Think FRESH for this classic skinny margarita cocktail recipe! It takes just minutes to extract fresh lime juice and it makes all the difference in these margaritas! Made with fresh juice, non-processed sugar, and tequila! Now you're ready to go: shake it, stir it, pour it, and enjoy!
Add this skinny margarita beverage to your favorite Cinco de Mayo, Fiesta, and summer cocktails of choice! It's perfect to enjoy with a tasty bowl of Skinny Roasted Vegetables and Quinoa Salad, Cod Fish Tacos, Blackened Rockfish, Whitefish Ceviche, or Homemade Guacamole!
Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: No cooking, just whisking and pouring
- ⏳ Total Time: 5 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 2 margaritas
- ⚡ Calories: 100kcal per glass
- 🥣 Ingredients: 4 (fresh lime juice, water, maple or agave syrup, tequila) plus optional salt, ice and mint
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Bright fresh lime with light maple sweetness, no triple sec and no processed sugar
- ✋ Difficulty: Start with 2 tablespoons of syrup, taste, whisk, pour over ice
Quick Answer
Combine ½ cup fresh lime juice, 1 cup water, 3 tequila shots (1.5 ounces each) and maple syrup in a glass, starting with 2 tablespoons of syrup and adding 1-2 more if you like it sweeter. Whisk together and pour over ice into two glasses, then garnish with fresh mint. For a salted rim, dip the rim of the glasses into water then into salt before pouring. What makes it skinny is the sugar: there is no triple sec and no processed sugar, just fresh lime juice and natural maple or agave syrup, at about 100 calories per glass.
Jump to:
- Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Margarita Works
- Why You'll Love This Margarita
- Key Ingredients
- What Makes a Margarita Skinny
- How to Make a Skinny Margarita
- Expert Tips
- The Margarita Wednesday Story
- Skinny Margarita FAQs
- More Favorite Cocktail Recipes
- Skinny Margarita Recipe On The Rocks Made With Natural Ingredients
Traditional Mexican margarita ingredients are usually made with triple sec, tequila (Patron or Grand Marnier), and lemon or lime juice shaken or on the rocks. This skinny margarita recipe has only 4 ingredients: fresh squeezed lime juice, water, maple syrup and tequila shaken, not stirred... lol!
Why This Margarita Works
Click to see why it works
- Fresh lime juice makes the drink. Make sure to use fresh juice from fresh citrus fruits because boy does it make the difference in a margarita!
- Lime balances the body too. Lime juice is alkaline to help balance the acidity levels in the body from alcohol.
- The sugar is what makes it skinny. Most of the calories in a margarita are empty calories from added processed sugar and simple syrups. Here the only sweetener is natural maple or agave syrup, added to taste.
- No triple sec needed. These lime margaritas on the rocks are guilt free compared to a traditional margarita since all the ingredients are completely natural.
- Sweetness stays in your control. Start with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and add 1-2 more only if you like it sweeter.
- Keto option built in. In place of maple syrup or agave syrup, keto syrup can also be used for a super skinny margarita.
Why You'll Love This Margarita
- The best margarita cocktail around, guilt free compared to a traditional margarita.
- So tasty, light and refreshing. With the high humidity heat in Texas, you'll be sure to find me poolside sipping on these!
- Less sugar, lower calories. I love that I don't pack on pounds like other margaritas tend to do.
- 4 ingredients, 5 minutes, 2 glasses at 100 calories each.
- Pairs with the fiesta spread: cod fish tacos, homemade guacamole and whitefish ceviche.
Key Ingredients
- ½ cup fresh lime juice - fresh squeezed, never bottled. It takes just minutes to extract and makes all the difference.
- 1 cup water - lightens the drink without diluting the flavor.
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup or agave syrup - start with 2 tablespoons and add more to taste.
- 3 shots good tequila - 1.5 ounces each.
- Salt - optional, to line the rim of the glass.
- Ice and fresh mint - for serving and garnish.
See recipe card for quantities.
What Makes a Margarita Skinny
The amount of sugar and what type of sugar in a margarita is what makes them skinny. Most of the calories in a margarita are empty calories from added processed sugar and simple syrups. Making a skinny margarita is a wonderful way to control your sugar consumption and the amount added in drinks.
You can order a "healthier" margarita when out by ordering your drink with lime, tequila, and fresh lime. Have them skip the triple sec and you can add Stevia to sweeten it. Or order your drink with half the amount of sweetener that they usually use.
How to Make a Skinny Margarita
1Juice the limes fresh. It takes just minutes to extract fresh lime juice and it makes all the difference in these margaritas.
2Combine and pour. Combine all ingredients in a glass starting with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and add 1-2 more if you like it sweeter. Whisk together and pour over ice into two glasses. Garnish with fresh mint.
3Salt the rim if you like. Dip the rim of the glasses into water then dip into salt to line the tops of the glasses before pouring the skinny margaritas into them. Garnish with fresh mint.
As always, be sure to check out the full recipe details in the recipe card below.
