You can make your own Ready-to-Drink frozen cocktails. It’s easier than you think. Once you start making your own, you may never buy prepackaged cocktails again! The only problem you might run into is running out too fast because they are so good!
Make Your Own Ready-to-Drink Frozen Cocktails
Ready to freeze pouches are frozen until ready to serve for blender style drinks without actually needing a blender. Fabulous idea! Good blenders are expensive. Cheap blenders usually don’t blend ice fine enough for cocktails. There are a few problem areas in freezing cocktails though. Alcohol and sugar don’t like to freeze. Consider recipes meant for blender use first when choosing recipes to use as Ready-to-Drink frozen cocktails. These will be the easiest recipes to convert for freezer pouch use.
An ordinary cocktail is put together in a cocktail shaker with ice. Let’s say there are 4 to 5 ounces of cocktail liquids that go into the shaker to build the cocktail. The cocktail is shaken until it is well chilled. Let’s say 20 seconds. Remember, we do not like a lazy shake! The liquid is strained into the cocktail glass. There is now a larger volume of liquid than the 4 to 5 ounces that went into the shaker due to ice melt. If that finished cocktail liquid were measured it would be more than the original measurement. THAT difference in volume is the key to making your own Ready-to-Drink frozen cocktails. A portion of the difference in volume between the base ingredients and a shaken cocktail needs to be added into the recipe to create a Ready-to-Drink frozen cocktail.
DIY No Blender Frozen Modern Margarita
The drink that inspired me to create a no blender necessary Ready-to-Drink frozen cocktail is served at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. Roja Grill in the Omaha Old Market serves an amazing fresh Modern Margarita with fresh squeezed lime and grapefruit juice. Bartenders Manny, Brynne and Jaymee do an amazing job behind the bar at Roja. They also make some of the best, freshest Margaritas in the Old Market. Skip the Margarita machine and let the bartenders make a fresh Margarita for you. It’s well worth it!
I’ve never asked the bartenders at Roja for their Modern Margarita recipe. My recipe might not taste exactly like the one there. You will still need to go to Roja and sample the real thing! This recipe is an adapted version for freezer purposes.
No Blender Frozen Modern Margarita – recipe by Cheri Loughlin, The Intoxicologist
Makes 1
2 ounces Blanco Tequila
1-1/4 ounce Fresh Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
1 ounce Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 ounce Premium Orange Liqueur
1/4 ounce Agave Syrup
1 ounce Bottled Water
Combine liquids in freezer safe container. Stir. Seal container. Freeze until ready to use. Mixture will freeze mostly solid within 4 to 5 hours depending upon how cold your freezer gets. Remove from freezer when ready to drink. Allow to slightly thaw for a few minutes. Shake to mix up contents. Pour into salt or sugar rimmed glass if desired. Garnish with lime wedge.
Ready-to-Drink Frozen Cocktails Tips & Tricks
Makes only one?!? I know. There is a reason frozen cocktails are sold in single pouches rather than party pouches. I did multiply the recipe and froze it in a container that held five servings. There is a bit of settling that goes on as the cocktail freezes. It’s possible to freeze multiple cocktails within one container. However, the entire container has to thaw for a few minutes so it can be shaken to remix the contents due to settling. It’s much easier to freeze individual drinks.
I’ve used zip style freezer bags for my frozen cocktails. They work in a pinch but they sometimes leak and they are difficult to stack until the liquid is completely frozen. Then I found the Ball 8 ounce Plastic Freezer Jars at a local grocery store. They are wonderful! They are the perfect size for an individual cocktail. There is a “fill to” line marked on the container allowing proper space for the drink to expand as it freezes. The containers are stackable which saves freezer space. They seal perfectly, so no worries about plastic bag punctures. When it’s time to thaw the cocktail, it’s super easy to shake and pour.
Add Your Comment: What DIY Ready-to-Drink Frozen Cocktail recipes would you like to learn how to make?
No Blender Frozen Modern Margarita
Notes
Multiply the recipe ingredients and freeze in a large container or individual serving sizes. Slightly thaw large container and stir or shake before scooping out into individual servings. Ziplock freezer bags are excellent for single serving sizes.
Recipe by Cheri Loughlin of the Intoxicologist.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces Blanco Tequila
- 1-1/4 ounce Fresh Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
- 1 ounce Fresh Lime Juice
- 1/2 ounce Premium Orange Liqueur
- 1/4 ounce Agave Syrup
- 1 ounce Bottled Water
Instructions
- Combine liquids in freezer safe container. Stir. Seal container. Freeze until ready to use. Mixture will freeze mostly solid within 4 to 5 hours depending upon how cold your freezer gets. Remove from freezer when ready to drink. Allow to thaw for a few minutes. Shake to mix up contents. Pour into salt or sugar rimmed glass if desired. Garnish with lime wedge.
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All content ©2015 Cheri Loughlin, The Intoxicologist. All Rights Reserved. Chat with Cheri @Intoxicologist on Twitter and facebook.com/Intoxicologist
Cheri Loughlin is the Omaha writer and photographer behind www.intoxicologist.net and author of Cocktails with a Tryst: An Affair with Mixology and Seduction. You can email Cheri with comments and questions at str8upcocktails@gmail.com.
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I was recently experimenting with frozen cocktails (because I wanted a straight-from-the-freezer Mahattan) but made a Daiquiri as well. It was definitely “slushy” right out of the freezer, but also lost some of the citrus “freshness” – did you find the same thing when you made this cocktail? I was thinking maybe a spritz of lime oil might kick it up a bit. (Here’s our attempt: http://www.abarabove.com/freezing-cocktails/ )
Great idea!
I love Margaritas in the summer when we have friends over, but sometimes it gets labor intensive when I would rather be hanging out with friends. I love the idea of make ahead frozen cocktails!
I love a good Pina cold a but they are really hit and miss. I will have to try makingn one!
The Pina Colada in this post (very last recipe) is my go-to Pina Colada. I like to float a little bit of Meyers rum over the top as well. Delicious and well worth the little extra effort to make these. https://intoxicologist.net/2011/09/70s-cocktail-memories/
Michele, been there. We had a group of six over to the house one evening and everyone wanted margaritas. I was making them on the rocks, so not as intensive as frozen margaritas. But still, by the time I finished the 6th drink I was back to making another one for someone who’d already finished their drink. I barely got a sip in between making drinks. Fun, but constantly making drinks like I did while bartending.
Thank you, Jenny!
This might be a good start. http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2016/how-to-use-a-slushie-machine/