Chevys 100% Blue Agave Margarita
If you want to enjoy a really good margarita get to a Mexican food chain and order it “on the rocks.” The rocks versions are usually made with top shelf tequilas, rather than the cheaper stuff found in the slushy blended kind. Create your next margarita masterpiece with this bright blue dazzler.
- 1 1/2 ounces Herradura silver tequila
- 1/2 ounce triple sec liqueur
- 1/2 ounce blue curacao liqueur
- 1/2 cup sweet-and-sour mix
1. Put a handful of ice into a shaker.
2. Add all ingredients and shake. Pour the drink into a 12-ounce margarita glass .
3. Garnish with a lime wedge on a toothpick, add a straw, and serve.
Makes 1 drink.
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What Is Blue Curaao Syrup
The name blue curaçao is also used with nonalcoholic syrups. Monin and Finest Call are two syrup brands that produce it Monin is the top choice of the pair. These are not liqueurs but blue-colored, orange-flavored syrups often found in the mixer section at the liquor store. They’re useful for creating blue mocktails and for those times when you want to cut some of the alcohol out of your cocktails.
Skip The Lime Garnish
You probably have one or two extra limes lying around after making all that lovely fresh juice. Dont slice them into wedges to use as garnishes, no matter how natural that seems.
Why? Because your drink is perfectly balanced at this point. By adding a lime wedge, you are inviting someone to squeeze it into their drink. That will throw off the citric balance of the cocktail, Mor says. Instead, he suggests expressing an orange peel on top, giving the drink a citrusy aroma without the threat of more acid. Margaritas, like most things in life, are all about balance.
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What To Serve With Lemon Agave Margaritas
Wondering what to serve with these zesty and boozy margaritas? Well, there are many MANY options to satisfy your palette in fun and festive ways!
- When it comes to choosing appetizers to pair with this refreshing cocktail, I highly recommend something fresh and bold! My chunky salsa or carne asada nachos are ideal for any occasion, whether its a small group or a big gathering.
- For mains, try this salsa verde chorizo pizza or steak fajita foil packets hot off the grill!
Finally, if you make this lemon agave margarita, please be sure to give this recipe a rating or leave a comment! I love to hear when you all make recipes, and I do take the time to respond to every single comment. Feel free to drop questions below too, if you have them!
Oh and be sure to tag me on if you make the recipe! Love being able to see these recipes come to live in your homes its my favorite thing to look through those photos. It really means the world to me!
For Best Flavor Use Tequila Reposado
Whats the best tequila for this blue curacao margarita? We like using tequila resposado, which means rested. This means that its been aged for 2 to 12 months, which gives it a nuanced, more interesting flavor. But you can use tequila blanco if its all you have! Here are a few notes on the flavor differences between the two:
- Tequila reposado: Aged from 2 to 12 months. It has a complex flavor, with notes of oak and vanilla.
- Tequila blanco: Unaged tequila. It is agave forward, with notes of pepper and citrus with a spicy finish.
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What Is Blue Curaao Vs Triple Sec Vs Cointreau
There is no legal differentiation between blue curaçao and triple sec, and Cointreau is just one brand of triple sec. All are orange liqueurs. Curaçao can come in a variety of colors, of which blue is one. Triple sec is traditionally clear. While curaçao is said to originate from the Dutch Caribbean island of the same name, triple sec has its origins in France. Curaçao is traditionally made from one very specific type of bitter orange, the laraha orange, which grows on the island of Curaçao however, there is no legal requirement that this needs to be the case for a product to be called curaçao.
How To Make A Blue Margarita: Single Drink
Got your blue curaco and tequila? Lets get mixing! The blue margarita is a standard shaken cocktail: just shake it in a cocktail shaker! If youre serving lots of people at once, make a pitcher .
- Make the salt rim. The best salt to use is kosher salt or flaky sea salt: it has the best texture. Place it in a single layer on a plate. Cut a notch in a lime wedge, then run it around the glass. Dip the outside rim of the glass in the salt.
- Shake up the ingredients. Place the tequila, blue curacao and lime in a shaker with 2 handfuls of ice and shake!
- Strain and garnish. Strain it into the glass and garnish with a lime wedge. To take it over the top, try clear ice! Its crystal clear artisan style ice that looks just like a fancy bar.
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Use The Best Tequila You Can Afford
You might have a cheap bottle of tequila lying around, or see one on triple-markdown at your local package store. Its tempting to throw that into a cocktail and hope that the other ingredients will hide its flaws.
Resist this urge. Because there are so few components in a Margarita, each one matters. If you use low-quality tequila with off flavors or a boozy aftertaste, your cocktail will have those exact same flaws.
