Hibiscus Margarita Mocktail - This refreshing and super easy nonalcoholic hibiscus mocktail is sure to make a lasting impression. The ruby red color and unique fruity flavor of hibiscus tea combined with orange and fresh lime juice make this vibrant drink truly an adult beverage, without alcohol.
We were inspired to create this mocktail recipe as a romantic sipper for Valentines day, since the citrus featured in it is squarely in season around then. A hibiscus margarita would be equally welcome at a fourth of July barbecue, a Christmas gathering, Cinco de Mayo, or any happy hour occasion.
Dried hibiscus flowers are a very fun and budget friendly ingredient to cook with. They can be found in the Mexican section of many grocery stores labelled as Jamaica, and also on Amazon. Usually they are used to make a tea or simple syrup. When the tea is sweetened and served over ice, it is called Jamaica agua fresca in Mexican cuisine.
To learn more about these fascinating dried flowers, including a bit about their health benefits, check out our recipe for hibiscus vinaigrette. It is paired with a colorful and flavorful smoked beet salad with goat cheese and pepitas. For more refreshing drink ideas try our Lemon Mint Prosecco Spritz Cocktail or our Sparkling Thai Garden Spritz Cocktail!
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What You're Going to Need!
- Dry Hibiscus Flowers - We chose to use the whole flowers for this hibiscus margarita recipe rather than purchasing hibiscus simple syrup, even though the syrup arguably makes the recipe easier, removing the tea steeping step. Hibiscus syrup notoriously contains additional coloring agents, and we always like to keep our ingredients pure and natural.
- Oranges - With this being a virgin cocktail as opposed to just a drink, fresh squeezed and in season oranges was really the only way to go.
- Limes - Tart lime juice is not only in the hibiscus margaritas themselves, but it's the best way to adhere the spiced salt rim to the glasses.
- Salt - Pink Himalayan sea salt, for it's purity and striking color.
- Tajin - This Mexican spice blend, when it's blended with the salt and used to coat the rim of the glass, provides the perfect seasoning for this mocktail.
- Sugar - Just a touch to round out all of the flavors.
See recipe card for quantities.
Recipe
Refreshing Hibiscus Margarita Mocktail Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Bring the water to a rapid boil in the saucepan.
- Turn off the heat and add hibiscus flowers.
- Allow to steep for 25 minutes.
- Strain tea into mixing bowl, discarding the spent flowers.
- Add sugar and stir well to combine.
- Cut citrus into halves for juicing.
- juice the lime and orange directly into the prepared hibiscus tea, reserving one lime for rimming the glasses, and making round slices for garnishes.
- Stir well with spoon to combine fully.
- Place salt and tajin onto a plate large enough for the tops of serving glasses, combining the seasonings well.
- Double over the paper towel to fit onto the surface of another, same sized, plate.
- Juice the half lime onto the paper towel to soak it.
- Place the rims of each glass onto the surface of the paper towel, moistening them.
- Repeat this process onto the plate with the seasonings, causing it to uniformly adhere to the rim of each glass.
- Add desired level of ice to each glass.
- Pour mocktail into each glass evenly.
- slice the remaining half of a lime into thin rounds, dropping one each into the glasses to float on top.
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!How to Make a Hibiscus Margarita Mocktail
- If you can boil water, you can make this mocktail! Boil the water, and add the dried hibiscus flowers.
2. Let the mixture sit and steep for 25 minutes, or until you feel the color and flavor is right.
3. Once you've strained the tea, sweeten it with the sugar. Once again, this is to taste, if you would like your margarita a little sweeter or less sweet, just taste as you go along.
4. Stir the sweetener in to dissolve. By this point, the tea will be only slightly warm.
5. Squeeze in the fresh citrus. Did I mention that this is to taste?
6. Give the whole thing another good stir.
7. Set up a small plate with the salt and tajin mixture and moisten the rim of the glass with lime juice. We used a paper towel soaked with lime juice to avoid any dripping onto the glass, but you can also just use a lime wedge directly smeared around it.
8. Once the rim of the glass is wet, just invert it onto the seasoning, and rotate a little to make it adhere.
9. Pour the finished mocktail over ice.
10. A little lime round provides some additional aroma and flavor!
Chef Tip
It's always a great idea to be able to educate your guests when you're serving them something new or unusual. It's especially wonderful to be able to let people know about some of the health benefits when serving an alternative to an alcoholic beverage. Instead of being concerned about the negative effects of alcohol, they can feel great about drinking a beverage with positive attributes! Hibiscus is very high in antioxidants, has been shown to possibly lower risk of heart disease, may boost liver health, it even contains compounds that may reduce risk of cancer! Check out this article from Healthline to read more.
Variations
- Frozen - If you would like to make this into a blender drink, just make the drink base itself a little stronger by adding a quarter cup more hibiscus to the tea, doubling the sugar and the juices, as the ice puree will mute the flavor considerably. Just blend on high speed with enough drink base to barely cover the ice cubes until it's smooth. You'll need a high performance blender, like this one.
- Alcohol - This margarita doesn't have to be a mocktail, if you would rather have the liquor in it! Just add one 2 oz. shot of high quality tequila and 1 oz. of triple sec to each drink.
Storage & Helpful Hints
Store this drink in your refrigerator covered for up to one week.
Presentation is key for a mocktail. If you don't make a virgin drink unique or special, it will simply resemble a beverage like any other. Put in the extra effort, and make sure to garnish these drinks attractively, and your guests will appreciate it.
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Jason Miller says
Refreshing!