Strawberry Margarita (On the Rocks)

Served on the rocks, these Strawberry Margaritas are the perfect, pretty pink drinks to enjoy for Friday night, taco night or any night. This fruity cocktail is made with strawberry simple syrup, and has a rim of homemade strawberry sugar.

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Strawberry Margarita recipe

One of the best parts of making cocktails at home is that you can practice making restaurant versions of your favorite drinks. A favorite of mine is the strawberry margarita.

However, most strawberry margaritas at restaurants are made with brightly colored red syrup, and they don’t taste like fresh strawberries.

A great way to change up the flavors of classic margaritas is to use simple flavored syrups. This one uses homemade strawberry syrup, made with fresh berries and without artificial coloring or flavoring. It makes all the difference in making this drink taste like real strawberries.

Another way this drink brings the summer vibes is the delicious strawberry sugar rim. It is made with dehydrated strawberries and granulated sugar and is so easy to make yourself.

These are strawberry margaritas on the rocks — meaning they are served over ice — but if you prefer to make them frozen, you can throw them in the blender with some ice.

Let’s get into this delicious recipe, what you’ll need and how to make it.

More margarita recipes: Cranberry Margaritas • Prickly Pear Margaritas • Frozen Margaritas

Why you’ll love this recipe

Strawberry margaritas will be your new favorite addition to taco night or anytime you crave the best margarita.

• Homemade tastes way better than the ones you get at a restaurant.
• These are so good when strawberries are in season!
• Strawberry sugar for the rim is so tasty, but you can use salt if you prefer.

This easy margarita recipe is a great drink for game night, girls night/guys night or taco night. You could also shake one up for happy hour, Cinco de Mayo or hot summer days. There’s really no bad time to have this strawberry spin on the classic cocktail. 

Tools & glassware

Margaritas don’t need a ton of special equipment. However, you will need a cocktail shaker (a jar works too), a jigger and a strainer.

You can use a food processor to make the strawberry sugar, but it is very easy to do with your hands, so it’s not necessary.

You’ll probably want a couple of mason jars to store any leftover sugar and simple syrup, too.

For glasses, you can use margarita glasses, stemless martini glasses or rocks glasses.

margarita glasses

Ingredients

You only need a handful of simple ingredients to make these delicious strawberry margaritas at home.

Tequila

Whenever you are making cocktails, you should always use the best ingredients you can afford. Tequila is no different. 

The best tequila is usually up to personal preference, but you will want to stick to one kind: You will want to use a silver tequila, or blanco tequila.

That’s because the clear color won’t interfere with the red strawberries. Gold tequila or aged tequila will turn these into a more orange color, rather than pink.

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

Strawberry syrup

A classic margarita is made with agave nectar or plain simple syrup, but this one calls for a strawberry syrup, which brings all the flavor to this fresh strawberry margarita cocktail. 

While you can absolutely buy strawberry syrup online or at the grocery store, I highly suggest you make it yourself with fresh fruit.

Homemade strawberry simple syrup is easy to create with just sugar, water and ripe strawberries.

You can also make a shortcut by combining equal parts of warm water with strawberry jam. Or you can use a muddler to crush strawberries with regular simple syrup.

Triple sec

Use a clear, orange liqueur such as triple sec or Cointreau to add a touch of orange flavor and a little more booziness to your margarita.

Grand Marnier is what’s used in Cadillac margaritas, but it has an amber color which can discolor this cocktail.

Lime juice

Fresh lime juice makes a big difference we’re making homemade margaritas.

If you have the time, go the extra mile to juice some limes. If not, store-bought, lime juice works just fine in a pinch. But keep in mind it can be a tad more sour than fresh limes.

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Strawberry sugar

For the rim, I made a homemade strawberry sugar. Margaritas traditionally have a salted rim, which will work fine here, but a flavored sugar rim helps to brighten the strawberry flavor and adds a touch of color. 

You can do this by crumbling up dehydrated strawberries with your fingers and then mixing the powder with granulated sugar. Don’t use brown sugar — white sugar is what you want here.

Don’t want to make strawberry sugar? No problem. Just use plain granulated sugar.

Don’t like sugar on your margaritas? Just use margarita salt or skip it all together.

Variations & substitutions

Instead of tequila, you can make this with mezcal for a smokier flavor.

If you don’t have strawberry syrup, use strawberry jam or preserves. Simply combine equal parts jam and warm water to make it more syrupy.

You can also use this recipe to try different flavors of margaritas. Try it with raspberry syrup, blueberry syrup or blackberry syrup.

For frozen margaritas, place all the ingredients in a blender with 2 cups of ice.

How to make Strawberry Margaritas

Strawberry margaritas are super simple to put together. Here’s how to make them:

1. First, rim the glass and strawberry sugar. Pour the strawberry sugar on a plate and run a lime wedge around the outer edge of the margarita glass, then roll the rim of the glass in the sugar to coat.
2. In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and strawberry syrup. Cover and shake well.
3. Strain the cocktail into a rocks glass or margarita glass over ice.
4. Garnish with a piece of lime or a fresh strawberry.

Tips & tricks

Strawberries vary in color based on how juicy they are and whether they’re in season. Your strawberry syrup may end up a deeper red than mine, and your cocktails may be more red than pink. It’ll still be good!

Use fresh lime juice. It will make a big difference in the flavor.

To get the most juice out of your limes, use room-temperature citrus. Roll them on the counter to release the juices before cutting them open. You can also microwave them briefly, about 10-20 seconds. Be sure they have cooled down before handling them.

Other uses for strawberry syrup

If you have leftover strawberry syrup, you can use it to make other cocktails.

Try it in a strawberry martini, a strawberry, daiquiri or a strawberry mule.

You can also pour it over desserts, ice cream, pancakes, and waffles.

What to serve with strawberry margaritas?

Thanks to their fresh flavor, these margaritas are the perfect drink to pair with your favorite Mexican foods.

Enjoy them with tortilla chips and peach salsa or queso fundido before dinner.

They’d also be so good with any kind of tacos! Try them with black bean tofu tacos or pulled pork tacos.

For dessert, follow them up with frozen margarita bars.

Here are even more food pairings for margaritas. 

FAQ

More margarita recipes

• Blood Orange Margaritas
• Frozen Strawberry Margarita with Basil 
• Champagne Margaritas