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My watermelon margarita is FRESH and refreshing. Made with homemade watermelon juice, fresh lime juice, tequila, triple sec, and simple sugar, it’s literally summer in a glass. These are best served on the rocks, but they can also be made frozen.
This recipe is fantastic and relatively simple to make. The base of this margarita is essentially my classic margarita recipe with the addition of fresh watermelon juice. Watermelon juice is very light, so you need to incorporate enough for it to stand out.
Table of Contents
Ingredient Notes
- Tequila: look for Milagro, Espolòn, Altos, Teremana, Hornitos, and Corralejo.
- Seedless watermelon: use a whole watermelon or look for prepacked seedless watermelon.
- Fresh lime juice: fresh limes are essential for the perfect margarita. Always use a citrus squeezer to extract as much lime juice as possible from each lime. I will occasionally mix in some fresh lemon for different flavors. Use up to 1.5 ounces of citrus!
- Simple syrup or agave: I prefer 50-50 simple syrup because it’s less sweet than agave. Start with less than half an ounce and add more as needed. You want enough to round out the cocktail without it tasting overly sweet.
- Orange liqueur: you can use triple sec or Cointreau. If you prefer a drier margarita, Skip the simple syrup and only sweeten it with orange liqueur.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities below.
Preparing Watermelon Juice
I use a blender to puree/liquify seedless watermelon into a pureed juice. One cup of chopped watermelon equals about 6 ounces or 2 servings. If you don’t have a blender, a single-serve blender such as a NutriBullet or Ninja works even better.
This recipe is essentially a classic margarita with the addition of watermelon. You can play with how much watermelon juice you add, but I found 2.5 ounces to be the sweet spot. Watermelon juice is subtle in flavor, so you need enough.
Expert Tips
- You can make this spicy by garnishing or blending fresh jalapeno slices or by adding a dash of spicy bitters. I like Fire Tincture by Scrappy’s
- Always use seedless watermelon. White seeds are OK, black seeds are not.
- Skip the salt rim and add a tiny pinch of salt directly to the margarita. This brings out the flavors and adds a little saltiness that plays beautifully in every sip without being overwhelming.
- Always freeze your glasses beforehand. This helps keep your drink colder for longer.
Margarita Variations
- looking for a spicy kick? learn how to make easy spicy margaritas or pineapple habanero margaritas using homemade infused jalapeño or habanero tequila. It only takes 24 hours to infuse delicious heat.
- If you like mezcal, you can easily make a mezcal margarita with egg whites or my spicy mezcal cocktail.
- My mango margaritas are one of the most popular drinks on this site. They can be served frozen or up on the rocks. It’s one of my favorite cocktails for the summer.
- If you are looking for a winter-inspired margarita, try my Grand Marnier margarita made with reposado tequila, honey syrup, and fresh lemon juice.
- If you like Palomas, look no further than my simple grapefruit margarita, which has very similar Paloma vibes.
- If you have Aperol sitting in your cabinet and don’t know what else to do with it, try my El Chipilo cocktail, which is almost a margarita made with Aperol.
- Lastly, you can always make the tried and true Tequila Sunrise if you’re short on ingredients—a highly underrated cocktail when made with freshly squeezed orange juice.
More Margaritas You’ll Love
Enjoy this recipe? If you made this cocktail, please leave a ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ star rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments!
Watermelon Margarita Recipe
Ingredients
Watermelon juice (makes 6 ounces)
- 1 cup chopped seedless watermelon, packed and fully blended until liquefied
Watermelon margarita
- 2 1/2 ounces watermelon juice
- 2 ounces blanco tequila
- 3/4 ounces fresh lime juice
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
- 1/2 ounce triple sec
Instructions
- Cube 1 cup of watermelon and add to a blender. Blend until fully liquefied.
- For the salted rim, take a lime wedge and coat the rim of a margarita glass or double old fashioned glass. Dip in margarita salt, rotating until coated.
- Combine tequila, watermelon juice, triple sec, lime, and simple sugar in a cocktail shaker with a cup of ice. Shake vigorously and pour straight into a chilled glass with the dirty ice from the shaker or over fresh ice.
- Garnish with a watermelon wedge and optional jalapeño slice.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
