Classic Margarita with Fresh Lime Juice and a Little Magic – Bitters
This is the best margarita recipe. Made with fresh lime juice and a few dashes of orange bitters. Perfect for home or to share with friends at a party. The addition of bitters gives this classic margarita cocktail a wonderful layer of flavor.
Margarita Cocktail with Fresh Lime Juice – simply the best
Call us suckered, hoodwinked, or duped. We believe in magic potions. Someone hawking small bottles of potion, proclaiming outlandish results. Hmmm. Out of curiosity, we’ll skeptically try the potion. A few shakes in a cocktail drink. A very familiar cocktail. But with a mere few dashes of this elixir it became something new. Better. Incredibly delicious. It really is the best margarita cocktail.
Cocktail bitters are mystical potions which marries the ingredients of a cocktail together. Just about anytime we find a bar making exceptional cocktails drinks, it is almost a guarantee that they have a beautiful stock of bitters frequently reached for behind the bar. Often times, there are bitters they are making themselves amongst the bottles. This is the start to the best margarita recipe.
Our discovery of bitters’ magic powers first came to fruition in the pages of a book. Not for the lack of signs trying to tell us the same thing. A reader commented about our use of triple sec in an old margarita recipe, disapproving of its unctuous sweetness and mentioned it would be much better with some simple syrup and bitters instead. (Side note – there are better options than classic triple sec. Explore all the different orange liqueurs out there). We come home from a crafty bar just loving their cocktails and we’ll be all aflutter talking about their house made bitters.
Bitters for Margarita Cocktails
Time after time, bitters had been under our noses, and yet we passed right over their magic. But all of these subtle and not so subtle hints took us along our path. Ripening for the moment when we laid hands on the book Bitters by Brad Thomas Parsons.
We first discovered the book were meeting with the publishers of Ten Speed Press to discuss a project we were working on with them, and we spied the Bitters book on their shelf. They must have seen the twinkle in our eyes, because the lovely ladies at Ten Speed handed us the book to take home as we concluded our meeting.
After perusing book it had us excited. Beyond being a great read and resource, it changed how we make cocktails.
Video on Making a Classic Margarita with Fresh Lime & Bitters
We’ve made many a homemade bitter with the help of Parsons’ book. The process of bitters is about a month long, but well worth the time and experimentation. We always have to have a batch of bitters on hand from our Algerian tangerines.
Bitters for a cocktail is like the pepper and salt to a dish. Or the fish sauce to Vietnamese cuisine. By themselves it is a bit overpowering, but when added with the other ingredients they season it perfectly. Make two classic cocktails, one with bitters and one without and see which you like better. It will almost always be the one with the bitters.
Not sure what else to do with all your homemade bitters?
Start with adding some to plain soda water for a homemade flavored sparkling water. No need to buy La Croix again. Is your stomach a little uneasy? That soda water with a few dashes of bitters may be the trick to settling your tummy.
Like most everything good in cocktails recipes there is always folklore and mystery involved and bitters are no exception. It is part of the beauty. One legend which we’ve yet to try but is fun to share, is the no-fail cure to hiccups. Soak a sugar coated lemon wedge with Angostura bitters and take a bite. Hiccups will be gone.
Enjoy! We’re off to sip on a delicious margarita.
Classic Margarita w/ fresh Lime & Bitters
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 ounces (45 ml) Tequila we prefer Resposada or Anejo for this cocktail
- 1 ounce (30 ml) Orange Liqueur , or to taste *see headnote
- 1 ounce (30 ml) fresh Lime Juice
- 1/2 ounce (15 ml) Simple Syrup , or to taste *see headnote
- a few dashes Orange Bitters , optional
- flaky salt for the rim (optional)
Instructions
- For a Salted Rim: Rub the rim of an old fashioned glass (or whatever glass you prefer) with an edge of a lime slice. Swirl the rim through a small pile of flaky salt to salt the rim. Add ice into the glass.
- Combine 1 1/2 ounces (45ml) tequila, 1 ounce (30ml) orange liqueur, 1 ounce (30ml) lime juice, 1/2 ounce (15ml) simple syrup, and bitters in an ice filled shaker.
- Shake vigorously for about 15 seconds, making sure the margarita is nice and chilled. The shaking also helps lightly dilute the cocktail to a proper portion.
- Strain into the prepared glass. Serve or drink immediately and with leisure.
Notes
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Check out our Cocktail Recipes Here and our Complete Whiskey Guide.
I used to make a rather involved recipe for margaritas that I got from Cook’s Illustrated, and then one VERY hot day in NYC while working on my computer when my air conditioner was on the blink, I came across a new recipe on a now, unfortunately, defunct blog. It happened to be after 5:00 p.m., so I ran into the kitchen and made the new, very simple recipe and thought “eureka.” I’ve found it. The perfect margarita. And I’ve been making it ever since.
