Frozen Margarita

Frozen margaritas are the best kind of margarita! Grab your favorite tequila and your blender to whip up some restaurant-style icy margs at home.

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My Friday night ritual includes dinner and margaritas at different taco joints.

My husband and I like to mix it up and visit different spots, but our favorite spot by far always has amazing street tacos and the best frozen margaritas (and frosé) at the ready in a big, slushy machine.

I look forward to those margaritas, but sometimes I just can’t wait until we can get back there. That’s why I had to make these frozen margaritas at home!

Best Frozen Margarita recipe

A frozen margarita is a refreshing, icy version of the traditional margarita, a classic cocktail everyone should know how to make. Made with tequila, triple sec, lime juice and a sweet syrup, these margaritas come together easily in the blender with ice.

You will love this recipe and here’s why:

• Frozen margaritas are an easy recipe to make at home with a blender, ice and margarita ingredients.
• They taste just like the ones you can get in a restaurant, full of flavor.
• These quaffable drinks are perfect for any occasion like taco night, hot summer afternoons and even Cinco de Mayo.

Ingredients

You only need a handful of ingredients to make these delicious frozen margaritas in your own kitchen. Here are the simple ingredients to pick up at the grocery store:

Best tequila for margaritas

Margaritas traditionally call for tequila, which is a transparent spirit made from the Blue Weber Agave plant in Mexico.

You can mix your favorite tequila into these frozen margs. There are a few types of tequila that I detail in my Tequila 101 crash course.

• I like to use blanco, or silver tequila for my frozen margs. Clear and colorless, it works really well in any margarita recipe. Gold tequila has added caramel color to make it seem aged, so I don’t usually recommend it, but it will taste just fine if you use it.
• Reposado is another type of tequila is aged in oak barrels between two months and one year and gets its natural caramel coloring from the oak. Its flavor is more complex, but you can either mix with it or sip it straight. It’s more expensive than gold or silver tequila but is still affordable.
• Using an infused tequila, like this spicy jalapeño tequila, is an easy way to experiment with flavor.

If you see añejo or extra añejo on the label, that signifies it’s a premium tequila that was aged for more than a year (extra is more than three!). Like a fine cognac, these are expensive and meant to be sipped straight, so I wouldn’t recommend them for margaritas.

Mezcal is one more choice you can try. It has a smokier flavor than tequila — technically, tequila is a type of mezcal that tastes cleaner than other types of mezcal.

My favorite tequila brands right now are Sauza, El Jimador and Lunazul, but there are tons more out there. For top-shelf margaritas, try Don Julio, Patron or Milagro.

You can use tequila for more than just margaritas, too. Try it in the Paloma or a Mexican Mule.

Fresh lime juice

Juice from fresh limes will give your margaritas the best zesty lime flavor. The bottled concentrate can be helpful, but keep in mind it tastes sourer than fresh juice.

You may use homemade sour mix (make it into margarita mix by using all lime juice instead of part lime, part lemon) if you like. If you do this, skip the simple syrup in this cocktail.

When I need to make a large batch of frozen margaritas, I will either buy a bottle of organic lime juice or juice a bunch of whole limes with my electric juicer.

Orange liqueur

Adding colorless orange liqueur to a classic margarita gives it a complex flavor. The sweet orange balances the sour lime flavors in the margarita.

Triple sec and curaçao are low-cost versions that are still delicious, but for a more top-shelf choice, go for either Grand Marnier or Cointreau.

You can also use blue curaçao, which is orange-flavored, to make these into frozen blue margaritas. So fun for July 4!

Sweetener

You have two main options for your homemade frozen margaritas.

One is simple syrup, which is easy to make at home with sugar and water.

The other is agave nectar, which is a sweet syrup made from the agave plant. It pairs really beautifully with tequila, which is made from the same plant. It adds a little color to the margarita as well, but not much, especially when blended with lime juice and ice.

To me, agave nectar is the best way to make the original margarita, but there’s nothing wrong with simple syrup. Use what you have! You could also use a homemade honey syrup or dress your margs up with more flavors like lavender syrup or rosemary syrup.

Ice

You will need a bit of ice for this recipe (about 4 cups for that classic frozen margarita consistency, you get at restaurants) so be sure to grab a bag at the store if you’re planning to make a lot.

Or you can use whatever you make in your own freezer. If you’re using ice cube trays, you will want to plan ahead and make ice in advance.

For the rim

The rim might be the best part of the margarita. You can have so much fun here!

You can use pure sugar on the rim, or a flavored sugar like lime sugar or strawberry sugar.

Sea salt or kosher salt are my favorites for a salt rim. I don’t recommend using regular table salt. Try to use coarse salt, but a flaky salt will be too coarse.

Flavored salts can be a fun way to dress up your margaritas. I love chili-lime seasoning for its pretty color and delicious flavor. I also love making my salts with citrus zest, like this orange salt or lime salt.

How to make frozen margaritas

Here’s how to make these easy blender margaritas:

In a high-speed blender, combine the tequila, lime juice, triple sec, simple syrup and ice. Blend until smooth.

If desired, rub a wedge around the outer rim of four glasses and roll in salt or sugar.

Pour in margarita mixture. Garnish each with a lime slice or a lime wedge.

Variations and substitutions

Rim the shot glasses in sugar or salt. If you like, run a lime around the rim of the glass and then roll it in kosher salt or granulated sugar.

Flavor them. Add 2 tablespoons of flavored simple syrup or frozen fruit (such as peaches, strawberries or blackberries) to give these mini margs some color or flavor.

Make them top-shelf. Use top-shelf tequila and Grand Marnier instead of triple sec.

Make them non-alcoholic. If you wish for that tequila flavor without the alcohol content, use a zero-proof spirit like Ritual tequila alternative to make frozen virgin margaritas.

Make frozen beeritas. Top your frozen marg with a Mexican lager like Tecaté or Corona to make it a frozen beerita.

Make it a skinny margarita. Use a splash of orange juice instead of orange liqueur, and use less sugar syrup to make this low-calorie.

What to serve with margaritas

Margaritas hail from Mexico, so they go beautifully with all kinds of Mexican food.

Start off with some chips and salsa, with a bowl of green chile queso and guacamole to go with it.

For the main dish, serve them with your favorite Mexican or Tex-Mex foods like tacos, enchiladas and elote.

For another tequila cocktail, try a smoky Mezcal Mule, a tangy grapefruit Paloma or a savory Bloody Maria.

More frozen cocktail recipes

Try one of these frozen drink recipes to cool down on a hot summer day.

• Strawberry basil margaritas are made with basil syrup and fresh strawberries.
• For a tropical treat, try Boozy Dole Whip made with rum and frozen pineapple.
• Frozen mango daiquiris are another tropical drink to try this summer.
• Who said rum and tequila could have all the frozen fun? These cherry bourbon slushies are made with Kentucky’s finest and cherry soda.
• The Frozen Grasshopper Drink is a mint-green, mint-chocolate beauty to enjoy after dinner.
• Frozen gin & tonics are a delicious twist on the classic gin cocktail.