I started making cocktails in the sous vide a few years back and my family and friends LOVE this margarita recipe. Basically it just rapidly infuses the booze at temp.
As summer roles in, I thought I’d share here and see if anyone else has cocktails they are making in the sous vide?
———
Magic Margaritas
In a vacuum seal bag, add:
– 2 English Cucumbers sliced
– 2 small jalapeños (include seeds)
– 1/2 cup cilantro (remove stems)
– 1/2 cup mint (remove stems)
– 1.75L bottle of silver tequila (we use El Jimador from Costco)
– 4 cups lime juice (you can buy this by the bottle at grocery stores, don’t need fresh limes)
– 2 cups light agave nectar (if you can't find light/clear, use the amber-colored ones)
– 1 cup orange juice, fresh if you can make it
– Add 1 cup of season fruit (optional) – strawberries, blueberries, mangos, peaches, etc
– Stir
The measurements don't need to be exact, so don't worry if you have a little more/less.
Seal the bag, it's okay to leave a bit of air.
Drop the bag with the ingredients into a water bath and cook for ~2 hours at 150 degrees
After it's done, make sure you cool the bag to room temp before opening it, running it under cold water or putting the bag in an ice bath. If you are making this for a party, it can stay in a bag in the fridge for 1 week or freezer for several weeks.
Strain the mixture and discard the pulp.
To serve, just pour the mixture into a cup over ice and you have amazing magic margaritas! That’s the big advantage – batch making the cocktails that taste amazing.
Sometimes we'll toss in a few mint/cucumbers/limes for show afterward, but you don't need them for the flavor at all. Also, a little salt/paprika on the rim is a nice touch
Give it a whirl and let me know how it turns out.
by nickbhavsar
33 Comments
You learn something new every day and I’m delighted to learn this today!
Does the bag fill with alcohol vapour?
dang, what a great way to make controlled infusions
there’s this drink that I make that has silver tequila, strawberry, orange, lemon, and fresno chiles but I think I may have to experiment with batching some sous vide now
Oh no you di’n’t.
You did.
Saving this cuz I’m gonna do it.
I am the party.
Excellent post, I love what y’all come up with. It’s a sin NOT to try it.
Remember, there are some bags which cant handle 150°c or are you talking about the freedom measurement?😅
I’m curious how this affects the juices? I’m used to infusing spirits with sous vide, or making syrups, but I’ve never tried to do the entire cocktail.
someone enlighten me here please, how is this better than mixing/stirring/shaking cocktail ingredients? I may have been missing out on something…
I still dont get this lol it’s soooo strange …please explain to me like im 5 lol
Everyone raves about the cocktail. It makes hosting so much easier, and honestly, I think it tastes way better too. Lime juice works really well, and I bet other juices would be great as well. I even tried a sugar snap pea gin cocktail, surprisingly delicious.
A whole new woooorrrrllllllldddd…
Any reason you use a vacuum seal bag as opposed to a glass jar with a finger tightened lid?
I’ve used the jar several times with no issues. Bag seems like it would be more hassle?
Outstanding!
How spicy is this? I’m a wimp when it comes to spicy drinks
What size bag are you using for that much liquid?
Is there any reason not to strain it prior to refrigerating/freezing?
That’s very interesting!
If you haven’t already posted this at r/cocktails , you should!
Can you explain all the additions (cucumber, mint, cilantro, jalapeno, orange juice, etc)? I typically make margaritas with just tequila, lime juice, and Cointreau. Are those for your personal taste, or do they play a role in making the infusion?
Sounds good!
I’ve done margaritas sous vide with grapefruit, orange and lapsang souchong tea, which gives it a smoky undertone.
I’ve made old-fashioneds with vanilla bean and orange peel. Best use of Jim Beam ever, lol.
I’ve also made gin out of vodka and a bunch of botanicals, but that was less successful.
I don’t think there’s any benefit to including the citrus and sweetener in the bag. In fact, heating juice to any temperature has a detrimental effect on flavor. In my bartending days we did sous vide infusions but only with the alcohol portion. It is a great way to speed up the process, I’ll give you that.
Def a fun way to do a big batch. Honestly not trying to be a snob but that’s a hell of a lot of sugar – just asking for a headache. A standard marg calls for .25 to .5oz of agave. You’ve got 2-4x that in agave, and a whole lot more from the orange juice and then the fruit. Granted you balance a bit without triple sec. If anyone trying this recipe likes a more sour drink, you may wanna cut some of that back.
Do you have a pic of the sealed bag?
Looks great will try! I also like the tequila/lime/cuke infusion from Chelsea Cole’s book “a Duck’s Oven “ just add ingredients including a cup of tequila, 2 limes and slices of cucumber to a pint Ball jar , sous vide for 1-3 hours , be sure to do an ice bath after to increase the flavor! Love it with diet Squirt!
I bet this would good with some THC…
I had a similar idea to make vanilla infused whiskey. Do you think that would work? Just put vanilla bean and whiskey into a bag & sous vide?
You can use mason jars for infusions as well. They may be a bit easier to secure rather than a bag, just make sure to leave room for it to expand, so don’t overfill. I used to make tons of different infusions. My favorite was espolon silver tequila with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Also kirkland vodka (not the american vodka) with either habanero or jalapeno makes damn good spicy kamikazes and great bloodys
Greta recipe. Saw another user doing this idea in Mason Jars.
You should only sous vide the tequila with the ingredients you’re infusing it with. Add the juices AFTER if you want a better end product. That and a marg should have orange liqueur, not orange juice.
Do you need to add the tequila in the sous vide? Sounds like it would be just as good added after the fact?
Maybe I need to run an experiment…
LOVE this idea! I am going to 1/4 the recipe and just do cucumber and jalapeño. Love me a spicy marg!
Any tips on how you’re vacuum sealing liquids? It sounds like it would be a nightmare!
I’m glad you enjoy it, but as someone that makes drinks for a living, this sounds a hot mess. Unbalanced, and all over the place. Sous vide infusions are great. This doesn’t sound good. And it reads like a ChatGPT recipe
Take my upvote and my respect!
Gross