Recipe: Any Day Margarita (For Cinco de Mayo, or Whenever)

Just because Cinco de Mayo isn't a real Mexican holiday doesn't mean you shouldn't make yourself a margarita.

Cinco de Mayo has already come and gone but it still needs to be said: Cinco de Mayo is not a real holiday in Mexico. While a great many people incorrectly think Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day, it’s not: that happens on September 16th and is a completely different holiday.

Cinco de Mayo wasn’t even invented in Mexico! The birthplace of the holiday is Columbia, California, a fact the town is quite proud of. They’ve been celebrating it there since 1862, commemorating when Mexico defeated the French in the Battle of Puebla. That’s also why Puebla is pretty much the only place in Mexico you’ll see the day even acknowledged, aside from maybe resorts aimed at tourists, and even in Puebla it’s said to be a sedate experience.

But look, just because everything you’ve ever been told about Cinco de Mayo is incorrect doesn’t mean you can’t still have a good time, eat some tacos, and drink some margaritas. After all, we don’t stop drinking eggnog because Santa Claus isn’t real, or skip Halloween just because Frankenstein is being held against his will in a top secret research facility underneath the Pentagon. You can even forget about Cinco de Mayo altogether and make this margarita recipe any old day you feel like it.

There are a great many ways to make a margarita, and people have very strong opinions about the perfect proportions of ingredients. Some people like a 1:1:1 ratio of tequila: triple sec: lime juice, although to me that sounds very unbalanced. The New York Times advocates for a 3:2:1 proportion. Liquor, a site run by some of my old Dotdash Meredith colleagues (and drinking buddies) likes a 3:1:2, with the proportion for the lime juice and triple sec being flipped, giving the drink a bit more fresh citrus. My absolute favorite drinks writer, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, writes that he favors the 2:1:1 formula for sour drinks, except for the margarita, which needs 1½:¾:¾.

You could tinker with the margarita formula forever, and doing so would likely be a worthwhile pursuit, but I like a 2:1:1 with a little bit more sugar than other recipes call for. I also prefer basic simple syrup over either agave or maple syrup, both of which sometimes show up in recipes (although seriously, who’s adding maple syrup to a margarita?) One of our favorite local coffee shops near our village, Melosos, makes an incredibly good limonada with a thick, dark syrup I think is made piloncillo, Mexico’s rock hard brown sugar which is sold in cones. I haven’t yet tried it this way, but if you want just a hint of caramel depth, making a syrup from raw or turbinado sugar (or piloncillo if you can get it) in place of refined sugar could be a nice direction to head in.

One last note: do use a good triple sec. This is not a sponsored post for Maison Ferrand (the company which supplied the margarita photo below), but something at around that level and price point is a good fit. Typically we use Cointreau. If you’re not sure what you want, though, I think a good rule of thumb is simply that if it came in a plastic jug, it ain’t good enough for your drink.

A photo of a margarita. (Photo credit: Maison Ferrand. Used with permission.)

Ingredients

• 2 oz tequila blanco (white, unaged tequila)

• 1 oz triple sec (Cointreau or other equivalent, respected brand)

• 1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice (not bottled)

• 1.5 tsp simple syrup

• Ice (enough for both the cocktail shaker and for a serving glass)

• Lime wedge or wheel (for garnish)

• Optional: course salt (such as Malden) for the rim of the glass

Instructions

---

• For optional salted rim: pour a small amount of course salt into a shallow dish, such as a saucer. Wet the rim of your serving glass, turn the glass upside down, and dip the glass into the salt. Don’t overdo it.

---

1. Combine all of the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill ¾ of the way with ice.

2. Fill your serving glass with ice.

3. Seal the cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until cold, around 20-30 seconds.

4. Strain the contents of the cocktail shaker into your prepared serving glass.

5. Garnish with sliced lime.

6. Enjoy!

---

---