Forget making pickles – this is now my favorite use for canning jars.
They are a great idea, especially for entertaining. Why mess around crushing ice in a blender when you can mix everything up, toss it in the freezer, and pull out a flat of slushy margaritas whenver you need it? The alcohol keeps them from freezing solid; dip the rim in salt before it melts, poke it a few times with a fork, and they are ready to serve.
*The only problem with this recipe: it changed my definition of “whenever I need a margarita” to “it’s five o’clock somewhere, right?”
I got the idea from pictures of the Big Summer Potluck. A few years back, Colleen of SouffleBombay.com brought them to the potluck, and the moment I saw the pictures, I knew I had to make them.
I use frozen concentrated limeaid in my frozen margaritas instead of fresh squeezed limes and simple syrup. (I picked up the trick from Robb Walsh’s The Tex-Mex Cookbook.) Why go through the effort of squeezing all those limes when I’m just going to re-freeze everything?
*If you’re going to give me a hard time about limeaid, don’t make frozen margaritas. Make Mexican Martinis instead.
Canning Jar Margaritas
Adapted from:
Frozen Chambord Margaritas [SouffleBombay.com]
Robb Walsh, The Tex-Mex Cookbook
Mason Jar Margaritas [Stetted.com]
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Equipment:
- 12 half-pint canning jars (or 6 pint canning jars)
Ingredients:
- 36 ounces water
- 12 ounces limeade concentrate (1 jar)
- 25.4 ounces tequila (one 750ml bottle)
- 12 ounces orange liqueur (cointreau or triple sec)
- Coarse salt (optional; I use kosher salt)
Directions:
1. Make the margaritas:
Stir the water, limeade, tequila and cointreau until the limeade dissolves. Pour into the canning jars, seal with the lids, then store in the freezer at least overnight.
 |
 |
2. Serve:
Take a jar out of the freezer, immediately remove the lid, and dip the rim in the coarse salt. Poke the margarita a few times with a fork to make it slushy, then drink up.
Notes:
- For ease of storage, put the canning jars back in their box before freezing. That way, you can slide the whole box out of the freezer when you’re ready to serve.
- 8 ounce jars were kind of small. We kept going back for seconds. From now on, I’m going to double the recipe and make a flat of pint jar margaritas.
- The first time through the recipe, I had a problem with the math. I had a case of twelve – eight ounce canning jars. That should be 96 ounces worth of margarita, right? After filling the jars, I wound up with sixteen extra ounces of margarita. Turns out, canning jars are eight ounces if they are filled entirely to the rim. I stopped pouring at the bottom of the ring, to leave space for expansion in the freezer…and that only uses seven ounces per jar. It wasn’t a complete loss – I used the excess to make a single pint jar margarita.
 |
| Whoops… |
- This isn’t the time to bring out the good anjeo or reposado tequila. Save that for sipping. I use the cheapest 100% agave silver (blanco) tequila I can find. (By sticking to 100% agave, I avoid the horror of “gold” tequila. Or goldish, as Terry Pratchett would say.)
What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts:
Adapted from:
Frozen Chambord Margaritas [SouffleBombay.com]
Robb Walsh, The Tex-Mex Cookbook
Mason Jar Margaritas [Stetted.com]
*Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe to DadCooksDinner using the RSS or Email options on the right, link to this post from your blog, recommend DadCooksDinner to your friends, or buy something from Amazon.com
Revisitinuitg this recipe with the triple digit temperatures we have been experiencing in Austin. Thanks for posting this easy recipe!
Oh. My. Goodness. And all of a sudden I know what I’m doing this weekend….
Yes, the ratios are correct – this is a strong margarita.
I did mean a jar of frozen limeade mix.
Good luck!
Sounds very refreshung and great for parties. Before making a whole batch, please clarify…ratios seemed extremely heavy on the tequila. 25.4 oz in 60 oz of other is about half tequila. Is this correct? Also where is a “jar” of limeade available? How about 1 can of frozen?
Thanks
I don’t think you can add the alcohol when you come out of the freezer – it will probably freeze solid without the alcohol. Alcohol freezes at a lower temp, keeping it slushy.
For virgin Versions, I’d just do them in the blender – replace the water with ice cubes.
The alchohol is what makes it NOT freeze completely…enabling you to break it up with a fork and make it ‘slushy’. If you omit the alchohol, it would freeze solid.
This is amazing!! I want to try it for daiquiris.
Ok. I can see this could creat a drinking problem!!!
There has to be a mega-popsicle recipe idea in here somewhere. Can you even imagine the awesomeness?
Mike, this sounds great; would this recipe work for non-alchoholic margaritas? and, could you add the alchohol after taking it out of the freezer? (I ask this because it seems like you’re saying the drink stays slushy, and doesn’t fully freeze up… and I’m wondering if the alchohol changes the consistency in any way.)
Thanks, everyone!
Mike, I love this idea! Brilliant!
Love this idea! I also cheat and use frozen limeade concentrate, especially if I”m making just one drink for me. Faster and easier and cheaper than simple syrup and fresh limes (I buy it on sale and keep a stash) I keep it in a rubbermaid in my freezer door so its always slushy and ready to mix
Oh. My. Goodness. And all of a sudden I know what I’m doing this weekend….