By Karl Hirsch · TacoTuesday.com · Prep 5 min · Total 5 min · Serves 2
Frozen margaritas are their own category – different problem, different solution than a shaken one. The El Niño is Chili’s frozen entry, and it’s the frozen marg the internet searches for most. It’s a swirl (technically) – margarita on one side, a stripe of grenadine and orange juice on the other – that sunsets from red to green in the glass.
The whole trick is the ice ratio and the swirl technique. Too much ice and you have a slush cone; too little and it turns to soup in three minutes. Too much grenadine and it dyes the whole drink pink. The base spec below is the Group Recipes El Niño clone with adjustments for home blenders.
Ingredients
For the margarita base:
- 3 oz blanco or reposado tequila
- 1½ oz Cointreau
- 4 oz sweet-and-sour mix
- ½ oz fresh lime juice
- 3 cups ice cubes
For the sunset stripe:
- 2 oz orange juice
- 1 oz grenadine
For serving:
- Kosher salt, for the rims
- Lime wedges and orange slices, for garnish
- 2 tall glasses (hurricane glasses if you have them, pint glasses if not)
Equipment
- Blender
- 2 tall glasses
- Small plate for salt
- Jigger
Method
- Rim the glasses. Run a lime wedge around each rim, dip in kosher salt. Set aside.
- Blend the margarita base. Add the tequila, Cointreau, sweet-and-sour mix, fresh lime juice, and ice cubes to a blender. Pulse first to break the ice, then blend on high until smooth – you want the texture of a soft slushy that holds a peak, not soup. Should take about 15–20 seconds.
- Pour into the glasses, filling each about ⅔ of the way.
- Make the sunset. In a small measuring cup, stir together the orange juice and grenadine. Slowly pour this into one side of each glass – pour down the side, not into the center, so it sinks and creates a striped, sunset effect. It’ll settle at the bottom and rise up the side of the glass.
- Garnish each glass with an orange slice on the rim and a lime wedge. Serve immediately with a straw.
Bartender’s notes
- Ice ratio is the whole game. Three cups of ice cubes to about 8 oz of liquid gives you the right consistency. Too much ice = slush cone that won’t drink. Too little = a puddle in 90 seconds. Measure the ice.
- Blend to soft peaks, then stop. Keep going and you’ll heat the drink up and turn it back to liquid. The right texture holds a soft ridge when you tilt the blender.
- Pour the sunset down the inside of the glass, not into the middle. This is what makes it sink and stripe instead of just floating and turning everything pink. Tilt the glass slightly and pour the orange juice-grenadine mix slowly along the wall.
- Drink it fast. Frozen margs don’t hold. Serve immediately and drink within 15 minutes or it’s just cold sour mix.
- Grenadine matters. Cheap grenadine is red corn syrup and tastes like it. Look for a real-fruit grenadine (Stirrings, Liber & Co., or homemade with pomegranate juice and sugar) if you can find one.
Scaling for a pitcher (or a party)
Frozen margs don’t batch well – they melt while you serve. Two options for a group:
- Blend to order. Set up your ingredients pre-measured in mise-en-place, and blend a fresh 2-serving batch every 10 minutes as guests want refills.
- Keep the ice separate. Pre-mix all the liquid ingredients (tequila, Cointreau, sour mix, fresh lime) in a pitcher and refrigerate. Blend each round to order by combining 6 oz of the liquid mix with 1½ cups of ice per 2 servings.
Frequently asked
Can I use a frozen margarita machine? Yes, and it’ll be more consistent than a blender. Load the pre-mixed liquid into the machine per the manufacturer’s ice ratio.
Do I have to make it as a swirl? No – the sunset stripe is presentation, not flavor. If you skip the OJ/grenadine step, you have a solid regular frozen margarita.
Can I use frozen fruit instead of some of the ice? Absolutely – this is how you’d make a frozen strawberry or mango margarita variation. Sub 1 cup of frozen fruit for 1 cup of ice; you may need to bump the sweet-and-sour mix by ½ oz.
Why sweet-and-sour mix instead of just lime juice? Frozen margaritas need more sugar than shaken ones because ice mutes sweetness. Sour mix gets you there without over-blending lime juice into bitterness.
What if my blender’s weak? Break the ice first with the pulse button until it’s slushy, then run on high in short bursts. If you have to blend for more than 30 seconds total, add a couple more ice cubes to compensate for melting.
This recipe is part of TacoTuesday.com’s round-up of the 10 Best Copycat Restaurant Margaritas, Ranked
