The recipe for these Top Shelf Hatch Chile Margaritas is the only margarita recipe you’ll ever need. Made with spicy hatch chiles and fresh squeezed lime juice for the perfect cocktail! Guest post by Aunt Lorri, maker of the best margaritas ever.
Imagine how thrilled I was when my wonderfully talented niece, Kaleigh asked me to guest post for Lively Table!! Last month was hatch chile month in Texas! Hatch Chile Month is one of my favorite holidays! I sent Kaleigh a photo of my famous Hatch Chile Margarita and she replied back with an invitation to guest post on her blog. Our family has enjoyed margaritas for decades……going back to the building of the family lake house, “Casa de los Sueños”. Back in the day, our margaritas were the frozen concoctions rendered from the blending of frozen limeade concentrate, tequila, triple sec and ice. We could tell by the sound of the blender motor chugging along when they were ready!
Over the years (and after a few too many brain freezes from the frozen drinks) our palates have changed. We moved into the “on the rocks” version of the margarita…….substituting a store bought mixer in place of the frozen limeade concentrate.
About 4 years ago, our son Eric taught me how to make a simple syrup consisting of a mix of sugar and water. He further educated me on the importance of fresh ingredients in cocktails, along with adding only the best spirits to the mix. I was hooked! A margarita with freshly squeezed and strained lime juice, homemade simple syrup and tequila that didn’t cause a headache!
On another trip home, Eric taught me to infuse spirits with vegetables. One Christmas Eve, we enjoyed our Margaritas with jalapeño infused tequila! I also noticed Eric adding herbs and spices to his simple syrups. Crazy things like star anise, cardamom pods, pepper corns, juniper berry and the like! Well like son like mother, I had to try my hand at these ideas. While I am much too impatient to wait for infused tequila, I simply added cut up fresh jalapeños to my simple syrup. This made for a wonderfully heated spicy margarita!
We experimented with these margaritas while on a family trip in Cabo san Lucas in 2014. We perfected the recipe and it ended up spoiling us to the point that ordering a margarita in a restaurant continues to be a disappointment. We even served these very margaritas at my niece Brandy’s wedding celebration this past May in Las Vegas! They have become our ‘house’ margarita of sorts.
For Hatch Chile Month, I substituted Hatch Chiles for the Jalapeño in my simple syrup and added a muddling of chopped Hatch Chiles to my cocktail shaker for an added twist to make Hatch Chile Margaritas. I hope you enjoy my ‘house’ margarita. I do believe it is ‘top shelf’!
PrintTop Shelf Hatch Chile Margaritas
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup raw hatch chile, roughly chopped
- 2 oz quality silver tequila (we love 1800 Silver)
- 2 oz freshly squeezed and strained lime juice
- 2 oz hatch chile simple syrup (see recipe below)
- ice
For the hatch chile simple syrup:
- 1 cup organic sugar
- 1 ½ cups of water
- 3 star anise pods
- 10 whole green cardamom pods
- 1 3” cinnamon stick
- 25 whole back pepper corns
- 3 bay leaves
- 15 whole coriander seeds
- 1 hatch chile, roughly chopped (leave the seeds and pith for added heat!)
Instructions
For the hatch chile symple syrup:
- Place the sugar and water mixture on the stove top until the sugar has melted. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a quick boil, then remove from heat and allow the ingredients to steep for an hour or so. Strain the syrup through a fine strainer and allow it to cool. Once cool, transfer to a glass container. Syrup will keep up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
For the Margaritas:
- Muddle a bit of fresh hatch chili in the bottom of your cocktail shaker.
- Add ice to the shaker and 2 ounces each of simple syrup, fresh lime juice, and tequila.
- Shake vigorously and pour over fresh ice in a clean glass!
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Best family and best margaritas ever! Great guest post, Aunt Lorri!
Definitely, Christie!
You must be disappointed with from scratch Rita’s in restaurants with such a concoction like this one…can’t wait to try…cheers.
I sure am most of the time. I have found 2 restaurants where I live where I will drink a margarita, but that’s it! Enjoy!
I can not WAIT to try these margaritas! We love sipping on room temperature Ancho Reyes® (ancho chile infused liqueur). I still haven’t mastered making this at all! I’m so anxious in hopes your simple syrup recipe will provide the missing links Ü Thanks so much!