Dragon Fruit Margarita

Dragon Fruit Margarita Two Ways

Summer is coming to an end and I’ll be closing up the pool soon. Where does the time go??? One thing that doesn’t get packed away with the pool floats and sunscreen is my love for a good margarita. They’re my go-to drink, and I’ll sip on one whether there’s snow on the ground or we’re hitting record temps in the summer. I’ll be honest though, I’m not an expert at making them and I’m always looking to improve my margarita making game.

Last weekend I had one can of Topo Chico Margarita Hard Seltzer in my fridge in the “plain margarita” flavor. This one isn’t my favorite, the prickly pear flavor is. I wondered what I could add to it to give it a flavor boost and closely resemble prickly pear (in the Midwest, we don’t have prickly pears in our grocery stores). A quick Google search and I had a plan-enter dragon fruit.

What is Dragon Fruit?

Dragon fruit is a cactus fruit that is grown primarily in Asia, Mexico, Central and South America and Israel. It’s a mango-sized fruit that has either red or yellow skin with green spiky bits on the exterior that look like dragon scales. The interior is either white or dark reddish-purple with black edible seeds, and it has a mild flavor that resembles a pear. It was the most common suggestion for prickly pear due to a similar flavor profile and wider availability.

Easy Dragon Fruit Margarita-Shortcut Method

Once I had a dragon fruit, I proceeded to make a dragon fruit simple syrup. I absolutely love flavored simple syrups-they’re easy to make but impressive-sounding (“Oh yes, I did make my own dragon fruit infused simple syrup.” I mean hel-lo miss fancy!) and they can be used in more than just mixed alcoholic drinks. I like to use mine in tea (hot or cold), lemonade or any fruit drink in place of added granular sugar, in plain Greek yogurt, over ice cream, as a dipping sauce, over waffles and pancakes…ok now I’m drooling.

I used this dragon fruit simple syrup recipe from We Are Not Martha. They used the red fleshed fruit, but I don’t have access to that one. I used white flesh fruit and added half a teaspoon of hibiscus powder to add color and another complimentary flavor. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Next I added ice to my most fun glass and poured the canned margarita hard seltzer in. After the fizz settled I added the dragon fruit simple syrup and stirred. Delicious! And I had plenty of syrup left over which got me thinking……what about a traditional margarita?

Dragon Fruit Margarita-Mixed Drink

Since I am not fantastic at mixing a margarita, I turned to a perfect margarita recipe from Chef John at All Recipes. Chef John never steers me wrong! This recipe mixed a margarita that was as close as I have ever gotten to my favorite from a local Mexican restaurant. I added the simple syrup to the shaker (yes, you need a shaker) and the result was a cold, refreshing, delicious drink that is definitely going into regular rotation here. This would also taste great in a mocktail.

The Verdict

I would ABSOLUTELY make these recipes again. If I’m short on time, adding the syrup to a hard seltzer is an easy way to enhance the flavor without investing in another case to get my favorite prickly pear flavor. The mixed margarita recipe was easy and delicious without the simple syrup, and I’m looking forward to trying it again with other flavors. Now if I could learn how to actually rim a glass…..

I’d love to hear your suggestions for mixing the perfect margarita and flavors that I should try next in the comments!