Happy Cinco de Mayo!
While I haven’t officially celebrated this holiday in years at this point, we always make a point to have margaritas and chips and salsa as a fun happy hour snack. The bare minimum….but the very best kind.
This year’s marg: Key Lime Pie Margaritas!
These are downright swoon-worthy margs. If you’re a fan of the classic pie, you’ll flip for these. They’re creamy, sweet, and tangy – just like the beloved pie. There’s obviously some booze involved, but since when is that a bad thing when we’re celebrating?
I adore key lime pie. In fact, it might be in my top 5 desserts. I. LOVE. IT. And margaritas are one of my very favorite cocktails. Really, I’m quite surprised it took me this long to come up with this recipe.
The best part about these margs (aside from the deliciousness) is how quickly they come together. There’s no simple syrup involved – thanks to sweetened condensed milk. No cooking. No cooling. Just throw everything in a shaker and get to shakin’.
The sweetened condensed milk is really what gives this a key lime pie feel. It gives the margaritas some body, some heft, along with creamy sweetness that isn’t too heavy or cloying. It is so, so good here.
I love doing a graham cracker crumb rim on the glasses for these, but salt (or sugar) would be just as good. The graham crackers invoke that pie experience, and I am here for it.
Ingredients You’ll Need for These Key Lime Pie Margaritas:
- Silver tequila
- Orange liqueur or triple sec – I love Grand Marnier in any margarita recipe
- Key lime juice – regular lime juice works great too
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Ice
- Key limes, for garnish
- Graham cracker crumbs OR coarse salt, for rimming the glasses
How to Make These Key Lime Pie Margaritas:
- If you can find the bottled key lime juice, it works great here. Fresh is also great, although squeezing juice out of key limes can be a pain. You can also sub in regular lime juice.
- To a cocktail shaker, add the tequila, orange liqueur, key lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk.
- Add ice to the shaker, cover, and vigorously shake for 20 seconds or so to ensure that all the ingredients are thoroughly chilled and mixed.
- Run a lime wedge around the edges of your glasses and then dip in salt or graham cracker crumbs (the latter really drives home that key lime pie experience).
- Fill the glasses with ice and then pour over the margarita mixture. Garnish with a key lime wedge and serve immediately.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- No-Churn Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
- Key Lime Pie Sweet Rolls
- Key Lime Pie Puppy Chow
- Amaretto Margaritas
- Clementine Creamsicle Margaritas with Chili Salt
- Spicy Cucumber Margaritas
Cheers to Cinco de Mayo and key lime pie margaritas! I can’t wait for my chips and salsa later. Yippee!
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Key Lime Pie Margaritas
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 cocktails (easily multiplied) 1x
Description
These Key Lime Pie Margaritas are a fun twist on the classic. They taste like the iconic pie but in boozy, drinkable form! They are creamy, sweet, tangy, and downright delicious. All that’s missing is a bowl of chips and salsa!
Ingredients
- 3 oz silver tequila
- 2 oz orange liqueur or triple sec (I love Grand Marnier)
- 2 oz key lime juice (or regular lime juice)
- 3 oz sweetened condensed milk
- Ice
- Key limes, for garnish
- Graham cracker crumbs OR coarse salt, for rimming the glasses
Instructions
- To a cocktail shaker, add the tequila, orange liqueur, key lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk.
- Add ice to the shaker, cover, and vigorously shake for 20 seconds or so to ensure that all the ingredients are thoroughly chilled and mixed.
- Run a lime wedge around the edges of your glasses and then dip in salt or graham cracker crumbs (the latter really drives home that key lime pie experience).
- Fill the glasses with ice and then pour over the margarita mixture. Garnish with a key lime wedge and serve immediately.
Notes
If you can find the bottled key lime juice, it works great here. Fresh is also great, although squeezing juice out of key limes can be a pain. You can also sub in regular lime juice.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: cocktails
Hi There. I'm Molly. I'm a food-obsessed, self-taught cook and I can't wait to share my passion for all things culinary with you. My love for egg yolks is just the tip of the iceberg!
two favorites of mine combined, very creative pairing, a great way to use lime in both the key lime pie flavor and the margarita, thank yuo!
Made it was awful. Taste like creamy liqour with a splash of lime.
I agree, needs more lime juice. Also, no need to open a can of sweetened condensed milk, simple syrup works fine, and you can make your own.
I tried your suggestion of simple syrup and sorry to say it didnt taste nearly as good (or close to key lime pie) as the sweetened condensed milk did. I did add an extra lime and it was a good balance. But I would stick to the SC milk here. With the extra lime, these were perfect
Made these last night for a happy hour and they were fantastic! They really taste like key lime pie. Friends were very impressed.
These were really good. Taste like boozy key lime pie.
Love this recipe! I think the proportions are correct – perfectly sweet, tart, and creamy. I do think that the sweetened condensed milk is necessary (someone in the earlier comments said it wasn’t) because it adds that classic key lime pie flavor and creaminess. I made a small batch this past weekend and plan on making them again for cinco de mayo!
Made for Cinco de Mayo and they were great. Really reminiscent of key lime pie
Made these for taco tuesday and they were delicious! I didn’t do the graham cracker rim (didn’t have any), we used a mix of salt and sugar instead and they were still so good. Great key lime pie flavor! I don’t get the negative reviews on this one – maybe it’s the liquor people are using? Because these were enjoyed by us immensely! Use a decent quality tequila for margaritas always. It makes a big difference.