These Spicy Grapefruit Margaritas are delicious and super refreshing. Made with fresh grapefruit juice, cayenne pepper and sweetened with a little agave, this is the perfect drink to enjoy during the citrus season or all year round!
Whip out the cocktail shaker, it's margarita time! This is the perfect cocktail to enjoy during the winter citrus season. It's perfectly sweet with just a little bit of spice and is easy to make any day of the week.
If you love margaritas as I do, you will love my Spicy Watermelon Margaritas and Spicy Skinny Margaritas.
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🌟Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Simple & quick. This recipe takes just 5 minutes to make and only uses 6 ingredients.
- Customizable. While this recipe only uses a few ingredients, you can easily customize it to your liking. Make it without the spice, triple sec or lime juice. It will still taste great!
- Can be made for a crowd. You can easily double or triple this recipe to make as many cocktails as you need or add everything to a pitcher for the perfect party cocktail!
🥘Ingredients and Substitutions
- Tequila- you can use your favorite brand but I recommend a silver or Blanco tequila. I used 1800 Cristalino.
- Triple sec- also known as orange liqueur, I like adding it to my margaritas for more citrus notes. You can substitute this with orange juice or a little more agave.
- Grapefruit juice- I recommend squeezing a fresh grapefruit to avoid added sugar as we are already sweetening it with agave.
- Cayenne pepper- just a little for a kick. You can also muddle a jalapeño slice or make these margaritas without spice.
- Lime juice- I highly recommend using freshly squeezed lime juice over bottled lime juice as most are full of other ingredients and additives.
See the recipe card below for quantities and remaining ingredients.
🔪Instructions
- Salt the rim of your cocktail glasses or mason jars. Rub a lime wedge over the rim of the glasses and then turn the glass upside down and dip the rim in salt or a mix of salt and cayenne pepper.
- Juice the grapefruit and lime. Squeeze all of the juice out of the grapefruit and lime into a cocktail shaker or large jar. I like to use a citrus squeezer or juicer to ensure I am getting every last drop.
- Add ice, orange liqueur and agave to the shaker and shake to combine.
- Fill glasses with ice and pour the margarita mixture over the rocks. Garnish with a slice of grapefruit and serve immediately. Enjoy!
💭Recipe FAQs
A margarita contains tequila and fresh lime juice and is usually sweetened with orange liqueur. A Paloma is sweetened with grapefruit soda and is less sweet than a margarita.
It is up to you! Salt can enhance the flavor of a margarita so it is typically recommended.
I recommend flakey or coarse sea salt or kosher salt. You can also add cayenne, tajin, lime zest and more to your rim.
👩🏻🍳Top Tips
- Always use freshly squeezed juice. I recommend using fresh grapefruit juice and lime juice over buying it prepackaged. The taste is better and contains no added sugar.
- Adjust to taste! As with any cocktail recipe, I recommend using this recipe as a guide and adjusting the flavors and spices to suit your taste. Use more or less lime or eliminate the cayenne pepper, etc.
- Don't skimp on the garnishes, especially if you are hosting.
- If you make a large batch, store leftovers in the fridge without ice for 4-5 days. Just shake and pour over ice when ready to enjoy again.
Serving
This margarita can be enjoyed with anything from a simple snack like chips and salsa or Spicy Black Bean Dip. It is also great with BBQ Chicken Tacos or Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos.
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🍳Recipe
Spicy Grapefruit Margarita
Equipment
Ingredients
- Salt & lime wedge for rimming the glass, optional
- 4 ounces tequila
- 1 ounce orange liqueur
- 1 teaspoon agave
- 4 ounces grapefruit juice, (or half of a grapefruit squeezed)
- ½ ounce lime juice, (or half of a lime squeezed)
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ice
Instructions
- Rub a lime wedge over the rim of two cocktail glasses or mason jars.
- Pour some sea salt or kosher salt onto a small plate. Dip the cup upside down onto the plate of salt and press down, ensuring the entire rim is covered with salt.
- To a cocktail shaker, add ice and all of the ingredients. Shake until combined.
- Fill glasses with ice and pour margarita mixture over the rocks.
- Garnish with a slice of grapefruit and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Always use freshly squeezed juice. I recommend using fresh grapefruit juice and lime juice over buying it prepackaged. The taste is better and contains no added sugar.
- Adjust to taste! As with any cocktail recipe, I recommend using this recipe as a guide and adjusting the flavors and spices to suit your taste. Use more or less lime or eliminate the cayenne pepper, etc.
- Don't skimp on the garnishes, especially if you are hosting.
- If you make a large batch, store leftovers in the fridge without ice for 4-5 days. Just shake and pour over ice when ready to enjoy again.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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