Only 100 percent Weber blue agave tequila should be used, ever, for anything, Kearns says. His favorite tequilas for making Margaritas include Siete Leguas, Siembra Azul, Cabeza, and Pueblo Viejo Blanco. We also like Casa Noble Crystal and these six others.
Make The Original Margarita Recipe: What Do You Need
- Tequila: This is the foundation of your margarita, so its best to stay away from low-quality tequilas. Try to ensure youre using one made from 100% Agave.
- Fresh lime juice : Lime juice is an essential component to making a perfect margarita. If you cant get fresh lime juice by any chance, please taste the pre-made juice and ensure that its pleasant before mixing it with your other ingredients.
- Orange liqueur: Cointreau is quite popular, but you can use any good-quality orange liqueur you can find.
If you like your margarita sweet, feel free to add agave syrup or any sweetener of your choice. Also, remember to save some lime wedges for the garnish. And enjoy this original Margarita Recipe with friends.
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How To Make A Pitcher Of Margaritas:
Detailed instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a brief overview of how to make pitcher margaritas:
Dont Salt The Entire Rim
Like your Margaritas with salt? Season away, but take care when rimming the glass. Excess flakes will inevitably fall into your cocktail, throwing off its flavors and balance.
Cocktailers like industry legend Dale DeGroff advise salting a segment of the glass rim instead of its entirety. It prevents your drink from ever getting too saline, and gives you the option of taking a sip with or without a mouthful of salt.
Generally speaking, if we do a rim we do half a rim, Don Lee, partner, Existing Conditions in NYC, says. That way everyone has the option. Make sure you are only salting the outside of the rim of the glass, too, Lee says.
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What Ingredients Are In An Agave Margarita
Pantry Ingredients
- tequila the favorite for this recipe is Patron Silver. This is premium tequila made from 100% agave and produced in a small batch system. Its also very easy to find. Casamigos tequila also works perfectly.
- light agave nectar make sure youre using light agave vs. amber, which has a more intense taste
- kosher salt the perfect crystalline structure for a salted rim
Fresh Ingredients
- fresh lime juice make sure its fresh and not the bottled stuff
If youve noticedtriple sec has been purposefully left out of this recipe. You can add it if you like, but I do not prefer it in any of my cocktails.
How To Make A Margarita :
Detailed instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a brief overview of how to make a single-serving homemade margarita:
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How To Make An Agave Margarita
Step One:Run a slice of lime around the edges of rocks glasses.
Step Two: Pour margarita salt or kosher salt onto a small dish. Press the rim of the glasses into the salt to coat the edges.
Step Three:Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
Step Four:Add tequila, fresh lime juice and agave nectar to the shaker. Cover and shake for at least 30 seconds until ingredients are mixed and chilled.
Step Five: Fill prepared rocks glasses with lots of ice and pour margarita over the top.
How Strong Is The Blue Margarita
This blue margarita is made primarily of alcohol and, despite its alluring color, it is not a light drink. When made with 80-proof tequila and 60-proof curaçao, its alcohol content falls in the 23 percent ABV range. That’s about half the strength of a straight shot of tequila, so it’s best to take it easy with this cocktail.
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Things You Should Know About Blue Curaao
One of the only ways to make a striking aqua cocktail is using blue curaçao. But why is the liqueur blue, who invented it, and is it really from the island? Heres what you should know.
- What is Blue Curaçao: Blue Curaçao is an orange liqueur invented by Dutch settlers on the Caribbean Island of Curaçao in the nineteenth century. After their efforts to grow sweet oranges failed miserably, they resorted to producing etheric oils from the bitter oranges they could acquire from the sunny and dry climate, and even liqueur at one time.
- The story behind the stunning hue: Someone thought it would be great to have Curaçao in a variety of colors, such as white, blue, red, and orange. Blue and clear are still the most common colors, with blue curaçao becoming popular for crafting blue tropical drinks associated with beach resorts.
- What does blue curaçao taste like? Blue Curaçao has a sweet orange peel flavor with a mildly bitter aftertaste. The flavor is similar to Triple Sec but slightly bitterer.
- What other cocktails can you make with it? Most popular blue curaçao drinks include: Blue Hawaii drink, Aqua Velva, Blue Long Island iced tea and Blue Lagoon.
Enjoy Your Blue Margarita Drink With Altos
Whether youre a fan of tequila shots or want to craft the best Blue Margarita recipe, Olmeca Altos Reposado tequila is for you. In contrast to the cooked agave flavor, this slightly aged tequila has cinnamon and vanilla overtones that blend beautifully with blue curaçaos citrus flavor in this Blue Margarita recipe.
