Looking for the best low-carb Margarita recipe to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Why is it so hard? For such a simple drink with few ingredients. Surprisingly, the tastes for Margaritas will vary for every restaurant or bar. Some Margaritas are very tart and some much too sweet. Our “classic” version is low in carbs and high in taste. It eliminates the sugar and higher carb fruit juices. We tried many variations, but keep coming back to our favorite!
Ingredients
The key ingredient is tequila. This is where a lot of the variations occur. Some restaurants have pages in their drink menu devoted to every brand of “top notch” tequila imaginable. Margaritas should be made with a top quality silver tequila. We like “1800 Silver” for our Margaritas. It is clean and neat and a classic “silver” tequila.
Classic means lime juice! But, you can also find mango, peach, strawberry, melon, orange, and raspberry juice Margaritas. For a while, frozen Margaritas were all the rage. Margarita mixes and sweetened lime juice sodas are used to make quick inexpensive Margaritas and many bars offer versions with these additives. However, we still prefer ours to be classic lime and “on-the-rocks.” Stick with fresh lime juice. A helpful tip would be to buy a large bag of limes at your favorite wholesale store, use a juicer, measure the right amount for a drink and freeze them in ice cube trays.
The original Margarita recipes were made with only tequila, lime juice, and agave syrup for sweetening. Current recipes often use a simple syrup made with dissolved sugar in water rather than agave. The ingredients should be combined with a large amount of ice and shaken.
Some form of orange flavored liqueur is also frequently added. Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, and Cointreau are all orange flavored and work well with a “classic margarita.” Some restaurants call the orange flavored Margarita a “Texas Margarita.” But, the orange liqueurs do add carbs.
Our Recipe
To make our recipe low carb we eliminate the agave syrup or the sugar based simple syrup. We make it even more simple by adding “EZ Sweetz” and water directly to our shaker. It is liquid splenda or liquid sucralose. Splenda is filled with 99% of bulking materials like Dextrose and Maltodextrin. These add to the cost and the carbs of Splenda. Liquid sucralose tastes just like sugar! We use 5 drops in our margarita and have less after-taste and less carbs than our original.
For our orange taste we use “orange extract.” It has zero carbs and a little goes a long way. Again, we buy “Nielsen-Massey organic orange extract” from Amazon; it is advertised as the finest available, and we agree. Add fresh squeezed lime juice and a good silver tequila and you have a “classic” low-carb thirst quenching Margarita for Cinco de Mayo!
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The Perfect Low Carb Margarita – Make One Tonight!
Enjoy Cinco de Mayo and celebrate this wonderful Holiday with good food, good friends, and our Tasty Low Carb Margarita! It will become your go-to Margarita Recipe! To make a large batch of Margaritas try our Classic Low Carb Margarita Mix!
Margarita – Classic and Low Carb
Ingredients
- 2 ounces silver tequila
- 1 ounce lime juice (fresh squeezed)
- ⅛ teaspoon orange extract (nielsen massey)
- 5 drops EZ Sweetz
- 1 ½ ounces water
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients in a shaker and shake well.
- Place lime juice around the rim of a chilled glass and dip in a plate full of sea salt.
- Fill the glass with ice cubes and pour the Margarita from the shaker. Garnish with a lime wedge and serve.
Chef’s Notes
Nutrition
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I know this is late in the game, but can you substitute Torani Sugar Free Lime Syrup for the lime juice?
We have not tried the Torani Sugar Free Lime Syrup. We enjoy the tartness from fresh lime juice, but Torani does have a recipe using their sugar-free lime syrup. It is 2 to 1 tequila to lime syrup and they top with a splash of club soda. If you have it available, give it a try and let us know. We always enjoy our readers offering their take of our recipes. Thanks for the comment . . . Joanie.
Best recipe I have found so far. Loved it!
Thank you so much! Have another! . . . Joanie.
So, I tried it with my peach syrup and it tastes amazing! I use 1 tablespoon in place of the orange extract and it’s perfect! I see Jordan’s now has a strawberry watermelon skinny syrup. I will have to order that soon. Thank you!
We just may have to hire you! Kudos for experimenting and creating! We will be doing the same and hope to add these syrups to more of our recipes and creations. Thanks . . . Joanie.
Can you add fruity flavored skinny syrups like mango or peach? If so, how much would you use?
Our Margarita is flavored with fresh lime juice and orange extract – the classic way. By substituting EZ-Sweetz drops for sugary syrup or agave we keep it low carb. We also have a number of cocktail recipes on our site where we use water enhancers for flavoring (they have no carbs). That being said, you may be on to something with the Skinny Mixes. Jordan’s is a good brand as it has no calories, no sugar, and zero carbs. They accomplish this by sweetening with Sucralose which is exactly what we see in EZ Drops or Sweetleaf drops. So, you are on the right track. We would say drop the orange extract and try Jordan’s Mango Skinny Mix or their Peach product. I would start with 1-2 teaspoons. You can always add more to taste. Let us know, we may be incorporating this into some new cocktails. Thanks for the comment . . . Joanie.