All Margaritas on Chili’s Menu, Ranked

The first Chili’s opened 50 years ago, and while it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, the chain restaurant has made a big comeback in recent years. Chili’s Triple Dipper and mozzarella sticks went viral, and they kept customers returning by making sure people are getting a good value. And then there’s the margarita.

The chain offers more than a dozen different margarita options on the menu, from the classic to different frozen margaritas at affordable prices and generous portions. With so many options, it might be overwhelming deciding which one you should try. To help you out, we ranked all of the margaritas Chili’s has to offer, including its newly launched line of frozen margaritas. The ranking only includes margaritas on Chili’s permanent menu, not the rotating Margarita of the Month (which you should also get when you go because it’s always $6). Just make sure to line your stomachs with some Chili’s appetizers before you start imbibing.

Chili’s offers a line of flavors for its Patrón margaritas. The classic one, which I’ll talk more about later down the list, is made with Patrón Silver tequila, Citrónge Extra Fine Orange Liqueur, and house-made sour. The restaurant chain then takes this classic version and adds different fruit flavors, usually with Monin syrups.

I’m not a purist, and I like when people get creative with margarita flavors, but I personally found the fruit flavored margaritas here to all be quite sweet. However, the watermelon was my least favorite. It has that artificial watermelon flavor that in my opinion doesn’t taste anything like the real fruit, but more like a Jolly Rancher or other candy.

The Tito’s Watermelon Spritz is made with El Jimador Blanco tequila, Tito’s vodka, Monin watermelon syrup, and house-made sour. This has the same problem as the watermelon margarita, in that I don’t care for the syrup flavor (although the drink certainly has its own fans).

I prefer the Watermelon Spritz as it’s slightly (only slightly) less sweet and the watermelon syrup flavor is not as strong. It also doesn’t taste quite like what you’d expect from a margarita, as the tequila doesn’t stand out here. It’s not a bad option, especially for the summer, but there are better options.

I had high hopes for this cocktail because I love mango and it is usually my go-to flavor when ordering fruit-flavored cocktails. Unfortunately, the mango flavor in this drink didn’t quite do it for me. The mango flavor wasn’t strong enough to taste, yet the drink is too sweet for me, personally.

It still has a tropical flavor, but because of how much I usually love mango, the disappointment at the lack of mango taste was stronger. Given the choice, I would opt for the frozen version of the mango margarita every time, which I’ll talk about further down this list.

Chili’s offers the same flavors for the frozen margaritas as it does for the Patrón margaritas. While I found the non-frozen margaritas to be too sweet, I don’t mind it in the frozen ones as much because cold temperatures reduce our taste of sweetness.

I’m sure you’ve already noticed the pattern here about my dislike of the watermelon syrup Chili’s uses. I did enjoy this more compared to the other watermelon-flavored margaritas at Chili’s, but it’s certainly my least favorite of the frozen options. However, if you enjoy the taste of the other watermelon cocktails here, you will certainly enjoy this one, as well.

The Skinny Marg is not like your standard margarita and it is actually inspired by Texas Ranch Water. The drink is made using Teremana Blanco Tequila, Chili’s house-made sour mix, and topped with a splash of soda water.

Essentially, instead of swapping for sugar-free ingredients, the soda water dilutes the amount of sugar in the drink. It’s a light and refreshing cocktail that’s easy to drink, especially on hot days, partly thanks to the carbonation of the soda water. It’s certainly an enjoyable option for those looking for a lower calorie drink, it’s just not quite a margarita.

The Flamingo Freeze’s base is the frozen classic Patrón margarita. Instead of being blended with the fruit flavors, this one is then topped with some Tito’s vodka and Owen’s prickly pear cocktail mixer. It was a pretty drink with the mix of the pink and white colors and a fun frozen blended option for the summer heat. I feel that it’s also a stronger cocktail with the addition of the vodka, which is certainly a plus for certain drinkers.

I didn’t particularly care for the prickly pear mixer, though. While I don’t mind it, I would opt for other cocktails given the choice.

Spicy margaritas have been one of the most important drink trends in the past few years, and Chili’s is staying on top of it with not just one, but three different spicy margaritas on the menu. This spicy Patrón margarita, like the name says, is the spicy version of the Patrón margarita, likely made using Monin jalapeño syrup plus a sprinkling of Tajín on top.

It’s pretty good and has quite the kick that you will certainly enjoy if you like spicy margaritas. However, I prefer this one the least out of the three spicy options.

The dragonfruit margarita uses a syrup that also doesn’t really taste exactly like a real dragonfruit, but unlike the watermelon one, I actually do like the taste of this dragonfruit syrup. It has a floral note that I enjoyed, and didn’t taste as artificial (or Jolly Rancher-like) as the watermelon.

