This Passion Fruit Margarita has a delicious combination of sweet and tart, giving a hint of tropical flavor to a classic margarita.

Passion fruit is one of my favorite flavors. I love the slight tartness it gives to drinks and desserts. (Like these passion fruit tarts).

I love to experiment with different margarita flavors, such as pineapple, jalapeno or frozen strawberry. But this passionfruit margarita is one of my favorites yet.

It still has all the elements you love in a classic marg, but has an edge of tropical sour hints to jazz it up a little. Cheers!

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Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients for this passion fruit margaritas recipe:

Passion fruit - fresh passion fruit is best. If you can't get hold of fresh passion fruit you could substitute with a passion fruit puree such as this one. I haven't used this personally so not entirely sure how it will affect the recipe, but I have seen it used in bars before. The puree may be sweeter than fresh, so you may need to add extra lime juice.
Tequila - for the best margaritas you need to use good quality tequila. Most margarita recipes recommend a blanco tequila made from 100% agave, as it is has a more pure flavor. For something a bit smoother, you could switch for a reposado, which has been aged in oak to mellow it out a little. Avoid gold tequila, which has added colors and caramel. Read more here.
Cointreau - you can substitute for another orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier or Triple Sec.
Lime juice - from a freshly squeezed lime (not bottled).
Sugar Syrup or Agave Syrup - optional, for a sweeter margarita. I recommend tasting the cocktail before adding this, as it will depend on the sweetness of your passion fruit. I usually prefer it without any syrup.
Salt - to salt the rim of the cocktail glass. I use coarsely ground salt.
Ice cubes - for shaking in the shaker and for serving your margarita 'on the rocks'.

What you need

You need the following equipment for passion fruit margarita making.

Cocktail Shaker
Cocktail Measure - my cocktail shaker has a 1-oz measure on top of its lid. If yours doesn't then you can also use a purpose bought cocktail measure, shot glass or anything of a similar size.
Citrus juicer - a proper citrus juicer is the easiest and most efficient way to juice limes, especially when making margaritas and you use a lot of limes. I have one like this but one like this also works well for cocktails.
Cocktail strainer - I recommend using a fine mesh strainer for this to make it easier to strain out all the passion fruit seeds easily and efficiently.
Margarita glass - I prefer my margarita served on the rocks and so I use an Old Fashioned glass like this. However you could also use a classic Margarita glass like these fun Cactus ones.
Shallow plate or bowl - for salting the rim of your margarita glass.

How to Make a Passion Fruit Margarita

First, prepare your glass by salting the rim for that classic margarita look and taste.

To do this:

Coarsely grind some salt onto a plate or shallow bowl.
Brush the rim of the glass with lime juice (you can use a quarter of lime, or just use the shell of the lime you just squeezed for lime juice).
Dip the rim of the glass into the salt, rotating as you go, until it is fully coated.

To make the margarita, start by cutting open the passion fruit, scooping out the flesh and adding it to the cocktail shaker.

Next measure in the Tequila, Cointreau and lime juice.

Half fill the cocktail shaker with ice cubes, secure the lid and give it a good shake for at least 10 seconds (high above your shoulder, so you look like a cocktail pro!)

Now taste it - if you think it needs to be sweeter, add some sugar syrup / agave syrup to taste and shake again.

Fill your prepared margarita glass with ice and use a fine mesh cocktail strainer to strain the drink over the ice.

A note about cocktail measures

Most cocktail recipes come with measurements in ounces or ml, some will use shots and others will use parts.

For reference:

1 oz = 30ml
1 shot = 1.5 fl oz or 45ml

At the end of the day, cocktails are about getting the proportions correct rather than exact measurements.

As long as you use the same measuring device for all the ingredients, it shouldn't matter whether you use a proper cocktail measure, a shot glass or even an eggcup! This is why you often see recipes using 'parts' in place of exact measurements.