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Home / Drinks

Dirty martini recipe

Published June 1, 2022 | Updated January 26, 2023 | By Mandy & Jane

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Homemade dirty martini in a cocktail glass with a green olive garnish, and nuts and olive snacks.

Shaken or stirred? Whichever way you like your dirty martini, you’ll be treated to a bold cocktail, it’s strong, salty, and briny, with alluring cloudiness and garnished with olives, this is a cocktail that doesn’t mess around. Become a home bartender, cut costs and learn how to make this easy 5 minute cocktail recipe.

Homemade dirty martini in a cocktail glass with a green olive garnish, and nuts and olive snacks.

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, if you purchase through those links, I earn a small commission. Thank you!

Why you’ll love this easy cocktail recipe

  • With 3 ingredients and 5 minutes to make, what’s not to love?
  • A dirty martini is a great cocktail to make for Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and parties.
  • No more paying bar prices, you can recreate this in your own home for a fraction of the cost.
  • It’s an olive lovers dream and a classic cocktail.
  • All the ingredients are 100% vegetarian and vegan.

Dirty martinis have a reputation, they are the cocktail that divides people, either you love them or hate them. But you’ve got to try one – right?

Go into any bar and you’ll see a whole array of different martinis on their menu.

You can choose from a passion fruit martini, espresso martini, French martini, and many more.

But they are expensive, REALLY expensive, so we set out to recreate them, so you can save money and make them at home.

What ingredients do I need?

You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below to make your dirty martini.

Ingredients needed, vermouth, olives, vodka, and olive brine.

How to make a dirty martini with step by step instructions

Making our dirty martini recipe is easy if you follow our simple instructions.

In a cocktail mixing glass filled with ice, add gin or vodka, vermouth, and green olive brine (or olive juice).

Either shake or stir your ingredients to combine and chill them.

Someone pouring olive juice into a cocktail mixing glass filled with ice, vodka and vermouth.
Add gin or vodka, dry vermouth, and olive brine or olive juice to a cocktail mixing glass filled with ice..
Someone adding an olive garnish to a dirty martini.
Shake or stir and pour into your martini glass and add olives to garnish.

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with and garnish with green olives.

Serve immediately, enjoy, and cheers!

We hope you enjoy making and drinking our dirty martini recipe and would love to hear how you got on with making it.

Please leave a comment below and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

What is a dirty martini?

A dirty martini is a cocktail made from just 3 ingredients, gin or vodka, dry vermouth, and olive brine – that’s it.

So, what makes a vodka martini dirty?

It’s the olive brine or olive juice, that you put into the cocktail.

How dirty you have it, is up to you.

This simply means if you like it really ‘dirty’ you put more olive brine in the drink to make it cloudy.

It’s one of those classic cocktails, that’s right up there with the dry martini.

Half a dirty martini glass with olives

What is vermouth?

Vermouth is a fortified wine that has been flavored with botanicals.

There are two main types of vermouth, simply sweet vermouth, and dry vermouth.

But these days you can also buy sweet blanc or Bianco, extra dry white, red, amber, and rose.

Make it cold – ice cold

A dirty martini is best served cold.

If possible, chill your cocktail glass so that it’s nice and cold before mixing your drink.

Make sure you fill your mixing glass with ice cubes.

Stir for long enough.

Remember the ingredients don’t go in cold, and you don’t add ice to your cocktail glass.

What glass should I use?

Unsurprisingly, a classic martini glass is an ideal glass to use when making a dirty martini.

But a coupe glass would also work well.

Is it the martini that James Bond drinks?

The iconic Bond line ‘I’ll have mine shaken, not stirred’ is about a vodka martini.

So yes, it is a James Bond cocktail.

But if you’ve read any of the books and watched Casino Royale, the Vesper Martini is the cocktail that he drinks.

Dirty martini drink in a cocktail glass with olives.

Let’s talk olives

We’ve used green olives for our dirty martini.

But if you want to try another type, then go for blue cheese stuffed olives.

Spanish pimento olives are also great to use.

Stuffed olives will add flavor to the brine.

What equipment will I need to make it?

To make a dry martini recipe, you’ll need the following bartender equipment.

A mixing glass or cocktail shaker.

A jigger (measure).

Cocktail stirrer or bar spoon.

A cocktail glass.

Freshly made dirty martini cocktail with olives.

