Best Margarita Salt Recipe (2024)

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This margarita salt recipe makes the best margarita salt rim! This zesty garnish takes any co*cktail from meh to a masterpiece. Here’s how to make it.

Best Margarita Salt Recipe (1)

Looking to amp up your margaritas? This margarita salt is the best way to transform your glass from meh to marvelous. And it’s seriously simple too! Alex and I made this margarita salt as part of our Frozen Margaritas, but we realized that it would be just about perfect for any you decide to make. From now on, we’ll be adding it to our Classic Margarita and Lemon Margarita (and maybe even our Paloma, too). Keep reading for all there is to know about margarita salt!

Best Margarita Salt Recipe (2)

What is margarita salt?

Margarita salt is the salt added to the rim of a margarita glass. Why is a margarita served with salt? Well, salt intensifies the sweet and sour flavors in the drink. It makes the sour seem brighter, making the overall drink experience that much more pleasurable.

There are lots of store-bought brands of margarita salt out there. But why buy your own when you can make it at home? It’s seriously easy to make, and you don’t end up with random half-used containers lying around.

Best Margarita Salt Recipe (3)

How to make margarita salt

This recipe could not be simpler (literally). Here’s how to make margarita salt:

  1. Place kosher salt, lime zest and orange zest on a cutting board. (Scroll down to the recipe for the exact quantities).
  2. Crush them together using a rolling pin.

That’s it! Now, some recipes will call for drying out the citrus zest in the oven or doing other fancy things. In our testing, we found it’s not necessary: it really is this simple. Store your margarita salt in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 1 month. (It will probably last longer than that; we’re being conservative here.)

Best Margarita Salt Recipe (4)

How to make the perfect margarita salt rim

You might think that making a margarita salt rim wouldn’t have tips and tricks: but like anything in food and drink, it does! Here are our tips to making the perfect rim:

  1. Spread the salt on a plate in an even layer.
  2. Take a lime wedge and cut a notch in the middle: then slide it around the rim of the glass. This perfectly moistens the glass rim without having to use your fingers!
  3. To rim the glass, you’ll want the salt on the outside of the glass only, not the inside where it can fall into the drink. To do this, tilt the glass so that only the outside edge goes into the salt.
  4. Shake off any loose salt into the sink.

What kind of salt for a margarita is best?

The best type of salt to use for a margarita we’ve found is kosher salt. We like the size of the grains and the flavor that it brings. If you’d like to use sea salt for this recipe, you can do this as well. However, do not even think about using iodized table salt! The flavor of this type of salt is much too intense for rimming your drinks.

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Best Margarita Salt Recipe (5)

This recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.

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Best Margarita Salt Recipe (6)

Best Margarita Salt Recipe

★★★★★5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Sonja
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: ¼ cup 1x
Print Recipe

Description

This margarita salt recipe makes the best margarita salt rim! This zesty garnish takes any co*cktail from meh to a masterpiece. Here’s how to make it.

Ingredients

Scale

  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • Zest of 1/2 orange

Instructions

  1. Zest the lime. Zest the orange.
  2. Place all ingredients on a cutting board and crush them together using a rolling pin. Break any large pieces of zest with your fingers.
  3. Store in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 1 month.
  • Category: Drink
  • Method: Raw
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: Margarita Salt, Margarita salt rim, What is margarita salt, What kind of salt for margarita

Looking for other drink recipes?

And a few more popular drink recipes over here, sans alcohol:

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  • Lavender Lemon Spritzer
  • Sparkling Blood Orange Rosemary Water
  • Best Pourover Coffee
  • Cold Brew Coffee
  • How to Make Kombucha
  • Fruit Infused Water Recipe
  • Lemon Water Recipe
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  • Lime Water Recipe with Mint

vegan vegetarian gluten free

Published on / Last updated on

Categorized In:

  • co*cktails
  • Drink Recipes
  • Recipes

Tagged with:

  • co*cktail
  • Dairy-Free
  • Drinks
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Margarita
  • Plant-Based
  • Recipe
  • Salt
  • Vegan Recipes
  • Vegetarian Recipes

About the authors

Best Margarita Salt Recipe (7)

Sonja & Alex

Hi, we’re Alex and Sonja Overhiser, married cookbook authors, food bloggers, and recipe developers. We founded A Couple Cooks to share fresh, seasonal recipes for memorable kitchen moments! Our recipes are made by two real people and work every time.

About Us

Best Margarita Salt Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best salt for margaritas? ›

What Is The Best Salt For Margarita Rim? The best salt to use is kosher salt, which is more coarse and won't dissolve quickly as table salt will. However, several variations from spicy salt to flavored salt are available today, giving the kosher standard a run for its money.

