Coconut Margarita

Square view of the frozen margarita on a tray with coconut

Get ready to be whisked away to the beach with this tropical coconut margarita recipe. This frozen cocktail is made with tequila, Cointreau, cream of coconut, fresh lime, and simple syrup. It’s creamy, refreshing, and crazy delicious!

Course Cocktail

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword coconut margarita, frozen margarita

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 3

Total Time 8

Servings margaritas

Calories 320kcal

Author Elaine Benoit

Equipment

Ingredients

4 ounces tequila (blanco)
2 ounces orange liqueur (Cointreau or triple sec)
2 ounces lime juice
3 ounces cream of coconut
2 cups ice (2 - 3 cups - depending on the size of your cubes)

Garnish

2 tablespoons toasted coconut
2 teaspoons lime zest

Instructions

If you are going to toast the coconut yourself, do so now. Here's how: Heat a small sauté pan on medium heat. Sprinkle chopped up coconut flakes in the pan and stand there stirring the coconut as it toasts. It should only take around 3 minutes for the coconut to become golden brown. Once they are done toasting, remove from pan and place on a small plate. Set aside.
2 tablespoons toasted coconut
Get the blender and microplane.
Add tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and cream of coconut.
4 ounces tequila, 2 ounces orange liqueur, 2 ounces lime juice, 3 ounces cream of coconut
Garnish the glasses with the toasted coconut. Get the plate of coconut and place the glass rim side down in the coconut mixture. Dip the edge of the glass in the garnish until the rim is coated. Lightly shake the glass to dislodge any loose toasted coconut. Set the glasses upright.
Add 2 - 3 cups of ice to the blender. (Start with 2 cups as you can always add more, but you can't subtract it). Place the lid on the blender and blend on medium until the margarita has thickened but is not too thick to pour easily in the glasses.
2 cups ice
Divide and pour the margarita between the two glasses. Be careful not to pour over the garnished rims.
Take a lime in your hand and use a microplane to zest some lime directly on the top of the margarita.
2 teaspoons lime zest
Sip
Smile
Enjoy

Notes

Helpful tips

One of the ingredients is cream of coconut, which is a pre-sweetened coconut concoction. You will NOT be using (and can't substitute) coconut cream or coconut milk as those are not the same thing.
The orange liqueur that I love to use is Cointreau. But as all premium brands come at a premium price, a more budget friendly choice is triple sec.
I like to use silver or blanco tequila in this recipe so the cocktail comes out white, like the color of coconut. If you don't care about the color, you can use anejo or reposado tequila.
Color is also the reason why I go with Cointreau or triple sec, which are clear, and not the ultra premium Grand Marnier liqueur, which has a golden color.
Wash your limes before juicing them. Here's how - Use the coarse side of this cloth to rub the skin under running water or you can just squirt some unscented, natural foaming hand soap in your hands and rub the skin of the lime between them. Make sure to rinse the limes thoroughly.
The way we served this margarita at the restaurant was always frozen. You could serve it on the rocks (ice), but I love how smooth, frosty, and creamy it is frozen.
Since the cream of coconut is sweetened, you do not have to use any sweetener like simple syrup, honey, or agave. But if you find that the margarita isn't as sweet as you like, add (only) 1/2 ounce of simple syrup. But, please, try it like this first.
I used 3 cups of ice from my refrigerator ice maker in this cocktail, but you'll only need 2 cups if you make your ice in ice cube trays, which yield bigger cubes.
For garnish, we're going to use toasted coconut flakes for the rim. You can buy it pre-toasted or toast it yourself. Here's how: Heat a small sauté pan on medium heat. Sprinkle chopped up coconut flakes in the pan and stand there stirring the coconut as it toasts. It should only take around 3 minutes for the coconut to become golden brown. Once they are done toasting, remove from pan and set it aside to cool.
If you want to, you can garnish the cocktail with a lime wedge but I enjoy the toasted coconut and lime zest.
If you want to make a pitcher of this margarita, just use the slider in the recipe card to adjust the ingredients. To access the slider, hover your cursor over the number of Servings. Change the number of servings using the slider and the recipe card will adjust ingredients for you accordingly.

Nutrition