The Best Margarita Mixes: Testing The Market's Biggest Brands

It's easy enough to make your own margarita from scratch, unless you plan to make a huge batch. In that case, squeezing a crate of limes isn't always so fun. So, in the spirit of Cinco de Mayo, we've rounded up seven popular margarita mixes (plus one wild card contender) to find out which store-bought brands are worth buying.

Note: We're tasting popular and easy-to-find store brands in this case, not the premium craft mixes that are on the market.

A classic margarita blends tequila with lime juice, optional simple syrup and either Triple Sec or Cointreau. But if you read the ingredients of most store-bought mixes (see below), they're far more complicated. Some of these contain wine -- yes, wine -- along with ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, cellulose gum, food coloring and "medium chain triglycerides." Yum?

In our blind taste test of original lime-flavored margarita mixes, we stirred each mix into Dos Manos blanco tequila. The biggest differences we noticed were in color, sweetness, freshness, and the authenticity of the "lime" flavor. Read the comments included in our ranking to see which brands you might prefer.

We added Skinnygirl Margarita to the taste test equation, just for comparison's sake. We know it's not a mix -- it's a ready-to-drink bottle. But because sales have been so high, we wanted to see how it compared to the major mixes on the market. We're guessing Bethenny Frankel may not be enthused with our results …

Check out the results of our taste test below, and let us know which mixes you've tried.

Need some cheap tequila to go with that? Check out The Best Under-$25 Tequilas For Margaritas

+ Add a slide

Is there a mix you want to add to our list? Submit your favorite here.

Find a picture, click the participate button, add a title and upload your picture

RATE IT!   |  

VOTE

CURRENT TOP 5 PICK YOUR OWN TOP 5

USERS WHO VOTED

NEW! CREATE YOUR OWN SLIDESHOW

From our partners

• The Best Grills For Your Needs - Real Simple
• An Insanely Good Grilled Ham And Cheese Sandwich - PopSugar Food
• How To Quickly Chill Wine - Real Simple

Comments

[BannedFromCommenting]

02:48 PM on 02/22/2013

Anyone up for a HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP Margarita? Because only 2 of those mixes didn't have it. Stirrings, my BF likes a lot its not NEON GREEN artificial colors, no HFCS, etc.
ALso, MAKE YOUR OWN!!! Limes, Triple Sec, Lemons, Agave Syrup. Pretty easy!

[Claudio Vazquez]

01:26 PM on 02/22/2013

Two thoughts:
1) Everyday I wake up is Margarita Day.
2) Who in their right mind chose a day in February for this?

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

12:57 PM on 02/22/2013

Never too early for a good Margarita or Cinco de Mayo!!

[EsterGoldberg]

11:15 AM on 02/22/2013

Skinny Girl crap is the worse tasteless stuff ever...

[Tmwpfl]

01:46 PM on 10/10/2012

Check out Freshies- They are all natural and taste the best.

[RedRat]

08:58 PM on 05/07/2012

NONE! Geesh. Just use Rick Bayless' recipe from the Frontera grill that showed up in Playboy several years back. I am sure that he has that recipe around somewhere. It is easy and tastes great. Just like the Margaritas I have had in Mexico--of course made from real limes. All of these mixes are swill.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

12:59 PM on 02/22/2013

Love Rick Bayless! So glad he's here in Chicago!

[VinoLuciStyle]

12:44 AM on 05/05/2012

I just posted my favorite margarita today and it's all about good ingredients which INCLUDE fresh lime, lemon and orange. Invest in an electric juicer; the extra effort is beyond worth it; I would simply never use any of these mixes filled with artificial colors and ingredients.

http://www.creative-culinary.com/2012/05/the-best-fresh-margarita/

[Beatriz Sandoval]

12:45 PM on 05/04/2012

Ideas for Spring Cocktails: http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/cynthiab/the-top-10-spring-drinks

[chaapai]

10:10 AM on 05/03/2012

Better yet, I use either frozen then thawed or non frozen Limeade instead of these mixes. I use it the same as I would margarita mix. I don't use as much water as you normally would to thin out the frozen stuff. Usually 3 cans of water instead of the 4. Other than that, no modifications. I like it so much more.

Same with sweet and sour mix. I use good lemonade.

[TownCalledMalice]

10:21 PM on 05/02/2012

None of these are natural.

[Dewtrell]

03:03 PM on 05/02/2012

The BEST margarita mix is from Tommy's! It's a bit pricey and can be found at Whole Foods or Birstol Farms. Other than that, homemade margaritas are the best and take no time to prepare just use good and fresh ingredients. The best triple sec is from Patron, doesn't taste artificial. And use simple syrup, easy to make (water and sugar).

[Dewtrell]

03:03 PM on 05/02/2012

Meant Bristol Farms

[dmelt]

05:27 PM on 07/20/2012

Tommy's is a buck or 2 more per bottle but its only made with Fresh Lime Juice (Not from Concentrate) and Organic Blue Agave Nectar. No preservatives means you have to find it in the refrigerated section of the stores. You can also find it at BevMo!! www.tommysmargarita.com

[missirish9]

07:28 AM on 05/02/2012

The # 1 choice "Contains no juice". wat

Invest $20 into an electric citrus juicer and buy some limes. Agave nectar or heck even a simple syrup will work better. You dont need a list of junk like cellulose gum, gum acacia, polysorbate 60, natural flavors, glycerol ester of wood rosin to make a margarita.

Contains no juice. How absurd.

[ontariogirl]

10:06 AM on 05/02/2012

You got it Missirish9. :) F&F.

[60JazzGuy]

04:33 AM on 05/02/2012

I don't want to sound like some elitist goof, but I'll tell you, once you start making your margarita's with fresh ingredients, you'll never want to go back to using commercial mixes that taste like sugared up gatorade. 2 oz premium tequila (you can use cheaper stuff if you don't mind the headache later) 1oz grand marnier, 1 oz fresh lime juice, 1 oz agave nectar (Most large groceries carry it). Shake well with ice. Fresh ingredients, and unless you get plowed...Its good for you!

[nejake]

03:36 AM on 05/02/2012

I've never really been into adding high fructose corn syrup, yellow 5 and blue 1 dyes, glycerol ester of wood rosin, perservatives to my drinks when I spend good money on quality blue agave tequila. (a different story in my younger days)
Now as an adult I've found the perfect all natural mix and it's called St. Germain Liqueur, it's 100% natural with no perservatives, handpicked elderflower blossoms in the french alp's. Worker's ride their bikes up there and pick these flowers, fill their sacks and transport them to the distillery. Not cheap, about $40 a 750ml bottle but worth every penny.

MIX~1 part st. germain liqueur/ 2 parts blue agave blanco tequila, pour over rocks and add fresh wedge of lime. Sip a couple of these and you're right where you want to be. =)

[nejake]

04:28 AM on 05/02/2012

oops, personallyI usually use 2 and 1/2 part tequila

[Chasaroo]

12:55 AM on 05/02/2012

Make your own Margarita's. Here's the best recipe in the world. One 6-oz can of frozen Minute Maid Limeade. Fill the can with 3-0z of Triplesec and dump in the blender along with the limade. Fill the same can with Tequilia and dump in the blender. Add ice and blend. It doesn't get any better.

[chaapai]

10:11 AM on 05/03/2012

Yep. That's how I do it too. It cant be beat.