How to Make The Best Skinny Margaritas (Recipe)
Let me show you how to make a Skinny Margarita. Its quick and easy and lower calorie than a classic recipe. It’s the perfect refreshing alternative when you’re looking for all the zesty goodness of a classic margarita with less calories and sugar. Let’s whip up a tasty skinny margarita recipe that will satisfy your taste buds and keep you feeling light and fabulous. Grab your cocktail shaker.
Why You’ll Love This Skinny Margarita
This easy skinny margarita recipe is full of lime and citrus flavors and is the best choice if you want a tequila cocktail that isn’t a total sugar bomb. With a balance of tangy fresh lime juice, a hint of sweetness, and a touch of tequila, each sip will leave you totally satisfied.
This recipe is a breeze to make quickly, and needs just a handful of readily available simple ingredients. Try to use the most fresh, natural ingredients you can find for the best flavors. You’ll be sipping on a skinny margarita in no time!
Cocktail recipes can be laden with sugar and extra calories so they aren’t always ideal if you are on a diet or trying to make better choices. Skinny margs are a great option if you want a good margarita with less of the things you don’t want in a drink.
Related: 3-Ingredient Margarita (The Classic Recipe)
While we love the regular margarita recipe, the best skinny margarita leaves out the triple sec or orange liqueur which can have a ton of sugar saving calories. A skinny margarita is my favorite drink to sip at happy hour.
Opting for simple skinny margaritas with a salt rim allows you to enjoy the refreshing taste of this beloved cocktail while keeping tabs on your calorie and sugar intake. It’s the perfect choice when I want to enjoy a fresh margarita without derailing my wellness goals.
Serve this skinny marg when hosting a Cinco de Mayo gathering (use these fun Cinco de Mayo printable decorations!) or any party.
Ingredients
- silver or blanco tequila
- freshly squeezed lime juice
- orange juice, fresh if at all possible
- agave syrup (adjust to taste)
- Lime wedge and Kosher salt for garnish, optional
The best tequila to use for a skinny margarita is 100% blue agave as it will have fewer additives and lower in sugar naturally. Certain types of tequila can be full of extra ingredients that they add to make it taste palatable.
A high-quality tequila doesn’t have to be expensive, simply look for 100% blue agave for a delicious flavor. I like El Tesoro. It’s delicious and pretty reasonable.
Fresh squeezed juices are the way to go in a skinny margarita. Store-bought juices are also full of sugar so if you are truly trying to make a less sugary drink, you absolutely need fresh juice.
I like to grab agave syrup or nectar since tequila is an agave-based spirit, but you can use whatever you prefer. Simple syrup is a good option, especially if you make it at home. I like to make a less sweet version with a less sugar to water ratio. You can also use natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup.
If you are also watching your salt intake, maybe skip the salted rim. Or consider just adding salt to a small section (like I did in these images). You can also try something like a chili rim that has less sodium (check the ingredients of a pre-made mix like Tajin).
How to Make a Skinny Margarita
Rim your glass
Run a lime wedge along the rim of your glass, then dip it into a plate of coarse salt to create a salted rim. Set aside.
See more details in our post for how to add a salt rim to a margarita glass.
Step 1
To a cocktail shaker, add the tequila, lime juice, orange juice, and agave syrup.
Step 2
Add ice and give it a vigorous shake for about 20 seconds.
NOTE: Give it a taste and see if you need to add a little more sweetener. If you do, add a little bit more, shake again and retaste.
Step 3
Strain the mixture into your salt-rimmed glass (or plain glass), filled with fresh ice cubes.
Garnish with a lime wedge or slice of lime to give it that extra zing.
Skinny Margarita vs Regular Margarita
While I love a regular margarita, I love that a skinny margarita has less calories. The overall taste between the two drinks is slightly different but a skinny margarita is no less delicious.
The main difference is a skinny margarita uses orange juice and sweetener (if needed) in place of the orange liqueur. Which means it is a bit less boozy and has less sugar.
