An ice cold mango margarita is the perfect drink when the weather turns hot. You can use fresh or frozen mangoes in this recipe (if you’ve never tried cutting a mango yourself, here’s an illustrated guide to help you out). If you like spicy cocktails, check out the Bartender’s Notes below for how to turn this into a spicy mango margarita.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon chile powder, such as Tajín
- 1 lime wedge
- 1 small mango—peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped (3 ounces)
- 3 ounces silver tequila
- 2 ounces orange liqueur
- 1 1/2 ounces fresh lime juice
- 1 1/2 ounces agave nectar
- 3 ounces grapefruit soda
- 1 cup ice
Directions:
Spread the chile powder in a dish. Moisten the rim of a margarita glass with the lime wedge; dip the rim in the chile powder to coat. In a blender, puree the mango. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into the glass and serve.
This recipe makes two drinks.
Bartender’s Notes:
- For a spicy mango margarita, swap out the agave nectar with a chile-infused simple syrup. You can make your own (all you need is sugar, water, chiles and 10-15 minutes), or pick up a bottle online or at a more upscale liquor store. Royal Rose’s Three Chile Syrup has a good balance heat-to-sweet, but you might also want to check out other brands like Pink House Alchemy’s Mexican Chile Syrup or Blank Slate Kitchen’s Bird’s Eye Chile Rich Simple Syrup. You could also mix in a spicy chile liqueur like Ancho Reyes.
- My go-to grapefruit soda is Jarritos Toronja, but there are plenty of other brands worth checking out, if they’re available in your area. Caribbean brand Ting comes highly recommended, as does Spindrift. Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s also carry some pretty decent grapefruit Italian sodas that would work well in this cocktail.
- If you prefer your margaritas “on the rocks,” skip the blender, and use mango nectar instead. You can find mango nectar in the juice aisle of most grocery stores, or check out your local Latin or Asian market. You could also add a little fresh diced or muddled mango to amp up the fruit flavor.