumber gimlets, and even a good old-fashioned gin and tonic are just a few examples of drinks that pop with help from our green friend.

A slice of cucumber is perfect for garnishing any glass. All you have to do is cut a little mark from the edge to the center and hook it over the rim. However, if you want to give your drink a sophisticated finish, I recommend cutting long, ultra-thin slices from whole cucumbers and curling or threading the ribbons onto a skewer. It may take a little longer, but it gives cocktails flair for days.

For all of you out there who like a bit of heat, spicy peppers like jalapeños and pepperoncinis are just the garnishes you need to make your heart sing with joy. Little slices (or maybe even an entire pepper, if you fancy yourself someone who can handle it) look fantastic on quite a few drinks. Infuse your cocktail of choice with some heat as well, and you've got a recipe for success.

My all-time favorite drink to infuse and garnish with spicy peppers is a margarita. The balance of sweetness and lime is practically begging for a bit of heat. Mojitos, micheladas, daiquiris, and frozen tropical drinks also pair nicely with spicy peppers, even if you only put one on the rim. Pineapple and watermelon drinks, in particular, are a no-brainer. If you're brave enough, I recommend trying a spicy vodka martini with a touch of jalapeño brine and an added slice for a garnish. I can only have one, but it sure gets the party started.

Everyone knows salt is the go-to rim for margaritas, but I think there are a couple of seasonings that make better rims. What are they? Tajín and Old Bay seasoning. Not only do they taste great with a margarita, but they are fantastic on red beers and all kinds of Bloody Marys (Bloody Maria, Red Snapper, etc.) as well. They add a ton of savory flavor, and of course, give your drinks an alluring aesthetic appeal.

I prefer using Old Bay and Tajín seasoning as-is to create a rim. However, if the flavors are too potent or spicy in these seasonings, you can also mix them with a bit of salt. About half and half should do the trick. This gives you more of the salty goodness people are accustomed to, but still turns up the flavor considerably. In Denver, where I live, you can order a Tajín rim in just about every bar, and people love it. Old Bay isn't as common, but I worked in a place that used it to rim Bloody Marys, and I can't count how many times people swooned over the combo. As far as I'm concerned, these people have spoken, and Tajín and Old Bay seasoning will always have a home in my bar.

Red wine foam is the most unique savory garnish on this list, and while it may not be super popular just yet, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned into the next new cocktail trend. I recently had the pleasure of enjoying a bourbon sour with red wine foam, as per a speakeasy mixologist's recommendation, and it was mind-blowing. The subtle nuances of red wine paired with the fluffy, creamy foam and the rich taste of bourbon and citrus made for a drink to remember.

A classic bourbon sour is made with egg whites, so it's already a bit frothy. As such, it's a no-brainer for red wine foam. However, the fun doesn't have to stop there. It also pairs nicely with a gin fizz, a rum-spiked apple cider, and more. Feel free to play around with it. Just remember to use a flavorful, quality wine to make your foam.

If you don't have a whipped cream canister at home to make your own red wine foam, you may want to consider purchasing one for your home bar. If not, keep an eye out for red wine foam at trendy bars and make sure to take advantage if you see it featured. It just might change how you see wine forever.

Ginger is one root vegetable whose flavor is hard to describe. Is it spicy? Zesty? Sweet? Fresh? Citrusy? The answer is all of the above. As such, it's got something to offer cocktails that no other vegetable can recreate. While we find ginger ale and ginger beer in lots of cocktails, using the flavor powerhouse as a garnish isn't as common. It should be though. A nice sliver on the rim of a glass looks fresh, alluring, and downright professional. After all, how many home bartenders have you seen use ginger as a garnish? Maybe none — why not be the first of your friends?

Anything that calls for ginger ale or ginger beer, like a Moscow Mule or something as simple as a whiskey and ginger ale, is easily upgraded with a ginger garnish. You can also make a Dirty Shirley or Pimm's Cup with ginger ale and follow through with a little slice of the veggie for a garnish. Or, make a fun rendition of a classic cocktail, like a Ginger Old Fashioned or a Ginger Bee's Knees. Either way, ginger garnishes are just what you need to give many of your cocktails a final burst of flair and flavor.

If you're looking for a way to use up a plentiful harvest of cherry tomatoes, cocktail garnishes are here for the win. Even if you don't grow them yourself (most of us don't, after all), these adorable little tomatoes are on trend when it comes to savory cocktail garnishes.

At first, you may think cherry tomatoes only make a suitable garnish for Bloody Marys (and the whole line of drinks that make up the Bloody family), but they work on a michelada and a red beer, too. If you're feeling adventurous, though, a hot new drink on the scene is the tomato martini, and a cherry tomato garnish makes it complete. 

Tomato martinis can be made with vodka or gin, and instead of dry vermouth, they feature a touch of tomato water. The result is a garden-fresh martini with lots of zest and bite. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it might surprise you. Or, if you really want to test your mixologist capabilities, try making a bourbon and vanilla tomato water cooler. Maker's Mark curated the recipe exclusively for Chowhound. Cool, right?

Bloody Marys are unlike any other cocktail, barring renditions on the recipe, of course. One of the things people love about them is that they can be garnished with just about anything you want. In fact, I'm sure you've seen Bloodys so stacked with garnishes that what could have been a simple cocktail turns into a complete meal. Whether you're nursing a hangover or not, it's a sight to behold.

I know we have touched on lots of savory garnishes that taste and look great with Bloody Marys, but all of the ones we've discussed so far are more versatile than just this one line of drinks. Now it's time to touch on the limitless possibilities that only work for Bloodys, and really, just about anything goes. From small pickled quail eggs to asparagus to shrimp to fried oysters to okra and beyond, they can all be skewered and used to garnish a Bloody. I mean, I've even seen fried chicken served as a Bloody garnish; the only limit is your imagination. 

Speaking of which, the same can be said for the actual cocktail as well. You can infuse Bloody Marys with quite a few different creative ingredients, too. Think of it like the perfect drink to play around with and make your own. From the actual mix to the spirit to the garnishes, it's a savory wonderland.