Made with nothing more than fresh squeezed lime juice, tequila, and pure maple syrup, these refined sugar free Skinny Margaritas are easy to shake up any time you feel the urge.
Alternatively titled: The Only Margarita Recipe You’ll Ever Need.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!!
Who’s putting their Cinco pantalones on and getting crunk tonight?
If Lover of Tacos, Coveter of Cheese, Mega Fan of Salsa, Destroyer of Beans, and/or Tequila Slayer are descriptors written in your heart slash Instagram or Tinder bio, can we pretty please be friends?…of the best varietal?
Let’s put on our Cinco pantalones and get crunk tonight!
Side note: Did you know Tequila only has one L in it? Messes me up every.dang.time. I won zero spelling bees as a child.
While I’m not hyper into sugary cocktails, I’ve always enjoyed a good authentic margarita.
The palatability of sweet citrusy flavor is so real, it’s probably instinctual for humans to feel attracted to it. Plus, tequila makes me loca in a way I don’t not love.
Tequila vibes? Always welcome.
When it comes to liquor, homemade cocktails using all natural ingredients is the way I roll.
If I’m out with friends, gin or tequila + soda water and lime will do in a pinch, but if I’m craving a tangy-sweet and strong marg, I always whip it up using fresh squeezed lime juice and a natural sweetener.
Really any liquid sweetener will work, and agave would be the more authentic route to go, but I simply have the personal preference of pure maple syrup when it comes to sweetening my beverages.
Choose your liquid sweetener adventure!
If you want to get real fancy and badass about it, you can always make a homemade refined sugar-free simple syrup using fruit. Simply heat 2 cups of fresh chopped fruit on the stove top with a couple tablespoons of water and liquid sweetener, and allow it to boil until the fruit is soft and squishy.
Mash the fruit, then strain the liquid to get the pulp out and you have yourself an au natural simple syrup infused with fruity flavor.
Take, for example, these Blackberry Basil Mojitos – an easy approach to sprucing up your beverage without adding all sorts of artificial flavors and/or refined sugars.
On the topic of sugar – you can omit the pure maple syrup from this recipe altogether if you’re going all-out sugar-free! I do this sometimes and still enjoy the drink.
Just be sure to add some soda water to offset the strength of the lime juice and tequila (this is known as the NorCal margarita). The fizz just works marvelously in this application.
If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration to keep your Cinco de Mayo clean and healthy, here are some ideas.
Healthy Mexican-Inspired Meals:
- Crunchy Taco Salad with Spiced Ground Turkey
- Roasted Portobello Mushroom Fajitas
- Fish Tacos with Orange Salsa
- Small Batch Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas
- Paleo Tres Leches Cake
Have a fun Cinco de Mayo, and a great weekend!…you tequila slayer, you.
Drink responsibly.
Cheers!
Skinny Margaritas
Ingredients
- 1.5 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1 ounce good quality tequila
- .5 ounce pure maple syrup to taste
- coarse sea salt for rimming glasses
- lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Run a wedge of lime along the rim of a glass, and dip the edge in coarse sea salt.
- Add the lime juice, tequila, and pure maple syrup to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake until chilled (if using a metal shaker, the bottom of the shaker should frost over). Serve margarita over ice (Note: double or triple the recipe if serving more people)
can we extend cinco de mayo one day so I can make these? Gah, i need! haha!
Thank you SO much for posting a lower sugar cocktail like this! I love margaritas so much, but they can be so sugary when you order them from a restaurant. My husband is a sucker for a lime margarita too, so I can’t wait to try this out on him. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
I’m not a fan of the sugary cocktail. Not-too-sweet margs are where it’s at for me! These sound awesome. I’ve never heard of a NorCal margarita but the fizz sounds like perfection :). Happy Cinco de Mayo Julia!
I’m so making these today! This sounds so much better than that sugary pre-made mix. Yuck!
I’m not normally into sweet cocktails either but when I am it’s a mule or margarita! This is exactly how I like my margarita — lots of lime and on the rocks. And the splash of maple syrup sounds perfect!
Aaaagh we need to get together for cocktails one day! 😉
Ohhh girl YES PLEASE! I’m all for tacos and margs and when they are naturally sweetened, I can have 3 right? xo
For you, girl? You can have whatever you’d like 😉 Hope you have a fantastic Cinco de Mayo!!
Yum!!! I haven’t thought to add maple syrup instead of agave…what a good idea!!! One time, when I was out of agave I used a lime popsicle from Whole Foods=obsession. That’s as far as I’ll go with adding something remotely sweet! Definitely trying maple syrup soon! Cheers Julia!
Aaaagh now you have me craving a tequila-infused lime popsicle, haha! Cheers to you, m’dear! Have a great weekend!