Classic Mudslide Cocktail Recipe

Name: Classic Mudslide Cocktail
Prep time: 3 min
Total time: 3 min
Ingredients: 1 to 1 1/2 ounces vodka; 1 ounce coffee liqueur; 1 ounce Irish cream liqueur

Prep: 3 mins

Cook: 0 mins

Total: 3 mins

Serving: 1 serving

Yield: 1 cocktail

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The mudslide is a popular cocktail that can be served on the rocks or blended into a boozy milkshake. Both are a delicious and perfectly sweet mix of vodka, cream, and coffee and incredibly easy to make.

You'll notice many similarities between the mudslide and the white Russian. They're both tasty vodka lowballs, though the mudslide opts for Irish cream rather than standard dairy cream. This gives it a slightly lighter touch, but it's also a bit more potent. Kahlúa is the coffee liqueur most commonly used, and Baileys is the popular Irish cream of choice. That said, there are great alternatives to both liqueurs.

Beyond the rocks and blended versions, there are many variations on the mudslide. You may also see this drink made without the vodka. Sometimes, the glass is also filled with milk or cream—even more like the white Russian recipe—so the two cocktails are often mistaken for one another.

Mudslide cocktail with ice in three different lowball glasses — The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

What You'll Need to Make This Mudslide Cocktail Recipe

A Great Cocktail Jigger

A Sleek Cocktail Shaker

A Classic Old Fashioned Glass

"The mudslide is a delicious guilty pleasure. It tastes like boozy coffee ice cream in a glass." —Tom Macy

1 to 1 1/2 ounces vodka
1 ounce coffee liqueur
1 ounce Irish cream liqueur

Gather the ingredients.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck
Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck
Shake well.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck
Strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with fresh ice. Serve and enjoy.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

Tips

There's no need to pull out your best vodka for a mudslide; save that for your vodka martinis. Instead, find a decent, inexpensive vodka for this drink.
Flavored vodkas also work well in a mudslide. Try an espresso, chocolate, raspberry, or cake-flavored vodka for more sweetness and flavor.
Pouring the mudslide over fresh ice is the easiest way to improve this simple drink. The ice in the shaker is broken down from agitation. If that ice goes into the glass, your drink will be watered down by the time you are halfway done with it.
The ice in the glass should simply keep the drink cool while you enjoy it. Consider using ice balls or giant cubes. The larger the ice, the slower it will melt, and the less your drink will suffer from unwanted dilution.
Keeping your vodka bottle in the freezer will also help keep your beverage cool when you make it.

Recipe Variations

Irish cream is an essential spirit for bars, but you can also play with some of the alternatives. RumChata is a perfect example, and if you are a fan of this dairy liqueur, you will love it in your mudslide.
Some versions of the mudslide double up on the cream. For an extra-creamy drink, try it with 1 ounce of Irish cream liqueur and 1 1/2 ounces heavy cream.
To make a frozen mudslide, pour 1 ounce each of the three distilled spirits into a blender. Add 1 ounce of milk or cream, then 1 cup of ice. Blend until smooth. Pour it into a frosty hurricane glass and add a drizzle of chocolate syrup.
For a special dessert, swap the milk or cream for a scoop of vanilla ice cream and cut back to about 1/2 cup of ice. Blend.
For a fancy frozen mudslide, add layers of chocolate syrup. Pour a small amount of the drink into your glass, top that layer with syrup, then add another mudslide layer. Continue this pattern until your glass is full.
Substitute a blended Scotch whisky for the vodka, and you have a drink called the aggravation (or teacher's pet). It typically gets a quick shake: Pour everything into the serving glass along with ice, cover it with a shaker tin, and give it one good shake. (Make sure you have a tight grip on both the glass and the tin or things could get messy.) It can be made with cream, milk, or Irish cream.
Brandy makes an excellent variation on the mudslide as well.
For an on-the-rocks variation, build your drink in a glass and stir, instead of shaking. This method will provide a little more bite and decadence.

How Strong Is the Mudslide?

Though the mudslide may taste sweet and innocent, it is almost as strong as a margarita. As an example, with 80-proof vodka, Baileys, and Kahlúa, its alcohol content falls in the 29 percent ABV (58 proof) range. Since it's so yummy, it's easy to drink one too many, and this one will sneak up on you. Of course, if you were to add milk or cream or blend the mudslide, it would be far less potent.

Is a mudslide vegan?

Since a mudslide is made with Irish cream and coffee liqueur, the drink contains dairy. Most coffee liqueurs, including Kahlúa, contain dairy, and one of the main ingredients of Irish cream liqueurs, such as Baileys, is heavy cream. Therefore, it is not a vegan-friendly cocktail.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
311	Calories
0g	Fat
22g	Carbs
0g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories	311
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g	0%
Saturated Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 6mg	0%
Total Carbohydrate 22g	8%
Dietary Fiber 0g	0%
Total Sugars 22g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 1mg	0%
Iron 0mg	0%
Potassium 21mg	0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.