Summer Cocktails
Recipe: Spicy Prickly Pear Margarita
A not-so-classic margarita.

Image: Russell van Kraayenburg
Few things are as glorious as a margarita on a hot summer day. Actually, let's be real—few things are as glorious as a margarita on any day. So how do you make an already amazing drink even better? Add prickly pear and make it spicy.
If you've never stopped on the side of a Texas highway and picked yourself a prickly pear (those purple fruits that grow on cacti) then you're not living. And if you've never had a prickly pear margarita, you're most certainly not living. The sweet, particular flavor of a prickly pear just isn't reproduced anywhere else in the fruit kingdom.
Throw in a little sweet and spicy jalapeño and you've turned a classic margarita into a truly special one. Trust me. I should know. I've pretty much had every margarita Texas has to offer.
Spicy Prickly Pear Margarita
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ounces lime juice
- 1/2 jalapeño
- 3 ounces tequila
- 1/2 ounce orange liqeur
- 1 ounce prickly pear syrup
- Salt
- Jalapeño slices
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add the lime juice and the half jalapeño to the bottom of a shaker, reserve the lime. Muddle the jalapeño and lime juice until well combined.
- Add the tequila, orange liqeur, and prickly pear syrup to the shaker. Top the shaker and shake well for about 30 seconds.
- In the meantime, run the reserved lime, cut edge down, along the edge of a glass. Sprinkle salt on a plate and dip the wet edge of the glass into the salt on the plate.
- Pour the margarita into the glass. Add jalapeño slices for garnish.