I don’t have them often, but margaritas are a must with Mexican food. I love fruity cocktails, and this unusual margarita recipe sounded perfect. I wasn’t sure about the basil-infused syrup, but as always, there’s only one way to find out if it works. Let’s give these Roasted Blueberry Basil Margaritas a try!
This post was originally published on August 4, 2017. The text and photos were updated on July 18, 2021. The review and rating have not been changed.
I don’t know which is weirder. That I had the patience to roast berries before putting them in this beverage or that I put something green, like a vegetable, in my margarita. Basil is a vegetable. Hear me roar.
The Ingredients
I’m no tequila expert, so I went with what my husband recommended: Patron. I’m glad I did. Tequila is a prominent taste, so using a good one is important.
I also recommend buying a lot of limes or a good lime juice (not from concentrate). I used 2 1/2 limes to get enough juice for 1 cocktail, and you’ll need some extra for garnish and salting the rim of your glass (I like to use coarse kosher salt for this).
The Process
The first time I made these Roasted Blueberry Basil Margaritas, I had never made a margarita, and salting my glass was a first. I ran a lime wedge around the rim of glass the glass then dipped it onto a mixture of sugar and salt.
When I decided to update the photos, I had had a lot more practice with salting glasses, so I did it a little differently. This time I dipped the glasses in a little simple syrup instead of using a lime wedge. I let each glass rest for a minute or two to make sure the sugar-salt mixture really stuck.
Making the basil simple syrup and roasting the blueberries was the longest part of the process. It wasn’t difficult, but it took a good half hour to make with time for cooling. The author mentions that it’s not a requirement to roast the blueberries, but I can’t imagine skipping that step. They are so good!
I made my margaritas with strained and unstrained blueberry basil syrup. The blueberry taste was slightly stronger in the unstrained version, and I preferred that. The blueberry bits sank to the bottom of my glass, so I didn’t notice them as I sipped. They did clog the built-in strainer on my cocktail shaker, though, so I had to remove the top and use a separate cocktail strainer.