Expert Tips
- Fresh citrus only. Fresh squeezed lime juice is the whole point; bottled juice flattens the drink.
- Sweeten in stages. Start at 2 tablespoons of syrup, taste, and only then add the third.
- Go keto if you like. Keto syrup swaps in for the maple or agave for a super skinny margarita.
- Ordering out? Ask for lime, tequila and fresh lime, skip the triple sec, and sweeten with Stevia or half the usual sweetener.
- Make it a party. It doubles easily for a pitcher alongside my party punch cocktails and frozen peach margarita.
The Margarita Wednesday Story
Pull up a chair if you want to hear my story behind this margarita recipe. If not you can skip right into printing, shaking and making your skinny margarita cocktails! But after all, it's Margarita Wednesday! At least that's what he said...
No, really. That IS what he said.
He being my sisters' husband along with my kids' uncle (one of the many uncles they are blessed with). All of which led me to meeting my husband about a month later. So really, margaritas are what led me to the man of my dreams but not by even drinking the tasty cocktail!
This romantic "friends become family" story all started when I was in college. I was at art and design school and our class had to do a marketing campaign for a product in Pier One. The whole class went on a field trip to one of the stores in San Diego and my girlfriend and I teamed up looking for a product that we had to market and sell. Well there were these two guys in our class that kept asking us over to hang out and the answer was always a rejection. They just seemed... super... well, "frat boyish" and we didn't want anything to do with them (until we got to really know them) but they continued to try to talk with us.
Keep reading, it gets better.
We walked into Pier One with the beautiful aromas of blackberry candles firing through the air. Sarah and I were roaming the store looking for our perfect product when Jake and Johnny came up to us with four turquoise margarita glasses saying, "It's Margarita Wednesday, you two want to come over for a margarita? ... We already bought the glasses."
A: Turquoise is my favorite color and, B: At this point, how could we say no. They bought my favorite color glasses and have already been trying so hard and actually seem like decent guys. Let's give them a try.
Long story short, after a night of Foosball fun and margaritas we hit it off so well and have all been best of friends since! Such good friends that Jake fell in love with my sister after she came to visit me and I fell in love with his Colorado friend, Kris (yes, my hubby:-). Johnny is my children's adopted uncle who lived near us until we recently moved to Texas. Sarah is an amazing graphic designer designing all of the website stuff for Jake and Darlene's hot tub store and living the dream travel life we all drool over!
And this story of friends becoming family really all started with a Margarita Wednesday and four glasses. I hope you grab a glass and enjoy this margarita recipe with us!
Skinny Margarita FAQs
The amount of sugar and what type of sugar in a margarita is what makes them skinny. Most of the calories in a margarita are empty calories from added processed sugar and simple syrups. This one uses only natural maple or agave syrup, added to taste, and no triple sec.
Order your drink with lime, tequila, and fresh lime. Have them skip the triple sec and add Stevia to sweeten it, or order your drink with half the amount of sweetener that they usually use.
No. Traditional margaritas are made with triple sec, tequila and citrus, but this skinny margarita recipe has only 4 ingredients: fresh squeezed lime juice, water, maple syrup and tequila.
About 100 calories per glass in this recipe, since the only sweetener is 2 to 3 tablespoons of maple or agave syrup split between two drinks.
Yes. In place of maple syrup or agave syrup, keto syrup can also be used for a super skinny margarita.
Fresh juice from fresh citrus fruits makes all the difference in a margarita, and lime juice is alkaline to help balance the acidity levels in the body from alcohol.
More Favorite Cocktail Recipes
Keep the cocktail hour going with my Healthy Frozen Peach Margarita, Skinny Mango Vodka Drink, Sparkling Passionfruit Cocktail, Skinny Mango Black Tea Cocktail, Loquat Orange Cocktail, Grape Frose Rose and Moscow Mule. If you make this skinny margarita on the rocks recipe from Delightful Mom Food I would love to see your creations and share it! Follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for a feature and more recipe inspiration! And don't forget to leave a comment below!
Skinny Margarita Recipe On The Rocks Made With Natural Ingredients
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Ingredients
- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup or agave syrup
- 3 tequila shots (1.5 ounces each)
- salt optional to line the rim of the glass
- ½ cup ice
- fresh mint
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients to a glass starting with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and add 1-2 more if you like it sweeter. Whisk together and pour over ice into two glasses. Garnish with fresh mint.
- If you like salt, dip the rim of the glasses into water then dip into salt to line the tops of the glasses before pouring the skinny margaritas into them. Garnish with fresh mint.
Notes
- The amount of sugar and what type of sugar in a margarita is what makes them skinny. Most of the calories in a margarita are empty calories from added processed sugar and simple syrups. Making a skinny margarita is a wonderful way to control your sugar consumption and the amount added in drinks. In place of maple syrup or agave syrup, keto syrup can also be used for a super skinny margarita!
Jenny Schmidt says
So good! Thanks for the recipe. I did sub club soda for the water and it was so refreshing!😊
Megan says
This makes my ? happy. 🙂