Mai Tai Cocktail | Merry Merry

If you’ve never made a Mai Tai at home, you’re in for a treat. This classic tiki cocktail is surprisingly easy to shake up and delivers the perfect balance of tropical fruitiness and smooth rum. It’s so good, you’ll be glad you don’t have to head to a bar to enjoy it.

Why merry, merry?

The Christmas after my grandparents died, instead of making the seven fishes on Christmas eve, my parents ordered takeout Chinese food. That became a tradition.

Once my siblings and I got older, we continued the tradition, but we added a twist: we would go to the restaurant to wait for our food, and as we waited, we drank mai tais.

So, the mai tai drink equaled Christmas in my family.

Apparently, they meant Christmas to other people as well because every time we went to the Chinese restaurant, the bar was always packed. Great minds think alike.

After having one or two at the restaurant, I started making this mai tai recipe at home so we could enjoy them during and after meal.

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Helpful tips

• Be aware this cocktail is mostly booze so it is “potent,” as my grandmother liked to say.
• You don’t need to use your best rum in this cocktail since there is fruit juice in it and you won’t notice a premium rum.
• I prefer a premium orange liqueur like Cointreau but you can also use triple sec or orange curacao.
• When I make these for my family, I make them in bulk as there are usually between 14 – 20 people to imbibe this tasty cocktail. In that case, I’ll use triple sec to economize.
• This recipe is for two mai tais, but in the notes section, I tell you how to modify the recipe to make a pitcher.
• Make your own simple syrup as it is so easy – Boil equal amounts of water and sugar – Add one cup of water and one cup of sugar to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature and simmer for five minutes. Let it cool before using it in a cocktail.
• Mai tais are usually served with crushed ice, but I prefer ice cubes. Use what you prefer.
• For garnish you can either just add a lime wedge, maraschino cherry or if you want to get fancy like me, cut a thin wheel from an orange, fold it in half and spear the orange slice and a cherry on a martini pick.
• Amaretto is an almond flavored liqueur. Orgeat syrup is a non-alcoholic almond syrup and is usually in the mai tai that you get in restaurants, but it’s not as easy to obtain from a store. So, I have replaced the orgeat flavor with an easier to find liqueur, hence the Amaretto. And truthfully, I enjoy it just as much as if I used the syrup.
• Using Amaretto will increase the alcohol content. (See the first point in the helpful tips.)

Mai tai ingredients and substitutions

• Rum – I use gold rum but you can use a combination of light rum (white) and gold rum.
• Cointreau – orange liqueur, you can substitute triple sec instead.
• Amaretto – as mentioned in the helpful tips above, you can use an almond syrup like orgeat syrup.
• Simple syrup
• Lime juice
• Orange juice – you can add a splash of pineapple juice, though I prefer it without.
• Grenadine – a sweetened pomegranate based syrup.

How to make a mai tai cocktail

Pre-step

Get a cocktail shaker, measuring glass, and two double old fashioned glasses.

Cut two orange wheels, and rinse two maraschino cherries. Take one of each and place them on each martini pick, and set aside.

Fill the shaker halfway with ice and once you measure out the ingredients, pour them into the shaker.

Step one

Gather the ingredients – gold rum, amaretto, orange liqueur, orange juice, simple syrup, and limes.

Step two

Measure 4 ounces of gold rum.

Step three

Measure 2 ounces of orange liqueur. (A)

Step four

Measure 1 ounce of amaretto. (B)

Step five

Measure 1 ounce simple syrup. (C)

Step six

Measure 1 ounce fresh lime juice. (D)

Step seven

Measure 4 ounces of orange juice. (E)

Step eight

Measure 1/2 ounce of grenadine. (F)

Step nine

Cap the shaker and shake vigorously for at least 15 seconds.

Add fresh ice cubes to the glasses and divide and strain the contents of the shaker between the two glasses (including the ice.)

Add the garnish.

So pretty!

So delicious.

I hope you enjoyed this mai tai cocktail recipe.

Other fruity cocktails

• Pirate’s booty
• Scorpion bowl
• Sweet poison cocktail
• Amaretto stone sour
• Hurricane cocktail

And as always, may all your dishes/drinkies be delish!

If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog, I’d love the hear what you thought about it in the comments below. I love hearing from you!  You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST  to see more of my delicious food and delightful cocktails!

Originally posted December of 2016 and updated in 2018 and again in August of 2020.