If you can find prickly pears, you can make this delicious prickly pear margarita recipe! Prickly pears have a sweet distinct flavor that works beautifully with tequila.
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Are you ready for a fun new margarita recipe? I feel like I hit the jackpot when I found prickly pears at our local produce market!! Prickly pear has a unique honey-like flavor that tastes incredible in cocktails.
I am all for exotic fruit cocktail recipes! The more unusual, the better! Just try these delicious Red Currant Margarita or Dragon Fruit Cocktail recipes!
What Are Prickly Pears?
Prickly pears, or the “tuna” are the fruit of a prickly pear cactus. Their fruit can be hot pink, orange, and even green. Each color of prickly pear has a subtle flavor difference. It is often hard to know the color of the fruit until you cut open the fruit.
Tip: Make sure you buy the fruit without the thorny spines! Prickly pear fruit can be dangerous because its thick spines are hard to remove.
Cactus pear fruit makes the best cocktails! You will love these Prickly Pear Bourbon Cocktails at your next happy hour!
This prickly pear drink is straightforward to make once you uncover the delicious fruit under the thick skin! In some recipes, you want to make a prickly pear cactus syrup.
I tried to keep it simple for my first cactus pear margarita recipe! Stay tuned for more cactus pear recipes…I just made the best hot pink syrup out of my latest find!
How To Juice A Prickly Pear Fruit:
Are you ready to juice your prickly pear fruit? I promise it isn’t as hard as you might think! Just be sure your prickly pear thorns are removed. If your prickly pear has thorns, you need to safely remove them. Follow this simple tutorial to remove the prickly pear spines.
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Cut the cactus pear fruit in half lengthwise. This is when you see what color fruit you have! Scoop out the pulp and add it to a strainer. Place the strainer over a container that will catch the juice.
Use a spoon to press the pulp against the mesh in the strainer. This will force all of the juice through. The strainer will trap the seeds you don’t want in your drink!
Now you have prickly pear juice for this cactus pear margarita recipe! Next, take a margarita glass and rub lime around the rim. Dip the edges of the rim in coarse sugar.
Many often wonder if tequila and other hard liquors like Fireball are gluten free. You can read this article to learn whether tequila is gluten free. If you love Limoncello, try this fizzy Limoncello Spritz!
Appetizers That Go With Prickly Pear:
Tools:
- A cocktail shaker to chill your drink.
- A strainer to press the juice out of the cactus pear pulp.
This post was updated from an old December 2017 post with more information.
Ingredients
Method
- Cut prickly pear fruit in half lengthwise.
- Scoop the fruit into a strainer. Place the strainer over a container. Use a spoon to press the fruit into the mesh. This will force the juice out, without getting seeds.
- In a shaker, add ice, and all of the ingredients.
- Shake to chill. Let sit for 2 minutes while you prep the rim.
- Rub fresh lime over the rims on two glasses. Dip the rim in coarse sugar.
- Pour the cocktail into each glass. Garnish with pineapple or lime.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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I love it when I’m lucky enough to find prickly pears! They have such great flavor! This margarita sounds great!
I agree. We have a small hispanic grocery store near us and they have had prickly pears a lot lately.