And many skinny margaritas will use less tequila to bring down the number of calories. But I like to use 2 ounces for all my margaritas.
Skinny margaritas are also less expensive to make than traditional margaritas. Triple Sec costs about $9 per bottle, and you are replacing that with orange juice which should be way cheaper.
How many calories in a skinny margarita
A regular margarita is about 274 calories. So if you are hoping to cut that down, a skinny margarita is a great idea.
There is about 64 calories in 1 ounce of tequila blanco. While traditional margaritas often use 2 ounces of tequila, you can cut that down to 1.5 ounces to save some calories.
There are about 95 calories in Cointreau versus about 21 calories in 1 tsp of agave nectar + 4 calories of fresh squeezed OJ which is why that is a great substitution. I try to use as little agave nectar as possible, if I even use any at all, so my skinny margs have less than the 21 calories here.
With 7 calories in 1 oz of lime juice, it’s used in both versions to give that signature flavor. Do not skip this!
Overall, a skinny margarita has about 156 calories.
These skinny margaritas won’t leave you feeling guilty. Whether you’re hosting a brunch, relaxing by the pool, or celebrating Taco Tuesday, this skinny margarita is the perfect companion for all your festive moments.
Tips
- For a frostier skinny margarita, blend all the ingredients with ice cubes instead of shaking them. A frozen margarita is so refreshing and the dilution will help to mellow out the tequila taste if you don’t love it.
- Adjust the sweetness to your liking by adding more or less agave syrup. If you are really trying to watch your calories, start with only a little bit and add a tiny bit more as needed to make it drinkable. I’ve learned to drink them without adding any agave and just use the sweetness from the fresh orange juice.
- If you are missing some of the flavor of the original, try adding a splash of club soda for some pizzaz.
- I prefer to make my skinny margaritas with fresh ingredients instead of margarita mix or sweet and sour. Sour mix can be full of sugar so we definitely don’t recommend for a simple skinny margarita. And a diet mix tastes awful to me.
Variations to Try
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Feel free to substitute agave syrup with honey or maple syrup (great natural sweeteners), stevia, or a sugar-free sweetener of your choice.
Of course! While silver tequila (also known as blanco tequila) is traditionally used in margaritas, you can experiment with reposado or añejo tequila for a more complex flavor profile. 100% pure blue agave tequila has the least amount of sugar. Others on the market have sugar added along with other flavor additives.
Absolutely! Simply multiply the ingredients by the number of servings you need, and mix them in a pitcher instead of a cocktail shaker.
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More Margarita Posts
Best Skinny Margarita Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ounces blanco tequila
- 1 ounce lime juice
- 1 ounce orange juice
- 1 tsp agave syrup (to taste)
- lime wedge and Kosher salt to rim glass, optional
Instructions
Rim the margarita glass
- Run a lime wedge along the rim of your glass, then dip it into a plate of coarse salt to create a salted rim. Set aside.
Make the Skinny Margarita
- To a cocktail shaker, add the tequila, lime juice, orange juice, and agave syrup.
- Add ice and give it a vigorous shake for about 20 seconds.
- Strain the mixture into your salt-rimmed glass (or plain glass), filled with fresh ice cubes.
Notes
- Adjust the sweetness to your liking by adding more or less agave syrup. If you are really trying to watch your calories, start with only a little bit and add a tiny bit more as needed to make it drinkable. I’ve learned to drink them without adding any agave and just use the sweetness from the fresh orange juice.
- If you are missing some of the flavor of the original, try adding a splash of club soda for some pizzaz.
- I prefer to make my skinny margaritas with fresh ingredients instead of margarita mix or sweet and sour. Sour mix can be full of sugar so we definitely don’t recommend for a simple skinny margarita. And a diet mix taste awful to me.
- For a frostier skinny margarita, blend all the ingredients with ice cubes instead of shaking them. A frozen margarita is so refreshing and the dilution will help to mellow out the tequila taste if you don’t love it.
- You can use less tequila to decrease the number of calories even more.
