Cinnamon-Spiced Pomegranate Margaritas

Not sure if I’m sick of food from Thanksgiving, but I’ve had no interest in 1. cooking and 2. eating. The ‘no-eating’ part pairs nicely with margaritas—sarcasm! The only pomegranate margaritas we have are frozen, and I have no desire to wake up my son with the blender. It felt like I needed to throw together a holiday cocktail that wasn’t frozen. That’s how these cinnamon-spiced pomegranate margaritas were born.

A good margarita is a balance of tequila and lime juice. Enough tequila that you can taste it, but not too much that it makes you shiver. The right amount of lime juice to mask some of the tequila, but too much that it tastes limed-down or pure lime juice.

Cinnamon-Spiced Pomegranate Margaritas and Taste the Tequila

Years ago, when I was closer to my early twenties, I was at an outdoor restaurant in New Hampshire (yes, I know what you’re already thinking). It happens to be my favorite on Lake Winnipesaukee because they have great lobster rolls and sweet potato fries. I was served a margarita that was straight up lime juice. On the next round, I asked that the bartender go a little lighter on the lime juice. When our waitress returned, she brought me a shot and says, “this is what you get when you ask for less.” I didn’t know what to say other than pointing out how rude that was, it came out of nowhere. That’s part of the reason why I’ve retreated to making drinks myself.

I didn’t really know where to begin with these other than the pomegranate juice. I searched for “best spices and herbs to pair with pomegranate juice” and found cinnamon and mint made a nice pairing with pomegranate, in addition to pairing well with each other. Although I’ve been loving simple syrups lately, a holiday cocktail shouldn’t add to your holiday calories. I tried to keep this simple. The cinnamon sugar rim adds a bit of sweetness where you need it.

Print Recipe

Cinnamon-Spiced Pomegranate Margaritas

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Cocktail

Serves: 1-2

Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 shots tequila
• 1 shot triple sec
• 1 shot lime juice
• 2 shots pomegranate juice
• 3 mint leaves + more for garnish
• Pomegranate arils
• Cinnamon-sugar for rimming the glasses
• Lime wedge

Instructions

1

Using a lime wedge, wet the rim of the glasses and dust with cinnamon sugar. Fill with ice.

2

Add a tablespoon of pomegranate arils and mint leaves to a cocktail shaker and muddle.

3

Pour in tequila, triple sec, lime juice, pomegranate juice and top with ice.

4

Shake until the outside of the cocktail shaker is frosted.

5

Strain into ice-filled glasses and garnish with more arils and mint leaves.