With a hint of lemongrass, ginger and cilantro, these refreshingly tart and lightly sweetened lemongrass margaritas are a fun change up from classic margaritas. They're perfect with either Thai or Mexican food!
I love a good classic margarita. And you all do too, since you love my Skinny Margaritas. But I do love a good twist on a margarita, too - as long as it's tart and strong, just like the classic! This lemongrass version version is one of my favorite twists on a margarita. So grab some lemongrass (found with the fresh herbs), limes, and ginger, and relax with one of these festive drinks!
Why You'll Love These Lemongrass Margaritas
With fresh hints of lemongrass, ginger, and cilantro, this margarita is a tad more floral, fresh and earthy than a regular margarita, but it still has the same tart lime flavor and punch of tequila! With an adjustable amount of simple syrup, you can customize the sweetness to your taste. They are simply delicious with both Thai food and Mexican food - whatever you are in the mood for!
How To Make Lemongrass Simple Syrup
- Bruise the lemongrass stalk by smashing it with the blade of a large knife. Cut the stalk in half lengthwise and add to a saucepan with the sugar, ginger, and water.
- Bring to a boil and stir. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat, cover, and let the syrup cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
- Strain into a jar (add a stalk of lemongrass if you want) and store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. It will keep (flavor wise) for a couple of days. After that it will start to taste like plain simple syrup.
How To Make Lemongrass Margaritas
- To rim the glasses, mix kosher salt, sugar and grated ginger on a small plate. Rub the mixture with your fingers to infuse the salt and sugar with the ginger flavor.
- Wet the edges of glasses with limes and dip in the salt mixture. Fill glasses with ice and set aside.
- To make the margaritas, muddle cilantro in the bottom of a shaker. Add ice, tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and simple syrup.
- Shake vigorously for a few seconds and strain into glasses.
Can These Be Made In Advance?
The simple syrup can be made up to 2 days in advance. Any longer than that and it tends to lose flavor and you'll just have a regular margarita. The limes should be juiced the day you will make the margaritas, as the juice will lose flavor as it sits also. You can mix up the margaritas a few hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator, just make sure to leave the ice out so they don't get watered down!
Recipe Variations
- Adjust the amount of simple syrup to suit your taste. I like a more tart margarita, so I use about ½ oz of simple syrup per drink.
- If you don't like cilantro, either leave it out, or you can swap it for basil (regular basil or Thai basil).
More Margarita Recipes You'll Love
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PrintLemongrass Margarita
With a hint of lemongrass, ginger and cilantro, these refreshingly tart and lightly sweetened lemongrass margaritas are a fun change up from classic margaritas. They're perfect with either Thai or Mexican food!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cooling Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 drinks 1x
- Category: cocktails
- Method: shaken
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
For the lemongrass simple syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 (about 6 inch) stalk lemongrass
- 4-5 slices fresh ginger
For margaritas (makes 2)
- 2 fresh cilantro sprigs
- 3 oz tequila (blanco or reposado)
- 3 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 ½ oz Cointreau
- 1 to 1 ½ oz lemongrass simle syrup
- Ice
- For rims: 2 tp kosher salt, 2 tsp sugar, ½ tsp grated ginger, lime wedges
Instructions
- To make the simple syrup, bruise the lemongrass by smushing it with a large knife. Cut the stalk down the center lengthwise. Add the sugar, water, lemongrass and ginger to a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and let the syrup cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Strain into a jar and store in the refrigerator.
- On a small plate, mix equal parts kosher salt and sugar with grated ginger. Rub lime wedge around the rims of glasses and dip in salt mixture. Fill glasses with ice and set aside.
- Add cilantro to the bottom of a shaker and muddle to release the oils. Add tequila, lime juice, Cointreau, lemongrass simple syrup and a handful of ice to the shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into glasses.
Notes
- Adjust the amount of simple syrup to suit your taste. I like a less sweet margarita, so I use about ½ oz per drink.
- Lemongrass can be found with the fresh herbs at your grocery store.
- If you don't like cilantro, you can use fresh basil (try Thai basil if you have it!) or just leave it out.
- The lemongrass simple syrup can be made up to 2 days in advance. It tends to lose flavor as it sits, so it won't last much longer than that.
Keywords: lemongrass margarita, lemongrass ginger margarita
Love this flavor combo!! And love cinco de mayo. I'm actually hosting a dinner party next weekend and going to do a cinco de mayo theme!
Sounds like so much fun!