When it comes down to the ranking, though, I prefer the two berry flavors better. It’s also still a little too sweet for my palate and while I enjoyed the little amount I drank for the tasting, I’m not sure I would like it as much if I had finished the full (generously portioned) glass.

The second spicy margarita option at Chili’s, the Spice-A-Rita is made using Espolòn Reposado tequila, Grand Marnier, Monin jalapeño liqueur, and house-made sour mix. It’s also garnished with a sprinkle of Tajín on top. While it’s the same style of recipe, it uses different tequila and orange liqueur compared to the spicy Patron margarita, and I prefer this version.

The Grand Marnier has a richer flavor than Citrónge orange liqueur, and it helps round out the spicy flavors. It also uses reposado instead of blanco tequila, and the Espolon Reposado has more vanilla notes that work well with the other components.

Just like the Flamingo Freeze, the Arctic Drift starts out with frozen Patrón margarita as the base. It’s then topped with Malibu coconut rum, pineapple juice, and blue curaçao (some of you may not know, but blue curaçao is in fact orange-flavored) for the blue color that gave the drink its arctic name. It is sweet and tastes more like a piña colada than a margarita.

I’m personally a fan of piña coladas, though, so I enjoyed this frozen cocktail. Although it’s just as sweet as the Flamingo Freeze, I make exceptions for tropical flavors that make me feel like I’m on a beach.

Chili’s Presidente Margarita is made using Lunazul Reposado tequila, Citrónge Extra Fine Orange Liqueur, E&J brandy, and Chili’s proprietary sweet and sour mix. This sweet and sour mix is different than the fresh, house-made sour mix used in the more premium drinks.

The Presidente margarita also comes in other flavors. They are the same flavors that are offered for the Patrón margarita, so for the purposes of this tasting, I only tried the classic Presidente margarita to compare with the Patrón margarita. The addition of brandy in this case helps mellow out the sharper taste of the tequila, but if you love margaritas like me, you might prefer it without the brandy.

El Niño Marg is made with Espolon Reposado tequila, Grand Marnier and Citrónge Extra Fine Orange Liqueur. It also has some of Chili’s proprietary sweet and sour mix, which is used in the Presidente. I was able to taste the sweet and sour mix in comparison to the house-made sour mix, and I have to say that the house-made one is better and fresher.

The sweet and sour mix tasted like it came from a pre-made powder blend while the house-made sour tasted fresh, so I generally prefer the margaritas made with the house-made sour, but the El Niño is still a good cocktail. The El Niño is more citric than the Presidente, which I personally like better.

Chili’s just revamped its entire line of frozen margaritas. All of Chili’s newly launched frozen drinks have this frozen Patrón margarita as its base. The classic frozen margarita is made with Patrón Silver tequila, lime juice, and agave. It’s sweet enough on its own, while the other flavors will contain additional syrup or fruit purée.

So if you’re looking for a frozen option that’s not as sweet, this is the one to go for. With lime as the main flavor, this frozen margarita is great for people who want to keep it simple but drink a frozen blended drink to cool down.

According to the bartender, the blackberry flavor is the most popular one among Chili’s flavored Patrón margaritas. The two berry flavors are certainly the best ones out of the fruit margaritas, because they taste like the fruits they’re supposed to be.

I enjoyed the blackberry margarita better than most of the other flavors and it ended up being my second favorite among the flavored Patrón margaritas, just below the strawberry one. Since I prefer drinks that aren’t too sweet, though, I tend towards the standard margarita options more, with just the sour mix and perhaps orange liqueur.

The blackberry Patrón margarita is a popular flavor among customers, and while it was too sweet for me in that version, I couldn’t really taste the blackberry in this frozen margarita. Perhaps because the flavor of blackberry itself is a bit subtle to begin with, it was a bit muted in this frozen version. You can tell that the flavor is some sort of berry, but it’s not particularly distinctive.

I think it’s still a good frozen cocktail, though, that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser this summer. It just won’t be my first choice of flavor.

The Casamigos Marg is Chili’s most premium margarita offering. The cocktail is made with Casamigos Reposado tequila, Cointreau, and house-made sour. The Casamigos Reposado tequila has pretty strong vanilla notes and in my opinion doesn’t taste as smooth as the Don Julio.

While it didn’t end up being my favorite, it’s still a nicely balanced margarita. It’s certainly a good option for customers who enjoy a Cadillac Margarita, especially for those who want to try it with a higher end tequila. With Chili’s affordable price point, this might be one of the cheapest Casamigos margarita you can find around town.

