Margarita on-the-rocks (Difford's recipe)

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (424 ratings)

Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Patrón Reposado tequila
34 oz Cointreau triple sec liqueur
34 oz Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
16 oz Agave syrup
2 drop Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water) optional
4 drop Difford's Margarita Bitters optional
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
  2. Optionally, RIM glass with salt (moisten outside edge with lime juice and dip into salt).
  3. Prepare garnish of lime wedge.
  4. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  5. STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
  6. Garnish with lime wedge.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10
Cocktail of the day:

28th January 2025 is National Daisy Day

Review:

This is how we prefer our margaritas to be served. Tangy citrus and tequila with a hint of balancing sweetness and a faint salty undertone. We also prefer the subtlety of half a pinch of salt in the drink to a salt laden glass rim.

View readers' comments

History:

The traditional Margarita recipe is 2 parts tequila, 1 part triple sec and 1 part lime juice. This produces a drink which is a tad on the sour side with the sweetness of the triple sec not quite balancing the sourness of the lime. Hence, depending on the sourness of the limes, I like to add a spoon (5ml) of agave syrup to boost flavour and improve the drink's balance.
See: Margarita cocktail history.

Nutrition:

One serving of Margarita on-the-rocks (Difford's recipe) contains 167 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.4 standard drinks
  • 20.89% alc./vol. (20.89° proof)
  • 19.9 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Adam G. Manning’s Avatar Adam G. Manning
11th February at 15:56
Hi Simon.

Thanks for answering some of my questions elsewhere.

Long time reader of the books, though only recently started using the website.

Am I going crazy, or did the Diffords Margarita not once upon a time be
6:3:2, Tequila, Cointreau, Lime?

If I’m remembering this right, when and why did the change of heart occur ?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
12th February at 14:41
I've checked back as far as our 7th edition (2007) and Margarita recipe is 2:1:1.
Vincenzo’s Avatar Vincenzo
27th December 2024 at 08:41
This is so delicious that I woke up in the morning speaking Spanish!
Egg McKenzie’s Avatar Egg McKenzie
11th January at 19:25
the MOMENT this hit my lips i had to take my PANTS and SOCKS off
12th December 2024 at 10:00
I fell in love with this cocktail 3 years back when i was a bar back and till we'll still together as a Mixologist... don't think we're breaking up soon
29th June 2024 at 20:22
Great margarita recipe - going to be my go-to. But a question for the community - does anyone have a trick for measuring a small amount of agave syrup? Even if I measure the syrup into another ingredient already in the jigger, a significant amount ends up sticking to the sides of the measure.
Shannon Brown’s Avatar Shannon Brown
18th January at 07:34
I just use measuring spoons. This is all you need to know and you can convert any fraction of an ounce:
1 ounce = 2 tablespoons
1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons
So 1/6 of an ounce is 1 teaspoon.
Alexandros Kordatzakis’ Avatar Alexandros Kordatzakis
26th November 2024 at 20:27
I just put it first and let all other ingredients try and "rinse" it with them. It works.
9th June 2024 at 03:28
My first margarita was made by an elder gentleman in Mexico, and I've never deviated: Equal parts good tequila, Cointreau, and fresh lime juice. No sweetener needed. It's perfection. But I can't wait to try this one!
Joel Tunnah’s Avatar Joel Tunnah
5th May 2024 at 16:19
I really don’t like more than a half ounce of fresh lemon or lime juice in any standard sized (3 oz) cocktail. 1.5 oz Tequila, 1 oz Cointreau, 1/2 oz Lime juice, 1/2 tsp Agave syrup… works best for me.
Alex’s Avatar Alex
11th March 2024 at 17:38
By far my favourite margarita recipe, looking forward to warmer evenings where I can enjoy one in the garden whilst watching the sunset.
30th January 2024 at 07:55
An excellent, refreshing drink. The pinch of salt in the drink is inspired versus the standard rim coating.
Matt Tench’s Avatar Matt Tench
7th October 2023 at 13:16
It's worth noting that serving this rocks will change the perception of sweetness. The straight-up spec here on Diffords has the same amount of sweetener.

You can test this by making a double batch (blanco or reposado) and serving half rocks and half straight-up and comparing. A fun experiment! Good science demands several runs...
4th September 2023 at 03:28
This is how we make our margaritas sans the added saline. I like to make a pitcher and pour over ice in a blender and add an egg white for a frothy frozen version.