Recipe notes and expert tips

  • Make it cold
    Chill your martini glass before you use it.
  • Quality
    With few ingredients, make sure you use the best quality gin or vodka that you can afford.
  • Don’t have a mixing glass or cocktail shaker?
    Use a mason jar instead, this is a great workaround.
  • No green olives?
    Use cocktail onions instead.

More easy martini recipes for you to try

If you like our dirty martini recipe, then you should check our other martini recipes out!

  • Pornstar martini
  • Lemon drop martini
  • Strawberry martini
  • Espresso martini
  • Passion fruit martini
Passion fruit martini.

Passion fruit martini recipe

Two zesty lemon drop martinis

Lemon drop martini recipe

Homemade fresh strawberry martini

Strawberry martini recipe

Two perfect espresso martini cocktails

Espresso martini

Two stunning alcohol free pornstar martini cocktail drinks with fresh passion fruit and a shot of alcohol free champagne

Pornstar martini mocktail

Dirty martini cocktail drink in a martini glass, with a green olive garnish.
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Dirty martini recipe

Shaken or stirred? Learn how to make a classy dirty martini, shaken or stirred. 3 ingredients & make in under 3 minutes, make this the perfect cocktail for a party, New Year's eve, or any celebration! Don't pay expensive bar prices, make it at home! Anyone can become a home bartender and make this easy cocktail – cheers!
Prep Time3 mins
Total Time3 mins
Servings1
Calories175
Course: Cocktails
Cuisine: American
Author: Jane Chapman
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Utensils

Mixing glass or cocktail shaker
Bar spoon
Martini glass
Martini glass

Ingredients

  • 2½ oz Gin or vodka
  • ½ oz Dry vermouth
  • ½ oz Olive brine
  • Olives to garnish
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

  • Fill a mixing glass with ice and add your gin or vodka, dry vermouth, and olive brine, either shake or stir to combine
  • Strain into your cocktail glass and garnish with olives. Celebrate in style – cheers!

Notes

Make it cold
 Chill your martini glass before you use it
Quality
 With few ingredients, make sure you use the best quality gin or vodka that you can afford
Don’t have a mixing glass or cocktail shaker?
 Use a mason jar instead, this is a great workaround
No green olives?
 Use cocktail onions instead

Nutrition

Calories: 175kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 0.01g | Sodium: 413mg | Potassium: 1mg | Iron: 0.03mg

Disclaimer

Please note that nutrient values are estimates only. Variations can occur due to product availability and manner of food preparation. Nutrition may vary based on methods of origin, preparation, freshness of ingredients, and other factors.

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A vegetarian for over 35 years, Mandy has taught herself to be creative in the kitchen. Traveling extensively, Mandy loves learning and adapting vegetarian recipes from across the world. Read more...

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Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. Glenda says

    June 15, 2022 at 9:31 am

    5 stars
    You couldn’t have made that simpler. I was able to replicate every step and complete a tasty beverage in minutes! Thanks for the recipe and information!

    Reply
    • Mandy from Splash of Taste says

      June 16, 2022 at 9:14 am

      That’s great to hear, we try to make our cocktail recipes as easy as possible – enjoy!

  2. Lynn Polito says

    June 15, 2022 at 10:54 am

    5 stars
    I love dirty martinis at restaurants, I didnt realize how easy they were to make at home! So good!

    Reply
    • Mandy from Splash of Taste says

      June 16, 2022 at 9:15 am

      And at a fraction of the cost too! Cheers!

  3. Sherry says

    June 15, 2022 at 3:08 pm

    5 stars
    Another great cocktail recipe by Jane and Mandy!! After a hard day at work, I like to make this Dirty Martini Recipe and go relax on my back deck. This martini recipe is so easy to make and tastes amazing!!

    Reply
    • Mandy from Splash of Taste says

      June 16, 2022 at 9:16 am

      Thank you! You are so right, it’s the perfect ‘after work’ chillout cocktail isn’t it!

  4. Jennifer says

    June 17, 2022 at 2:17 pm

    5 stars
    The tip about using a jar is genius! I don’t have bar tools so this came in quite handy and it cured my craving for a martini!

    Reply
  5. laura says

    June 17, 2022 at 5:41 pm

    5 stars
    This made an absolutely perfect drink. We all loved them at our party, thanks!

    Reply

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We love sharing our vegetarian food and drink recipes with you. If you’re cutting down on meat, going vegetarian or vegan, there’s something delicious to eat and drink for you here
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