Name: Italian Margarita
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 40 ml Reposado tequila; 20 ml Amaretto liqueur; 20 ml Lime juice; 10 ml Triple sec; 2.5 ml Agave syrup; 3 drop Saline solution 4:1

Italian Margarita
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Glass:

Photographed in an Urban Bar Retro Optic Coupette 15cl

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₃ fl oz	Patrón Reposado tequila
²⁄₃ fl oz	Adriatico Amaretto Liqueur
²⁄₃ fl oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Cointreau L'Unique triple sec liqueur
¹⁄₁₂ fl oz	Agave syrup (agave nectar)
3 drop	Saline solution (20g sea salt to 80g water) or merest pinch of s

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lime wedge.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

Garnish with lime wedge.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A liberal splash of amaretto adds Italian almondy subtexts to a classic Margarita.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe I discovered in 2005 at the Club Bar in The Peninsula Beverly Hills, USA.

Nutrition:

One serving of Italian Margarita contains 194 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
20.33% alc./vol. (40.67° proof)
20.2 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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Showing 10 of 19 comments for Italian Margarita.
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Simon Sedgley

18th April at 12:34

We sympathise with other commenters who found this to be a bit sour/tart. To address this, we toyed with the idea of flipping the volumes of the liqueurs but concluded that this would do harm to the 'idea' of the cocktail. So we decided that the shortest distance between two points lay in the direction of our bottle of agave syrup, from which we added just 2.5ml. Much better for us. And we agree with other commenters that a splash of mezcal doesn't go astray.

Simon Difford

18th April at 18:25

Agreed, the recipe was a tad tart, so thanks to others below, I've reformulated to include the addition of half a bar spoon of agave syrup.

Joannah Barnes

12th October 2025 at 11:26

This is a favourite with myself and my friends. It’s a very smooth and easy to drink version of the classic

Egg McKenzie

19th April 2025 at 13:27

Found it a bit tart - could have taken a little more amaretto. Might just have been my limes though. Should have tasted shouldn’t I. Ffs

David Orme

22nd February 2025 at 15:35

Superb just superb

Loïc Pierre

15th February 2025 at 00:05

I added some lime, as the orange was too dominant to my taste. Next time I would try with tequila blanco, or mix reposado with some mezcal as suggested.

Rik de Boer

30th July 2025 at 07:52

Even more lime juice? Maybe it's because I live in Australia where fresh juicy limes are plentiful, but I found 5/6 oz lime was a little too sour/tart.

John Hinojos

12th January 2025 at 03:51

Made again, but took the other comments to mix the reposado and some mezcal. Added a little Margarita Bitters. Everything took the cocktail to another level,