I’ve had a crush on Margaritas my whole life!
Ever since my parents used to let me sneak a taste of theirs at the local watering hole (GeJo’s) when I was in high school! I thought maybe it was the forbidden fruit but 30 years later and I still LOVE Margaritas. I have gotten pickier through the years, however.. I used to drink any margarita, $1 Marg night… I’m IN! But now I prefer real ingredients in my Margs.
Clean Margarita Recipe
Directions:
- Combine tequila, lime juice, Orange Liquor of choice (Cointreau or Triple Sec), and ice in the blender.
- Blend until it is the way you like it.
- Run cut limes around the Margarita glass and dip in salt or sugar. I have two of these rimmers one with salt and one with sugar
- Pour Margaritas into the glass and use these fun reusable silicone straws.
If you’d like to make up the margarita mixer in advance, this is another option.
CLEAN MARGARITA MIXER
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
SIMPLE SYRUP RECIPE
You have two options
- Quick & Easy – 1:1 Sugar and Water… Shake until completely dissolved. The superfine sugar you bought to use for a rimmer works great.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, stirring constantly.
- Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the pan from the heat. (Note: Do not allow the syrup to boil for too long or the syrup will be too thick once it cools.)
- Allow to cool completely and thicken, then bottle and refrigerate if you aren’t using it right away.
Margarita always makes it feel like a party! Why not have a few fun variations at your next social distancing driveway party!
The best Margarita’s have fresh ingredients like homemade sweet and sour, simple syrup, and fresh fruit. Fresh peach margarita’s in the summertime are my absolute favorites!
Homemade Sweet & Sour for Margarita’s
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Homemade Sweet & Sour Prep
Directions: Stir together water and sugar in a large saucepan. Stir until the sugar dissolves over medium heat, bring to a boil, and cool syrup. Combine water and sugar in a large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil, remove from heat to cool syrup while you squeeze your fresh citrus fruit. Keep this mixture refrigerated until your party. It can be made a week ahead. This is SO much better than store-bought sweet and sour that it’s worth a little extra effort.
Christmas Pomegranate Margarita
- 1 -1/2 parts Tequila
- 2 parts POM Juice
- ½ part Sweet & Sour mix
- ½ part triple sec
- Pomegranate seeds for top garnish
- Rim glasses with red & white large sugar crystals
Prickly Pear Margaritas
(A Frozen Pink Drink)
- 3 1/2 cups crushed ice
- 3 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
- 3 oz. frozen limeade
- 6 Tequila
- 4 1/2 oz. Cointreau
- 3 oz. prickly pear cactus juice
- 3 T. sugar
- Lime wedges and kosher salt for garnish
Area’s like Arizona and California might have Prickly Pear Cactus juice on the grocery shelves but if you don’t you can buy it online at Amazon here.
Blend all ingredients until the desired consistency of pink frothiness. Cut lime wedges and use them to wet the rim of your margarita glasses, dip in kosher salt and pour in the frozen margs. YUM!
Watermelon Margarita
Ingredients:
- 2 parts, watermelon juice
- 1 part, orange liquor
- 1 part, tequila
- squeeze 1/2 a fresh lime into the shaker.
Watermelons are so easy to liquify, just pop it in the blender and pulse, if you want this to be a frozen drink add ice to the blender or use the pulpy juice with the liquors. Rim with green or red sugar depending on your holiday and garnish with a lime wedge or a chunk of melon.
Watermelon Margarita variation
INGREDIENTS
2 cups crushed ice
1 cup chopped watermelon
6 oz. tequila
4 fluid ounces frozen limeade concentrate
2 oz. Triple Sec
INSTRUCTIONS
Fill a blender with ice and crush. Add remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth. Add ice if needed for desired consistency. Serve in margarita glasses with the rims dipped in margarita salt or sanding sugar.
