A beautiful ruby colored sweet and citrusy blood orange cocktail that’s guaranteed to earn you some serious points with your guests!
What do you get when a margarita and a mimosa fall in love?
Debbie loves her margaritas and she’s converted me to a fan over the years. Even if you aren’t a die hard tequila fan, everyone loves a sparkly mimosa that’s bubbling with fruity flavor? Even the boys! Don’t let them tell you otherwise… ;P
This blood orange cocktail is fun to serve at your cocktail party cuz it will keep your guests on their toes. Is it a margarita….? Or is it a mimosa….? Its damn delicious, that’s what it is! You and your guests will both love it. But it comes with a kick, so drink at your own risk.
We like to call this blood orange cocktail a sparkling margarita and this one is made with fresh squeezed blood orange juice, tequila, vanilla simple syrup, sprigs of mint and topped with a good glug of sparkling wine, or champagne. First you will need to make blood orange juice ice cubes. If you use plain ice cubes with the fresh squeezed juice to make the frozen part of the margarita, it will be all watered down and not very tasty.
Trust us, we learned this the hard way a long time ago…
Add some cooled simple syrup to your blood orange ice cubes when you blend it and blend till you have a slightly sweet slushy mixture. In a glass, add the mint and tequila and muddle it really well to infuse that minty flavor into the tequila. Add a good dollop of the slushy mixture to the glass and top that with bubbly.
The only prep work involved in these is making the blood orange ice cubes. We freshly squeezed our oranges, but you may be able to find some good blood orange juice somewhere. If you do, let us know! WE WANT SOME!
We know you guys are going to love this cocktail! And with the spring sun starting to appear more often, this blood orange cocktail is just what you need. Last weekend, after cleaning our new house, Kevin and I had a few people over to check out our new (amazing) place. The sun was shining so we all grabbed chairs and sat outside on our brand new front deck and sipped on these beauties. When the sun went behind a tree, we all grabbed our chairs and raced to the back deck where there was another patch of sun. Up here in south western BC, when the spring sun is shining, we take full advantage!
Cheers!
Tools to Make this Blood Orange Cocktail Even Easier for You
- Blendtec blender or Vitamix – I have a blendtec, Debbie has a vitamix. They both work awesome. If you are curious, here’s a great article on the differences. They may be a bit pricy, but they are so worth it!
- Margaritaville Frozen Cocktail Maker – if you want the coolest margarita maker out there, this is the one you need! Debbie has one and we use it all summer long!
- Glasses for Serving your sparkling margarita – we usually like to serve ours in stemless wine glasses, or in some pretty glasses like we have in our photos. They just look so pretty!
- These glasses are the coolest outdoor wine glasses I have seen! Perfect for summer!
An Insanely Delicious Blood Orange Sparkling Margarita
A beautiful ruby colored sweet and citrusy blood orange cocktail that’s guaranteed to earn you some serious points with your guests!
Ingredients
FOR THE VANILLA SIMPLE SYRUP
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 vanilla bean , split in half
FOR THE COCKTAIL
- 6 blood oranges , juiced and juice frozen in ice cube trays. You will need at least 8 ice cubes.
- 4 oz vanilla simple syrup (or more to taste)
- 8 oz tequila 2 oz per cocktail
- 1 sprig of mint for each cocktail
- 16 oz sparking wine to the top of the glass 4 oz per cocktail
Instructions
- Juice and freeze your blood orange juice.
- Make the simple syrup. Combine the sugar and water in a small pot and bring to a simmer. While its heating, scrape the insides of the vanilla bean to get all the good stuff out. Add it and the pods to the water and sugar mixture. Continue to simmer until the mixture starts to gets syrupy. It will coat the back of a spoon when its dipped in. Let the mixture cool completely.
MAKE THE COCKTAIL
- Add the blood orange ice cubes to a blender along with the simple syrup. Blend it up well till its a slush. Taste it to see if you are happy with the sweetness. If you need to, add a little more syrup and mix.
- In each cocktail glass, add the tequila and mint. Muddle the mint with the tequila to release the minty flavor. Add a good dollop of the blood orange slush to each glass. We liked about 1/4 cup of the slush in each glass. Top up each glass with the sparkling wine and serve!
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