45 Easy Irish Cream Drinks (Baileys)
Irish cream liqueur is delicious in cocktails. Baileys is the best known brand, but many other brands like Carolan’s are also great – and they’re all slightly different.
Whatever brand you like, try an Irish cream cocktail tonight from this list and you won’t be sorry. Of course you could just spike your hot chocolate with Baileys and add some whipped cream and call that a cocktail. But some of these will surprise you.
What is Irish Cream?
Irish Cream is a creamy liqueur made with Irish whiskey, cream and other flavorings. It is usually served on its own or in cocktails.
It has a sweet, creamy taste. The most popular way to enjoy Irish Cream is by adding it to coffee. This combination of flavors makes for a smooth, velvety drink.
Irish Cream can also be enjoyed straight up in a shot glass or combined with other liquors (see the B52 and Irish Hammer below) for more complex flavors. It’s an ideal liquor for those looking for something special and decadent without the hard bite of whiskey.
Whether you’re having friends over for drinks or looking for something unique to add to your favorite cocktail, Irish Cream is sure to please!
Best Irish Cream / Baileys Cocktails
The classic B52 shot recipe makes a delicious, sweet little cocktail that's beautiful to look at, too. You layer three tasty liqueurs, and the resulting flavor is something like cafe l'orange or a caramel candy with hints of orange.
The Irish Hammer shot blends Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey with Irish Mist and Irish cream. It has lovely honey and caramel notes (especially if you use Carolans Irish cream) to balance the whiskey.
The White Russian is a delicious, creamy treat of a drink. It tastes like a chocolate mocha with cream, so what's not to like?
There's nothing else quite like the Cement Mixer Shot. Not for the faint of heart, this shot is notorious for its unique texture and unforgettable taste. It feels like cement mixing in your mouth!
Irish Coffee is one of the simplest and oldest recipes for a coffee drink. It blends coffee with Irish whiskey and either sugar or Irish cream. It's a wonderfully bittersweet hot cocktail that's perfect for after dinner or as a nightcap (but you might want to make it with decaf coffee).
There's more than one recipe called the Irish Flag cocktail. This one blends the flavors of mint, whiskey and vanilla for a really delicious treat. And the layering is easier than you think.
The Butterscotch Coffee Cocktail blends two liqueurs with a full serving of hot coffee. It's a fairly lightweight drink that's perfect for cool evenings.
The Copper Camel blends Baileys Irish Cream with butterscotch schnapps. These two sweet liqueurs go so well together, it's like candy in a glass, with a kick.
This Baileys coffee drink is a real indulgent treat! Dalgona coffee is spiked with Baileys for a creamy ice cold cocktail that is sure to perk you up. Easy and quick to make, this whipped coffee is delicious, fluffy and easy to drink!
Imagine this: a raisin-free oatmeal cookie in the form of a drink. That's what the Oatmeal Cookie cocktail tastes like. It's a really fun, delicious drink - excellent as a dessert drink, and perfect for cool fall evenings where it's not chilly enough to start a fire but you need something to keep you warm.
The French Toast drink recipe really does taste pretty much like its namesake. It's a sweet little cocktail, perfect as a shot or a longer drink. It's really not very good as a breakfast replacement, just in case you were wondering.
The Buttered Toffee drink recipe blends Kahlua, amaretto, Bailey's and creamer. It's a rich, sweet drink that tastes better than candy.
Why have just a traditional chocolate martini, when you can keep it up a notch? Add some Baileys and make this dessert in a glass.
The Quick Fox is a layered cocktail – three layers, to be precise. Pouring three layers without messing any of them up is slightly tricky and takes a bit of practice. The specific gravity of a liqueur from one brand to the next can also vary.
This homemade iced coffee is designed for St. Patrick’s Day drink, but that's no reason to hold off. It's made with cold brew coffee, Irish cream liqueur and pistachio ice cream.
The Romance Cocktail is all about coffee, chocolate and cream flavors. It's sinfully rich and sweet. You could certainly describe it as a dessert drink or even a candy drink - a sort of mocha milk chocolate truffle in a glass.
The Pumpkin Pie Shot tastes reasonably similar to a pumpkin pie. It blends Irish cream with amaretto and cinnamon schnapps, so you get something of the heavy sweetness and spice that the name implies.
The Tiatip is a very simple cocktail with just two ingredients. It's one of the easiest layered cocktails to make, too. And it's absolutely delicious, with a taste like a sweet mocha coffee.
The Jack Knife cocktail recipe features Jack Daniels and Baileys. It's so easy to make, and absolutely delicious. It tastes kind of like a whiskey with cream and sugar.
The Fat Cat cocktail is just kind of amazing. The flavors of banana, almond and Irish cream do fantastic things together. If you’ve ever had really good banana pudding on a graham cracker crust, you begin to get the idea.
Bailey’s Hot Chocolate Bombs are not only fun to make, but taste amazing! These boozy hot chocolate bombs are a step up from a basic hot chocolate bomb. Combine milk chocolate, hot cocoa mix and a few shots of Bailey’s Irish Cream, then top with sprinkles to bring this treat to life.
