Cinco de Mayo: How To Make The Trending Pickle Margarita

The ultimate celebration of Mexican culture, Cinco de Mayo returns on 5 May 2025. Bars and restaurants across London are getting involved with pop-ups and special dishes, but if you’d rather get involved from home, why not try mixing up a pickle margarita? The cocktail is having a moment right now, combining the smoothness of tequila with the briny flavour of pickles.

What Is A Pickle Margarita?

A blend of tequila, triple sec and lime juice, the margarita is one of the world’s most beloved classic cocktails – usually shaken, and served either straight up or over ice. Although the history of the drink is shrouded in mystery, it’s believed it was first created in Mexico in the early 1930s. 

While classic margaritas remain popular, nowadays you can get a whole host of different versions of the cocktail – from spicy to fruity to frozen. Right now, the pickle margarita is trending, in line with a wider food trend surrounding pickles, which has taken off over the past couple of years. 

While it might sound odd, it actually works well: the saltiness of the pickle balances out the sweet and sour flavours, similar to the salted rim. And, indeed, pickles have long been used in cocktails – they’re a common feature in martinis and Bloody Marys. Not only do they taste good, pickle juice is rehydrating (hence why they were popular with the England football team recently) so you could argue it makes the drink a tad better for you.

@thespritzeffect If this is my last post on this app, then I’m glad that I’m signing off with this Pickle Margarita. 🫡 I G : thespritzeffect ! The people who get it, get it — this is for my dirty martini, savory cocktail lovers! This idea has been in my head for weeks and I finally gave in and made one, and lemme tell you, it won’t be my last! Full recipe for this Pickle Marg below.👇🏼 – 1 oz pickle juice – 2 oz tequila – 3/4 oz triple sec – 1/2 oz lime juice Shake well and pour into your salt rimmed glass and garnish with, you guessed it, more pickles. I think this would be so good spicy, too — might have to make another version like that soon! 🤭 ##thespritzeffect##pickle##picklejuice##picklemargarita##margarita##dirtymartini##cocktailrecipe##cocktails ♬ In the Mood – Glenn Miller

Recipe: Pickle Margarita

We’ve scoured TikTok to create the ultimate C&TH version of a pickle margarita.

Ingredients:

• 50ml Blanco Tequila
• 20ml triple sec
• 20ml pickle juice
• 20ml lime juice
• Ice
• Chilli salt, to garnish
• A pickle, to garnish

Method:

1. Add the tequila, triple sec, pickle juice, lime juice and ice to a cocktail shaker.
2. Give it a good shake until it’s cold.
3. Pour some chilli salt onto a plate, and add a squeeze of lime.
4. Dip the rim of your glass in the salt mix.
5. Fill your glass with the cocktail, and top with a pickle if you like. Then enjoy!