Let’s celebrate winter citrus season in the best way possible — with this Cara Cara margarita! Made with freshly squeezed Cara Cara orange juice, this winter citrus margarita balances the perfect sweet and tart combination for one refreshing cocktail. You’ll want to sip on this tasty little number all season long.

Two cara cara margaritas on a silver platter with orange flowers and Cara Cara slices to the side.

Why You Need to Make This Recipe

Winter citrus is at its best this time of year, and there’s no better way to enjoy these seasonal fruits than with a delicious cocktail. My blood orange margarita has always been a favorite, and now we’re adding this Cara Cara cocktail to the list.

A Cara Cara orange is a cross between two types of navel oranges with a beautiful pink flesh. This ultra juicy orange variety is sweeter and less acidic than your typical navel orange, so it wonderfully melds with classic margarita flavors.

Sounds delicious, right? This is truly one of my favorite winter fruits, but we need to enjoy it while we can. Cara Cara orange season only lasts from December to April, so that means we need to whip up as many of these margaritas as possible. Lucky us.

Related: If you love this citrusy drink, make sure you also try my Texas margarita, blood orange gin fizz and grapefruit gin mule.

Looking straight onto a Cara Cara margarita with flowers in the background and to the side.

Ingredients

Let’s make sure we’re ready to start mixing. Here are the ingredients for a Cara Cara orange margarita.

Fresh Cara Cara juice: The star of our cocktail show!
Fresh lime juice: You don’t want bottled lime juice. Fresh is the way to go.
Tequila: I like my margaritas with reposado tequila, which spends time aging in oak barrels to give it a more complex taste than blanco tequila. But feel free to use whatever you have on hand.
Orange liqueur: For a top-shelf margarita, you can’t go wrong with Gramd Marnier or Cointreau. Triple sec works for a more economical option.
Simple syrup: The touch of sweetness helps round out the citrusy flavors. If you prefer a more tart margarita, you may find the simple syrup is unnecessary, but I think it's best with some added sweetness.
Ice: To make our winter citrus margarita as refreshing as possible.
Garnishes: I like a salted rim with lime and Cara Cara orange slices.
Bar tools: We need a cocktail shaker, a jigger or small measuring cup, and a citrus juicer.

The ingredients with black and white labels on a white background.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Let’s grab a cocktail shaker and start mixing. We begin by adding the Cara Cara orange juice, lime juice, tequila, orange liqueur, simple syrup and a handful of ice to a cocktail shaker. We pop on the top and give it a good shake for about 30 seconds.

If we’d like a fancy rim, which I always enjoy, we rum a lime slice along the lip of the glass. This moistens the glass, so we can then swirl the it on a small plate with coarse sea salt. Just like that, we have our salted rim.

A glass in a plate of salt to show the process of how to rim a margarita glass with salt.

Now we strain our margarita into our rimmed glass and add lime slices and Cara Cara orange slices for an extra pretty garnish. And that’s it! Sip and enjoy winter’s best flavors.

Expert Tips and FAQs

You can use store-bought or homemade simple syrup. To make simple syrup, bring 1 cup water and 1 cup white sugar to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. For an even stronger Cara Cara flavor, we could even add zest from one orange to the mixture. This will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks when stored in an airtight container.
If your store is out of Cara Cara oranges, feel free to substitute another citrus. It will still make for a delicious winter citrus margarita.
If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, a mason jar with a lid works as well.
When picking limes, get those that feel plump and have some give when you press on them. If they’re too hard, that’s a sign the juice has dried up.
Before juicing the lime, firmly roll it and on the countertop under the palm of your hand a few times. This gets the juices flowing.
If you need an nonalcoholic version, skip the tequila and liqueur and replace with a sparkling water topper.

Two orange margaritas on a silver platter with flowers on the side.

Perfect Pairing

Since we’re all about winter citrus, let’s keep the theme going with my slow-roasted blood orange salmon. This salmon features a blood orange glaze with honey and ginger, which perfectly meld with the Cara Cara orange, and this citrusy cocktail helps keep our palate refreshed after eat bite of the rich salmon.

I hope you make the most of winter citrus season with this Cara Cara margarita.

Cheers!

The Cara Cara margarita on a silver platter with orange slices next to it and flowers in the background.

The Cara Cara margaritas on a silver platter with flowers behind it.

Looking for More Winter Citrus Cocktails?

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