This Italian Margarita is a fun, sweet twist on the classic margarita cocktail. The addition of Amaretto gives this marg a rich rich sweetness.
The Italian Margarita was made famous by the ubiquitous Italian-ish chain restaurant: Olive Garden. Italian Margaritas require only a handful of ingredients and take just a couple of minutes to shake up. If you love margaritas and Amaretto liqueur, you'll love these drinks.
Looking for more margarita recipes? Try my Blood Orange Margaritas and Golden Margaritas!
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🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
It's a delicious spin on a classic. Amaretto is a really tasty addition to the classic margarita.
It's easy to make. If you can shake up a few ingredients and strain them into a glass, you can make this drink.
It tastes like the drink from the Olive Garden. The Italian Margarita was popularized by Olive Garden - and this one tastes just like theirs!
💭 What is an Italian Margarita?
An Italian Margarita is a fun, sweet twist on the classic margarita cocktail. However, instead of (or in addition to, as is the case with this recipe) orange liqueur, Amaretto liqueur is used.
📝 Ingredients
- Tequila: I used reposado tequila, but use whatever variety you prefer.
- Amaretto: Amaretto is an Italian liqueur that can be made from almonds, apricot pits, peach stones, or bitter almonds, depending upon the brand. I used Disaronno, which, interestingly, tastes like almonds, but isn't actually made from almonds.
- Orange liqueur: Use whatever orange liqueur you prefer. I used triple sec for this drink, as it's what I had on hand.
- Juice: This recipe calls for both lime and lemon juices. Freshly squeezed only, please.
- Garnishes: I rimmed my glasses with granulated sugar and dropped a fresh lime wheel into the drink.
👩🏻🍳 How to make an Italian Margarita
You'll start out by rimming a rocks (or margarita) glass with granulated sugar. To do this, just run a lime wedge around the rim of the glass before running the rim through some sugar.
Plunk a nice big ice cube (or several smaller ice cubes) into the glass. Be careful not to knock any of the sugar off of the rim.
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After that, add the tequila, Amaretto, and juices to a cocktail shaker with ice. Give everything a good shake until it's very cold.
Strain the marg into your prepared glass, again being careful to not dislodge any of the sugary rim.
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From there, all you have to do is garnish everything with a fresh lime wheel! Enjoy your Italian Margarita!
🔗 Other margarita recipes
In search of other margarita recipes? Check out the recipes below from A Nerd Cooks and other talented bloggers.
- Passion Fruit Margaritas from The Gourmet Bon Vivant
- Golden Margaritas from A Nerd Cooks
- Blood Orange Margaritas from Garnish
- Apple Cider Margaritas from A Nerd Cooks
🔗 Other Italian cocktail recipes
What about other Italian or Italian-ish cocktails? We got 'em! Peruse the links below and you're sure to find some new favorites.
- Amaretto Sour from The Gourmet Bon Vivant
- Limoncello Spritzes from A Nerd Cooks
- Negroni from Rachel Cooks
- Rossini Cocktail from A Nerd Cooks
- Limoncello Margaritas from A Sassy Spoon
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❓ FAQs/Tips and tricks
Sure! Just scale up the ingredients as needed.
I mean, not technically. But I will say that you just can't beat freshly squeezed juice. The flavor is just so much better than anything you'll find pre-squeezed in the store.
Amaretto is an Italian liqueur that's sometimes made from
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✨ Recipe
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Italian Margarita
Equipment
- Cocktail jigger
- Boston shaker
- Hawthorne strainer
- Rocks glasses
Ingredients
- lime wedge
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 ounces tequila
- 1 ounce Amaretto liqueur
- 0.5 ounce orange liqueur
- 0.5 ounce lime juice freshly squeezed
- 0.5 ounce lemon juice freshly squeezed
- lime wheel for garnish
Instructions
- Run a lime wedge around the rim of a rocks glass and dip it into the granulated sugar
- Add a large ice cube to the prepared glass
- Add the tequila, Amaretto, orange liqueur, and juices to a cocktail shaker with ice
- Shake until very cold
- Strain into the prepared glass
- Garnish the margarita with a lime wheel
Notes
- Use freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice for the best tasting margarita
Disclaimer: Nutritional information is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.
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