Margarita with Fresh Lime Juice and Blanco Tequila
Nothing says Happy Hour like an ice cold, lime-drenched Mexican margarita. The signature cocktail at Mexican restaurants, Cinco de Mayo celebrations and Taco Tuesdays, one sip and you’ll be whisked away to a Mexican beach with warm breezes and crashing waves.
And best of all, this refreshing experience is only five minutes away!
What to Expect from This Classic Margarita Recipe
This classic margarita is the perfect blend of sour, sweet, salty and bitter flavors—all in one glass. The lime juice is tart, tequila bitter, orange liqueur and simple syrup add sweetness, and the salt from the glass helps to balance it all. The recipe is authentic because you make your own sour mix, including the simple syrup.
Just salt and chill the glass, throw all the ingredients in a shaker full of ice, and in a few shakes you have heaven in a cocktail glass.
Which Tequila Is Best for a Margarita?
For a great margarita, you need a quality tequila. We recommend a blanco tequila, or white tequila, which has been aged under two months or not aged at all. Also known as silver tequila, it has the most natural agave flavor that perfectly complements the other ingredients. Aged tequilas like añejo or reposado tequila have a distinct woody flavor that could be overpowering.
In this recipe, we use Tequila Solórzano Blanco, which is a 100% blue agave tequila from the region of Jalisco, Mexico. If your tequila bottle doesn’t state “100% agave” it could include artificial ingredients, sugar or corn syrup.
What’s In a Glass
Margaritas are traditionally served in glasses shaped like wide champagne glasses, sometimes with an extra bowl at the bottom. It’s the “stepped-diameter variant” of a cocktail glass. In this recipe, we use a cocktail (or martini) glass, but you can use the glass that makes you happiest when enjoying your margarita.
How to Make the Perfect Margarita
Ingredients
To Prep the Glass
- ½ lime cut into wedges
- 1 tbsp sea salt or Kosher salt
For the Simple Syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
For the Margarita
- 1 cup fresh ice
- 2 ozs. blanco tequila, or white tequila (also known as silver tequila)
- 1 ½ limes for fresh lime juice
- 1 ½ ozs. orange liqueur (triple sec)
- 2 tbsp simple syrup (see recipe in this post)
- Lime wedges or slices for garnish
Your classic, stress-reducing margarita is only five minutes away! Let’s go!
Prepare Your Cocktail Glass
On a dish or cutting board, pour and flatten a pile of coarse salt like sea salt or Kosher salt. Rimming is best with coarse salt, as less will stick to the rim, providing the perfect balance of flavors. Don’t use table salt, as it will clump up and make your drink very salty.
Cut a lime in half. Reserve one half for the margarita and cut the remaining half into two wedges. Run a lime wedge along the entire rim of the glass. Be sure it’s wet enough so the salt can stick.
Invert your glass and press into the salt so it sticks to the rim.
A perfectly salted margarita glass!
Chill the Glass
Place the salted glass into the refrigerator to chill as you mix up your margarita.
Make the Simple Syrup
Pour the sugar into a deep sauce pan.
Pour the water over the sugar.
Place sugar mixture on the stove and set the heat to medium-high.
Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture constantly so the sugar dissolves faster.
Once the sugar completely dissolves, remove from the heat.
Pour the syrup into a container. You should end up with about one cup of natural syrup. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the syrup for the margarita portion of the recipe. Then cover and store the rest for another use. The syrup will keep for up to three days.
Make the Margarita
Add ice cubes to a cocktail shaker. If you have really big pieces, you can bang them on a hard surface to break them up a bit, but you do want to keep the pieces on the larger side. Ice that’s too small will quickly melt and water down your drink.
Squeeze the juice from 1 ½ limes into a small cup or bowl and remove any seeds. Pour the fresh lime juice into the shaker.
Next, add the sweetener—the simple syrup.
Then the tequila.
Finally, pour in the triple sec.
Shake It Up!
Place the top back on your shaker, and you’re ready to shake it!
Shake, shake, shake vigorously for about 20 seconds to combine.
