This Passion Fruit Margarita is the perfect blend of sweet, spicy, and tangy. An exotic version of a classic recipe!
During my 10+ years as a personal chef, I was always looking for ways to make simple cocktails special for my clients. Adding unique flavors to margaritas was a passion of mine, which led to developing this recipe, as well as my Blood Orange Margarita and my Hibiscus Margarita. All vibrant, delicious, and most importantly, easy!
Since fresh passion fruit is not often available in many markets and grocery stores, this recipe uses passion fruit purée. That also cuts the recipe prep time down significantly, so you can be toasting your guests in minutes.
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Why Make This Easy Passion Fruit Margarita Recipe
- Traditional with a twist! This spicy, fruity margarita recipe adds a bit of fun to your classic lime margarita.
- Beautiful color: The peach color of this drink is pretty and beachy—perfect for a party!
- Easy to make: No simple syrup, no scraping out passion fruit flesh. In 5 minutes, you can have this drink in your hand!
Spicy Passion Fruit Margarita Ingredients
- Grand Marnier: This is a type of triple sec, which is an orange liqueur made from dried orange peels. Feel free to use a different triple sec, like Cointreau, in this recipe instead.
- Passion Fruit Purée: Fresh passion fruits can be hard to find (and more work to prepare), so I prefer this passion fruit purée. But you could absolutely use fresh passion fruit pulp instead. You might also try passion fruit nectar or passion fruit juice, but look for ones with no extra sugar or additional ingredients.
- Lime Juice: Fresh lime juice is the only way to go with margaritas. Squeeze your own, and taste the difference! A lemon/lime squeezer makes this quick and easy.
- Jalapeño Pepper: For a spicier version, try using a Serrano pepper instead. For a less spicy version, remove the seeds from the jalapeño before crushing.
- Chili Powder: Any kind will work here: ancho, chipotle, etc. You could also replace with smoked paprika or piment d’espelette.
- Agave Nectar: This nectar has a low glycemic index and is often sustainably sourced. You could replace it with simple syrup or maple syrup.
How to Make Passion Fruit Margaritas
Slice jalapeño into circles. If you like to salt the rim of your glass, combine a ½ teaspoon of chili powder with a couple of teaspoons of kosher salt and add to a saucer wider than your glasses. Make a rough circle with the spices.
Step 1: Prepare two cocktail glasses by running a lime wedge around the rim of the glasses, then dipping the rims into the chili salt mixture. Fill glasses with ice.
Step 2: Add all but 4 jalapeño slices to the bottom of a cocktail shaker, and use a muddler to crush them gently.
Step 3: Then fill shaker with ice, and add 3 ounces tequila, 1 ounce grand marnier, 2 ounces passion fruit purée, 1.5 ounces lime juice, and .25 ounce agave nectar.
Step 4: Shake well so that the outside of the shaker becomes quite cold, then strain into the prepared glasses.
Serve each drink with a slice or two of jalapeño on top.
How to serve Passionfruit Margarita
I love to add spice to my passionfruit margaritas with a chili powder + salt rim, and a slice of jalapeño pepper as a garnish. But you could also play up the sour flavors in this margarita and rim your glass with some tajin spice. Mix the tajin with sugar or salt, whichever you prefer. Make sure to run a lime wedge around the edge of the glass before dipping in your salt and spices so that they will stick. You can garnish your margarita with a slice or wedge of lime or a slice of passionfruit, if you use the full fruit and not just the purée.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Passion Fruit Margarita
Yes, if you are looking to serve these for a party, you can easily double or triple the ingredients for this recipe. That won’t all fit in a shaker, so my recommendation is to still muddle the jalapeño slices in a shaker, but then pour into a large pitcher before adding the rest of the ingredients and stirring well.
Either strain out the jalapeños at that point and pour into a clean pitcher, or just leave them there (this will let them infuse into the mixture more too!). Make in advance so the margarita mix has time to chill in the refrigerator.
Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve (don’t add ice to the pitcher—wait and add ice to individual glasses when serving).
Yes! If you want to turn this passion fruit margarita on the rocks into a frozen version, just add all of the liquid ingredients to a blender along with a handful or two of ice (depending on how thick you’d like it).
Add in only a slice or two of jalapeño, since that will be blended directly into the drink rather than being strained out. Taste and add additional jalapeño if you’d like it spicier.
Passion fruit has a citrus-like flavor, as its flesh is quite sour, but it is not technically a citrus fruit. Like citrus fruits, passion fruits are also high in vitamin C.
Passion fruit grows on vines, and works well on trellises and wire fences. It grows in tropical regions, though some passion fruits are also grown in the U.S. in Florida, Hawaii, and California. Passion fruit thrives in humid locations, and grows best in full sun. You can usually find passion fruit in U.S. grocery stores during the summer months.
Tequilas that are 100% agave are the highest quality, so look for those. As for the different types of tequila, I usually prefer a silver or blanco tequila in my margaritas. Silver tequila has a strong, pure flavor and clear color as it has only been aging in oak barrels for up to two months.
