25 Amazing Recipes For National Margarita Day

It's the most wonderful time of the year: National Margarita Day. In the days leading up to February 22 every year, we flash our own version of the Bat Signal into the night sky, except it's shaped like a margarita glass. And without fail, our favorite resorts from the Caribbean, Mexico, Florida, and beyond responded with their most creative recipes so that we can all practice making them at home before the next time we travel.

This year, though, I figured we could kill two birds with one stone, as the wonderful Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos Beach Resort has a very special cocktail that's not only great for this occasion, but also St. Patrick's Day. Salud and sláinte, friends!

The Place: Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos Beach Resort

Ingredients:

• 2 oz reposado tequila
• 1 oz fresh lime juice        
• 1 oz natural simple syrup
• 1 oz Triple Sec 
• 1 kiwi
• 1 cherry
• 1 tsp tajin spice
• Ice

How to Prepare the Glass:

Cut a slice of lemon and place it on the rim of your glass. (mixologist Gustavo Eduardo Estrada Ortiz recommends an old-fashioned or similar short cocktail glass). Put tajin (a blend of mild chili peppers, lime and sea salt) on a plate and place on the rim of the glass. Cut a slice of kiwi and a slice of cherry, set aside.

How to Make It: 

A cocktail shaker is ideal, although you can use any container that you can close and shake. Add half of the kiwi to the shaker and mash for 30 seconds. Pour the tequila, lime juice, simple syrup, triple sec, and ice into the shaker and shake for 10 seconds. If using a cocktail shaker, shake until it is cold on the outside. Place a few ice cubes in the glass, pour the margarita over the ice. Spear the slices of kiwi and cherry on a toothpick for a garnish.

The Place: Kempinski Hotel Cancún

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup reposado tequila
• 1/4 cup orange liqueur
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp lime zest, finely grated
• 2/3 cup sugar
• Garnish
• 1/4 cup sea salt
• 1 each lime wedges

How to Make It:

Mix all ingredients in a blender with ice, except the items used for garnish. Spread the salt on a shallow dish. Rub the rims of 4 glasses with the cut side of a lime wedge and dip each glass rim in the salt, shake off the excess. Add margarita mixture to glass, decorate with lime wedge and serve.

Chef's notes:

• Margarita can be made one day ahead, and flavors will intensify as it sets.
• Try adding other fruits such as pineapple or mango to make your own unique margarita.

The Place: JW Marriott Cancun Resort and Spa's epic 150 Margarita Menu

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Tequila Baluarte Reposado
• 1 oz Cointreau 
• 0.75 oz lemon juice
• 2 oz mango puree
• 5 mint leaves
• Tajin chili powder for the rim

How to Make It:

Add tajin chili powder to the rim of the glass. Mix ingredients in a shaker and pour over ice.

Our favorite tequila brands and mixologists offer up some mind-blowing twists to the classic tropical cocktail.

The Place: Hotel Barriere Le Carl Gustaf, St. Barth

Ingredients:

• 45 ml Lalo Blanco (Tequila Jeune)
• 20 ml Dry Curaçao (Triple Sec)
• 25 ml fresh lime juice

How to Make It:

Shake and double strain. Serve in a short glass on the rocks or a coupette with no ice. Garnish with half pink Himalayan salt rim.

The Place: Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Herradura Silver Tequila
• 0.75 oz lemongrass syrup (pro tip: make your own lemongrass syrup by resting 2 chopped stalks of lemongrass in 1 quart of simple syrup overnight)
• 0.25 oz grapefruit liqueur
• 0.75 oz fresh lime
• 0.5 oz cucumber juice
• Garnish: Salt rim, cucumber slice

How to Make It:

Fill shaker with ice and all ingredients. Shake very hard and strain over cubed ice into a chilled short glass. Serve in a short glass with salted rim and garnish with a cucumber slice.

The Place: Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya

Ingredients:

• 2 oz silver tequila of your choice
• 0.5 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 0.5 oz activated charcoal
• 0.5 oz simple syrup
• 0.5 oz smoked syrup infused with chili pepper
• 1 oz soda water

How to Make It:

Dissolve activated charcoal into the tequila. Combine with ice and remaining ingredients in shaker and shake for 30 seconds. Strain over ice in glass of your choice. Top with soda water. Garnish with fresh chili and/or dehydrated blood orange.

