This highly drinkable and stylish blood orange margarita will see you through all seasons. Its light, refreshing citrus mix will keep you cool on a summer evening. Its fiery tequila and orange liqueur will warm those wintry nights. Only four ingredients needed and less than a minute to shake together. Look at that! It’s cocktail o’clock!
If you just can’t board the tequila train, these exciting and creative gin and tonic recipes have got you.
Best tequila for margarita
There’s more to tequila than just silver and gold! But that’s a whole other blog post. I’m going to keep things neat (ahem) for you. Silver tequila, or blanco, is the margarita go-to of any mixologist worth their salt (ahem).
Blanco is made from 100% blue agave, making it completely pure, clean and untampered with. It’s young and unaged with a bite like a shark! This wild ferocity is what makes it a good mixer: its flavour is singularly strong so it stands up to fruit juices and other sweet ingredients.
If you’re terrified by the youthful power of tequila blanco, try a reposado as a starting point. This ‘rested’ tequila is all the calmer for its short sleep in steel, or sometimes oak.
With a smoother flavour, it’s traditionally a drinking tequila, but no-one is going to judge! Just make sure the spirit is clear, not coloured.
And finally, avoid using a gold or añejo tequila. Being longer aged, often in oak, they gain toasty hints. Not what we’re looking for here.
Ingredients
One of the things I love about this flavoured margarita recipe is there are no tricky-to-track-down ingredients. The four of them (plus salt) are probably waiting for you in your kitchen already, meaning you can mix one whenever the mood takes you.
Choose tequila blanco for this one, and any tequila cocktails. It’s a young, crystal clear and feisty tequila variety. 50mls is enough for one cocktail.
Some supermarkets have their own very affordable versions of orange liqueur, or you can go for a well-known brand. FYI triple sec IS orange liqueur. And remember that this also has alcoholic content, hovering around the 40% ABV mark.
It’s not a margarita without that lime juice tang. Always freshly squeeze your limes! From one lime you’ll get at least 15mls of juice.
Zesty and tart, squeezed blood orange juice can offer subtle notes of red fruits like cherry, strawberry or raspberry. And that dreamy sunset hue…
Flavour variations
Now you’re a tequila convert and have a bottle of tequila blanco to get through, here are five variations on the blood orange margarita recipe:
- The herby one – follow the recipe and add a couple of sage leaves to the cocktail shaker. The savoury sage contrasts unbelievably well with the orange.
- The pure one – leave out the triple sec if you find it too sickly or aren’t keen on additives and colourings. You can replace it with agave nectar if you still want some sweetness.
- The exotic one – swap the blood orange juice for pineapple. I recommend ditching the salt rim for this one and floating a basil leaf on top. It’ll take you to Thailand!
- The long one – top the drink up with soda water or make it luxe with sparkling wine.
- The super smoky one – swap the tequila for mezcal. It’s like French kissing a cowboy.
Recipe tips and notes
- In my opinion, a salty rim on a margarita is a must! A coarse salt is best, not only does it dissolve more slowly but the larger grains adorn the glass’ edge like delicate crystals. So pretty!
- To achieve the rim-side sparkle, spread the salt flakes, either kosher salt or flaked sea salt, onto a side plate. Then, moisten the lip of the glass by running a lime wedge around it. Up end the glass onto the salty plate and the salt will stick. Tap the glass to loosen any excess.
- If the salt edge isn’t your thing, leave it out completely. Or go for an elegant half salted rim; just moisten half the glass’ edge with the lime and dip in the salt.
- Cocktails should be drunk ice cold. Tequila cocktails especially! My cocktail pro tips are: first, putting the margarita glasses in the freezer while I mix the drink to chill them right down. Second, shaking it with loads of ice in the shaker for around 15 seconds. At this point the shaker will feel too cold to hold and you’ll know the marg is cold enough to drink.
- If you like to take your time over your beverage, add an ice cube to the glass. This will keep it cold- but also dilute the mix.
- Always taste your cocktails before pouring them from the shaker. The flavours should be well-balanced with no one ingredient dominating. If anything is lacking, just add it and test again.
Other cocktails to try:
Blood Orange Margarita
Ingredients
- 50 ml tequila
- 15 ml orange liqueur
- 15 ml lime juice
- 15 ml blood orange juice or regular orange
- Flaked sea salt or kosher salt
Instructions
- To achieve the rim-side sparkle, spread the salt flakes, either kosher salt or flaked sea salt, onto a side plate. Then, moisten the lip of the glass by running a lime wedge around it. Up end the glass onto the salty plate and the salt will stick. Tap the glass to loosen any excess.
- Add the tequila, orange liqueur and lime juice to a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice and shake until very cold.
- Strain into the salt-rimmed glass.
Leave a Reply