How to get salt to stick to rim without lime? ›

You can also use Lemon juice. Orange juice does not work as well, it's too thick. Glassware – Salt rimming will work on any glass, just remember the golden rule, never touch the top half of the glass with your hands as you work.

What is the point of salt on the rim of a margarita? ›

Finally, the salt rim adds a textural element, offering a delightful crunch with every sip. The Sweet Symphony of Sugar: On the flip side, there's the sugar-rimmed margarita, a choice that may seem unconventional but is gaining popularity for those with a sweet tooth.

Do you lick salt before margarita? ›

Lick the salt off the rim as you drink your blended drink.

Lift your drink up to you and lick the rim, then use the straw to sip your margarita. If you don't like the salted rim, you can use the straw to avoid it altogether.

Which triple sec for margarita? ›

Cointreau is always my first choice,” says Stanislav Harcinik of Mirror Bar in Bratislava. “It brings citrusy-zesty aromatics to a Margarita's flavor profile, and makes the drink even lighter, with its aromatic floral notes that always make me smell it one more time and, of course, [take] another sip.”

How to get sugar rim to stick? ›

The Basic Steps in Rimming
  1. Wet the rim with a liquid such as citrus juice.
  2. Dip or roll the rim in a tray filled with sugar or salt.
  3. Shake off any excess.
  4. Allow the rim to dry before pouring a drink.
Mar 25, 2020

What kind of sugar for margarita rim? ›

Granulated sugar is by far the most common sugar used for adding a sugar rim to margaritas and other summery co*cktails, but brown sugar (or even turbinado sugar) would be great for complementing fall co*cktails like apple pie martinis and such.

Is kosher salt the same as sea salt? ›

Size: Kosher salt is large, and because it's industrially processed, it's more uniform in size. Sea salt crystals can be fine, flaky, chunky or coarse. Appearance: Kosher salt crystals are coarse and pebble-shaped, whereas sea salt is more delicate and crystals can take on a flaky or pyramid-like shape.

What is the best liquid to rim a glass with? ›

Moisten the rim with a clear liquid, such as lemon juice or simple syrup. Dip the glass into colored sugar or edible glitter for a visually stunning rim.

What makes salt stick to the glass? ›

You need the salt to stick to the rim of the glass, of course, and that's easily done with lemon or lime juice, which turns sticky as it dries.

What is the proper glass for a margarita? ›

Rocks glasses are the best and the standard glass for Margaritas,” describes Gina Buck, the beverage director at Concord Hill in Brooklyn, New York. “They make it easy to salt the rim of the glass as it doesn't spill everywhere.”

How do you make salt stick to the glass for a margarita? ›

Then, dip the dampened glass into some salt: this will allow the salt to stick to the lime you previously applied; gently tap on the glass to remove the excess salt and there you have it, a perfectly applied salt rim for your Margarita glass.

Should margaritas be served over ice? ›

Fill with ice and shake until thoroughly chilled, about 15 seconds (the bottom of a metal shaker should frost over). Fill glasses with fresh ice and strain margarita into both glasses. Garnish with lime wheels and serve.

How to get tajin to stick to glass? ›

Bring out the flavor of all your drinks with TAJÍN® rimmer. Squeeze lime or orange juice. Secondly, dip the rim of your glass into the juice, then into the Tajín powder.

What kind of salt do you use for tequila shots? ›

Ingredients for a Shot of Tequila

Here's our easy but delightful recipe: Pinch of kosher salt or sea salt. 1 1/2 ounces of Olmeca Gold Tequila. Lime or lemon wedge.

What is the difference between kosher and sea salt? ›

Size: Kosher salt is large, and because it's industrially processed, it's more uniform in size. Sea salt crystals can be fine, flaky, chunky or coarse. Appearance: Kosher salt crystals are coarse and pebble-shaped, whereas sea salt is more delicate and crystals can take on a flaky or pyramid-like shape.

What is a kosher salt substitute for margaritas? ›

6 Kosher Salt Substitutes
  • Coarse Sea Salt. One of the best substitutes for kosher salt, coarse sea salt has the same flaky texture and wide and coarse grains. ...
  • Himalayan Pink Salt. ...
  • Fleur de Sel. ...
  • Maldon Sea Salt. ...
  • Pickling Salt. ...
  • Hawaiian Red Salt.
Jun 6, 2024

How do you color salt for margaritas? ›

Measure salt or sugar into a clear jar with a tight fitting lid. Add food coloring one drop at a time and screw the cap on tightly. SHAKE to combine. Repeat until desired color is reached.

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