You may not know this about me, but I love a good margarita. Salted rim, on the rocks, good tequila. On our recent trip to Mexico, it was my drink of choice. I’d watch the bartenders and ask them what they put in it. I quickly learned that the ones I were drinking was tequila, triple sec, lime juice and big guzzles of sugar syrup (eeek!). When I got home, I wanted to make a version that tastes great but didn’t require all that sugar syrup as I know the margaritas I were drinking were not low calorie.

When it comes to lower calorie cocktails, vodka soda is a well known option, but lets be real…they are very plain, and sometimes I’m just in the mood for something more.

Upon coming up with this recipe, I’ve done a little research on alcohols and have come to a couple conclusions.

1. If you use good tequila, the drink will come out much better. I’ve been using 100% agave tequila that’s 40% alcohol and it works great! I’ve been using the Gran Centenario 40 Blanco. I’m not sure how available this brand is as we got it at the Duty Free, but I’m sure there are other great 100% agave tequila brands out there in the $20/bottle price range.
2. There are MANY kinds of triple sec. Some are mixed with a lot of sugar and have a very low percentage of alcohol. That’s not what we’re looking for. Get a triple sec that’s at least 30-35% alcohol content. I’ve been using the Meaghers Triple Sec.

Some other important mentions:

1. I like using lime concentrate, more than fresh squeezed lime juice. Lime concentrate is what you get at the grocery store, most often the brand is ReaLime. I also love that I don’t have to squeeze a bunch of limes!
2. To make this drink low cal, you will need to use a sugar substitute. Real sugar syrup bumps up the calories big time (not what we want). My favorite non-sugar option to use in this recipe is the NuNaturals NuStevia Simple Syrup. If you’re in Canada, you can purchase it on Low Carb Canada, if you’re in the US, you can purchase it on iHerb, Vitacost, Luckyvitamin and many other places.
3. As much as I like the syrup above, you can totally sub for any other sugar substitute like 1-2 stevia packets, splenda, 10 or so stevia drops etc. You’ll just have to use “to taste” as every substitute has a different sweetness level.

I love a good coarse salt rim, but again, totally optional. Not including the salt in the nutrition as some use more and some use less, and sometimes when you drink the cocktail, half of its left on the glass.

I hope that you love this low cal margarita as much as I do. I’d love if you tagged me on Instagram or Facebook with you enjoying them this summer!