Palomas

Paloma Cocktail Video – scroll down for recipe

If you’ve seen any of the cooking videos I’ve made with Carlos — enchiladas, pollo al carbon, carne asada, choripanes, ponche navideño — you’ve seen us drinking Palomas. Palomas aren’t a new cocktail by any means, but they do seem to have recently been discovered by bartenders and drinkers in the U.S. It’s a simple cocktail, just tequila and grapefruit soda with a touch of salt and lime, but it’s so refreshing.

And it’s good for you because the salt helps keep you hydrated when it’s hot outside, right? Right. If you like your cocktails less sweet, you can also make a Paloma with half grapefruit soda and half sparkling water or club soda. And if you like them spicy, we just discovered that a couple slices of fresh jalapeño muddled with the salt and lime juice (before adding ice and everything else) is a special treat.

Palomas Recipe

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Palomas

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4.5 from 4 reviews

  • Author: Hilah Johnson
  • Yield: 1 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • Ice
  • 1 ounce silver tequila
  • 1 teaspoon lime juice
  • large pinch salt
  • 6 ounces grapefruit soda (Squirt, Fresca, Jarritos)

Instructions

  1. Fill a pint glass with ice and add tequila, salt and lime juice. Add half the soda and stir to mix. Add remaining soda.

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12 Comments

  1. The Other Randy on September 23, 2015 at 10:19 am

    Supposedly the margarita is the most popular cocktail everywhere in the world except Mexico. In Mexico, it’s the Paloma.

    I like to add two dashes of grapefruit bitters when I make Palomas. Actually, I usually add grapefruit bitters to any tequila drink.






    • Hilah on September 23, 2015 at 10:34 am

      Fancy bitters are something I’ve been wanting to experiment with. When we were in Hawaii, we had a cocktail made with pineapple bitters by the Hawaii Bitters Company. I tried to find it at a liquor store to no avail. After some internet sleuthing, it seems they began with a kickstarter and quickly oversold and weren’t able to supply all the bitters to the donors. :/ I guess now they only supply bars. Can’t even order it on their website!

      • JessicA on July 28, 2017 at 3:51 pm

        There is a company called bittered sling (out of Vancouver Canada)
        Lauren mote makes the most amazing bitters! Bitteredsling.com I promise you won’t be disapointed!

  2. Daniel on October 5, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    I cannot wait to black out drinking Palomas! I’m going to finally be a “real Mexican”.






  3. MelissaMoon on December 26, 2015 at 8:11 am

    I love this recipe! The Paloma is my new favorite drink! 🙂






  4. Traci on August 13, 2016 at 4:21 pm

    Just bought all the stuff to make these! Jarritos too. Gonna be good.

  5. Stace on February 3, 2017 at 3:32 pm

    I tried your recipe and had to double the amount of Tequila. It still seems to be missing something, maybe a mint leaf?






    • Hilah on March 26, 2017 at 9:01 am

      It’s meant to be an easy-drinking cocktail that you can sip all day without getting hammered. I’d just adjust the salt and lime to suit your tastes

  6. Sean McDermott on February 5, 2017 at 11:44 am

    Hilah–love your videos & your guest chef for this recipe!! If you get a chance check out my wife’s company http://www.dallascaramelcompany.com –14 amazing flavors of caramel—–keep up the fun recipees..

  7. Wayne on May 26, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    Do you add salt to the drink or rim’

    • Hilah on May 27, 2018 at 8:17 am

      You can add a pinch of salt to the drink

  8. Ed on September 1, 2019 at 6:40 pm

    Add a couple slices of jalapeño and perfect

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