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Nothing beats a chilled glass of frozen margaritas and a good book (or a good tweet) on a warm summer. And since that time’s here with us again, I’ve thought it’d be nice to show you how to make margaritas with mix in a blender.
Of course, you can also make your classic mixed cocktail with a shaker and serve it on the rocks. You could even just stir the main ingredients with crushed ice and still enjoy every sip.
But a blending machine is always the best for homemade margaritas, especially if you add your favorite fruity flavors.
A Good Blender to Make Margaritas Doesn’t have to be Expensive
A good blender’s, indeed, one of the secrets to enjoying a perfect margarita recipe at home. And not just to achieve that final ice-slushie consistency, but also to customize the drink with various frozen fruit flavors.
Well, this means you’ll need to have the best blender for frozen margaritas you’re preparing to come out slushy smooth. And the “best” in this case refers to a good machine with the right build and performance.
Any of the full-size Vitamix for juicing, as well as Blendtec, shouldn’t have any trouble fitting in here. But some regular blender brands can also pulverize ice and frozen foods into a fine consistency.
The Ninja kitchen system would be a perfect example here, thanks to its Total Crushing technology and razor-sharp blades.
But again, you still have to remember ice and frozen fruits are some of the toughest ingredients. So, components like the blades, motor, metal drive, and even the container of your blender should be tough.
Also, that means it might be more worthwhile to invest in a quality machine if you plan on making these frozen margaritas regularly. Or will it be okay to replace your blender or a component after every six months?
A Glass of Whole Fruit Margaritas Always Hits Differently
A glass of margaritas from the bar or restaurant isn’t always as soul-warming as it should be. Yes, there are those bartenders who know to pull up the magic of it, but not all places have them.
If not sour, many of these bars will serve you with a margarita that has been prepped with lots of sugars. And that ends up killing all the “adult limeade” buzz you were looking forward to enjoying.
Anyhoo, any great margarita recipe should have the taste of lime in it, plus that touch of the tequila. A lot of people usually go for bottled lime juice when preparing their homemade cocktail recipes. But I’d recommend squeezing some fresh lime pieces to add your drink with that extrafloral and zestier flavor.
Since you’re working with a blender, you can even add whole pieces of fresh lime into the jar with the rest of the ingredients. Then, blend on high speed until the solid materials are broken down and the whole mixture blended well.
As was mentioned earlier, you can even incorporate your favorite fruity flavor into the mixture for an extra kick. Many people usually go for strawberries here, but mangoes, pineapple, grapes, cucumber, or any other fruit would do.
Nonetheless, you might want to freeze your pieces of fruits until solid. Then, use them to balance out with ice so your margarita doesn’t turn out too thin.
Always Remember this Classic Margarita Formula
Basically, you only need five main ingredients to make a classic margarita the traditional way. The said main ingredients comprise some nice tequila, ice, lime juice, orange liqueur, and a sweetener.
Each of these ingredients can be picked from varying sources, considering you stick to the proportions for your recipe.
| Margarita Main Ingredients | Source | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Lime Juice | Bottle lime juice or fresh fruit | The defining flavor (give the drink that sweet tanginess) |
| Tequila | Silver or Blanco | The defining flavor (make the drink more adult-like) |
| Orange liqueur | Triple sec or Cointreau | Add a citrus punch to the mix |
| Sweetener | Agave or simple syrup (sugar) | Balance the sourness of lime |
| Ice | Crushed ice/ cubes or frozen fruits | chill the drink |
Lime juice and tequila are usually the defining flavors of any margaritas. If there’s no Orange liqueur in the house, you could use more agave or simple syrup to offset the bitterness of the mixture. Then, the frozen fruits can be a good alternative for ice, as well as give your drink a more unique flavor.
Meanwhile, bartenders usually don’t have the time to prep all these materials when you and your friends order some margarita. Instead, they use a margarita mix, which usually contains a sweetener and citric acid.
So, when you decide to use a similar product for your margaritas, you’ll not need to use lime juice (citric juice) and syrup. You’ll not need Triple sec either since the citric juice will also cover for orange liqueur.
