Salud! TLP’s Best Margarita Recipes

Tequila, lime, simple syrup—a trinity of ingredients collide as a fan-favorite cocktail. The drink hails from numerous origin stories, and recipes have adapted a milieu of additional ingredients, from Cointreau to prickly pear to sangria. No matter the riffs, it remains a sweet-tart cocktail with just an edgy hint of spice from the tequila. We’ve written about a lot of margarita recipes over the years (enough to publish a small cookbook!). If you don’t have time to comb through them all, we rounded up a few of our best margarita recipes. Salud!

Our Best Margarita Recipes for Year-Round Sipping

Classic Margarita

The mainstay cocktail at Las Almas Rotas in Dallas hits all the right notes between lime, orange, syrup, and tequila. The creators believe that a margarita is only as a good as its tequila. They recommend ELVELO tequila, made in Jalisco by a second-generation master distiller using old-world techniques. If you can’t get ELVELO, though, the drink will still taste delicious made with whatever you have on hand.

Carrot Margarita

Fresh carrot juice gives this margarita its vibrant orange hue, utilizing an abundant cold-weather crop to put a whole new dimension on tequila. A swirl of cinnamon nods to both ingredients’ earthy undertone.

Blood Orange Margarita

A favorite at Mex 1 Coastal Cantina in Charleston, this bright magenta marg gets that deep orange-y flavor by combining fresh blood orange juice with blood orange liqueur. Pair it with Mex 1’s fresh guacamole recipe for a cantina experience under your roof.

Hatch Green Chile Frozen Margarita

Spice up your margarita with a little warm heat using this recipe from acclaimed pitmaster John Lewis. In an homage to his west Texas roots, Lewis pulls in hatch green chile puree (one of his favorite ingredients) to add a little Southwest flair to the frozen margarita.

Beet Margarita

Good for your gut and good for your mood, we love this deep ruby-colored margarita from Charleston‘s Basic Kitchen. Plus, it gives a use to the leftover juice from any roasted, steamed, or fresh beets you prepare.

Spicy Peach Margarita

A gently spiced jalapeño simple syrup adds a kick of heat to balance the sweet peach liqueur in this summery margarita recipe. We include a recipe for how to make the simple syrup at home, but you can also pick up pre-made syrups from your local bottle shops if you’re short on time.

Strawberry Rhubarb Margarita

Springtime’s quintessential flavors come together in this margarita recipe. It pulls fresh sweet flavor from strawberries, earthiness from the rhubarb, and a bit of licorice spiciness from fennel.

A Margarita Recipe for a Crowd

Faramalla

For a big-batch margarita recipe to serve a crowd, try this mezcal punch from Las Almas Rotas. The hibiscus-cardamom syrup adds color and floral notes. Just make sure you have a good-sized group of friends to help you share this potent sipper.