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If you love cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeños and margaritas, this craft cocktail with a lime zest, sea salt, ancho chili powder rim is a must-try! The mercadito has been my favorite new drink to mix up on Friday nights when we get together with neighbors. They all love them as much as I do. 

I first tried the mercadito at a local restaurant and it was love at first taste. It was such a refreshing and delicious combination of flavors, I knew I had to recreate it at home. I’m always trying to sneak vegetables into my life so bonus, this is basically healthy, amiright?!

Mercadito Cocktail Tools and Ingredients

To mix up a batch of mercaditos, you’ll need:

• Blender, Nutribullet, whatever you might have to puree a cucumber

• Good quality blanco tequila – I always make sure I get tequila made with 100% agave since I’ve read it helps to avoid the headaches a lower quality tequila can cause

• Limes for juicing and garnish. Pro-tip: According to seriouseats.com, lime juice tastes best four to ten hours after juicing.

• One cucumber 

• Agave – if you’ve never used agave before, it is used just like simple syrup. I use Madhava Organic Light Agave

• Water – this is only needed to dilute your cocktail since it is served in a pitcher and not first shaken. When cocktails are shaken with ice, it dilutes the cocktail. Without adding the water to the pitcher, the mercadito may be too tart and strong. Alternatively, you can add ice and allow it to melt a little before serving

• Cilantro (if you are not a fan of cilantro you can skip this ingredient and it will still be delicious)

• Jalapeño – if you have a crowd that is mixed on their desired level of heat, you can go light on how much you add to the pitcher. Then you can dice or slice some jalapeños up to serve with it. Those who like the heat, can add some in for more kick

For rimming the mercadito glasses – don’t skip this part, it’s so good!

• Sea salt

• Zest of one lime

• Ancho chili powder

If you’re pressed for time and don’t want to prep this for the rim, you could sub tajin or another chili lime salt. 

 

Food Pairings for the Mercadito Cocktail

You can serve the mercadito with just about any type of food. Honestly by Friday we are not feeling up to cooking. We order food from our local pizza shop or sushi and somehow find the energy to mix up a recipe of mercaditos and order from our favorite local pizza shop or sushi restaurant. 

What would it pair best with? I would say Spanish or Mexican food. It’s basically a leveled up margarita so serve mercaditos with anything you’d serve a margarita with.

Serving Mercaditos

If you’re serving mercaditos at a large gathering with people who have mixed taste in how strong or spicy they like their cocktails, I would go light on the tequila and jalapeño, then set up a mercadito cocktail station. Include your pitcher of mercaditos, glasses with lime wedges, the rim mixture, diced or sliced jalapeño, tequila for anyone who might want to add a float, stir sticks, a cocktail sieve (see note) and even agave for anyone who prefers more sweetness. Guests can rim their own glass then adjust their mercadito to their desired taste.

Note: If you are someone who doesn’t like texture in your cocktails, you may not like the texture of the jalapeno and cilantro in your drink. I love it but realize it’s not for everyone. Once the flavors have melded, feel free to pour the pitcher of mercaditos through a mesh sieve. If you like the texture but some guests don’t, just add a cocktail mesh sieve to your mercadito station. I love these cocktail sieves from Amazon that come in different metals to match your cocktail station aesthetic:

Give this mercadito recipe a try. It might be your new favorite tequila cocktail. Mercaditos would make a perfect signature cocktail for your next event. I hope you and your guests love them!

As always, please drink responsibly 😉 

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