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This cranberry margarita is packed with sweet tart flavor and a brilliant bright red color! It’s fun and delicious spin on the classic.
The margarita is one of our top favorite drinks over here, so Alex and I love making up riffs on it. Meet this fruity variation: the cranberry margarita! This bright red drink is stunning to look at and its sweet tart flavor is crisp and refreshing. It’s got all the character of the classic margarita, but a fun new look and tangy flavor!
In fact, Alex and I love these almost as much as the original. Serve it for any occasion that calls for a red cocktail (Christmas or Valentine’s Day?), or use it as a creative way to use up cranberry juice.
Ingredients in a cranberry margarita
The margarita is one of the most famous classic cocktails there is! It was invented in the 1930’s and has stood the test of time. The classic margarita uses just lime juice, orange liqueur (Triple Sec or Cointreau), and tequila. This cranberry margarita recipe is a spin on the classic using unsweetened cranberry juice. Because it’s tart, we’ve added just a bit of simple syrup to balance it out. The flavor is perfect: almost like cranberry was originally intended to be in this drink! You’ll need these ingredients:
- Cranberry juice
- Tequila (use blanco or reposado)
- Cointreau
- Fresh lime juice
- Simple syrup or maple syrup
How to make a cranberry margarita: single drink
There’s not much to a cranberry margarita: just mix up the ingredients and shake! If you’d like, you can garnish with fresh cranberries: but it’s totally optional. (Or go to our Christmas Margarita for a more holiday drink look.) Here’s what to do:
- Rim the glass with salt. Salt enhances the sweet and sour flavors in the drink! It’s easiest to cut a notch in a lime wedge and slide that around the edge of the drink. Then dip the outside rim in salt!
- Shake in a cocktail shaker. Shake the ingredients together with ice in a cocktail shaker (or use a mason jar with a lid).
- Strain into a glass and add ice. Strain it into a glass and serve with ice! Or you can step it up with clear ice…artisan-style crystal clear ice that’s easy to make at home (it takes just 24 hours).
Using unsweetened cranberry juice
This cranberry martini uses 100% cranberry juice, which is unsweetened. But there’s also another option when you shop: sweetened cranberry juice! If all you can find is sweetened, use half of the simple syrup in the recipe below. Here’s the difference and what to keep in mind:
- Sweetened cranberry juice aka cranberry juice cocktail, has added sugars and sometimes high-fructose corn syrup as sweetener. It is the type used for classic cranberry cocktails of the past, like the Vodka Cranberry.
- 100% cranberry juice is easy to find at your local grocery store. The benefit? The color is brighter, and you can sweeten your drink to taste.
The best tequila for cranberry margaritas
This cranberry margarita tastes great with any type of tequila. What’s the best tequila for margaritas? Our rule of thumb is: the better the liquor, the better the drink! We like to try to find a bottle that is mid-priced: usually that correlates to the quality. As far as type of tequila, you can use either blanco or reposado tequila here. What’s the difference?
- Tequila blanco (or “new” tequila) has been aged less than 2 months and has a strong, straightforward flavor.
- Tequila reposado (“rested” in Spanish) is aged longer, from 2 to 12 months. It has a more nuanced flavor, with notes of oak and vanilla. For that reason, we tend to prefer tequila reposado in a drink: it tastes more nuanced and intriguing. It makes for a much more sophisticated drink!
Make a margarita pitcher for a crowd
Want to mix up a batch of cranberry margaritas for a crowd? You can make a pitcher and then pour it into individual glasses. It’s much easier! To make a pitcher that serves 8 drinks, mix together 8 times the ingredients in a pitcher with 3 handfuls of ice. It’s important to add the ice for the proper dilution. See the notes in the recipe below!
Cranberry Margarita
This cranberry margarita is packed with sweet tart flavor and a brilliant bright red color! It’s fun and delicious spin on the classic.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 drink 1x
- Category: Drink
- Method: Shaken
- Cuisine: Cocktails
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) 100% cranberry juice (not sweetened)*
- 1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) tequila blanco or reposado**
- 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) Cointreau
- ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) fresh lime juice
- ½ ounce (1 tablespoon) simple syrup or maple syrup*
- Kosher salt or flaky sea salt, for the rim (optional)
- Ice, for serving (try clear ice)
- For the garnish: cranberries, rosemary sprig
Instructions
- Cut a notch in a lime wedge, then run the lime around the rim of a glass. Dip the edge of the rim into a plate of salt (or for a festive look, use Margarita Salt).
- Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill it with ice. Shake until cold. Strain the margarita into the glass with the salted rim. Fill the glass with ice, garnish with cranberries and a rosemary sprig, and serve.
- Pitcher variation: To make a pitcher of 8 servings, mix together in a pitcher: 1 ½ cups tequila, 1 ½ cups 100% unsweetened cranberry juice, 1 cup Cointreau, ½ cup lime juice, and ½ cup simple syrup or maple syrup. Add three handfuls of ice and stir until cold. Pour into individual glasses.
Notes
*If all you can find is sweetened cranberry juice, use half the simple syrup quantity (or add to taste).
More cranberry cocktails
There are lots more cranberry cocktails where this comes from! Cranberry cocktails have been around since the 1940’s, when cranberry juice started being marketed as a mixer for drinks. Here are a few classics and newer spins!
- Whip up the classic Vodka Cranberry, one of the easiest cocktails there is
- Arguably the most famous cranberry cocktail is the sweet tart Cosmopolitan
- Add grapefruit to the Vodka Cranberry and make it a Sea Breeze
- Go for a Malibu Bay Breeze or a Bay Breeze
- Add bubbles and make it a Cranberry Mimosa
- Add ginger beer for a Cranberry Mule or Christmas Mule
- Grab a Long Beach Iced Tea or St Germain & Cranberry
Sooooo good I use Grand Marnier instead of cointreau and rim with Chile line Classico sea salt
Sounds incredibly delicious! Love those tweaks.
Let us know if you have any questions!
What is the best way to make this a non-alcoholic margarita?
You could just add a splash of cranberry juice to this: https://www.acouplecooks.com/virgin-margarita/