Best Blue Margarita Recipe

This cocktail has a stunning blue hue with flavors of orange and tangy lime. Here's how to make the Best Blue Margarita Recipe.

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A margarita is one of my favorite drinks. Bright and citrusy, and just a little wild.

Margaritas are also wonderful to play with, by trying new flavors, juices, and colors—like when you turn a margarita blue!

This Blue Margarita is a real beauty: the flavors of a classic margarita with a brilliant ocean-blue hue.

What's in a blue margarita?

To begin with, a traditional margarita is made with tequila, lime juice, Triple Sec or Cointreau orange liqueur, and a sweetener like agave nectar or simple syrup. My blue margarita has all of these ingredients but replaces the Triple Sec with blue Curaçao.

So what is blue Curaçao? Curaçao (pronounced cure-ah-SOW) is an orange-flavored liqueur named for the Caribbean island where it was first distilled from orange peels. The sweet spirit typically has an ABV of 20%-25%.

It's unclear who decided that Curaçao should be dyed blue, but there's no denying that it's a strikingly beautiful color in cocktails like Blue Hawaiians—and this Blue Margarita.

Why you'll love this cocktail

You'll really like the flavors in this margarita. Sweet, orangey blue Curaçao liqueur plus tequila, and tangy lime—they're the classic ingredients that make the drink so appealing. Curaçao is sweet, which is why you don't need to add any other sweeteners.

What's really special about Blue Margaritas is that brilliant color. It's so eye-catching!

While the sky-blue shade makes it an obvious choice for a summertime drink, a Blue Margarita is also a beautiful cocktail to serve for wintertime parties. At this time of year, the blue drink takes on an icy coolness, and the jewel-toned color is right at home with the festive red, green, silver, and gold of Christmas and the holidays.

Choose the salt for your Blue Margarita

As you see in the photos, I gave my cocktail a black lava sea salt rim to make a striking black-and-blue margarita. You can do the same if you want a black-and-blue drink, or use other salts with your Blue Margarita.

Use a basic, fine margarita salt or a flavored salt on the rims of your glasses. A fine-grain pink Himalayan salt rim would be very pretty on this drink.

Not a fan of margaritas with salt?

No problem! Just leave the salt off, but do add a tiny pinch right to the drink to enhance the citrus flavors.

Sparkling sugar or silvery, edible glitter would be GORGEOUS on the rim of these Blue Margaritas.

🔪 How to make the Best Blue Margarita Recipe

Ingredients for a Blue Margarita:

• Tequila: I use silver or blanca tequila for this drink
• Blue Curaçao Liqueur: This orange-flavored spirit has a brilliant blue color
• Lime Juice: Use freshly-squeezed if possible, otherwise a good quality lime juice like Nellie & Joe's.
• Sugar Syrup or Agave Nectar: This is for coating the rims
• Salt: Also for the rims. Use margarita salt, black salt, pink salt—any salt!
• Ice: This margarita is served on the rocks

Step 1: Combine the drink components

Pour the tequila, blue Curaçao, and lime juice with ice into a cocktail shaker or a large mason jar with a lid. Shake the ingredients together.

Step 2: Salt the rims

Dip the rims of your margarita glasses first into sugar syrup, then into the salt. Dab the rims all around until they're evenly coated.

Step 3: Pour the drinks

Add ice cubes to the glasses carefully so you don't mess up the rims. Strain the margarita mixture into the glasses and serve immediately.

Tips:

• If don't own any margarita glasses, use regular cocktail glasses or my go-to—pint-sized mason jars. They're perfect for a small drink.
• Stash your glasses in the freezer ahead of time to get them really cold for your drinks.
• The recipe below makes two modest-sized margaritas. If you're making drinks for more people or just second and third servings for yourself, you can double or triple the quantities listed.

It's time to try this margarita with blue Curaçao. (In Spanish, Curaçao azul. On the island of Curaçao they speak Dutch: Curaçao blauw!)

The recipe for the Best Blue Margarita is below! And here are more fun margaritas that you must try:

💬 How do you like this cocktail? Leave a comment below.

📖 Recipe