Blood Orange Kiwi Margaritas, a winter citrus cocktail made with fresh lime juice, blood oranges, and kiwi. This homemade margarita is ready in 10 minutes and adds a tropical take to happy hour!
Looking for a way to enjoy warm-weather foods during the winter months? We love when blood orange season comes around after the holidays have died down—their tart and sweet flavor is the perfect addition to a traditional margarita! What better way to celebrate the coming of winter tropical fruits than with a cocktail?
👉 Here’s why you should be mixing up your own homemade tropical margaritas with this recipe:
- It uses seasonal fruits. This is the perfect citrus margarita recipe to take advantage of the winter months’ blood orange and tropical kiwi harvest.
- You can make them to share. Make a pitcher of margs to share at your next party, or mix them up for happy hour.
- They are colorful and fun! We know the winter months can get gloomy—these homemade margaritas will add some sweet, bright flavors to your day that will be sure to cure your spring fever.
Ready to learn how to make winter citrus margaritas with blood oranges and kiwi? Let’s do it!
🍊 Ingredients
You only need five simple ingredients to whip up these refreshing tropical fruit margaritas!
- Tequila: Use your favorite brand of tequila—the higher quality, the better. We love using tequila blanco, or a silver unaged white tequila.
- Triple sec: An orange liqueur that adds fruity flavors as well as sweet and bitter notes to margaritas.
- Lime juice: Juice yourself some fresh lime juice to bring tartness to the drink. It will help balance out the sweet orange juice!
- Blood orange juice: Each margarita will include about 1/2 ounce of fresh blood orange juice, which smooths out the taste and brings a touch of sweetness.
- Agave syrup: Add some agave (more or less to taste) if you like sweet margaritas! ****
- Salted rim: Is it really a margarita without a salted rim? You’ll need salt, orange zest, and lime zest to make it.
- Garnish: sliced blood oranges, sliced kiwi, lime wedges
- Recommended tools: cocktail set, cocktail glasses
🍹 How to make individual cocktails (step-by-step photos)
1️⃣ Step One: Make salt-rimmed glasses
First, you will want to prepare your cocktail glasses with a salt rim.
Grab two cocktail glasses and run a sliced lime wedge around the rim of each glass.
Pour 1 tablespoon salt, orange zest, and lime zest onto a small plate, then press the glass rims down into the salt mixture. Set the glasses aside while making the cocktails.
The wet glass rims will add a nice taste and texture when drinking the finished margarita.
2️⃣ Step Two: Mix the margarita ingredients
In a cocktail shaker combine tequila, triple sec, agave nectar (optional), and a splash of blood orange juice. Cover the cocktail shaker and shake well to mix together the margarita ingredients.
3️⃣ Step Three: Pour, garnish, and serve
Add ice to the reserved rimmed cocktail glasses. Pour the shaken margaritas into the glasses, filling until just below the salt rim.
Garnish the cocktails with slices of blood orange, kiwi, and lime. Enjoy!
🧉 How to make a pitcher
To make a pitcher of blood orange kiwi margaritas:
- Make salt-rimmed glasses: combine salt, orange zest, and lime zest on a small plate. Wet rims of glasses with a lime wedge and then place glass rim down into zesty salt mixture.
- Combine margarita ingredients in a pitcher: mix the triple sec, lime juice, orange juice, tequila, and agave in a large pitcher. Stir well to combine with a wooden spoon, then fill pitcher with ice.
- Serve the margaritas: Fill cocktail glasses with remaining ice and pour margarita from pitcher into glass. Top with blood orange slice and kiwi wedge and enjoy!
❓ Recipe questions + quick tips
Margaritas are a cocktail that can be made with three simple ingredients: tequila, freshly-squeezed lime juice, and orange liqueur (we used triple sec!). They commonly include a sweetener like agave, and are served in glasses with salted rims and garnishes like fruit wedges. There are many different margarita variations: you can make them with different types of fruit juices, such as grapefruit, pomegranate, or cranberry.
There are non-alcoholic versions of tequila available that you can use to make virgin margaritas. However, you can also replace tequila in cocktails with plain sparkling water, or by adding extra lime juice or orange juice.
Blood oranges go well with other tropical and citrus fruits, such as lemons, limes, mangoes, melon, and peaches. Their flavors also pair well with less acidic fruits like apples and apricots. We used blood oranges and kiwi in this margarita recipe because their flavors compliment each other perfectly!
Yes! It is super easy to make this into a frozen margarita. All you have to do is add the ingredients to a blender with ice, then blend until smooth (adding more ice if needed).
Although we love margaritas with fresh lime juice, bottled lime juice works just fine (and eliminates the need for squeezing).