I know there’s a lot of discord about the orange flavoring in margaritas. Some people use Grand Marnier – to me ugh. Some people use Cointreau – to me also ugh. And Patron makes an orange-flavrored liqueur that I’ve heard works well, but I’ve never tried it. I use Triple Sec, and it must be Bols. If it’s good enough for Jimmy Buffett, it’s good enough for me, but, obviously, to some people, that is ugh and very declasse. I use Hornitos Reposado Tequila for my margaritas. It’s the best I’ve found so far, and it is very consistently good.
I have lovely orange bitters in my cupboard so I’m going to make your recipe this weekend. I make your Kentucky Sidecar Cocktail with tangerine juice (yum) on a regular basis, so I have no doubt I will soon be adopting your new margarita adaptation as my very own.
Thanks, guys. Be well, be happy, and keep cooking! You’re the best.
I love rhubarb bitters with club soda. I guess I will have to go buy the book so I can make my own bitters…I’ve always wanted to but never found a recipe that sounded exactly right.
He has a recipe for rhubarb bitters in the book! I keep watching our rhubarb slowly emerge its leaves, waiting for it to grow so I can make the bitters. Rhubarb bitters sound so good. Do you add a touch of simple syrup or just straight up? I have a batch of root beer bitters almost done which I’m also excited to try.
-Todd
I usually drink it straight up, but I like bitter do it’s definitely not for everyone. I had no idea rhubarb grew in SoCal. I’ve never seen it at a farmers market so I assumed it wasn’t cold enough here. Now I’ll have to add it to the garden.
It doesn’t grow as well as colder areas, but it will grow here in SoCal. Ours took several years before it would grow any decent sized stalks. Definitely not the weed type growth we had where I grew up at in Oregon.
Thanks for the feedback on the rhubarb bitters!
T
I’m totally intrigued by the orange bitters. I use an orange liqueur made here in Texas that I think makes an awesome ‘rita. I’ll have to see if I can find bitters, though!
Mmm lovely!
I’m a sucker for any kind of blind taste test, so I’m on this like white on rice! Sold!
YUMMY! I will have to try this. Living in LA, Margaritas are a staple here outside of wine at outdoor parties. Every fourth of July I do a maragrita bar where I keep a bowl of sliced limes, a lime squeezer (don’t know what they are called), white tequila, and a bottle of triple sec and kosher salt in a bowl. I alway people to make their own by squeezing the limes in the shaker, adding triple sec and the tequila – I keep the recipe handy (we call them our skinny girl margaritas less calories) and then shake shake shake. Looks like I’m going to have to add bitters to the mix. Thanks for the yummy recipe. Can’t wait to try.
We call ’em lime squeezers too! 😉
What variety of lime are you growing – and using in the wonderful photo?
We have a few varieties growing, but this one is the Bearrs Lime. Most of our Mexican limes have ripened to yellow (perfect for flavor, but not for pictures) so they didn’t get showcased this time. Thanks for the kind compliment.
T
Laura Emory the bitters really enhances the flavor of the margarita!
i never thought of adding bitters to a margarita. that’s a great idea
You guys are always so inspiring. As always, I love the way that your photos tell a story and provide a specific feel. Todd, how do you guys get your photos to stay side-by-side in your blog, e.g., like the second set of photos in this post? I’m always trying to do a tandem photo in wordpress, but then they never stay put and move around the page once I publish. Any advice?
Hi Chrisyna,
Thank you so much! In regards to your question, we put them side by side before we upload them to our blog. In technical terms, the side by sides are called diptychs for two side-by-sides. Depending on your editing software there are quite a few ways to do this. I created an action in photoshop to make it easy for Diane to do it, although I just found this tutorial on creating them in Lightroom that is even better, IMO.
To make individual images play nicer together in wordpress, after inserting I will click on the Edit Image button, then remove the CSS class so it is blank, then give it a little horizontal and vertical space, maybe 5px.
Hope that helps.
Todd
Very helpful! Thanks so much, as always, for your helpful responses to my questions 🙂 You guys are super awesome.
BEYOND fabulous!
This post makes me want to start drinking on Monday morning…
I love Anejo tequilla…soooo smooth. A little too smooth, actually 🙂
The recipe sounds so good that I wish I had one in front of me right now. Instead, I have oodles of images to edit and need clear vision.
Those limes…are.perfect.wow.
This is so intriguing to me, I would love to get m hands on this book. Until then I will give the few different bitters in my cabinet a bit more attention.
The slice of lime floating in the glass in your opening shot? As soon as I saw it I thought, “That is the most gorgeous lime I’ve ever seen”. Seriously jaw dropping limes there. The light, the detail of the plump flesh, I am in awe.
Love the idea of using bitters in a margarita! I made an old fashioned with blood oranges and blood orange bitters last week that was fantastic. Bitters can really amp up a drink. A margarita is next!
One look at those limes tells you they are not store-boughten. Lucky you! Nothing green up here in the frozen northland. Interesting topic, even though I don’t claim cocktail mixing as one of my skills. Always enjoy your photos.