Gold tequila, on the other hand, develops a golden color and oaky flavor as it ages longer. A reposado tequila is aged between 2 months and a year, which lends it a smoother flavor than most silver tequilas. It is also a good fit for a margarita, especially this one where the golden color of the tequila will complement the yellow/orange of the passion fruit.
Gold tequilas that have been aged over one year (añejo and extra añejo) are quite expensive and are made to be sipped neat, so you may not want to waste yours on a cocktail!
Passionfruit Margarita Tips
If you’d prefer to serve your cocktail straight up (without ice), make sure you shake for at least 15-30 seconds so that your cocktail is quite cold. Also, depending on the size of the glass you use, you may need to double the recipe in order to fill your cocktail glass without ice.
If you want to use fresh passion fruit instead of the purée, just cut the passion fruit(s) in half. The seeds and pulp on the inside is what you’ll use to make your drink. One passion fruit should give you the equivalent of about one ounce of passion fruit purée. Add the passion fruit pulp to the jalapeño slices and muddle together, then proceed with the rest of the recipe—because you strain this cocktail, you won’t get seeds in your drink.
Note that jalapeño peppers really vary in spice level. Try a small piece of yours before adding to the shaker—you can then adjust how many slices you want to add. (That said, don’t be afraid to add quite a few slices to your shaker—they are only infusing the drink for a short period of time so they do not make the drink super spicy.)
Want to double down on the spice? Try making this Jalapeno Tequila and using that for the tequila in this cocktail. Super spicy and tasty!
Wondering what to serve with this drink? There’s nothing I love more than a nice cocktail paired with a delicious appetizer. Here are a few favorites that would be perfect with this spicy Passion Fruit Margarita, or check out my entire Appetizers archive.
- Old Bay Shrimp with Dipping Sauce
- Smoked Salmon Potato Chips
- Charred Tomatillo Guacamole
- Cilantro-Lime Crab Salad
- Baked Jalapeño Artichoke Dip
- French Jarcuterie
- Puff Pastry Pinwheels with Prosciutto
Other Delicious Cocktail Recipes
I love fun and creative cocktail recipes. If you do too, you might want to check out some of my other favorites, like this French Martini Cocktail or one of these:
And, if you love to play around with interesting fruits in your cocktails, check out this Prickly Pear Margarita from our friends at Joyfully Mad. Or try mezcal instead of tequila in this delicious smoky basil Oazacan Mezcal Cocktail.
If you try this easy Passion Fruit Margarita recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
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Passion Fruit Margarita
Ingredients
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- 3 ounces tequila
- 1 ounce grand marnier
- 2 ounces passion fruit purée
- 1 ½ ounces lime juice
- ¼ ounce agave nectar
- Lime wedge for salting glasses (if desired)
- Chili powder and kosher salt for salting glasses (if desired)
Instructions
- Slice jalapeño into circles.
- If you like to salt the rim of your glass, combine a ½ teaspoon of chili powder with a couple of teaspoons of kosher salt and add to a saucer wider than your glasses. Make a rough circle with the spices.
- Prepare your cocktail glasses by running a lime wedge around the rim of the glasses, then dipping the rims into the chili salt mixture. Fill glasses with ice.
- Add all but 4 jalapeño slices to the bottom of a cocktail shaker, and use a muddler to crush them gently.
- Then fill shaker with ice, and add tequila, grand marnier, passion fruit purée, lime juice, and agave nectar.
- Shake well so that the outside of the shaker becomes quite cold, then strain into the prepared glasses.
- Serve each drink with a slice or two of jalapeño on top.
Notes
If you’d prefer to serve your cocktail straight up (without ice), make sure you shake for at least 15-30 seconds so that your cocktail is quite cold. Also, depending on the size of the glass you use, you may need to double the recipe in order to fill your cocktail glass without ice. Making a Pitcher:
Double or triple the ingredients for this recipe, depending on how many people you want to serve. Muddle the jalapeño slices in a shaker, then pour into a large pitcher before adding the rest of the ingredients and stirring well. Either strain out the jalapeños at that point and pour into a clean pitcher, or just leave them there (this will let them infuse into the mixture more too!). Make in advance so the margarita mix has time to chill in the refrigerator. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve (don’t add ice to the pitcher—wait and add ice to individual glasses when serving). Making Frozen Margaritas:
If you want to turn this passion fruit margarita on the rocks into a frozen version, just add all of the liquid ingredients to a blender along with a handful or two of ice (depending on how thick you’d like it). Add in only a slice or two of jalapeño, since that will be blended directly into the drink rather than being strained out. Taste and add additional jalapeño if you’d like it spicier.
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Sara Jelinek says
I've never thought of adding jalapeno to a cocktail before. What an interesting way to add dimension to a drink!
Chef Molly says
Oooh, if you've never had jalapeno in a cocktail before, you should definitely try it! I love a traditional lime margarita with a little kick to it too!