Cadillac Margarita
- 2 oz. Reposado tequila (Our other top shelf favorite)
- 1/2 oz. orange liqueur
- 2 oz. lime juice
This is a classic clean margarita that’s all about the top-shelf tequila and nothing to get in the way of that other than the orange liqueur. Pour ingredients over ice into a tall mixing glass, shaken briskly, strained into a chilled cocktail glass with a salted rim (optional). Garnish with lime wheel.
The Presidential Margarita
Chili’s knock-off recipe
- 1 1/2 oz Tequila
- 1 1/2 oz Brandy
- 1 1/2 oz Cointreau Liqueur
- 1 (Juice of) Lime Fruit
Best served in a hurricane glass. Pour each ingredient into a shaker and add ice. Rim a margarita glass with lime and salt, fill with ice, and garnish with a lime slice. Carefully pour the contents of the shaker into the salted margarita glass, leaving salt undisturbed.
Jalapeno’s Revenge Margarita
- 4 oz of Jalapeño infused Cuervo Silver
- 3 oz Blood Orange Juice
- 1 oz Lime Juice
- 2 oz Orange Liqueur
Fresh jalapeños and orange slices for garnish
Add fresh jalapeños to tequila and steep for 2-4 hours depending on how hot you want your margarita to be. Combine with other ingredients in a shaker and strain over ice. Rim the glass with Kosher Salt or Bloody Mary Salt. (Photo and recipe credit Jose Cuervo)
Serve with chips in case you got it too spicy!
Spiced Pear Affair Margarita
- 1 1/2 oz of Tequila
- 3/4 oz of Pear Brandy
- 1 oz lime juice
- 3/4 oz spiced simple syrup
Combine in shaker and pour into a martini glass (Optional – rim with sugar)
Chocolate Margarita’s
- 1 1/2 ounces of Tequila
- 1 ounce Godiva liquor
- 3/4 ounce cream or half & half
- 1 tablespoon Hershey’s syrup
- 2 ounces orange juice
Combine in shaker with ice, pour into pretty glasses rimmed with crushed Oreo’s.
Blue Agave Margarita Recipe
- 1 1/2 oz Silver tequila
- 1/2 oz Triple Sec
- 1/2 oz Blue Curacao
- 1/2 cup Sweet and Sour
Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice, pour into pretty margarita glasses rimmed with kosher salt and garnish with lime.
Super Easy Beer Margaritas Recipe
Check out this simple and deceptively powerful margarita recipe. It goes together quickly and it is fun to share on a hot summer night on the deck or patio or with a crowd of friends during the holidays. (These will warm you from the inside out!)
(Recipe adapted from the bartender at The Brown Palace)
BeerRita Ingredients:
- 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
- 1/4 cup coarse salt
- 2 (12-ounce) bottles of your favorite beer, chilled
- 1/2 cup frozen concentrate limeade, thawed
- 1/2 cup chilled tequila
- Ice cubes
BeerRita Instructions:
Rub lime wedges around the rims of 4 margarita glasses.
Dip rims into salt to coat lightly.
In a medium pitcher, combine beer, limeade, and tequila.
Fill prepared glasses with ice, then with margarita mixture.
Garnish with remaining lime wedges.
Serve immediately.
Share with friends!
The one that can still stand after the first pitcher gets to make the 2nd batch.
This recipe was passed on from a bartender at the Brown Palace in Downtown Denver CO.
More Margarita Gear
Need even more margarita recipes? Entire books have been devoted to the topic, check the selection here.
Every Margarita fanatic needs to have a rimmer, the best price we’ve found is this one on Amazon.com, It has a spot for the lime juice and 2 options of salt or sugar or colored sugar.
If you like beer margarita’s you might need these CoronaRita drink clips.
Margarita’s in festive glasses just seem to make them taste better don’t you think?
Amazon has the biggest selection by far here. We really love these Margarita giant goblets you see in all your favorite Mexican restaurants. I got some very similar when we went to Mexico.
Or for a little more economical option use these for your favorite frozen or on the rocks margarita’s Libby Party set of 12 glasses
Of course, happy hour at Los Dos Patrillos and a house margarita is always a good option if you don’t feel like making your own.