19 Margarita Recipes for Any Season
A great margarita is hard to beat: tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, and salt in sweet-tart harmony. But the classic margarita recipe is also an excellent starting point for experimentation. Small tweaks—swapping triple sec for agave syrup, say, or tequila for mezcal—can create a whole new drink. Perhaps even more compelling is the margarita’s ability to veer into maximalism. Blend yours with frozen mango, muddle in fresh blackberries, or infuse the tequila with chiles.
Below you’ll find 19 of our best margarita recipes, including frozen margaritas, spicy margaritas, fruit-forward riffs, and a few less traditional variations. There’s a salted watermelon margarita for summer, a blood orange version for winter, and an avocado margarita that blends up remarkably creamy. Whether you like yours on the rocks, straight up, or frozen, there’s a margarita here for you.
Photographs by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. Prop Styling by Christine Keely, Food Styling by Taneka Morris1/19Magical Midnight Margarita
Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Judy Mancini2/19Margarita, No Triple Sec
Think you need triple sec for a perfect margarita? Not so fast. This three-ingredient cocktail skips orange liqueur in favor of simple syrup, letting good tequila and sunny citrus really shine.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Maggie Ruggiero, Prop Styling by Linden Elstran3/19Spicy Mango Margarita
Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Molly Baz, Prop Styling by Emily Eisen4/19Salted Watermelon Margarita
Punchy and refreshing, this fuchsia-tinged margarita gets its sweetness from an easy homemade salted watermelon juice. No watermelon? Try any other ripe, juicy melon in its place.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Liberty Fennell, Prop Styling by Gerri Williams5/19Beergarita
This large-format cocktail marries beer’s effervescence with citrusy tequila-spiked punch. Think of it like a lime-stuffed Corona bottle for a crowd.
Photo by Paul H. Christian6/19Salt and Smoke Margarita
Love a dirty martini? This margarita is for you: Choose a smoky mezcal (not all of them are) for this savory cocktail flavored with bright lemon and briny Castelvetrano olives.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton7/19Frozen Rosalita
Think of this as a bittersweet riff on a classic frozen margarita: Amaro Montenegro stands in for orange liqueur, adding botanical complexity to the tequila-and-lime base. Better yet, the mixture can be prepped ahead and frozen until party time.
8/19Spicy Grapefruit Margarita
This paloma-adjacent margarita swaps lime for grapefruit juice and infuses the tequila with fresh chile for a sunset-colored cocktail with plenty of punch. Use half a chile for moderate heat, more if you like things really spicy—or skip the infusion entirely.
9/19Blackberry-Thyme Margarita
Muddling blackberries into your margarita brings a pleasant jamminess to the otherwise tart drink. A splash of sparkling wine gives it a spritz-like finish.
11/19Mora Picosa
Photo by Paul H. Christian12/19Spicy Celery Margarita
Serrano brings grassy chile heat to this vegetal margarita variation, while celery juice (buy it from a juice shop or check out our favorite juicer) gives it a cooling finish.
14/19Sparkly Ginger Margarita
This spritzy margarita takes its flavor cues from the ginger-lime duo that makes a Moscow mule such a firm favorite. Club soda brings the bubbles, while the kicky rim is made from ground ginger, sugar, and a pinch of salt.
