This Mistletoe Margarita is a simple drink that will put you right in the holiday spirit! Made with good tequila, orange liquor, fresh lime juice, cranberry, and more, this festive cocktail is a huge hit for the holiday season! Garnish with fresh mint and sugared cranberries for more flair.
If you take a look at the Drinks category on my site, you'll see that I have a thing for margaritas. As I work to get up a margarita variation for every season, holiday, or special event, the next one up is this christmassy, holiday-themed Mistletoe Margarita recipe!
I thought a lot about how to differentiate this recipe from being just a cranberry margarita. And, quite frankly, it is essentially a cranberry margarita. But I still think it works very well for christmas cocktails. Garnishing with sugared cranberries and fresh mint or even rosemary sprigs gives it a perfect holiday color scheme. Plus, shaking this cocktail with just a tiiiiny bit of fresh mint, makes the flavor a bit more winter-y.
Now, if you're curious about those other margarita recipes, check out my Pumpkin Spice Margarita or my Thanksgiving Margarita.
Table of Contents:
🍸 Why you'll love this Mistletoe Margarita
- It's easy! Just squeeze a few things, shake them up, and you've got a great cocktail for this time of year!
- Refreshing & Light. With holiday food often being heavy, cloying, and sweet, this citrus-y mistletoe margarita is a perfect way to break it up a bit!
- It is delicious. What else is there to say? Christmas margaritas are just SO good! Tis' the season!
🥘 What you need for this recipe
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Tequila - Use tequila blanco, silver tequila, añejo tequila, or even reposado tequila. Gin or vodka can work too.
- Cranberry Juice - Make sure you use a good cranberry juice, not cranberry cocktail. If you wanted to mix it up, pomegranate juice could work too!
- Lime Juice - I highly recommend using fresh squeezed lime juice. It makes a difference!
- Cointreau - triple sec, grand marnier, or an orange liqueur could work too. In a pinch, a splash of orange juice is fine too.
- Simple Syrup - Optional, if you want a less sweet drink, you can omit. You can also use something like maple syrup.
- Mint - Fresh mint only, do not substitute.
- Salt - Optional, for the rim of the glass. You could also do a sugar rim if you prefer!
- Cranberries - Optional, as garnish. I recommend making sugared cranberries.
Tools and Equipment
- Citrus juicer
- Cocktail Shaker
- Strainer
- Cocktail glasses (or use mason jar!)
📋 How to make a Mistletoe Margarita
Step 1: Prepare Ingredients
OPTIONAL: To make sugared cranberries, toss a handful of fresh cranberries in simple syrup, then into dry cane sugar. Once coated in sugar, leave out to dry OR place in the oven at its lowest temperature setting to dry faster.
Squeeze lime juice using a citrus juicer.
On the rim of the glasses you're using, rub them with a lime wedge. Then, pour some kosher salt onto a shallow plate. Tap the rubbed rim of the glass on the salt until coated.
Measure remaining ingredients and pick mint leaves.
Step 2: Make the Cocktail
To a cocktail shaker, add a handful of ice cubes, then add the lime juice, tequila, cranberry juice, cointreau, simple syrup, and a few fresh mint leaves.
Close the lid on the shaker tightly, then shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Add a few ice cubes to each rimmed glass.
Then, strain the cocktail evenly into three glasses.
Step 3: Finishing Touches
If there's extra room in the glasses, try topping it off with seltzer water or champagne.
Garnish each glass with a fresh mint spring and a few sugared cranberries.
Serve cold and enjoy!
💭 Expert Tips & Tricks
- If you find that there is more room in your glass after pouring, you may want to try topping off the margarita with sparkling water or even a prosecco or champagne.
- The use of sugared cranberries is not essential, though it gives a great presentation. If you are concerned that the sugar will dissolve when it hits the drink, try skewering the sugared cranberries with a cocktail pick, then floating them above the margarita.
- If you don't like a salt rim on your mistletoe margarita, try mixing some coarse brown sugar with lime zest for a fun sweet rim of the glass! Or omit altogether.
Recipe FAQs
This recipe can easily be scaled up to work in a pitcher. Just double (or triple) the ingredients and, instead of shaking, add them to a large pitcher and stir. Alternatively, you could add the ingredients to a large blender with ice and make a frozen margarita!
Technically, you can, but I highly advise against it. Fresh squeezed limes are what makes any margarita so good in the first place.
This festive holiday cocktail gets it's name from the bright red color paired with the fresh green mint, two colors that usually signify Christmas time. Also, cranberries are a very holiday/winter fruit.
Related Recipes
Love a recipe you've tried? Please leave a 5-star🌟 rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Don't forget to tag me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook when you try one of my recipes!
📖 Recipe
Mistletoe Margarita
Equipment
- Strainer
Ingredients
- 6 oz Tequila blanco or añejo, or gin or vodka
- 6 oz Cranberry juice
- 3 oz Lime juice fresh squeezed
- 1½ oz Cointreau or triple sec
- 3-5 Mint leaves Fresh
- 1½ oz Simple syrup
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt for the rim
- Cranberries for garnish
Instructions
- OPTIONAL: To make sugared cranberries, toss a handful of fresh cranberries in simple syrup, then into dry cane sugar. Once coated in sugar, leave out to dry OR place in the oven at its lowest temperature setting to dry faster.
- Squeeze lime juice using a citrus juicer.
- On the rim of the glasses you're using, rub them with a lime wedge. Then, pour some kosher salt onto a small plate. Tap the rubbed rim of the glass on the salt until coated.
- Measure remaining ingredients and pick mint leaves.
- To a cocktail shaker, add a handful of ice cubes, then add the lime juice, tequila, cranberry juice, cointreau, simple syrup, and a few fresh mint leaves.
- Close the lid on the shaker tightly, then shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add a few ice cubes to each rimmed glass.
- Then, strain the cocktail evenly into three glasses.
- If there's extra room in the glasses, try topping it off with seltzer water or champagne.
- Garnish each glass with a fresh mint spring and a few sugared cranberries.
- Serve cold and enjoy!
Notes
- If you find that there is more room in your glass after pouring, you may want to try topping off the margarita with sparkling water or even a prosecco or champagne.
- The use of sugared cranberries is not essential, though it gives a great presentation. If you are concerned that the sugar will dissolve when it hits the drink, try skewering the sugared cranberries with a cocktail pick, then floating them above the liquid.
- If you don't like salt on your mistletoe margarita, try mixing some coarse brown sugar with lime zest for a fun sweet rim of the glass! Or omit altogether.
Tammy Kinder says
This was delicious! We used the sweetened cranberry juice but the drink was still not sweet. It was very festive and pretty. It is worth adding the mint and fresh sugared cranberries! Recommend this one for sure.
Anonymous says
Fabulous!!!