Spicy Margarita

Spice up your life with a Spicy Margarita. Made with four spicy elements — spicy tequila, jalapeño syrup, a dash of hot sauce and a chili-lime salt rim, — you’ll find this cocktail really kicks.

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Spicy Margarita recipe

My fellow spice lovers, do I have a treat for you. This margarita recipe is made spicy not one, not two, but four ways: spicy tequila, jalapeño syrup, your favorite hot sauce and a chili-lime seasoning rim.

If you don’t like spicy things, turn around. This spicy jalapeño margarita recipe is so hot it’s practically on fire.

(But if you still want a margarita, check out one of these recipes below!)

More margarita recipes: Blue Margarita • Prickly Pear Margarita • Coconut Margarita

Why you’ll love this recipe

The Spicy Margarita might be your new favorite for a few reasons.

• Four spicy ingredients make this the best spicy margarita. (But if you want to tweak the spice level, you absolutely can. I’ll show you how!)
• Margaritas with a little heat are super easy to shake up at home.
• They’re a great way to elevate your next taco night or dinner party.

They’re perfect for happy hour, Taco Tuesday, guys’ or girls’ night, game night, Cinco de Mayo celebrations or anytime you want a good margarita.

Tools & glassware

To make a Spicy Margarita, you’ll need a jigger, a cocktail shaker and a Hawthorne strainer.

For getting fresh lime juice from real limes, you’ll want to use a citrus juicer or lime squeezer.

You can also use a pitcher if you want to make more for a party.

Margaritas can be served in rocks glasses, stemless martini glasses or margarita glasses.

4 ways to make margaritas spicy

The classic margarita recipe can be made spicy by swapping regular ingredients for spicy ones. For example, these spicy blackberry margaritas are great with jalapeño tequila.

Try one of these methods — or all four if you are feeling dangerous.

1. Chili rim: Use a spice mix like chile-lime seasoning on the rim of the glass.
2. Spicy tequila: Infuse a good quality tequila with jalapeño peppers to make a flavorful tequila. You can also go spicier with ancho chili peppers, habanero peppers or poblano peppers.
3. Spicy simple syrup: Instead of using plain agave syrup, cook simple syrup with jalapeño peppers (or other peppers) to make it spicy.
4. Hot sauce: Toss a few dashes of hot sauce on top of the finished cocktail.

Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients to make this Spicy Margarita recipe. Here’s what to grab at the grocery store:

• Jalapeño tequila: Spicy tequila is available at the liquor store, but you can make your own too by infusing silver tequila or reposado tequila with fresh jalapeños.
• Triple sec: Any kind of orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier will work here. For a skinny margarita, you can use a splash of orange juice.  
• Jalapeño syrup: You can make spicy simple syrup at home with sugar, water and real peppers.
• Lime juice: Fresh lime juice from fresh limes is the most flavorful and harmonizes with the spicy flavor the best.
• Hot sauce: Top it off with a few dashes of Tabasco or your favorite hot sauce.
• Chili-lime seasoning: This zesty, slightly spicy salt mixture makes a delicious rim salt. The  Tajín brand sells a container explicitly designed for rimming cocktails.
• Lime garnish: Cut the limes into slices or wedges for a garnish.
• Jalapeño slices: A few slices of jalapeño peppers are also a good garnish for this drink.

Don’t miss Tequila 101 where you can learn more about which bottles to buy.

Variations & substitutions

If you want to play with the spice level of this cocktail, or if you don’t have one or some of the ingredients, here are a few ways you can tweak them and still have a spicy cocktail.

• No jalapeño tequila? You can use blanco tequila.
• Without spicy syrup? Use agave nectar or plain simple syrup.
• No hot sauce? You can skip it if you have other spicy ingredients.
• No chili-lime seasoning? Use regular margarita salt instead or use regular salt with a pinch of pepper or white pepper (like I did!).

You can also try these swaps with other margarita recipes, like a blood orange margarita or a strawberry margarita.

How to make Spicy Jalapeño Margaritas

Here’s how to make this easy recipe:

Pour some chili-lime seasoning on a small plate. Rub a lime wedge around the edge of the glass. Roll the rim of the glasses in the salt to coat the rim.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add tequila, triple sec, simple syrup and lime juice. Shake well. Strain into the rimmed margarita glass.

Add a dash or two of hot sauce on top. (If you don’t like the look of the hot sauce on top, you can shake it up into the cocktail if you prefer.)

Garnish with a lime slice and jalapeño coins.

Tips & tricks

Here are some tips and tricks for making this recipe:

• These margaritas can be as mild or spicy as you like! Reduce the number of spicy ingredients as you need to.
• Make them gorgeous with a chili-salt rim and slices of jalapeños and limes.
• Fresh ingredients — real limes and real jalapeño pepper — for the best flavor. 
• When juicing limes, use room temperature citrus. It’s much easier to juice than limes straight from the fridge.

What to serve with Spicy Margaritas

Spicy margaritas go well with appetizers like peach salsa and guacamole. And a big basket of tortilla chips, of course. You could also go spicy with an appetizer like pepper jelly and cream cheese.

For the main dish, enjoy them with your favorite tacos, enchiladas or tortilla soup.

And for dessert, these tart margarita bars are so festive and fun.

Here are even more ideas for what to serve with margaritas.

FAQ

More margarita recipes

• Frozen Margarita
• Margarita Sangria
• Beer Margaritas
• Mezcal Margaritas
• Margarita Jello Shots