Lemon Margarita (Tequila Lemon Cocktail)

A Lemon Margarita is a fresh twist on a classic cocktail where you don’t need any limes at all. This tequila lemon cocktail has a unique tangy and sweet flavor profile.

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“Love this simple cocktail. I’ve made it many times using the single glass recipe. Bright, fresh and delicious.”

—Diana

Can You Make a Margarita With Lemon Instead of Lime?

Hey there! You’re here because you want to make margaritas but you don’t have any limes. You probably have a bunch of lemons and you’re wondering “hmmmm can I do this?.” YES, YOU CAN DO IT.

We’re here to make margaritas with lemons, because that’s what you do when life gives you lemons but no limes.

Not only are they delicious, but they’re super easy to make. And you want to know the weird thing? They kind of end up tasting a lot like . . . normal margaritas.

Let’s walk through how to make lemon margaritas, and some variations on them, if your heart so desires.

Lemon Alcohol Drink Variations

• Lemon Margarita On The Rocks – don’t love a frozen beverage? Simply stir the ingredients together with some ice cubes in a glass for a tequila lemon cocktail on the rocks.
• Jalapeño Lemon Margarita – spicy margaritas have been super popular at bars and restaurants the last few years! This is easy to make at home by adding a few slices of fresh jalapeño to the blender before you blend the drink up. Incorporate the rest of the pepper into jalapeño cornbread.
• Strawberry Lemon Margarita – add a handful of fresh sliced strawberries to the blender! Or blueberries, or blackberries or raspberries.

You can use store-bought simple syrup but PLEASE use fresh lemon juice for a great lemon margarita!

If you want to save a little bit of time and use store-bought simple syrup instead of making your own lemon simple syrup for these lemon drop margaritas, by all means, do it!

Your lemon margaritas will be slightly less lemony using plain simple syrup instead of lemon simple syrup, but thanks to the generous amount of fresh lemon juice in the cocktail, it should still be plenty lemony.

But one thing I do NOT recommend is store-bought bottled lemon juice for this tequila lemon cocktail. I don’t recommend that for anything, actually. If you’re going to the trouble to make margaritas from scratch, just buy and juice some fresh lemons, please. It’s worth it!

Go ahead and use the good tequila for this tequila lemon cocktail!

When I make this lemon margarita recipe, not only do I use fresh lemons, but I use really good tequila. My husband takes business trips to Mexico relatively frequently, and brings home the good stuff for the price of bottled water, basically.

Thus, we generally have pretty nice tequila on hand, and we use it for tequila mojitos and margaritas on any old Tuesday night alongside chicken burrito bowls with my fajita vegetables recipe, or Mexican mac and cheese.

So, while there was lots of citrus flavor in these lemon drop margaritas, what’s interesting is that by the time it muddled with the tequila, my tastebuds couldn’t tell much of a difference between lemon and lime here. It was mostly the great tequila flavor was coming through.

You’ll have to try it for yourself and tell me what you think. I highly encourage throwing a party with a fajita bar so your friends can try these too!

Serving Lemon Cocktails

If you want to serve this lemon margarita recipe more like a shot (maybe alongside some New Year’s Eve food?), you can keep the proportions of the liquid ingredients the same as listed below, but just shake everything up with one scoop of ice in a cocktail shaker.

Then, once everything is shaken and nicely chilled, divide the liquid between shot glasses, and you’ve got tequila lemon drops!

The recipe below will yield 8 generous 2 ounce shots.

Psst – Another great cocktail recipe for when you don’t have limes is my apple cider mule or grapefruit mule. While traditional Moscow mules call for lime juice, these ones does not.