Serve Your Margarita
Remove the chilled cocktail glass from the refrigerator.
Carefully pour the contents of the shaker into the glass, including the ice.
Garnish with a slice of lime.
That is the best marg I’ve ever seen. And tasted! Salud!
What Tastes Great with Margaritas?
This refreshing margarita tastes great with just about anything. How about serving with our authentic guacamole, spicy avocado dip or queso con carne? Or try out one of our taco recipes for the ultimate Taco Night!
- Shredded Beef Tacos
- Chicken Tacos with Avocado Salsa
- Ribeye Tacos with Habanero Salsa
- Asadero Cheese Tacos with Salsa Verde
- Garlic Shrimp Tacos
- Fish Tacos with Pico de Gallo
Classic Mexican Margarita
Equipment
- Cocktail glass
- Cocktail shaker
- Cutting board
- Flat plate
- Bowls
- Knife
- Wooden spoon
- measuring cups
- Sauce pan
Ingredients
Cocktail Glass Prep
- ½ lime cut into wedges
- 1 tbsp sea salt or Kosher salt coarse
Simple Syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
Margarita
- 1 cup fresh ice
- 2 ozs. blanco tequila (also called white or silver tequila) 100% agave
- 1 ½ limes cut in halves
- 1 ½ ozs. orange liqueur triple sec
- 2 tbsp simple syrup See recipe below.
- Lime wedges or slices for garnish
Instructions
Prepare Your Cocktail Glass
- On a dish or cutting board, pour and flatten a pile of coarse salt like sea salt or Kosher salt. Don’t use table salt, as it will clump up and make your drink very salty.
- Cut a lime in half. Reserve one half for the margarita and cut the remaining half into two wedges. Run a lime wedge along the entire rim of the glass. Be sure it’s wet enough so the salt can stick.
- Invert your glass and press into the salt so it sticks to the rim.
- Place the salted glass upright into the refrigerator to chill as you mix up your margarita.
Make the Simple Syrup
- Pour the sugar into a deep sauce pan.
- Pour the water over the sugar.
- Place sugar mixture on the stove and set the heat to medium-high.
- Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture constantly so the sugar dissolves faster.
- Once the sugar completely dissolves, remove from the heat.
- Pour the syrup into a container. You should end up with about one cup of natural syrup. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the syrup for the margarita. Cover and store the rest for another use. The syrup will keep for up to three days.
Make the Margarita
- Add ice cubes to a cocktail shaker. If you have big pieces, you can bang them on a hard surface to break them up a bit, but you do want to keep the pieces on the larger side. Ice that’s too small will quickly melt and water down your drink.
- Squeeze the juice from 1 ½ limes into a small cup or bowl and remove any seeds. Pour the fresh lime juice into the shaker.
- Next add the sweetener, tequila and triple sec.
- Place the top back on your shaker and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds to combine.
Serve Your Margarita
- Remove the chilled cocktail glass from the refrigerator.
- Carefully pour the contents of the shaker into the glass, including the ice.
- Garnish with a slice of lime.
Notes
- Lemon juice for lime juice
- Mezcal for tequila
- Grand Marnier or Cointreau for triple sec (Cadillac Margarita)
- Agave nectar for simple syrup, and orange juice for orange liqueur (Skinny Margarita)
- Add a sliced jalapeño to your simple syrup for a spicy twist. (Jalapeño Margarita)
Chuck Otis says
XLNT authentic recipe. When a restaurant/bar margarita is green you’re getting chemicals and corn syrup. Cointreau, or Patron Citronge (less expensive) is better than triple sec. I’ve had bartenders at Carrabba’s make this recipe for about 9.00 with an inexpensive blanco. I usually ask any bartender to make it like this recipe cuz I’m paying for the booze, not 3 oz of bar mix. Ole!
Kathy D says
Fabulous margarita recipe. They turned out perfectly and tasted amazing. Thank you!
Lori Alcalá says
So glad you liked it, Kathy! Makes me want to whip one up right now!