When I’m entertaining around the holidays, I like to serve a variety of drink recipes including Christmas punch, Grinch cocktail, slow cooker apple cider, slow cooker hot chocolate and this refreshing Christmas margarita. There are so many different things to enjoy about the holidays, including all the great food and drinks! This Christmas margarita is the perfect cocktail to serve to guests, with all the flavors of the season. It has that classic margarita flavor, but with a holiday twist.
Christmas Margarita Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need unsweetened cranberry juice, tequila blanco (also known as silver tequila), triple sec orange liqueur (I use Cointreau), orange juice, fresh lime juice, ginger beer, cinnamon, sanding sugar, salt and garnishes such as sprigs of rosemary and fresh cranberries.
How Do You Make A Christmas Margarita?
Place the sugar and salt on a small plate, and mix them together. Dip the rim of your glass in a bowl of water, then place the wet rim onto the plate with the salt and sugar. Turn the glass back upright, and add ice. Pour the cranberry juice, tequila and triple sec over the ice. Add orange juice and cinnamon to the drink, then stir gently. Add the ginger beer. Stir once more, then serve with garnishes such as a lime wedge, cranberries and rosemary sprigs.
Tips For The Perfect Drink
Ginger beer is a sweet, fizzy beverage with a ginger flavor. It comes in small bottles and is located in many grocery stores in the soda area or in the mixers near the liquor. If you can’t find ginger beer, ginger ale would be an acceptable substitute. Use freshly squeezed orange juice if possible for the best flavor. This recipe makes one drink. You can easily scale the quantities up by changing the number of of servings on the recipe card. I prefer to use coarse sanding sugar for an extra sparkly glass. This type of sugar is available in the sprinkles area of most grocery stores, and is also available online. Extra cranberries on hand? Use them up by making cranberry chicken or cranberry salsa! I recommend purchasing a measuring shot glass to get the exact quantities of liquor and juices with minimal hassle. If you like your drinks on the sweeter side, you can add some simple syrup. This recipe does not use a cocktail shaker because many home cooks do not have them on hand. If you do prefer to shake your margarita, place all the liquids except the ginger beer in a cocktail shaker or sealed mason jar and shake to combine. Pour over the ice, add the ginger beer and serve with garnishes.
Flavor Variations
While this drink is fabulous as is, you can customize some of the ingredients to suit your tastes.
Juices: You can do a different blend of juices. One option would be to use pomegranate juice instead of cranberry juice. You can also swap out the red cranberry juice for white cranberry juice and add coconut milk to make a white Christmas margarita. Liquor: Try using Mezcal instead of tequila, or swap out the triple sec for another orange liquor such as Grand Marnier. Garnishes: You can get creative with the garnishes and use ingredients such as fresh mint, orange slices, crystallized ginger or cinnamon sticks. Frozen: Toss everything in the blender to make a slushy frozen drink.
This Christmas cocktail will definitely be on my holiday table this year. I hope your guests enjoy it as much as mine do!