So, your classic margarita formula will now only need the tequila, ice, and preferred mix product. A perfect example is the Frozen margaritas with Jose Cuervo margarita mix that we made sometime back.
How To Make Margaritas With Mix In A Blender
As we’ve just seen, the margarita mix makes preparing margaritas much easier than with the traditional formula. And the “easy” in this case refers to the fact that you’ll only need the ice or frozen fruits and tequila.
So, it’s a perfect way to enjoy a good margarita while on a road trip. Or perhaps when you’re at home with friends but don’t have all the ingredients or time to prepare them.
But, anyway, here are the six crucial steps to make margaritas with mix in a blender anytime, anywhere:
- Gather your Ingredients
Like any other homemade recipe, the first step to making margaritas with a blender at home is to gather and prep your ingredients.
So, grab your bottle of margarita mix, tequila, and ice from the refrigerator. You’ll also need a slice of fresh lime and sea salt (or normal table salt) to frost the rim of your drinking glass.
The whole idea of frosting the rim of your glass/es is to enhance the sweet and sour notes of the drink, counteracting any bitterness from the tequila. So, you could even use sugar in the place of salt.
- Prepare the Blender
As you gather your ingredients, it’s also a good idea to have your blender on the working table. In this recipe, we’ll use a Vitamix machine, but any good blender for ice and frozen fruits should work.
And, yes, make sure the container is clean for the project. So, you might need to rinse it with running water from the tap if you’ve just grabbed it from the cabinet.
“Frost” the Drink glasses
Ice, as we know it, is all water and usually starts to melt when you leave it sitting in the jar for too long. Therefore, in my opinion, it’ll be good to salt the rim of your margarita glasses before blending, but doing after can work as well.
As for the HOW, you can frost the rim of your glass by moistening it (rub a wedge of fresh lime). Then, add a generous amount of salt (or sugar) to a shallow plate and lightly dip the wet rim of the glass.
Note: you can also use water to moisten the glass rim if you don’t have any lime in the house. Your frosting salt or sugar will still stick to the glass for the extra cherry on your Frozen margarita recipe.
Load Everything into the jar
Now, load up everything into the blender container. And since there are no light ingredients in the recipe, you can start with ice at the bottom of the jar.
A thick slushy margarita always has an extra thrill on each sip. So you might want to use more ice in your recipe.
And once you’ve put the ice in the blending jar, add your tequila and margarita mix. Then, secure the lid on the container.
Blend on the highest speed
Assuming you have mounted the jar onto the base, switch on your blender at the lowest speed, then increase to the highest setting.
Next, blend your mixture until you have a smooth, slushy consistency.
If the mixture is still thinner than you wanted, remove the lid cap and feed more ice- though, with caution. Then, continue to blend until the desired fineness.
Serve your Margarita & Enjoy!
Finally, pour your frozen margarita into the salt-rimmed or sugar-rimmed glass. Then, garnish with a lime wedge and enjoy.
Sample Recipe: The Classic Margarita for One
Ingredients:
- 2oz (or two shots) margarita mix
- 1.25oz (or 1 shot) tequila
- 1 cup ice cubes
- Lime wedge or wheel to garnish (optional)
Directions:
- Add your special tequila, margarita mix, and ice into the blender jar.
- Secure the container lid
- Turn on the machine and ramp up the speed to the highest
- Blend the mixture for 30 seconds or until you achieve an ice-slushie texture
- Pour your frozen margarita into the salt-rimmed glass
- Now garnish with a wedge or wheel of lime and serve immediately.
Make the Fruity Variations You Love
Well, those are the easy and quick steps you can use to make margaritas with mix in a blender anytime. You can whip the recipe in under ten (10) minutes since there are not many ingredients to prepare.
But again, you can always add some fruit flavor into the mix of your homemade margarita for an extra cherry on the sweet tanginess.
Strawberries, cranberries, bananas, and pineapples are a few variations to start on your custom mixed cocktail recipe. But consider freezing them first so you can enjoy your desired flavor without the drink being too watery.