The Place: Atlantis Paradise Island's Fish by Jose Andres

Ingredients:

• 0.5 oz fresh lime juice
• 1 oz Casa Noble blanco tequila
• Ice
• 0.5 oz Combier orange liqueur
• For the Salt Air topping:
• 0.5 oz simple syrup
• 8 oz water
• 4 oz fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp simple syrup

How to Make It:

Step 1: Make the margarita. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the tequila, combier, simple syrup, and lime juice and shake well. Strain into a chilled coupe.

Step 2: Make the salt air. Combine all the ingredients for the Salt Air into a large bowl. Using an immersion blender, mix until bubbles form. Carefully spoon on top of the drink.

Some of our favorite resorts and hotels in tropical destinations deliver some unusual and innovative recipes.

The Place: The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas, USVI

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Casamigos Silver 
• 2 oz sorrel mix
• 3 oz Prosecco
• 0.25 oz simple syrup
• Mint

How to Make It:

Muddle lime wedge, three mint leaves, and simple syrup. Combine all other ingredients, including house-made mix of locally grown sorrel, hibiscus, lemon, lime, and ginger. Add ice and shake before pouring a glass.

The Place: JW Marriott Tampa Water Street

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Casamigos Blanco
• 1 oz carrot juice
• 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1 oz agave syrup
• 3 slices of jalapeños

How to Make It:

Combine ingredients into small shaker tin. Add ice and shake 20 times. Double strain into tajin rimmed rocks over fresh ice. Garnish with baby carrot.

The Place: Andaz West Hollywood

Ingredients: 

• 2 oz tequila blanco (Make sure it's a 100 percent agave tequila)
• 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 oz Chambord Liqueur
• 0.5 oz blue agave

How to Make It:

Add all ingredients to a shaker and shake. Pour in a rocks glass with fresh ice.

The Place: The Ritz-Carlton Sarasota

Ingredients: 

• 2 oz Maestro Dobel (2 oz)
• Mezcal
• Honey
• Dash of lemon
• Dash of angostura bitters

How to Make It:

Combine ingredients into small shaker tin. Add ice and shake. Pour and enjoy.

The Place: Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort, Spa, and Casino

Ingredients:

• 1 oz tequila
• 2 oz margarita mix
• 0.5 oz Triple Sec
• Salt for rim
• Mint leaves and flowers for garnish

How to Make It:

Pour ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake vicariously for 30 seconds. Pour into chilled glass with salted rim.

The Place: Hilton Cancun, An All-Inclusive Resort

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz lemon juice
• 1.5 oz tequila
• 0.5 oz natural syrup
• 1 oz Jamaica liqueur
• 0.5 oz orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Garnish: mint, tajin, and lemon

How to Make It:

In a cocktail shaker, add lemon juice, tequila, natural syrup, Jamaica, orange liqueur, and ice. Mix everything together. Garnish the rim of an old-fashioned glass with tajin, fill glass with ice, pour in cocktail mix, and garnish with mint and a slice of lemon.

Your new favorite island mocktails have arrived.

The Place: Andaz San Diego

Ingredients:

• 2 oz reposado tequila
• 0.75 oz each of agave, lime juice, Chambord
• 2 dashes fire tincture bitters
• Garnish with fresh blue/black or raspberries

How to Make It:

Add tequila, agave, lime juice, Chambord, and bitters. Then, stir together. Pour into a short glass and garnish with raspberries.

The Place: Susona Bodrum, LXR Hotels and Resorts, Turkey

Ingredients:

• 40 ml Olmeca Altos Tequila 100 percent agave
• Hibiscus flowers (dried)
• 40 ml Mikks Sour Lemon
• 10 ml Triple Sec
• Ice cubes

Garnish: sea salt

How to Make It:

Infuse tequila with hibiscus flowers for three days or until red (flowers do not need to be strained). When ready, run a lime wedge around the edge of a chilled glass and salt the rim. Add Mikks Sour Lemon, tequila, and Triple Sec into a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into glass over fresh ice.

The Place: The Elms Hotel and Spa, Excelsior Springs, Missouri

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Casa Nobla Tequila
• 0.5 oz agave syrup
• 1 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz hibiscus syrup
• Firewater bitters
• Topped with club soda

How to Make It:

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until cold. Top with club soda and garnish with a lime wheel.

