This quick recipe for a homemade blood orange margarita is a perfect escape from the winter blues! Almost as good as a hot sunny beach. This is a fairly standard recipe, but we added Aperol to the mix. If you're not familiar, Aperol is a bitter, orange-forward, Italian aperitif – similar to Campari.
For some more beautiful drinks, try our pretty-in-pink hibiscus sour, with homemade hibiscus syrup, or refreshing Mai Tai.
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Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Tequila: any reposado or blanco tequila will work. Reposado tequila is aged and will add a hint of smooth oaky flavour. Mezcal is also a fine substitute.
- Curacao: do not use blue Curacao! Dry Curacao adds beautiful orange flavour without cloying sweetness. Do not use simple syrup or agave nectar in place of Curacao. Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or Triple Sec are all good subs for Curacao, but keep in mind they all have different sweetness levels.
- Lime Juice: fresh is always best but you could try bottled lime juice in an extreme pinch.
- Blood Orange Juice: you can substitute any citrus juice you like.
- Aperol: can be substituted with a splash of Campari. You can also swap in a few drops of orange bitters but the flavour won't be the same.
Method
Step 1: prepare your cocktail glass. Pour all of the liquid ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
Step 2: shake well with lots of ice. Strain the margarita into the prepared glass. Garnish with a piece of blood orange peel before serving.
Top Tips
- Make a large batch: simply scale up the amount of ingredients into a pitcher and chill for at least three hours. You should still aerate the cocktail for flavour and texture, so pour it into a blender and pulse without ice before serving in salt-rimmed glasses.
- Don't mix with ice: this is not a frozen margarita recipe. Frozen margaritas are a completely different drink.
- Mix it up: we use salt for the rim, but if you want to level up try to find a bottle of Tanjin, a Mexican spice mixture made with chilli peppers, salt, and lime.
Recipe Notes
We went the standard route of shaking the ingredients with ice and straining them into a salt-rimmed cocktail glass. If you don’t own a cocktail shaker, vigorously mix the ingredients with ice and then strain into the glass.
We recommend that you don’t serve the margarita on the rocks because it will dilute the alcohol and weaken the flavour. Keep in mind that the blood orange cocktail won’t be quite the same if not shaken since shaking adds aeration.
FAQ
What orange liqueur is in a margarita?
This will most likely be Cointreau, but could also be Campari, Curacao, Aperol, or another orange liqueur, which all have orange flavours.
What is a margarita made of?
A standard margarita is made with 3 parts tequlia, 2 parts orange liqueur, and 1 part lime juice. There are different types and flavours, though.
More Delicious Drinks
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Blood Orange Margarita With Aperol
Equipment
- Cocktail shaker
- Cocktail glass
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1 ½ oz tequila
- 1 oz blood orange juice
- ½ oz lime juice
- ¼ oz Aperol
- ¼ oz Curaçao not blue
- Orange peel for garnish
Instructions
- Lightly wet the rim of a cocktail glass with blood orange juice. Dip the rim of the glass in salt and shake off any excess.
- Pour all of the liquid ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake well with lots of ice. Strain the margarita into the prepared glass. Garnish with a piece of blood orange peel before serving.