Margarita Salt – A Beautiful Mess

If you’re a margarita enthusiast like we are, you need to try making your own margarita salt. We’ll teach you our recipe for citrus margarita salt as well as more variations to explore flavors to rim your margaritas with.

Related: Paloma, Watermelon Margarita, Hibiscus Margarita, Peach Margarita.

Ingredients in Margarita Salt

• Kosher Salt – You can use any type of course salt, including pink salt, sea salt or kosher salt. Avoid ionized salt—it is not right for this recipe.
• Lime Zest – Zest of one lime.
• Lemon Zest – Zest of one lemon. You can also use other citrus zests such as orange zest, grapefruit zest or key lime.

Store your margarita salt in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. I store mine in the fridge in a glass jar or tupperware. It lasts this way for about a month.

What is Margarita Salt?

Margarita Salt is the salt used to rim the edge of a margarita glass. Often recipes use kosher salt, coarse salt or sea salt for this purpose. In this recipe, we combine the salt with citrus zest to make a fancy, elevated margarita salt. You can use this on any recipe that calls for a salted rim.

How to Make Margarita Salt

Begin by zesting a lime and a lemon rind using a microplane grater.

Combine with coarse salt. Gently mix the salt and zests together.

Use to rim a margarita glass or store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for future use.

Margarita Recipes to Try

Tips for Making

• Customize Flavor – You can customize the flavor of your margarita salt endlessly by using different spices, finely chopped herbs or zests.
• Store in Fridge – For the longest shelf life, store in the fridge. I have been keeping mine in the fridge for over a month and it’s still going strong.
• Sweet Rim – For added sweetness, you can cut in half sugar with half salt. You can also use this same method with any coarse sugar to make flavored sugar for rimming your glasses.
• Dye the Color – For a festive colored cocktail rim, add a drop of food coloring to your salt rim ingredient. Shake in a sealed jar to evenly distribute to dye to all the salt before using. You likely only need one drop of food coloring—a little goes a long way.

How to Rim a Glass

• When you rim a glass for cocktails, you always want to rim only the outside of the glass, not the inside. This is so unwanted salt doesn’t make its way into your drink.
• For a lightly rimmed glass, use water or lime juice to wet the outer rim of the glass before dipping it in the salt.
• For a strong or heavy rim, use something more sticky, such as honey. This also helps the salt to stay put.

More Recipes to Try:

• Salads – 7 Layer Salad, Creamy Pasta Salad, Pea Salad, Broccoli Salad.
• Margarita Recipes – Classic Margarita, Spicy Margarita, Strawberry Margarita, Watermelon Margarita, Blood Orange Margarita, Virgin Margarita.
• Bloody Mary Recipes – Classic Bloody Mary, Bloody Caesar, Bloody Maria.