Blood Orange Margarita Recipe

This Blood Orange Margarita recipe is sweetened with honey, and comes together in 5 minutes, with just 4 ingredients.

“Made this tonight with some blood oranges we got in our weekly produce box. My husband and I loooved it! Thanks for all the painstaking research you put in to perfecting the recipe!”

—Susan

The Perfect Blood Orange Margarita

When you’re making blood orange margaritas, you want a recipe you can trust. After all, blood oranges are special (they only come around for a limited time each year) and expensive. You DON’T want to waste even a single orange on a bad margarita recipe.

You’ve come to the right place, because we carefully tested and refined this recipe until the unique taste of blood orange juice was shining through and perfectly complementing the crisp bite of tequila. Oh, and we figured out it also needed a bit of lime juice to taste its best!

We tested this recipe with four different sweeteners until we found the best one, and tested every ratio of blood orange juice to lime juice to tequila to sweetener until we got the most perfectly balanced drink.

Whether you’re an experienced mixologist or just looking for a way to use the blood oranges you bought on a whim, this blood orange margarita will turn out perfectly, every single time.

What You Need To Make Blood Orange Margaritas

A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.

• blood orange juice – freshly squeezed from in-season blood oranges! You’ll need 1 to 2 blood oranges to make one drink.
• tequila – I very much prefer the more neutral flavor of a blanco / silver tequila here, as opposed to an añejo or reposado tequila.
• lime juice – for a more tart citrus flavor that will balance the sweetness of the blood orange juice. You’ll need about 1 lime for each drink.
• honey – to sweeten the drink and round out the flavors. Many margarita recipes use a triple sec (orange liqueur) like Cointreau to add sweetness, but we didn’t like how that flavor overpowered the subtle and special flavor of the blood oranges, so we went a different direction. More on how we chose the best sweetener, below.
• salt and/or brown sugar or granulated sugar – optional, if you want to rim the glasses.

How To Sweeten Blood Orange Margaritas

In the interest of research, and bringing you the very best recipe possible, we tested this blood orange margarita with four different types of sweeteners. I know, I know, we’re selfless.

Here are the results of our test, in order from most favorite to least favorite:

1. Honey – we felt that this was, by far, the best sweetener for blood orange margaritas. The flavor of the honey really brought out the flavor of the oranges. It was sweet without being too sweet.
2. Simple Syrup – we made a classic simple syrup with 1 part sugar to 1 part water, warmed on the stove until the sugar dissolved. The resulting margarita was very delicious, with a sweetened yet neutral flavor. If we didn’t have honey around, this would be our choice!
3. Brown Sugar Simple Syrup – simple syrup made as mentioned above, only with brown sugar. The finished margarita had caramel and almost smoky qualities. But, we felt that this sweetener overpowered the flavor of the blood oranges.
4. Agave Nectar –  We like agave in certain recipes, but did not like the flavor of it in this margarita. It added a bitter quality which we weren’t fans of.

How To Make A Blood Orange Margarita

1. PREP. Juice the oranges and limes, and if desired, crust the rim of your glass(es) with salt, brown sugar or granulated sugar.

2. FILL. Fill a cocktail shaker or beaker with ice. Pour in blood orange juice, tequila, lime juice and honey.

3. SERVE. Shake or stir well, then strain into prepared glass over fresh ice. Garnish with orange slices and serve right away.

Blood Orange Margarita Recipe Easy Variations

How To Make A Frozen Blood Orange Margarita

I really recommend serving this blood orange margarita on the rocks, because the flavor of the blood oranges is so special that I don’t love diluting it with pulverized ice.

However, if you’re more of a frozen margarita person, you can also serve it that way. Add the ingredients for this margarita, plus 1/2 to 1 cup ice cubes (depending on how thick you want your frozen margarita) to a blender and blend until slushy.

Virgin Blood Orange Margarita Recipe

To make a virgin version, just omit the tequila, or try one of the non-alcoholic tequila substitutes that are now pretty widely available.

As somebody who really enjoys a well-crafted mocktail, I feel that it’s important to garnish the virgin margarita the same way as a traditional one. Don’t forget to salt or sugar that rim for the zero proof version the same way you would for the cocktail.

What Pairs Well With Blood Orange Margaritas?

For a little snack to pair with this best blood orange margarita recipe, try our authentic shrimp ceviche recipe. It’s light and fresh and pairs really well with a tequila drink.

If you’re looking for more of a meal, try a fajita bar with lots of fajita veggies, my lamb taco recipe or Sonoran hog dogs. No matter what, you’ll want to make a batch of Mexican street corn salad – it’s one of most popular recipes on this website, for good reason!