Margaritas are my love language, and they're even better when made with fresh squeezed juice, just like this incredibly refreshing blood orange margarita. This is the best recipe for a blood orange margarita, I can guarantee it. A few simple ingredients and you're ready to cheers all night (or day)!
While blood oranges are typically a winter citrus, you can make this recipe all year long by swapping in fresh oranges!
This was inspired by my other cocktail recipes such as my tropical mezcal margarita or my sparkling spiced lemonade. All tasty in their own way.
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What are the ingredients for this drink?
The best thing about making a margarita is that you need the classic ingredients to get it started. From there, you can add in blood orange (or regular orange) juice to spruce up the flavor. So, here's what you'll need:
- Tequila: there are so many amazing brands to choose from, but my go to is Tanteo, Casamigos, Santera or Patron
- Cointreau: if you don't want to have a large bottle in your cabinet, you can easily find a smaller bottle at a local liquor store.
- Club soda or Fresca: Fresca is a throwback to the 90s and it's a low calorie, low sugar citrus soda. If that's not your thing, grab an original club soda.
- Orange juice: Fresh squeezed is best in my opinion: less added sugars! If you can't find blood oranges, no worries! Grab a large navel orange or a cara cara orange and squeeze one full orange into a glass.
- Ice: helps with chilling the shaker, and of course, we pour or margarita over the top of a salt (or no salt, like I do) rimmed glass.
See the recipe card below for more about quantities.
How do you make this recipe?
Making a margarita is not very complicated, although when I first started making them I was very overwhelmed. Here's what you'll do:
Slice the orange in half and squeeze the juice into a glass and set aside. In a large cocktail shaker, pour in the ice, tequila, and cointreau. Then, pour in the orange juice.
Close the shaker tightly and shake vigorously for a few seconds. Open the top of the shaker and pour over a high ball glass filled with ice. Top the margarita with club soda or Fresca and serve with an orange slice as garnish.
HINT: Top the margarita off with a dusting of Tajin, or add it to the rim, for an additional depth of flavor.
Recipe Swaps and Substitutions
This margarita recipe is very classic, and relies on the use of tequila, fresh squeezed juice, cointreau, and lemon lime soda. If you want to swap something out or sub something in, here's what I would suggest:
- Soda - You can easily use sparkling water or just plain club soda instead of Fresca or a lemon lime soda like Sprite
- Cointreau - a good swap for this is Grand Marnier as they're both orange liqueur. Another delicious splash would be triple sec if that's your thing.
- Tequila - I like using a silver tequila, or reposado such as Tanteo, Casamigos, or Patron, but you can easily swap for a mezcal or a añejo tequila. The mezcal will give the margarita a smoky flavor, which is pretty delicious too.
How to Serve this Margarita
Margaritas are delicious no matter how they are served, but here are some ways you might want to consider serving this:
- Large Batch - in a large pitcher for a gathering
- Popsicles - pour the margarita mix into a popsicle mold and freeze with some coconut water to help the freezing process.
- Spicy - add some sliced jalapeño to the margarita if you want to make it a little spicy!
Kitchen Equipment
You don't need crazy contraptions or equipment here. All you really need is:
- A trusty cocktail shaker: make sure the lid closes well, because you definitely do not want margarita all over your kitchen walls, floor, and counters. Trust me, it's not fun to clean up #whoops.
- A cocktail spoon: this most of the time comes with a cocktail shaker set, and this helps to stir the cocktail together once you add in the carbonated drink like a prosecco or a club soda (which is what we're doing here).
- High ball glasses: I LOVE my glasses from Crate and Barrel, but you can use a classic margarita glass, a coupe (curved) glass, or a very large water glass. No judgment at all!
- Citrus Squeezer: This is optional, as I usually just squeeze the juice into a glass and strain for any seeds. Entirely up to you!
Can I store this recipe or prep it?
If you want to prepare this drink ahead of time, you can do so in a large pitcher but add in the ice once you're ready to serve it.
PRO TIP:
Throw all of the ingredients in a blender and make a frozen version!
Hungry for More?
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
The Best Blood Orange Margarita Recipe
Equipment
- 1 cocktail shaker
- 1 cocktail spoon
- 1 jigger
- 1 citrus squeezer
Ingredients
- 2 oz tequila
- 1 oz cointreau
- 1 oz blood orange juice
- 2 oz fresca or club soda
Instructions
- In a shaker, add the ice then pour in the tequila or mezcal, cointreau, blood orange juice. Shake well.
- Pour into a coupe or high ball glass.
- Top the drink with Fresca or club soda and garnish with an orange slice.
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