You Only Need One Ingredient To Improve Store-Bought Margarita Mix

Store-bought margarita mixes are an easy way to provide booze for a party, especially if you want to spend time with your guests instead of in the kitchen making perfect margaritas from scratch. A bottle of premixed margarita can sit alongside mixers, ice, and other supplies on the cocktail table. Some brands even include tequila in the bottle, and you can get 29 margaritas out of one bottle of Costco's margarita mix. Dump it into a drink dispenser with some sliced limes for a fancier presentation. You can even add that store-bought bottle of margarita mix to a high-powered blender, such as the SHARDOR 1200W Blender, or a slushie machine with some ice to make a quick batch of frozen margaritas.

While store-bought margarita mix is the answer to quick cocktails in a pinch, it can taste a bit flat and one-dimensional. It's just not quite the same as building your own premium drink with the best tequila for margaritas, lime juice, and all the other top-notch ingredients. You don't have to avoid the store-bought version to get a great margarita, however. There's one ingredient you can add to your store-bought margarita mix to take it to the next level and that's a lovely liqueur known as Cointreau.

Cointreau is an orange-flavored liqueur used in cosmopolitans and traditional margaritas, frozen or on the rocks, served at the bar. It's a brand of triple sec made in France with a very strong orange flavor and smell. It's 80-proof, about 40% Alcohol by volume (ABV), and is a softer version of Grand Marnier, used to make a classic Cadillac margarita. The two liqueurs are very similar; Grand Marnier is also an orange liqueur, but it's made with cognac and has a stronger flavor profile than Cointreau.

Add Cointreau to your store-bought margarita mix and amp up all the flavors already waiting in the bottle. The sweet undertones of Cointreau balance out the sharpness of tequila and lime juice. Cointreau's intense orange flavor will add a pop of citrus to your margaritas and increase the wow factor. Along with flavor, Cointreau infuses its aroma into the drink as well, making it seem like you just hand-squeezed some citrus into the mix instead of adding a little bottled sunshine. It's colorless, meaning it won't look like you added a little something extra to the mix when it's added to a salt-rimmed glass and served to guests.