This martini cocktail is the perfect cocktail to sip while you chat by the fireplace with family and friends or solo binge-watch your favorite show. Each gulp brings back memories of camping s’mores around a campfire with family and friends, toasting marshmallows in the flame.
The Chocolate Heaven Martini is one of those wonderful chocolate martinis that actually captures a terrific chocolate flavor and doesn’t clutter it up with coffee liqueur or frangelico or anything decisively not chocolate. It’s just chocolate, vodka and Irish cream.
The Butterscotch Mudslide Shake sounds like one of those sweet drinks for lightweights, but no. It's got 6 ounces of alcohol, and even though they're liqueurs and therefore not particularly high proof, this one still sneaks up on you.
The Raspberry Beret is a catchy little cocktail named after a catchy little song. It’s sweet and creamy and delicious – perfect as a dessert substitute. It’s also a lot of fun during winter, anytime you want to warm up with something that’s over the top, exciting and goofy all at the same time.
The White Flag is a layered cocktail. Unlike a lot of layered cocktails, such as the B52, this one just uses two liqueurs, which makes it much less intimidating to pour. In fact, you can almost accidentally layer a White Flag without even meaning to.
This Slow Cooker Baileys Irish Cream Hot Chocolate is creamy and has just the right amount of Irish cream. It's great for any party where you would serve hot chocolate.
The Cafe Nelson is a well-known, traditional hot coffee drink. Unlike a lot of hot coffee cocktails, this one does not include Kahlua. It instead blends Baileys Irish Cream with the hazelnut flavor of Frangelico. The Cafe Nelson isn’t a particularly strong drink, but it’ll definitely keep you warm on long winter evenings.
Hazel’s Wonder is a blended drink you could easily swap with dessert. Blended drinks combine some liquid ingredients with at least one solid, such as ice or fruit. This one’s a little unusual in that it uses shelled hazelnuts as the solid ingredient.
This Zombie Brain shot uses green liquor for a fun and spooky twist on the easy to make Brain Hemorrhage shot.
There are a lot of very different drinks out there called “Nutcracker cocktail”. This is the version I found in an old book, and I’m guessing it’s the original. It blends the the flavors of coffee, almond, orange and caramel.
These fun baby Guinness cocktail shots, look exactly like a miniature pint of Guinness, and are made with Irish cream whiskey and Kahlua, they taste so good! Whenever we have a party, we always make sure we have a tray of these delicious drinks lined up as a welcome drink, needless to say, they don’t last long!
You’ve probably tried using Irish cream in place of cream and sugar in your coffee, but what about tea? The Tea Toddy, a sort of distant cousin to the Hot Toddy – does just that. With an added bonus surprise.
The Coconut Frappe is a sweet, creamy cocktail that blends the flavors of coconut and whiskey with cream. It’s more rich and less sweet than a lot of cocktails that use Baileys, but it is still definitely sweet.
Magically Delicious Shamrock Shake - Irish Cream Milkshake for St. Patrick's
This shamrock shake is something pretty special! It is a St. Patrick’s shake made with Bailey’s, topped with Irish Cream infused whipped cream and crowned with some magically delicious marshmallows.
Well, this is it – the Last Straw. Cocktail, that is. The, um, Last Straw cocktail. Yeah. This is one of those drinks that is so rich, and sweet, and deliciously high-calorie, that’s perfect for when you’ve had enough and you’re ready to just let everything slide.
The Nutty Irishman is a fun, sweet cocktail that mixes Irish whiskey with Baileys and Frangelico. The dominant flavor is definitely the hazelnut, but the woodsy notes of the whiskey come through strongly.
If you love donuts and especially jelly filled donuts and you’ll love this jam donut shot. This one is so easy to make. It’s a layered dessert shot that is super sweet and fruity.
The Chocolate Leprechaun is a very light cocktail, with just an ounce of Irish cream for its alcohol content. It’s hardly a health drink, but at least it does include seven ounces of milk.
The Very Cherry Christmas drink recipe tastes quite a bit like a chocolate covered cherry. It blends cherry vodka with the flavors of chocolate and Irish cream to create a flavor that's rich, sweet and easy on the palate. This is a great one for Christmas parties.
This creamy espresso martini with Baileys and Kahlua adds Baileys Irish cream to a classic espresso martini recipe. That makes this easy coffee cocktail creamy and just a bit sweeter than the original.
This rich, creamy drink has an incredible flavor. It blends Kahlua and Irish cream with peppermint schnapps for a flavor that's something like a chocolate mint coffee. If only real Christmas Cookies tasted this good!
The Irish Car Bomb is a beer-based cocktail, similar to a Boilermaker, but with Irish cream and Irish whiskey.
Pumpkin spice latte meets vodka martini in this easy and delicious drink. With all the flavors of fall - like pumpkin pie and cozy spices - this Pumpkin Spice Martini makes a fantastic Thanksgiving cocktail.
Here’s a delicious creamy cocktail that’s perfect for Valentines Day or
any day of the year. If you love Baileys and Kahlua, you’ll enjoy this easy-to-make drink for happy hour.
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