Citrus Cocktails
Explore 686 Citrus cocktail recipes.
Citrus is the most reliable lever in cocktail making. It does the work of cutting sweetness, lifting heavier spirits, and giving the drink somewhere to land on the palate that isn't sugar. The Margarita is the cleanest expression of the family — tequila, lime, triple sec, salt around the rim — and the closer that ratio sits to even, the better it reads.
The Mojito stretches the same logic into long form with mint and soda doing supporting work, while the Sidecar takes brandy in the spirit slot and lemon in place of lime for a drier, more elegant register. The Paloma swaps grapefruit in for some of the lime and adds soda to get to a longer pour, and the Whisky Sour and Daiquiri are the two-ingredient-plus-sweetener templates from which most of these drinks borrow. What you'll see across this list is how flexible the format is.
Sour cocktails, fizzes, collinses, daisies, side-of-fruit highballs — they all run on the same engine of spirit, citrus, sugar, occasionally something extra (egg white, soda, herbs). Most are shaken, most run quick, most reward fresh juice over the bottled stuff. The lemons-and-limes axis covers most of this list, but you'll find oranges and grapefruits doing their share too.
If a drink ever feels flat, more citrus is the first lever to pull — almost always before more sweetness.
Our top Citrus cocktail
Margarita
Tequila blanco, Triple sec, Lime juice, Salt
Top Citrus cocktails
Sidecar
Cognac, Triple sec, Lemon juice
Mojito
Ron blanco, Jugo de lima, Agua con gas, Hojas de menta, Azúcar
Limoncello Spritz
Lemon liqueur, Champagne / prosecco, Soda water
Dry Martini Franklin
Dry gin, White vermouth, Orange bitters
Rum Louis
Ron blanco, Ron oscuro, Jugo de piña, Jugo de naranja, Grapefruit juice, Limón
Pumpkin Spice Margarita
Tequila blanco, Cointreau, Lemon juice, Lime juice, Pumpkin puree
Passion Fruit Mojito
Ron blanco, Jugo de limón, Agua con gas, Azúcar / jarabe simple, Hojas de menta, Fruta de la pasión
Bee's Knees
Gin, Honey syrup, Lemon juice