Lychee margaritas are what you’ll be craving all summer long. Fruity and floral lychees plus tangy lime juice make for a perfect sweet-but-not-too-sweet lychee margarita.
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Summary:
- Lychee is a small tropical fruit native to China with a floral, almost candy-like flavor. You can buy lychees fresh, but this recipe calls for canned lychees which are much easier to find. Look for them in well-stocked grocery stores or Asian markets.
- You’ll need to make your own lychee syrup for this recipe. Just blend the canned lychees and their syrup until liquefied, then strain – super easy!
- You can combine this margarita directly in the glass, shake it over ice, or blend it up to make a blended lychee margarita.
You’ll need to make your own lychee syrup for this recipe. Just blend the canned lychees and their syrup until liquefied, then strain – super easy!
Sweet, floral lychees pair perfectly with lime and tequila in this lychee margarita recipe.
If you like your drinks slightly on the sweet side, this recipe is for you. Feel free to adjust the sweetness and add more lime juice to your taste. This refreshing lychee margarita recipe is perfect for long summer days. You can even pre-mix a batch (without the ice, add that before serving) and keep it chilled in a pitcher for later.
What does lychee taste like?
If you’ve never tasted fresh lychees or had anything with lychee in it before, this lychee margarita will probably turn into your go-to. Lychees are known for their candy-like, floral taste. To me, they taste somewhere between a pear, a watermelon, and rose syrup. Pretty much nature’s candy.
Where can I buy lychee?
This recipe calls for canned lychees, which can be found in most well-stocked grocery stores or supermarkets. These are canned in a simple syrup, and the entire contents of the can are used for this recipe.
If you can only find fresh lychee where you live (what? lucky you), you can use those too. Fresh lychees are a little more tart and floral. Think about the difference between canned vs. fresh pears, or canned vs. fresh peaches. That’s what you’re working with here. To use fresh lychees in this recipe, you’ll need to make a simple syrup of one part sugar and one part water to replicate the sweetness of the canned lychees.
How to make lychee syrup
Lychee syrup is super easy to make. Just empty the content of the can of peeled lychees into a blender. Blend until it’s completely liquefied, then strain for a smooth lychee syrup. You could skip this step if 5 o’clock is coming at you fast, but you’ll have to sip on lychee bits. A 20-oz can of lychees, after straining, will yield about 15 oz of lychee syrup.
If you really don’t want to deal, you could just as easily buy lychee syrup. Torani and Monin both have lychee simple syrup available on Amazon. I’ve never tried their lychee flavor, but other flavors like caramel and lavender have been exceptionally sweet for me.
Steps for making lychee margaritas
- Make the lychee syrup: Empty the contents of the can of lychees with their syrup into a blender. Blend until liquefied, then strain for a smooth lychee syrup. Try not to drink it all before making the margaritas.
- Rim the glasses: I like a blend of salt and sugar for this lychee margarita. Try rock salt for a crunchier texture, or Himalayan pink salt for color. Make it a little spicy by adding in some chili-lime powder like Tajin.
- Combine the ingredients: directly in the glass or in a shaker. Fill the glasses about 3/4 full with ice. Add tequila, lime juice, and your homemade lychee syrup – that’s it!
- Optional garnish: use a slice of lime, a reserved whole lychee, or my favorite, candied ginger (makes a great snack).
Variations
- Make this lychee margarita spicy by either infusing your tequila with some jalapeño slices a day or two ahead of time, or shaking or stirring with a few slices of jalapeño.
- Turn this into a blended margarita (super easy) by combining all of the ingredients in a blender with ice and pulsing until you’ve got yourself a blended lychee margarita!
Looking for more hot weather drinks? Try making some cantaritos – like a paloma, but fizzy.