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Orange You Glad You Bought Liqueur
The easiest ingredient to overlook is the orange liqueur. Triple sec seems like a weird thing to buy for just one cocktail, right? Cant you just add a splash of orange juice or something?
Not if you want a well-balanced drink. Triple sec, a term used interchangeably with curaçao, is a type of orange liqueur that provides fruity flavors as well as sweet and bitter notes all of which are essential for a well-made Margarita. Popular labels include Cointreau, Combier, Pierre Ferrand Curaçao, and Grand Marnier.
Swanson likes to use Cointreau in her Margaritas because its made with bitter orange peels, so she finds it drier than many brands of triple sec, and considerably less sweet than brandy-based Grand Marnier, she says.
Kearns opts for Cointreau or Combier, the 1834 orange liqueur that purports to be the worlds first triple sec. David Mor, beverage manager at Cindys in Chicago, prefers Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao in his Margaritas.
The most important thing there is to avoid anything that is simply called Triple Sec, Kearns says. This was a marketing statement devised by Cointreau at one point in its long history, and knock-off brands latched onto it. Consider yourself warned.
How To Make The Authentic Classic Margarita Recipe
If youve been yearning to make this delicious cocktail, here is a recipe on how to make margaritas at home:
- Prepare your glasses: Fill a shallow bowl with salt. Take a fresh lime wedge and gently slide it around the rim. Tilt the glass and dip just the outside as you rotate it. Shake off any excess salt
- Combine all your ingredients in a cocktail shaker: Pour the tequila, fresh lime juice and liqueur in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake thoroughly for about 15 seconds. Taste and sweeten with the syrup to your preferred taste.
- Strain and serve: Enjoy your classic margarita frozen, on the rocks or straight. Dont forget the garnish for a stunning look!
Tip: Dont worry if you dont like the salt. A margarita drink without salt is perfectly okay too.
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When To Shake When To Stir
When you shake a cocktail, youre increasing its convection, aerating it and changing its texture.
Shaking is recommended when a cocktails ingredient list calls for juice , citrus or any dairy. For a margarita specifically, shaking with ice not only chills the drink and blends the ingredients completely, it also introduces the tiny air bubbles that give a margarita its cloudy, frothy, and delicious appearance.
Stirring a cocktail is the preferred method of preparation when you dont want to dilute, over-cool or change the texture of a drink.
About This Skinny Margarita
Ive witnessed my mom order a skinny margarita at numerous restaurants on numerous occasions, and unless its a drink the restaurant already has on its menu, the server usually doesnt know what she means .
For her benefit, our servers benefit, and the benefit of margarita drinkers the world over, I did a bit of digging to determine what exactly makes a margarita recipe a skinny margarita recipe.
The results of my salt-rimmed research: a skinny margarita is comprised of fresh lime juice, fresh orange juice , tequila, and agave nectar. The exact ratio of these four ingredients is at your discretion, though most suggested more lime juice than orange juice, equal parts tequila and lime juice, and 2 teaspoons of agave.
I like my margarita to bite me back a bit, so I lean heavier on the lime juice and lighter on the agave, which this skinny margarita recipe reflects. Please feel free to adjust the recipe to suit your own margarita needs and preferences.
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Can I Make This Drink Without Alcohol
Yes! What youll end up with is an agave slushie!
And thats so much fun!
It will be a bit tart without the tequila and triple sec to dilute it.
Simply omit the tequila and triple sec to begin.
You will want to use a little sweetener to balance the tartness if tart isnt your thing.
I like to start with 1/2 tsp of simple syrup and then taste it to see if you need more.
I do this in the blender.
Whats The Best Tequila For Blue Margaritas
Blanco, Reposado or Añejo? Which one is betterto prepare one of these beauties? Heres the difference:
- Blanco, also known as silver tequila, is the standard for most Margarita recipes. Its a clean, unaged spirit that emphasizes the purest expression of distilled agave.
- Tequila Reposado is matured in oak barrels for 2-12 months. It has a smooth flavor with hints of oak, vanilla, and caramela character that complements the bittersweet taste of blue curaçao well. We recommend Reposado in this Blue Margarita recipe.
- Tequila Añejo is matured in oak barrels for 1 to 4 years. It has a deeper flavor, with hints of vanilla and cinnamon. When consumed straight or on the rocks, Añejo shines, allowing you to taste the intricacies of its flavor.
If you want to know more about tequila, we recommend that you read our article Mezcal vs Tequila.
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