This Coconut Margarita recipe is the perfect summer cocktail. Made with just four ingredients that are easy to keep on hand, you will sip this in the sun all season long.
I am so excited to tell you today that:
I just created your new favorite cocktail recipe.
Please believe me when I tell you that this Coconut Margarita is going to knock your socks off. It is the perfect balance of sweet and sour. It has that great taste of coconut without it being overpowering, and it is more refreshing than you could even hope for.
Prepare to fall in love and make pitcher after pitcher of this great cocktail.
How to a Make Coconut Margarita
These margaritas are pretty simple. To make coconut margaritas, just combine the ingredients in a shaker filled with ice, and pour into glasses filled with ice and rimmed with toasted coconut.
The ingredients for this great cocktail are easy to keep on hand. Here’s what you need:
- Silver Tequila: If you only have gold tequila, you can use that, I just think the silver pairs better. Read my recommendations below.
- Cream of Coconut: This is different than coconut milk or coconut cream, because it is made from coconut cream but then sweetened. You can read more about the differences here. This is the brand we love to keep on hand.
- Triple sec: Triple sec is an orange flavored liqueur that is central to most margarita recipes. If you want a higher end version of this, keep a bottle of Cointreau on hand.
- Lime Juice: While I will always advocate that fresh limes make for the best lime juice and the best margaritas, if you make these with bottled lime juice you keep in the refrigerator you will still enjoy them.
Coconut Margarita vs. Traditional Margarita
One of my favorite cocktails on Simple Joy is my Margarita Recipe. It is just hands down the best drink. It is made with homemade sweet and sour mix, and it really will knock your socks off.
That being said, I made a few changes when it came to this Coconut Margarita. I wanted to make the lime flavor more pronounced for almost a coconut lime margarita taste. Additionally, the cream of coconut brings a lot of sweetness. Given those two things, I cut the sweet and sour mix and went with straight lime juice.
I think you will find that it is still the perfect balance of sweet and sour, while really giving you that delicious coconut taste that makes you feel like you are on a tropical island.
Choosing Tequila
Fortunately, there are great tequilas at every price point. The main thing to keep in mind is that you want to look for something that is 100% agave. Blue agave is the plant that makes tequila, and you want it to be the main ingredient for best quality.
Milagro Silver is our recommendation for a good mid level tequila that is 100% agave and absolutely delicious.
How to Garnish a Coconut Margarita
We love this great cocktail with a rim of toasted coconut and a lime wedge. Toasted coconut is very easy to make and stores in the pantry for ages. To rim your glass:
- Run a lime wedge around the rim of the glass. Keep in mind that this will work best with glasses that have some texture to them.
- Dip the glass in toasted coconut and roll around the side in it.
Not sure how to toast coconut? Check out our post on it.
Coconut Margaritas by the Pitcher
The recipe listed below is for two cocktails. But if you want to make a full pitcher – and I really think you do – you will need to alter the ingredients to the following. This will give you six cocktails.
- 1 cup (plus 2 tablespoons, so a heavy 1 cup pour) Silver Tequila
- 3/4 cup cream of coconut
- 1/3 cup triple sec
- 1/3 cup lime juice
More Tropical Cocktails
If you need of a tropical pick-me-up, try some of these amazing drink recipes or check out all of our Tropical Cocktails on Shake Drink Repeat.
If you make these Coconut Margaritas or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Coconut Margarita
Ingredients
- 3 ounces tequila we used silver
- 2 ounces cream of coconut
- 1 ounce triple sec
- 1 ounce lime juice
- fresh limes for garnishing
- toasted coconut for rimming glasses
Instructions
- Run a lime wedge around the rim of the glasses and roll them in toasted coconut. This will work best on a glass that has texture to it.
- In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine the tequilla, cream of coconut, triple sec, and lime juice. Shake to combine.
- Add ice to the prepared margarita glasses. Divide the contents of the cocktail shaker evenly between the two glasses. Serve and enjoy.
- Read our instructions in the post to make a pitcher of Coconut Margaritas.
Sarah W says
Can this be made using a Ninja blender instead of a cocktail shaker? This sounds amazing! I definitely want to try it but I don’t have a cocktail shaker.
You can do that for sure and mix it with ice for a frozen margarita. Or frozen banana would be awesome too! Otherwise, you can making it in a mixing glass and just whisk the ingredients really well so the coconut gets broken up and mixes with the rest of the ingredients.
Sarah W says
I have a question about making this in a pitcher… how would you mix it sufficiently to break up the coconut cream? I love this cocktail made in my blender or cocktail shaker but I worry that the coconut wouldn’t mix well enough just being stirred in a pitcher? Have you tried it? Many Thanks! Love this drink!
That totally makes sense, Sarah. If you can’t break it up with stirring (and that will just depend on the brand you get), I would add it all to a blender and let the blender do the work. Then pour it into a pitcher (or just serve it right from the blender).
Bryan says
Even diluted with ice, this drink is crazy strong. I can’t even detect the large amount of coconut because the tequila overwhelms everything else. I might as well be drinking it straight.
I’m so sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy that. It’s possible that it was the brand of tequila you use. We’ve made this multiple times and find this super balanced, but tastes do vary.
Rebecca says
This was great! Accidentally got unsweetened coconut so I added simple syrup, so tropical & delish.
I’m so glad you lied it!
Victoria says
Amazing!!!! Just the margarita I was looking for. 😋 It it possible to make this in advance and let it stay in the fridge in the pitcher?
I’m so glad you liked this! Yes! You can make it ahead of time. I would say 48 hours in advance max.
Carol B says
Hi, this sounds wonderful I would love to try this. Do you use fresh lime juice or can you use the one in the bottle?
Thanks,
Carol
I always think fresh tastes best but I’ve been known to use bottled in a pinch.
Jeanne says
Thank you for this recipe! It is absolutely delicious! It is now my favorite drink to make at home. I used silver Patron tequila and it was a bit strong so next time I’ll cut back a bit. I also used Gran Gala instead of triple sec. It’s so, so good. Really makes a difference. I am a Texan living in Singapore. I love making anything Mexican here as I miss it dearly. I have a hard time getting rims decorated. A linked blogger suggests using the cream of coconut on the rim to get the coconut to stick. I’ll try that next time. Again . . . thank you!!!
I’m so glad that you like this one as much as I do! Kyro syrup works super well too!
Megan Warren says
This ratio is wicked strong. I would not recommend!
I’m so sorry this was a miss for you. I love this one exactly as it’s written.
Julie says
Fabulous recipe – thank you! We are in the UK and ordered the cream of coconut off Amazon and it was awesome. We also added a few drops off tabasco and did a coconut chilli rim which was perfect. Thank you!
What a fun twist! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Emogene Brown says
Love the coconut margarita. I used Jose Feraro Tequila. Delicious!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!