Filled with holiday cheer, this Cranberry Margarita is the perfect Christmas and New Years drink! Made with only 4 simple ingredients, it’s easy to make and comes together in only 5 minutes.
One of my favorite things about winter is the abundance of cranberries, so today I’m bringing you a festive Cranberry Margarita cocktail to get the party started!
Filled with holiday cheer, this cranberry cocktail is the perfect Christmas and New Years drink. Made with only 4 simple ingredients, it’s super easy to make and comes together in only 5 minutes.
Ingredients you’ll need
- Cranberry juice
- Blanco tequila
- Triple sec
- Lime juice
Which tequila should I use?
For this recipe, choose a high-quality blanco or silver tequila for the best cranberry margarita. The bottle should say 100% agave, but that doesn’t mean it has to break the bank. Here are a few tequilas I recommend.
- Espolòn Blanco
- Olmeca Altos
- Casa Noble Crystal
- Don Julio Blanco
Don’t forget the garnish!
To make this cranberry margarita look beautiful and festive, I rimmed the glass with sea salt and garnished it with fresh cranberries and a sprig of rosemary.
It makes the whole thing feel like a fun winter wonderland and I can’t help but have a huge smile on my face when I’m holding one!
For this recipe, I used a cocktail shaker. I have one that I purchased at my local Target, but I’ve actually been meaning to replace it. It drips down the side when I’m shaking and pouring my drink and it can just get a little messy. I’ve been eyeing this one from OXO Good Grips in particular. It’s inexpensive, has a nonslip grip which is KEY and looks well-constructed.
But if you don’t have a cocktail shaker, you can still make this. Just use a large glass and mix the ingredients with a spoon. It’s not as fancy, but it does the job.
More cocktail recipes you’ll love
- Classic Margarita Recipe
- Frozen Margarita Recipe
- Easy Sangria Recipe
- Spicy Habanero Pineapple Margarita
- Spicy Tequila Sunrise
Ingredients
- coarse sea salt, for rimming glass
- ice
- 4.5 ounces cranberry juice (3 shots from standard size shot glass), or more to taste
- 1.5 ounces blanco tequila (1 shot from standard size shot glass)
- 1 ounce triple sec (2/3 shot from standard size shot glass)
- 1/2 lime
- fresh cranberries and rosemary sprigs, for garnish *optional*
Instructions
- Run a lime wedge around the rim of a glass and dip in salt. Fill the glass with ice.
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add cranberry juice, tequila, triple sec and the juice of half a lime. Shake to combine.
- Strain the cocktail over the prepared glass and garnish with fresh cranberries and rosemary sprigs.
Isabel’s Tips:
Nutrition Information
Can we use Cointreau in place of the triple sec?
Hi Jo! Yes, you can!
Can this be premade?
Hi Candice! Yes it can, just save the garnishes for when you serve it 🙂
loved this margarita recipe. will be making it for my next family reunion. thanks for sharing.
This is a very nice and educating tips I must say.
Makes it looks so easy, I really like and appreciate them. Nice one .
Discovered this treasure of a recipe which I used Christmas Eve 2020. This was a delightful sweet-tart cocktail that was as beautiful & festive as it was delicious! Thank you for also providing the option to change servings & for providing the recipe to make five drinks. I created frosted cranberries & used rosemary as a garnish. Us “women folk” absolutely enjoyed the entire 12 servings I made!
Hi Isabel, Do you use 100% unsweetened cranberry juice?
Hi Tammy! It depends on the amount of sweetness you prefer. If you want it slightly more tart, yes we would recommend 100% cranberry juice instead of cranberry juice cocktail.
Taught my g-daughter this recipe to teach her how to read a recipe and cook it. Came out delicious.
Hi!! Should we use pure cranberry juice or cranberry cocktail juice?
Thanks!
Hi! I’d recommend cranberry cocktail juice.
Oooh this looks fantastic! It’s perfect for my next holiday party =) It looks pretty easy to mix. But I love your presentation. Makes everything look so festive.
Thanks, Lynn! Cheers!
Such a diverse recipe collection for cranberry this year. I have made from the cranberry sauce, salad with cranberry, pork with cranberry and now I should make another discover of cranberry margarita, shouldn’t I? xD
– Natalie
This recipe looks great and would love to make a large batch for a ladies Christmas Party, in a pitcher, so they can help themselves. Can you suggest amounts?
Hi Sue! There is a cool feature where if you hover over the serving size number, you can adjust it to what you need and it will automatically adjust the ingredients for you!
Does it have to be silver tequila? Or would Souza Gold work?
Hi Carly, you can definitely use gold tequila if you’d like. It all works!
can you make this in a large pitcher?
Absolutely! I’d put everything in a pitcher except the ice so it doesn’t get watered down.
What would be the proportions though? How would you convert a cup recipe for a pitcher?
Here are some estimates to make a pitcher of 5 drinks:
2 3/4 cups cranberry juice
3/4 cup + 3 tbsp tequila
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp triple sec
1/4 cup lime juice
Hope that’s helpful!
Can you use rum or something else other than Tequila? This looks soooo good!!
Oh wow! How absolutely delicious these Cranberry Margaritas look. These are going to be a “must serve” on Christmas Eve this year. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Cait! They’d be great for New Year’s too!
I LOVE cranberry juice, this is an awesome idea!!
Love this holiday spin on the marg!!
Thanks, Ellie! I love that it makes the holidays a bit more festive 🙂