Mistletoe Margarita

Why We Love This Recipe

• Balanced: With cranberry juice and blood orange juice, this isn't your typical overly-sweet holiday cocktail. It has a well-balanced sweet and sour flavor, with plenty of freshness from freshly squeezed citrus juice.
• Holiday twist on a classic: We kept the tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice that are typical of a classic margarita, but added cranberry juice and blood orange juice to give this mistletoe margarita a fun holiday twist.
• Festive look: With the optional sugared cranberries and sprig of rosemary, this mistletoe margarita looks like a holiday in a glass!
• Quick and easy: This mistletoe margarita recipe comes together in just a few minutes with only six essential ingredients. You can also make a big batch ahead of time to serve for a large crowd.

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make this mistletoe margarita:

Ingredient Notes

• Silver tequila: Also known as blanco tequila, we recommend using a quality brand to ensure the best taste. Here's a list of some of the most reputable brands. You could also use mezcal for a smokier cocktail. If you're not a fan of tequila, vodka would be a great substitute.
• Orange liqueur: Alongside the tequila, this is helps to create the classic margarita flavor profile. You can use Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or Triple Sec.
• Agave or simple syrup: Agave is classic in a margarita, but if you don't have any on hand, feel free to use simple syrup, which is just a 1:1 combination of sugar and water. For a classic option, try our brown sugar simple syrup. For a slightly spicy kick, try our jalapeño simple syrup!
• Cranberry juice: Since we're adding agave to the drink, be sure to use an unsweetened / no sugar added cranberry juice, or your cocktail may be too sweet.
• Orange juice: We used blood oranges because we think they have a more holiday-appropriate flavor and color, but you can also use regular orange juice if you can't get ahold of any blood oranges.
• Lime juice: Freshly squeezed is always best for cocktails!

How to Make a Mistletoe Margarita

(1) Add cranberry juice, orange juice, agave or simple syrup, lime juice, tequila, and orange liqueur to a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice and shake well for at least 10 seconds.

(2) To rim glasses: cut a slit in a lime or orange slice and run it around the edge of the glass. Add salt and sugar (or one or the other) to a small plate and stir well. Dip the edge of the glass in the salt mixture to coat. 

(3) Strain the cocktail into the glass (ice optional).

Garnish with sugared cranberries, a rosemary sprig and/or orange slices.

Tips and FAQs

• Use a high quality tequila like Patrón to make sure your cocktail tastes as good as it looks.
• The blood orange juice is totally optional. If you can find it, we wholeheartedly recommend it, but regular orange juice will also work. Just note that your cocktail will be a more orange color instead or red.
• Be sure to use an unsweetened cranberry juice to prevent your cocktail from being overly sweet. We're adding agave to the cocktail, so any additional sugar may throw off the balance. If you don't have any unsweetened cranberry juice, you may want to leave out the agave or simple syrup.
• Make it frozen: add everything to the blender with 1 cup of ice and blend to make a frozen mistletoe margarita.
• Garnish ideas:
  • Salty/sweet rim: We recommend dipping the rim of each glass into simple syrup (or use a lime wedge), and then into a mixture of salt and sugar for a unique margarita rim. For a more classic option, you can just use salt.
  • For an extra flavorful rim, zest some orange peel into the sugar/salt mixture.
  • Sugared cranberries: To make sugared cranberries, dip fresh cranberries in simple syrup and roll them in sugar. Place on a cooling rack to set. It's that easy!
  • Rosemary or thyme sprigs
  • Orange or lime slices
• Make it alcohol free (mocktail version): Substitute the tequila with a zero proof alternative, like this one from Ritual. We like to use a zero proof alternative instead of subbing the tequila for more juice, as it will still give you that "bite" and depth of flavor that you would get from regular tequila. To make this alcohol free, you'll also need to leave out the orange liqueur. To keep that flavor in the cocktail, try grating some orange zest into the cocktail shaker.

More Holiday Cocktail Recipes

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