This Spicy Grapefruit Paloma is the perfect summer cocktail made with fresh limes and grapefruit, your favorite tequila, sparkling water, and my sweet and spicy jalapeño honey syrup!
Summer is quickly approaching and our Mexico trip is less than a week away so I thought I’d leave you with one of Mexico’s most popular cocktails (and my personal favorite), this Spicy Grapefruit Paloma! This beautiful pink cocktail is refreshing, delicious with a little zing, and made on the lighter side using fresh squeezed fruit juice, sparkling water, and the most delicious jalapeño honey syrup. To finish off this fun bevvy, I also added a sweet and spicy rim made with a combination of sea salt, chili powder, sugar and lime zest!
You can easily make this cocktail for two people or make an entire pitcher to serve friends. I recently made this as the welcome drink for my friend’s bachelorette party a few months ago and it was a total hit! The infused jalapeño really adds a nice kick while the honey balances out the heat and zing of the grapefruit. This a MUST for your summer menu!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Grapefruit (I prefer fresh squeezed, but you could also use store-bought)
- Limes
- Honey (or agave)
- Jalapeño
- Blanco tequila (I love Casamigos)
- Sparkling water (I used grapefruit flavored!)
How to Make Jalapeño Honey Syrup
This delicious spicy addition is made using equal parts boiling water and honey along with a couple jalapeño slices. I always remove the seeds first as the boiling water really brings out the heat of the jalapeño, but if you really like a LOT of spice, feel free to keep the seeds! In a small pot or bowl, combine a 1/2 cup of honey, 1/2 cup of boiling water and half of a jalapeño. Give it a little stir so that the honey can get mixed in and let everything sit until it cools to room temperature. Just remember to strain out the jalapeño before storing! This jalapeño honey simple syrup can be stored in the fridge in a sealed airtight container for up to a month and tastes great in other cocktails or mocktails as well!
Can We Make this Less Spicy?
Of course! If infusing the jalapeño with the honey is too much heat for you, feel free to just add a few jalapeño slices into your cocktail at the very end. Way less spicy, but still gives a nice little kick. Or omit the jalapeños altogether and I promise you’ll still love this!
Another little secret you can do is infuse your tequila with jalapeño slices the night before making this, that way you can simply add spicy tequila to your drink without having to make the jalapeño honey syrup. My friend Beth inspired me to do this and I’ve loved it ever since! We add it to our margaritas as well 😉
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItFollow on Instagram
More Fun Summer Cocktails
- Fresh Watermelon Margaritas
- Sparkling Grapefruit Frosé
- Citrus Summer Sangria
- The Classic Moscow Mule
- Raspberry Mint Mojitos
Hope you all enjoy this Spicy Grapefruit Paloma and if you love this as much as we do, please leave me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #eatyourselfskinny! I love seeing all your delicious recreations!
Spicy Grapefruit Paloma
Ingredients
- 4 oz 1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
- 1 oz 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 oz 1/4 cup blanco tequila
- 2 tsp jalapeño honey syrup, see recipe below
- 2 oz 1/4 cup sparkling water (I used grapefruit flavored)
- Optional sweet/spicy rim: Sea salt, chili powder, sugar + lime zest
For the jalapeño honey syrup:
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 to 4 jalapeño slices, seeds removed
Instructions
- To make the jalapeño honey syrup: In a small pot or bowl, combine a 1/2 cup of honey, 1/2 cup of boiling water and 3 to 4 jalapeño slices (more or less depending how much spice you like). Give a little stir so that the honey can get mixed in and let everything sit until it cools to room temperature.
- To make the spicy grapefruit paloma: In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine grapefruit juice, lime juice, tequila and a Tbsp of the jalapeño honey syrup, and give a few good shakes! Rim the glass with lime juice and dip in the sweet and spicy mixture (a combination of sea salt, chili powder, sugar and lime zest) and add ice.
- Pour the tequila mixture into your glass and top with sparkling water and garnish with extra jalapeño slices, lime slices or even a slice of grapefruit. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We’ve been making these almost every weekend, great recipe.
Anytime !! Thank you Kelly!