The Place: Amiga Amore, Los Angeles

Ingredients:

• 2 oz your favorite mezcal
• 1 oz blood orange juice
• 0.5 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz rosemary simple syrup
• Dry rosemary to smoke

How to Make It:

Rim the glass with Chamoy (it can be found in any Mexican market or store). Add the ingredients one by one in the shaker. Add ice to fill the shaker and shake for 30 seconds. Place your favorite ice shape in the glass, strain content from shaker into glass, and top with a dry blood orange slice. Smoke with dry Rosemary using Stündenglass Beverage Infuser or similar device.

The Place: Hôtel Barrrière Le Majestic, Cannes

Ingredients:

• 0.35 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
• 0.70 oz Grand Marnier
• 2.25 oz sage-infused añejo tequila*
• 4 fresh sage leaves
• Half spoonful of icing sugar

Garnish: Sage leaves and sage salt**

*Sage-infused añejo tequila: Infuse 15 sage leaves in 24oz of tequila for 48 hours. Filter.

**Sage salt: Sprinkle sea salt on an aluminum tray, then place the sage leaves side by side on the tray, ensuring they are perfectly flat. Sprinkle them with salt once more. Place the tray in a warm oven (approx. 160°F) and remove after 20 minutes. Place the salt and sage in a blender and mix briefly.

How to Make It: 

Slide the rim of the glass along a quarter of lime, then place the glass in a bowl of sage salt. Place ice cubes and all ingredients in a shaker and shake vigorously so that the ice cubes crush the sage. Filter through both a sieve and a chinois strainer into the sage salt-rimmed glass. Place a few leaves on the surface of the liquid.

The Place: Level 6 Rooftop, Miami

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Don Julio tequila 
• 0.5 oz Pierde Almas mezcal
• Cointreau 
• 0.75 oz lime juice 
• 0.75 oz Harissa agave syrup
• Jalapeno
• House-blended (or preferred) spices for rim

How to Make It:

Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin with ice, shake and strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with a jalapeno and blended spice on rim.

The Place: Lagos, New York City

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Cazadores Blanco Tequila
• 0.5 oz Barrows Intense Ginger Liqueur
• 0.5 oz Cointreau
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• 2 dashes of agave 
• 8 dashes habanero tincture

How to Make It:

Shaken, served in old-fashioned glass with suya salt rim.

The Place: Sweet Liberty, Miami Beach

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Milagro Blanco
• 0.5 oz Ojo de Tigre mezcal
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• 0.75 oz agave nectar
• 1 oz mango puree
• 5 dashes chili tincture

How to Make It: 

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Pour straight from the blender into glass and garnish with lime wheel and sprinkling of tajin.

The Place: Marion Miami

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Don Julio blanco 
• 0.25 oz mezcal
• 0.25 oz yuzu-shiso cordial
• 0.25 oz ginger liqueur
• 0.75 oz syrup
• 4 dashes grapefruit bitters

How to Make It:

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Pour straight from the blender into glass and garnish with lime wheel.

The Place: Celebrity Beyond's Sunset Bar

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of jalapeño
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 0.75 oz agave syrup
• 2 oz Teremana Tequila Silver or similar
• Rim Glass with tajin salt

Glass: Rocks glass

Garnish: A slice of jalapeño

How to Make It:

Muddle the two slices of jalapeño in a cocktail shaker, add all of the ingredients, add ice, and shake vigorously. Double strain and serve over fresh ice in a glass rimmed with tajin salt.

Bonus tips from Celebrity Cruises' Beverage Director Daniele Salomone:

Tip 1: Infuse your tequila with jalapeños for 12 hours beforehand to unleash even more spice when you make your cocktail.

Tip 2: Think about garnishes that you personally like to add a little bit of pizzazz to your cocktail. Some ideas could be a slice of cucumber for freshness or adding a dash of orange juice for a more citrus flavor. 

Tip 3: This recipe calls for Tajin Salt on the rim, however you could try a Chili Lime Salt or other Seasoned Salt to enrich your cocktail.

The Place: Ponyboy, Brooklyn

Ingredients: 

• 1 oz Cazadores tequila
• 0.5 oz agave
• 0.5 oz Ilegal Mezcal
• 0.5 oz green chartreuse
• 0.5 lemon juice
• 5 dashes jalapeno tincture

How to Make It:

Shake with ice, strain, and serve in cocktail coupe.

The Place: Chela, Park Slope, Brooklyn

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Mr. Black
• 1 oz El Tequileño Platinum tequila
• 1 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz agave syrup
• Garnish: Salted rim, lime wheel

How to Make It:

Combine all ingredients, shake, strain into a rocks glass with a salted rim. Garnish with a dehydrated lime wheel.