Watermelon Margarita

This watermelon margarita is sweet, tart, and salty! It’s salted in the drink instead of the rim for a uniquely balanced flavor.

Here’s a new favorite fruity version of our classic margarita that’s perfect for when melon is in season: the Watermelon Margarita! It’s shocking pink, tangy, sweet, a little bit salty…and completely irresistible. Each year that goes by, the more we appreciate seasonality. How special is watermelon when it’s near impossible to get a good one 10 months out of the year? When you get your hands on a perfectly ripe, juicy melon: use it to make these margaritas…stat.

Why make this watermelon margarita recipe?

Who else loved watermelon Jolly Ranchers growing up? (Me, me!) Today though, I prefer making watermelon recipes to eating a straight slice of watermelon. You’ll find me making our watermelon sorbet, watermelon salad or watermelon gazpacho. So when Alex came up with the idea of this melon margarita spin, I knew I’d be into it. But I didn’t expect that it would border on obsession! Here’s what we love about this watermelon margarita recipe:

• Perfectly sweet tart. This watermelon margarita comes out with just the right amount of tang from the lime and sweetness.
• The drink is salted, instead of the rim. The fun part about this cocktail is that the drink itself is salted. This gives it a irresistible complexity in flavor…so beware!
• Gorgeous hot pink color. Watermelon makes the perfect rosy hue.
• No added sugar. It doesn’t even require any added sweetener!

How to make a watermelon margarita

Ready to get started? Here are the basic steps for how to make this tasty summer drink:

1. Blend the watermelon: Chop a watermelon into cubes, then blend into a juice in a blender. Pass the juice through a fine mesh sieve to remove particles.
2. Blend with lime, tequila, and ice: Return 3 cups of the watermelon juice to the blender, and blend with ½ cup lime juice, 1 cup tequila, and ½ cup ice.
3. Serve: Serve immediately over ice, or chill for a few hours and serve over ice.

How to tell if a watermelon is ripe?

There’s nothing worse than an unripe watermelon (we actually know from experience — and it’s bad!). This watermelon margarita requires a ripe watermelon to get the right flavoring, because the drink relies on the natural sweetness of the fruit. Here are a few tips for picking out a ripe watermelon:

• To make sure you get ruby red, sweet flesh inside, look for a lighter spot where the watermelon rested in the field: it’s called a field spot. If the field spot is white, it’s unripe: if the spot is yellow, it’s ripe.
• The watermelon should feel very heavy, which means there’s a lot of juice inside.

What’s the best tequila to use?

Many people suggest using tequila blanco for margaritas. But we prefer the robust flavor of tequila reposado; it adds another nuance to the flavor. Either way, try to find a mid-price range tequila when you make a watermelon margarita. You can definitely taste the difference! Here’s the breakdown of tequila ages:

• Tequila blanco (or “new” tequila) has been aged less than 2 months and has a strong, straightforward flavor.
• Tequila reposado (“rested” in Spanish) is aged longer, from 2 to 12 months. It has a more nuanced flavor, with notes of oak and vanilla.

PS Another tequila drink? The Paloma Cocktail is a cousin of the margarita, featuring tequila with grapefruit instead of lime!

More margarita variations

There are all sorts of fun ways to mix up the margarita! Here are some of our favorite ways:

• Classic: Simple, Cointreau or Triple Sec
• Light: Skinny, Virgin, or Frozen
• Boozy: Mezcal Margarita or Cadillac Margarita
• Fruity: Mango, Peach, Blackberry, Strawberry, Pineapple, or Pineapple Jalapeno
• Spicy: Jalapeno Margarita
• Unique: Italian Margarita or Beer Margarita
• Batch: Margarita Pitcher, Margarita Mix

This watermelon margarita recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, refined sugar free, and naturally sweet.

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Looking for more drink recipes?

Outside of this watermelon margarita recipe, here are a few more of our favorite drink recipes:

• Best Margarita Salt
• Simple Lemon Margarita
• Watermelon Cucumber Juice
• Watermelon Drink Ideas
• Best Frose Recipe (Frozen Rosé)
• Strawberry Daiquiris
• Fruit Infused Water Recipe
• Cucumber Lemon Water
• Lime Water with Mint
• Homemade Cold Brew Recipe
• Frozen Sangria
• Favorite Whiskey Sour
• Kombucha Recipe
• 23 Classic Cocktails
• Frozen Hot Chocolate
• Gin Fizz Cocktail

Last updated: March 2020