Margarita Cocktail Recipe

Yield: 6

Margarita Cocktail Recipe

This is my go-to margarita cocktail recipe... and I've tried quite a few. I spend half the year in southern Arizona, not far from the Mexico border, and every bar and restaurant has their house margarita. Some are good, some not-so good, though I've never had anyone complain about what has become our own house margarita recipe.

I've been making it so long that I can't remember where the original came from, but it's a fairly standard margarita recipe that I've seen in lots of places, and sometimes with slight variations in the quantities.

The basic ingredients of a margarita are usually tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. For my recipe I use lots of ice and make them in the blender. It's enough to make six margaritas, which is handy if we have friends coming round, though even when we're on our own we usually manage to get through it, though sometimes we have some left that we can pop in the fridge till the next day.

There's a saying where we live in Arizona, where we're surrounded by mountains and are regularly treated to fantastic sunsets. People say: 'When the mountains turn pink, it's time to drink.' And that usually means a margarita.

Ingredients

6 oz blanco tequila
3 oz triple sec
3 oz fresh lime juice
4 cups of ice cubes

Instructions

Put the ice cubes into a blender, followed by the other ingredients. Blend away until the mixture starts to look deliciously creamy.

Notes

It's good to have a fall-back margarita cocktail recipe that you can make without even thinking about it. Sometimes we do ring the changes, though. I might make it with a tequila other than a blanco, and you can substitute mezcal as well. I prefer to keep my mezcals for sipping neat, but sometimes curiosity gets the better of me.

Which Tequila?
With the tequila, you don't want a bottom-shelf bottle, nor a top-shelf premium tequila - although when I've tried them they do make a world of difference to the taste. So aim for a mid-range tequila. One I particularly like because it's affordable and of good quality is the Cazadores Blanco. You can't go wrong with Patron or Jose Cuervo, either.

Triple Sec
We usually have a bottle of the orange liqueur known as triple sec on hand, and its mix of bitter and sweet does work well with tequila and lime juice. You can use it in other cocktails too, so we'll sometimes buy a few bottles if we see it on sale. If you want to up the quality a little or you want to impress someone, then you can use Curaçao, Cointreau or Grand Marnier instead, and that's when you bring out the high-end tequila too - and make sure the special guest sees the bottles!

Variations on a Tequila Margarita Cocktail Recipe
I've been collecting margarita recipes for a while and there are a few variations I've kept, and try from time to time. The easiest to remember is 6 ounces each of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice, but that one needs lots of ice.

Another variant uses lemon juice instead of lime juice, which is a heresy though I've done it when we're out of limes and it's not bad. You can also use 3 ounces of agave nectar instead of triple sec in my house margarita cocktail recipe above.

Salt with your Margarita?
I don't mind either way. Sometimes I simply can't be bothered to coat the rim of the glass with lime juice and then dip it in salt, though if you've guests coming round you can do this ahead of time. But the salt does add to the overall taste of the margarita, adding something else to the mix of sweet and bitter ingredients.

Margarita Cocktail Recipe