This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
A classic dry martini is made with gin, dry vermouth, and olives or a lemon twist for garnish. It’s one of the most well-known cocktails and remains popular more than 100 years after its creation.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Gin: A distilled spirit flavored with juniper berries and, occasionally, other botanical herbs or spices.
- Dry vermouth: A fortified wine (made from grapes) that is often pale and always bitter compared to red, sweet vermouth.
Step-by-step instructions
- To a mixing glass filled with ice, add gin and vermouth. Using a bar spoon, stir until mixture is fully combined and well chilled, about 30-45 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with olives or a lemon twist.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 cocktail.
- Glassware: Martinis are traditionally made in a cocktail glass, also known as a martini glass.
- Big batch: Martinis are best prepared individually.
- Extra dry: Made with almost no dry vermouth at all.
- Dirty martini: Add a splash of olive brine to the mixing glass with the gin and garnish with an olive.
- Wet martini: Use equal amounts of gin and dry vermouth.
- Perfect martini: Use equal parts of dry and sweet vermouth.
- Vodka martini: Substitute vodka for the gin.
- Gibson cocktail: Garnish with cocktail onions instead of olives or a lemon twist.
- Vesper martini: Increase the vermouth to 1 ounce, add ½ ounce Lillet blanc with the 3 ounces of gin, and garnish with a lemon twist.
- Churchill martini: Omit the dry vermouth entirely and “should be prepared with gin straight from the freezer while glancing at a closed bottle of dry vermouth.”
How to Stock a Bar Cart
Learn how to stock a bar cart that is perfectly tailored to your personal taste and the cocktails you love to make. Staying in just got a lot more fun! Whether in a cupboard, cabinet,…
View Recipe
More classic cocktails
Cocktail Recipes
Negroni
Cocktail Recipes
Whiskey Sour
Cocktail Recipes
Gimlet
Cocktail Recipes
The Best Moscow Mule
Join Us
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Sign up for our weekly newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for our latest recipes! Tag all your glorious creations #culinaryhill so we can eat vicariously through you.
Martini
A classic dry martini is made with gin, dry vermouth, and olives or a lemon twist for garnish. It's one of the most well-known cocktails and remains popular more than 100 years after its creation.
Ingredients
- 3 ounces gin (6 tablespoons, see note 1)
- 1/2 ounce dry vermouth (1 tablespoon, see note 2)
- 2 pitted, brine-cured olives or lemon twist, for garnish
Instructions
- To a mixing glass filled with ice, add gin and vermouth. Using a bar spoon, stir until mixture is fully combined and well chilled, about 30-45 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with olives or a lemon twist.
Notes
- Gin: A distilled spirit flavored with juniper berries and, occasionally, other botanical herbs or spices.
- Dry vermouth: A fortified wine (made from grapes) that is often pale and always bitter compared to red, sweet vermouth.
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 cocktail.
- Glassware: Martinis are traditionally made in a cocktail glass, also known as a martini glass.
- Big batch: Martinis are best prepared individually.
- Extra dry: Made with almost no dry vermouth at all.
- Dirty martini: Add a splash of olive brine to the mixing glass with the gin and garnish with an olive.
- Wet martini: Use equal amounts of gin and dry vermouth.
- Perfect martini: Use equal parts of dry and sweet vermouth.
- Vodka martini: Substitute vodka for the gin.
- Gibson cocktail: Garnish with cocktail onions instead of olives or a lemon twist.
- Vesper martini: Increase the vermouth to 1 ounce, add ½ ounce Lillet blanc with the 3 ounces of gin, and garnish with a lemon twist.
- Churchill martini: Omit the dry vermouth entirely and “should be prepared with gin straight from the freezer while glancing at a closed bottle of dry vermouth.”
Nutrition
Serving: 1cocktailCalories: 219kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 125mgPotassium: 5mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 31IUCalcium: 4mgIron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?Tag @culinaryhill on Instagram so we can admire your masterpiece! #culinaryhill
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
You actually make it seem really easy! I’m looking forward to your next email!
Hi Janelle, it really is super easy! I hope you try it! – Meggan