Apple Butter Margaritas

You all loved my Apple Cider Margaritas so much, I thought I’d keep finding ways to sneak apples into my cocktails. These Apple Butter Margaritas can be made with homemade apple butter or store-bought. They’re the perfect fall cocktail, especially if you get cutesy with the rim. Happy fall sipping!

Watch Me Make Apple Butter Margaritas

How to Make Apple Butter Margaritas

1. Add a little caramel to a shallow plate and cinnamon-salt to a second plate. Dip or drizzle the rims of two rocks glasses in the caramel, then gently dip them into the cinnamon-salt mixture.
2. Add tequila, Grand Marnier, apple butter, maple syrup, lime juice, and a pinch of sea salt to a cocktail shaker with ice.
3. Shake really well until chilled and the apple butter is fully incorporated.
4. Double strain into the prepared glasses over fresh ice.
5. Garnish with a thin apple slice, if desired.

Quick cinnamon-salt: Mix about 1 tbsp flaky or kosher salt + ½ tsp ground cinnamon. You could add a tiny pinch of sugar too, but with the caramel rim I don’t think you need it.

Apple Butter Margarita Ingredients

Tequila

Tequila blanco is usually my go-to tequila for margaritas, but you can also use reposado tequila for this fall margarita. Check out my Tequila Guide for more information, including the bottles I recommend!

Orange Liqueur

Orange liqueur is a broad type of flavored liqueur that most people know as triple sec, at least where margaritas are concerned. You can use Cointreau, but I actually prefer the deep rich flavors of Grand Marnier for this one!

Apple Butter

You can make your own apple butter or buy some good apple butter at the farmer’s market! Maybe the orchard you’ll be visiting for fall apple picking will have a jar or two, so stock up on the good stuff!

Maple Syrup

Adding sweetener to a margarita is sometimes up for debate, but I love adding maple syrup instead of agave to this Apple Butter Margarita. It adds to the warmth of the season and the spices. I recommend buying a good quality maple syrup at the store, it’s so worth it for this cocktail.

Lime Juice

If it’s not fresh squeezed, we don’t want it!

Caramel

You can buy caramel or caramel sauce at most grocery stores. You can also make it yourself, but if the Great British Baking Show has taught me anything it’s that making caramel is harder than it looks.

Tips for Making the Best Apple Butter Margaritas

• Even if making your own apple butter from scratch sounds like a whole thing, it’s totally worth it. My recipe yields way more than you’ll need just for these cocktails, so you can make one batch and it will last you several weeks!
• Use extra apple butter on pancakes, waffles, yogurt, overnight oats, and ice cream.
• Buy good ingredients. That includes the maple syrup, orange liqueur, tequila, and apple butter (if you’re not making it).
• Shake the margarita ingredients more than you probably think you should. The apple butter needs a lot of shaking to break down and full incorporate with the other ingredients. Adding plenty of ice really helps here.
• Make sure to double strain! We want a very smooth texture for our margaritas.
• Get creative with the rim. Sometimes, if a margarita doesn’t have a good rim, the whole cocktail is off. I dip my rims for this margarita in caramel, then dip the caramel in cinnamon-salt. It really takes the fall vibes up a notch. If you don’t want the sweetness of the caramel, just rub a cut lime on the rims and dip them in the cinnamon-salt.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• If Fall is your favorite season of all time (whose isn’t?!) then you’ll love using up your bushels of apples in the homemade apple butter and resulting margaritas!
• If you loved my Apple Cider Margaritas, this one is a little silkier and a little more spiced from the apple butter.
• If you love some of my other Fall Cocktails, this one fits right in.
• If you love a classic margarita, but want something a bit more special for fall, the Apple Butter Margarita is for you.