This Christmas margarita recipe is a blend of tequila, orange, cranberry, lime and ginger, all mixed together to form the ultimate holiday cocktail. The perfect festive offering for parties!
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.
Table of Contents
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.
Quick Tip
This recipe uses unsweetened cranberry juice for a more intense cranberry flavor. You can also use cranberry juice cocktail which contains sugar for a sweeter drink.
Recipe FAQs
Triple sec is a sweet orange liquor. The sweetness of this drink is the perfect counterbalance to the tequila and lime juice.
You can enhance the flavors of a margarita by adding complementary flavors to the citrus and tequila. Some great options include fruit juices such as cranberry, pineapple, mango, orange or pomegranate. You can also make a spicy margarita by adding jalapeno slices or coating the rim of the glass in chili lime seasoning.
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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!
More Festive Recipes
Christmas Salad Recipe
16 mins
Christmas Crack Recipe
20 mins
Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
30 mins
Crock Pot Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze
3 hrs 5 mins
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Christmas Margarita
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sanding sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2½ ounces cranberry juice unsweetened
- 1½ ounces tequila blanco
- 1 ounce triple sec
- 1 ounce orange juice
- ½ ounce lime juice
- dash ground cinnamon
- 2 ounces ginger beer
- lime slices, rosemary sprigs and cranberries for garnish
Instructions
- Place the sugar and salt on a small plate and stir to combine.
- Dip the rim of the glass in a bowl of water. Place the wet rim in the salt and sugar mixture.
- Turn the glass upright and add a few ice cubes.
- Pour in the cranberry juice, tequila and triple sec.
- Next, add the orange juice, lime juice and cinnamon and stir gently to combine.
- Pour in the ginger beer and stir once more. Garnish the drink with lime slices, a rosemary sprig and fresh cranberries and serve immediately.
Notes
- 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.
- 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.
So delicious! Love the flavors and perfect for Christmas!
So festive and fun! Great way to shake up instead of the usual eggnog.
A great festive drink that you don’t have to reserve to go with tacos. Thanks!
The cranberry not only adds a burst of seasonal color but also infuses a delightful sweet-tart note, perfectly complementing the classic margarita elements. The presentation is just as cheerful – the sugar rim glistens like winter frost, making each sip a joyful celebration.
This is a hit. Gave it a try last night for me. Now guess what will be in the punch bowl this Christmas? Love the ginger beer!