In case it wasn’t obvious, the “Henny” in Henny Marg stands for Hennessy which is the world’s most popular cognac. The drink combines Hennessy V.S. cognac with Teremana Blanco tequila and house-made sour.

According to the bartender, this cocktail is one of the most popular at Chili’s. I can see why it’s popular, but it’s certainly more of a cognac cocktail than a tequila one, as the cognac flavor comes through much more. It’s a good cocktail, but it is perhaps made for those customers who don’t like or are not sure if they like tequila. If that’s you, then try this drink.

Although in the non-frozen Patrón margarita case I like the blackberry flavor better than the dragonfruit, it’s flipped when it comes to the frozen one. While the blackberry flavor was muted in the frozen margarita, the dragonfruit syrup flavor comes out nicely here.

It has a distinctive taste that is a little tropical and a little floral. While I do find that the taste is a little artificial, I haven’t found a dragonfruit syrup that doesn’t taste artificial. For those looking for a new flavor to try and explore, it’s still a good option to try.

There is a reason why strawberry is a popular fruit flavor option for many drinks, from strawberry margaritas to strawberry daiquiris. It is vibrant and the sweet and tart flavors work well with the citrus that are in these drinks.

The Chili’s frozen Patrón margarita is no exception. It was very tasty and I would order it again, but its non frozen counterpart just beat it out for me to make it into the top five spots in terms of ranking. But if you prefer your drinks frozen, maybe try the frozen drinks that did scratch the top.

The strawberry Patrón margarita ended up being my favorite among the fruit-flavored Patrón margaritas at Chili’s. For one thing, the flavor of this cocktail was unmistakably strawberry. It tasted the most like it was made using real fruit compared to the other flavors. I could even see some of the strawberry seeds in my cocktail, so I suspect the chain is using strawberry purée instead of syrup, which seems to be the right move.

It’s also not as overly sweet as the other flavors, which is a plus for me. Since it was still a little on the sweet side, I do prefer the various classic margaritas Chili’s offers better.

Even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the standard mango Patrón margarita, I liked the frozen version much better. The mango flavor somehow comes out better in this frozen mango Patrón margarita, and it brought the mango to near the top of my list of flavors among the frozen drinks.

A frozen mango cocktail is my kind of tropical cocktail, after all. I thought that the mango would be my favorite of the frozen cocktails, until I tried the spicy frozen margarita. While the spicy frozen margarita became a surprise favorite, I would happily drink the frozen mango one any day.

As you can guess from the name of this margarita, this one is made with Don Julio tequila, the best-selling tequila brand at high-end bars. For this drink, the Don Julio Blanco tequila is mixed with just house-made sour and a squeeze of orange.

I like that Chili’s keeps it simple with this one. After all, with this kind of premium tequila, you’d want to taste what you’re paying for. For the purists, this cocktail is a great option as it’s clean, simple, and well balanced. If you’re a calorie watcher, this cocktail has the second lowest number of calories of the whole menu, so you might as well drink this instead of the Skinny Marg.

As mentioned before, the classic Patrón margarita is made using Patrón Silver tequila, Citrónge Extra Fine Orange Liqueur and house-made sour. This is basically a Cadillac Margarita but it uses Citrónge instead of the more typical Grand Marnier. Among Chili’s premium yet classic margarita offerings, it comes down to a matter of personal taste.

The Citrónge has a fresher and crisper flavor compared to the cognac-based, richer Grand Marnier, which I prefer. For me the Patrón margarita tastes more citric, fresher and simpler. This is my personal favorite, but others may enjoy the Don Julio or Casamigos better.

Out of the three spicy margaritas offered at Chili’s, this frozen version is my favorite. It has a nice, spicy kick that’s tempered by the cold temperature and the refreshing citrus flavors of the margarita. For this ranking, it was a tossup between this and the classic Patrón margarita.

I was initially leaning towards crowning the classic margarita as the best, but this spicy frozen one was the one I keep thinking about and wanting another sip of as I was writing this. When the weather warms up this summer, this will be the cocktail I go for at Chili’s.

For this ranking, I tasted many Chili’s margaritas in one sitting. It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it. Taste is the most important criteria in this ranking, but I also take into account whether the cocktail should really be considered a margarita in the purest sense.

Some of the more popular drinks, like the Henny Marg, tastes good but the flavor is driven more by the cognac than tequila. In such cases, I put more weight on cocktails that are actually margaritas. Of course, keep in mind that some of the ranking is subjective and depends on personal taste. For example, I prefer the less sweet classic margaritas than the sweeter, fruit flavored ones, but that might not be your personal preference.