Margarita Recipe

Margaritas are an excellent drink to serve at a summer party (or a winter party!). With this classic margarita recipe, they are easy to prepare on-the-spot, but with just a bit of advance planning, you can make an extra special margarita mix so that you aren’t stuck playing bartender at your own party. We’ll give you two options, so you will be able to prepare a margarita on the fly if you need to, and so you can also prepare an excellent make-ahead version if you have the time.

Ingredients (all can be adjusted to taste)

To make a margarita from scratch using our easy margarita recipe, you will need just a few items. Fresh limes is the number one ingredient for any good margarita recipe. There are some excellent margarita mixes out there, but the good ones are usually expensive, and what makes them good is that they taste like fresh limes, so why not just give yourself a special treat and use real limes? The other items that you will need is tequila, salt for the rim, and Triple Sec (you can use a fancy brand such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau, or any other brand of triple sec you prefer—I think Cointreau is great, but it is expensive, and the limes overpower the orange flavor of the triple sec, so you can decide for yourself whether the extra expense is worth it—and your margaritas will be just fine with plain triple sec). Some simple syrup might also come in handy if your limes are very tart. This is nothing but sugar dissolved in water, and is quite easy to make. To make a batch of simple syrup, simply dissolve one cup of sugar in one cup of hot water. Stir it until the sugar is dissolved completely. If you use extra hot water, or heat the whole thing in the microwave, it won’t require so much stirring. The mixture may be cloudy at the beginning, but the air bubbles will disappear after a while and you should have a clear syrup. Keep it in the refrigerator and use as needed.

If you have a lime squeezer, this next part will go much more smoothly. Cut your limes in half. In a shaker or large glass, squeeze in the juice of one lime or maybe 2 or 3 limes if you are using smaller key limes or Mexican limes. Pour in about 1 ½ ounces of tequila. Add about 1 ounce of Triple Sec. Add a scoop of ice. If you have a cocktail shell (or shaker), put on the lid and shake vigorously. If you don’t have a shaker, just stir the whole thing for a minute. Your goal is not only to mix the ingredients, but also to make the ingredients as cold as possible, so continue stirring until the drink is fully chilled.

Now you need to get your glass ready before you pour in the margarita. Pour your salt into a shallow saucer or dish. You can take one of the leftover limes that you just squeezed the juice out of and rub the pulp on the rim of the glass you intend to use. This will moisten it enough so the salt will stick on. Working quickly while the rim is still wet, turn the glass upside-down into the salt and roll it around on its rim, making sure each area of the rim is dunked into the salt. When you lift it up, salt should be sticking to the rim in a light layer all the way around. Some areas may have more salt than normal and this is entirely natural, so don’t worry. To get rid of the loose salt, hold the glass upside-down over a sink or counter and tap it with your hand to shake away any salt that is loose.

Now your glass is ready. Go ahead and pour the contents of the mixer/shaker into your glass. Hopefully, you added just enough ice that you can pour the whole thing into the serving glass, but if you have some extra ice, you can use a strainer to hold some back, but you should make sure that some ice ends up in the glass. If the glass isn’t full, throw in a couple more ice cubes.

This margarita recipe is infinitely adjustable. If you want a stronger drink, add 2 or 2 ½ ounces of tequila. If you want it sweeter, add more triple sec or add some simple syrup. Like it more tart? Add some more lime juice. You can also always take a quick taste before you pour it into the serving glass and make adjustments. Sometimes your limes may be more tart than other times, so the drink may be very tart. Quickly add a dash of simple syrup or a little triple sec and shake it quickly again. Once you gain some experience, you will be able to judge all of these portions by eye, without using a shot glass or other measuring device. Armed with these skills and some good tequila and limes, you can whip up an excellent margarita on the fly.

If you have the time, you can make a super-flavored margarita mix. This mix should marinate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight. You will need all the same ingredients as before, plus an equal amount of lemons. You will also need a lime or lemon zester. This is a little tool that allows you to take off the green outer skin of the limes. If you don’t have a zester, you can also use a sharp vegetable peeler, but you will want to make sure you take off only the very outer skin—you don’t want the white spongy pith underneath, because that will make your drink bitter. Begin by taking off a bunch of the lime and lemon zest. Do this BEFORE you cut the fruit in half! If you are making a huge batch for a huge party, go ahead and zest until you have a cup or more of zest. This citrus zest contains lime and lemon oil, which is concentrated flavor, and we are going to soak the zest overnight in the lime/lemon juice to give it an extra kick.

After you’ve gathered all of the lime and lemon zest, cut your fruit in half and then squeeze all of the juice out. Your wrists may get tired but just think of the excellent margaritas you’re going to have tomorrow! When you’ve collected all of your juice, add the lime and lemon zest and cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Before serving, you will need to strain the juice with a clean towel or some cheesecloth. Go ahead and squeeze out every drop of juice you can extract from the zest. Discard the zest. Now you have a choice. You can keep this lime juice on hand and use it as an ingredient to make your margaritas as described above, but you can also pre-mix the margaritas and just have it ready to pour over ice. This is what I usually do.

Because the lime juice has such concentrated flavor, you can add a bit more tequila per measure of mix. I would go with something like one cup of the lime mix to one or two cups of tequila and ½ cup of triple sec. If you want it sweeter, you can add some simple syrup or superfine sugar and stir it all together. To make things even faster, you can skip adding salt to the rims and add a bit of salt directly to your mix! This actually tastes great, and I do it every time I make this recipe. Just stir in about ½ teaspoon of salt to the whole batch of margaritas.

The measurements I’ve given for this margarita cocktail recipe are inexact, I realize. This is because I have no idea what type of party you’re planning. If it’s a nice cocktail party with adult guests, maybe one or two drinks per person will be sufficient. If you’re throwing a party for a bunch of wild young 20-somethings, maybe you’ll need to plan on 4 or 5 drinks per person. The one cup lime juice/2 cups tequila/½ cup triple sec proportion will make about 15 individual drinks. If you use regular limes and lemons, you may need about 4 of each to get a cup of juice. If you are using smaller Mexican limes, you may need 30 or 40 limes to make one cup of juice. Just adjust the measurements if your party is larger or smaller. If you need 30 beverages, make 2 cups of juice; for 8 beverages, you can get by with ½ cup of juice, etc.

A last note: I personally prefer the taste of the smaller Mexican limes, but they can’t be found everywhere. If your grocery store doesn’t carry them, try looking at a grocery store that serves a Latino population, and you’re likely to find them there. To save my wrists, I usually use a mixture of limes—some of the Mexican limes, and some of the larger regular Persian limes. For the tequila, you can use any type you prefer. I generally prefer to stick with a silver tequila, since the aged reposado tequila is more appropriate for sipping. The clean, fresh flavor of silver tequila works perfectly with the bright zestiness of the limes, so there’s no reason to waste precious golden tequila in a margarita, but if you prefer it, by all means use whatever tequila you prefer! With our world’s best margarita recipe, your drink will be great regardless.

Our sister site also has an excellent Pina Colada recipe!