No, you do not need to salt the rim of margaritas if you don’t want to. You could also switch it up and make a rim out of sugar instead of salt!
👉 How to serve
These tropical cocktails are such an exciting spin on traditional margaritas! Here are some ideas for how you can serve them:
- Mix up a batch for happy hour. Whether you’re celebrating the end of a long week or catching up with a friend, homemade margs are perfect for happy hour!
- Enjoy as a holiday drink. Since kiwi and blood oranges are considered winter fruits, we love making these over the holidays. Mix up a batch for the New Year or Christmas!
- Make it a mocktail. Don’t want the alcohol? No problem! You can easily make these into a mocktail by leaving the tequila and triple sec out of the recipe. Replace the booze with a splash of plain sparkling water or extra orange juice.
🧊 How to store
If you make more than one cocktail and plan to have leftovers, don’t add ice to the pitcher and store in the refrigerator for up to four days. Do not freeze the homemade margarita mix.
♻️ Sustainable kitchen tips
Looking to take your green lifestyle to the next level? Here are some tips and tricks to get the most out of this recipe’s ingredients:
Savor the tropical fruit. Unless you live in a tropical location, it is likely that the kiwis and oranges have traveled far to get to you. That doesn’t mean you have to avoid tropical fruits forever! Instead, it means that tropical fruit should be viewed as a treat and should be savored. So make sure to enjoy this recipe and make the most out of the delicious tropical fruits!
Use leftover fruit in other recipes. Since this recipe doesn’t use whole pieces of fruit, make sure to use the remaining fruit in other recipes. Try making a Blood Orange Kiwi Salad or Blood Orange Berry Smoothie!
Choose Fair Trade fruit. Tropical fruits are often grown on plantations in countries where fair living wages are not commonly paid to farmworkers. To ensure your fruit is ethically harvested, choose those that have a Fair Trade certification (see a list of all our recommended trustworthy food certifications).
🎉 More margarita recipes
Looking for more fun margarita recipes? We’ve got you covered. Try out:
Looking for more winter cocktail recipes? Check out our Spiced German Gluwhein or Cinnamon Apple Cider Spritzer.
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Blood Orange Kiwi Margaritas
Ingredients
FOR TWO COCKTAILS
- 3 ounces tequila
- 2 ounces triple sec
- 2 ounce fresh lime juice
- 1 ounce orange juice
- 2 teaspoons agave syrup, optional
- 1 cup ice
For salted rim (2 cocktails):
- 1 teaspoon salt, orange zest, lime zest
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
FOR 10 COCKTAILS (PITCHER, OR 10 COCKTAILS)
- 15 ounces tequila
- 10 ounces triple sec
- 10 ounces fresh lime juice
- 5 ounces orange juice
- 1.5 tablespoon agave syrup
Instructions
FOR INDIVIDUAL COCKTAILS
- Mix margarita ingredients: Combine triple sec, lime juice, orange juice, tequila, and agave in a cocktail shaker with 1 cup ice. Shake well to combine.
- Salt rim: Combine salt, orange zest, and lemon zest on a small plate. Wet rims of glasses with lime wedge and then place glass rim down into zesty salt mixture.
- Serve + garnish: Fill rimmed cocktail glasses with remaining ice and pour margarita from cocktail shaker into glass. Top with blood orange slice and kiwi wedge and enjoy!
FOR 10 COCKTAILS (PITCHER)
- Make margarita pitcher: Combine triple sec, lime juice, orange juice, tequila, and agave in a large pitcher. Stir well to combine with a wooden spoon, then fill pitcher with ice.
- Salt rim: Combine salt, orange zest, and lemon zest on a small plate. Wet rims of glasses with lime wedge and then place glass rim down into zesty salt mixture.
- Serve + garnish: Fill cocktail glasses with remaining ice and pour margarita from pitcher into glass. Top with blood orange slice and kiwi wedge and enjoy!
FOR FROZEN BLOOD ORANGE MARGARITAS
- Make blended margaritas: Combine all ingredients into a blender with 2 cups of ice and blend, adding in more orange or lime juice until desired consistency is reached
Recipe Notes
- Tools needed: cocktail set, cocktail classes
- Recipe notes: Add more or less agave nectar depending on your desired sweetness level.
- Leftovers + storage: If you make more than one cocktail and plan to have leftovers, don’t add ice to pitcher and store in the refrigerator for up to four days
- Nutrition notes: Nutrition information is calculated for margarita without agave syrup and salted sugar rim.
Nutrition Information
UPDATE: This recipe was originally published in January 2019 and updated for clarity in October 2021.
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