This Cherry Limeade Margarita recipe is perfect for summer sippin’. I mean, who doesn’t find a Cherry Limeade completely refreshing? And margaritas practically demand to be enjoyed on a warm afternoon. I thought I would try combining the two and ooooh man, it did not disappoint.

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I think of Cherry Limeades as one of the original mocktails of the beverage world. There’s really just something so refreshing and so summer-y about them. But since this is a cocktail blog, we need to add some booze.

I first got the idea to make this Cherry Limeade Margarita when I was pitting the huge bag of cherries for my brandied cherries (recipe coming soon) and my cherry pit simple syrup. I was wracking my brain for ways to use the syrup and a cherry limeade is the first thing I thought of.

Originally, I was thinking of pouring the cherry pit simple syrup into some vodka and Sprite and calling it a day. An adult Cherry Limeade, if you will. And while that combination would DEFINITELY taste good, I wanted to think of something a liiittle more unique. Then it hit me– a Margarita!

I’ve mentioned before in my Spicy Basil Margarita post that I’m not a huge Margarita fan. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I’ve gotta be in the right mood for them.

But this idea… this idea was really intriguing to me. I knew I had to at least try it. I had a feeling that the sweet cherry pit simple syrup would really smooth out the harsh acidity that Margaritas are known for. And I was right.

If you read the cherry pit simple syrup post, or if you’ve actually made the syrup yourself, you’ll know that it has a pretty delicate cherry flavor. I wanted to make sure this Cherry Limeade Margarita tasted like fresh cherries.

Muddling fresh fruit is a great way to impart a fruit’s flavor into a drink. It’s definitely the fastest and easiest way to do so. But I decided to infuse some blanco tequila with the fresh cherries. It turned out delicious.

Cherry-infused tequila might sound a little intimidating or difficult, but it’s not. It’s as easy as plopping some cherries into some tequila. The only difficult thing about cherry-infused tequila is having to wait a few days for the cherries to fully steep. Here’s a step-by-step guide to making your own cherry-infused tequila. You can use these steps to infuse tequila with any other fruit.

After 5 days of infusing, the tequila will take on a gorgeous pink color. I forgot to take a picture though before I used it. Oops.

I used pitted cherries but that’s not necessary. I had just already pitted all of mine because I was also making brandied cherries at the time. (If you’re in the market for a reliable cherry pitter, this OXO one on Amazon is well worth the $12.)

You’ll notice that this cherry-infused tequila recipe only makes 5 ounces. If you’ve been around Girl & Tonic for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I prefer to make things like simple syrups in smaller batches. This is because I want to make sure I’m able to use up all of what I’ve made before it goes bad.

Now, you can certainly make this Cherry Limeade Margarita recipe without the cherry-infused tequila. But it won’t be as good. Test your patience and wait the 5 days. It’ll be worth it.

Ingredients for a Cherry Limeade Margarita

• 1 1/2 oz cherry-infused tequila
• 3/4 oz triple sec/orange liqueur
• 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz cherry pit simple syrup (you can find the recipe here)
• 1+ oz Sprite or other lemon-lime soda

How to Make a Cherry Limeade Margarita

Pour the cherry-infused tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and cherry pit simple syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a Margarita glass filled with ice. Top off the rest of the glass with Sprite.

If you’re Margarita fan, check out my Spicy Basil Margarita recipe, too.