Tips About Life:Meyer Lemon Margarita - Recipe

While this cocktail is delicious made with everyday lemons, when the strikingly aromatic Meyer lemons become available in early winter, it’s worth celebrating their deliciousness with a margarita. Until the last decade of the twentieth century, Meyer lemons were mostly ignored and thought to lack viability as a commercial crop—until food luminaries like Alice Waters and Martha Stewart began championing them. They are thought to be a cross between a lemon and an orange. You’ll find that it pays off enormously to use the Meyer lemon in three ways in this drink: infused into tequila, made into simple syrup and squeezed into fresh juice.

Meyer Lemon Margarita Recipe Ingredients

10 Meyer Lemons total
1 750ml bottle 100% blue agave blanco tequila
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup triple sec
Ice cubes
Lemon twists – optional

Meyer Lemon Margarita Recipe Preparation

Plan to prepare the Meyer Lemon Tequila and Meyer Lemon Simple Syrup at least 4 days beforehand.

Meyer Lemon Tequila

Using a vegetable peeler or knife, remove the colored zest from 8 of the Meyer Lemons in as big of strips as you can. Set the lemons for juicing later.
Place the zest in a glass jar. Add the tequila and cover.
Allow to stand for 4 days, tipping the jar back and forth several times each day.
After 4 days strain out the zest.
Store the tequila in a tightly-covered glass container for up to two months.

Meyer Lemon Simple Syrup

Remove the zest from 2 more Meyer lemons, like you did for the first 8.
Place the zest into a small saucepan. Add 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water.
Set over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking until the mixture boils. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
Cool, then strain into a glass jar. Cover tightly and refrigerate. It will keep for several weeks.

Meyer Lemon Margarita Recipe – Directions

Now that the prep work is all done it’s time to make some Margaritas!

Squeeze as many “naked” Meyer lemons as you need to get 1 cup of fresh juice. (Start with about 5-6, depending on their size.)
In a pitcher, combine the 1 cup of juice with 1 1/2 cups Meyer Lemon Tequila, 3/4 cup triple sec, and 1/2 cup Meyer Lemon Simple Syrup.
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Pour in 1 cup of the Margarita mixture. Shake about 15 seconds, then strain into 2 Margarita glasses.
Garnish with a lemon twist if desired.

Recipe By Rick Bayless

Meyer Lemon Margarita - Recipe