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The cucumber margarita is a cool, crisp cocktail loaded with flavor! It’s a delicious pale green spin on the classic.

What’s better than cucumber in a drink? Something about the flavor is a little spa like, beautifully cool and vegetal. We love cucumber in our water, cucumber juice, and even cucumber smoothies. But we hadn’t tried cucumber in our cocktails…until now. Try this Cucumber Margarita! It’s got a delightfully crisp, cool flavor and the way it melds with lime and tequila is pretty darn perfect. This spin is a fun flavor that will have you ooo’ing and ahh’ing from first sip. (At least, we were.)
Ingredients in a cucumber margarita
The margarita is one of the most classic cocktails of all time, invented in Mexico in the 1930’s. It’s a relative of a cocktail called the Daisy, made with brandy and orange liqueur (margarita means daisy in Spanish). The classic definition of this famous cocktail is outlined by the International Bartender Association’s IBA official cocktails: it’s just 3 ingredients. For the cucumber margarita, you’ll add muddle cucumber. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Tequila
- Triple Sec (or Cointreau)
- Lime juice
- Cucumber slices
Want more drinks with cucumbers? Head to our top 12 Cucumber Drinks & Cocktails.

Tips for how to muddle (and why)
This cucumber margarita requires muddling the cucumber before you shake up the drink. What’s muddling? Muddling is gently mashing fresh herbs, fruit, or vegetables before using them in a cocktail. It releases the essential oils or juice so you can taste it in the drink. Simply shaking up cucumber slices with tequila and lime doesn’t pull out enough flavor. Here are a few tips on how to muddle the right way:
- Do it right in the cocktail shaker. Place the cucumber slices in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. If you don’t have one, you can use a large metal cup or bowl.
- Gently mash! Use a wooden cocktail muddler (or unfinished wooden spoon) to gently mash the cucumber a few times to release the juices. The gentleness is a little less essential than if you’re mashing herbs.
Spicy spin: add jalapeno!
Want to add a kick to this cucumber margarita? Make the Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita instead! This margarita uses a few slices of jalapeno pepper with the cucumber slices. It gives just the right amount of heat to the finish of each sip. We highly recommend it! Head to the recipe linked here.
Best tequila for a cucumber margarita
What’s the best tequila for a margarita? Honestly, it depends on what kind of margarita you’re making! Because this cucumber margarita has a crisp, cool and straightforward flavor, we have a different recommendation than usual. Here’s the type of tequila we’d recommend:
- Tequila blanco is not aged. The flavor is agave forward, with notes of pepper and citrus and a spicy finish. It’s our first choice in a cucumber margarita because it pairs well with the delicate flavors.
- Another great option: tequila reposado is aged 2 to 12 months in oak barrels (reposado means “rested” in Spanish). It has a smooth flavor and notes of oak, vanilla, and caramel. It makes a more sophisticated flavor in this drink. So, it really depends on what you’re looking for!

Triple Sec vs Cointreau
What’s the best Triple Sec for a margarita? Again, it depends on what you’re making. For this cucumber margarita, we opted for the crisp flavor of Triple Sec vs the more sophisticated flavor of Cointreau. But both work! Here’s a breakdown:
- Triple Sec has a crisp, citrus-forward flavor that works well in the cucumber margarita. Find a quality triple sec brand, not the cheapest on the block. We like Drillauds.
- Cointreau works too! It’s usually our favorite in a margarita, and it has a smoother flavor with warm spices and nuance. Read more at Cointreau vs Triple Sec.
And that’s it: how to make a cucumber margarita! Let us know what you think in the comments below. And check out some of our other flavors of this classic cocktail…
More margarita recipes
If you’re like us, you could drink a margarita every week! Here are our top margarita recipes to keep it fresh:
- Classic: Simple, Patron, Agave, Texas or Cointreau Margarita
- Light: Skinny, Virgin, Vodka Margarita or Frozen Margarita
- Boozy: Mezcal, Hennessy, Grand Marnier or Cadillac Margarita
- Fruity: Mango, Peach, Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Watermelon, Pineapple, Blood Orange, Orange or Grapefruit Margarita
- Spicy: Jalapeno, Cucumber Jalapeno or Pineapple Jalapeno
- Unique: Italian, Blue, Coconut, Prickly Pear, Hibiscus, or Beer Margarita

When to serve a cucumber margarita
The cucumber margarita is refreshing and crisp: it’s best served in summer months, but works anytime! Serve it as a:
- Summer drink
- Happy hour drink
- Dinner party drink
- Cinco de Mayo drink
- Late night drinks drink
- Guys or girls night drink
- Cocktail hour drink
The Cucumber Margarita
The cucumber margarita is a cool, crisp cocktail loaded with flavor! It’s a delicious pale green 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
Instructions
- Rub the rim of a lowball glass with a cucumber slice. Dip the edge of the rim into a plate of salt (or for a festive look, use Margarita Salt).
- Add the cucumber slices to a cocktail shaker and muddle them (gently mash) to release the juice.
- Add the tequila, triple sec and lime juice and fill the shaker with 4 ice cubes. Shake for 15 seconds until cold.
- Strain into the prepared glass, and fill it with ice. Garnish with cucumber slices.
Notes
*To convert to tablespoons, 1 ounce = 2 tablespoons