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This Skinny Cranberry Margarita recipe is the perfect balance between healthy and indulgent. No added sugar or artificial sweeteners, no syrups, but full of flavor and natural sweetness with about 100 calories.

This recipe is light and bubbly and just as good without the tequila. It’s a perfect low calorie holiday cocktail, but I make these any time of year–not just during the holiday season.

collage image for cranberry margaritas

I’m always looking for low calorie tequila drinks, since I don’t care to drink anything super sweet or heavy. Even with a couple of candied cranberries, these margaritas aren’t too sweet–they make the best low calorie Christmas cocktail.

This recipe is considered healthy because it has just a few simple ingredients–sparkling water (you could also use club soda, but I haven’t seen flavored club sodas so I stick with the water), fresh limes, tequila (or vodka!), and cranberry juice.

I didn’t add orange juice, sugar, or other liqueur options because to be honest this recipe doesn’t need them. This is a delicious sugar free, artificial sweetener free cranberry cocktail. Whether you’re looking for a skinny poolside cocktail or a low calorie holiday drink, this recipe is simple and refreshing!

Ingredients

  • Sparkling water: Plain sparkling water like Perrier is great, but I really enjoy the extra flavor of flavored sparkling water. Just be sure whatever you choose doesn’t have any sugars or artificial sweeteners.
  • Tequila: Be sure and use a good quality tequila. Lower quality tequilas often have extra ingredients that you probably don’t want to be drinking (man, I could write an entire post on that!). Cazadores, Don Julio, and Herradura are great options that you can find in your local grocery store. For this recipe, I prefer silver tequila.
  • Cranberry juice: Look for 100% juice. A lot of bottled cranberry juice contains sugar so be sure and read your label. 
  • Fresh Lime juice From freshly squeezed limes, of course ;)
two cranberry margaritas top down view

Quick Instructions

  1. If you’d like to drink this cocktail over ice, add ice, tequila, lime juice, and cranberry juice to your glass. Fill to the top with sparkling water and enjoy!
  2. If you’d rather shake this cocktail, add ice to a glass and the following ingredients to a cocktail shaker: tequila, lime juice, and cranberry juice. Shake for 15 seconds, then pour over ice. Top with chilled sparkling water.

Recipe Tips

  • For a little added sweetness, rim the glass with lime juice and coat with raw sugar. I don’t often do this, but every once in a while it’s fun to. If you are serving these to someone who prefers sweet, go ahead and add a splash of simple syrup.
  • For a festive presentation, add 3 whole cranberries to a toothpick for a garnish. If you want to make sugared cranberries like I did for these pictures you can, but know that this will bump it out of the 100 calorie range.  
  • This recipe is great over ice or shaken and poured. 
  • Not feeling the alcohol? Skip the tequila and enjoy the delicious mocktail version.
  • Not loving the Sparkling Cranberry Margarita? You can use still water instead of sparkling!
  • This is a perfect cocktail to serve alongside your Thanksgiving dinner.

Healthy Eating Plans

If you’re on a healthy eating plan, this should fit right into it. As a 21 Day Fix margarita it fits perfectly as a treat swap (any alcohol is a treat swap). As a Weight Watchers margarita, it’s a low point cocktail–just 4 points on all plans.

If this cocktail doesn’t fit into your healthy eating plan, the mocktail version of this recipe might work better for you–simply leave the alcohol out of the recipe and enjoy!

view of two cranberry margaritas in clear wine glass

More skinny cocktail recipes

One of my favorite things to do is take naturally flavored sparkling water and make different cocktails with it. I have several made for you to spark your creativity on how you can use the same sparking water to make lower calorie versions of your favorite cocktails–these are all right around 100 calories.

cranberry margarita in a glass with green and white straws
4.39 from 34 ratings
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Delicious Skinny Cranberry Margarita Recipe

Created by: Becca Ludlum
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Approximate Serving Size: 1 cocktail
Servings 1 Margarita
This easy low cal Cranberry Margarita recipe is only 100 calories! Sugar free and no artificial sweeteners, it's a healthier skinny cranberry margarita!

Ingredients 

  • 1 oz tequila
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • ¼ cup cranberry juice
  • ice cubes
  • 10 oz sparkling water I prefer lime flavored

Instructions

  • Add tequila, lime juice, cranberry juice, and ice to your glass, then fill to the top with sparkling water. 1 oz tequila, 2 tbsp lime juice, ¼ cup cranberry juice, ice cubes, 10 oz sparkling water
  • Stir and serve, or add everything except sparkling water to a cocktail shake with ice, shake and serve. Top with sparkling water.

Notes

Healthy Eating Plans:
  • Weight Watchers: Each margarita counts as: 4 Blue Plan Points | 4 Green Plan Points | 4 Purple Plan Points | 2022/2023 Points: 3
  • 21 Day Fix/Ultimate Portion Fix: Each of these margaritas is a Yellow Treat swap for The Fix. That means you can trade one of your daily yellows for this, and believe me it’s worth it. 

Nutrition

Calories: 102kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 62mg | Potassium: 49mg | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 14mg

Make This Recipe?

Make sure to follow on Pinterest @bludlum and on Instagram @beccaludlum

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16 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    So good I almost had one too many ;) Great recipe! keeping these around all of Christmas!

  2. 5 stars
    I want to make this for a holiday party coming up. Should I use sweetened or unsweetened cranberry juice?

  3. This looks so good! I love that you use sparkling water! What a great way to cut calories!

  4. Thanks for sharing! Can I make a concentrate ahead of time?

      1. I apologize if this is a daft question, but I’m going to attempt this as a bulk drink as well. Is the concentrate of all of the ingredients and then add the sparkling water when ready to drink? We will be taking it in a limo, so want to minimize the mess, but still want something festive and low cal. Thank you!

      2. I’ve done that–I’ve also made the entire batch at once! The lid on the bubbly water might be an issue, though. So your idea might be best!

  5. Are the cranberries that are on top of the glass for garish just frozen or have salt on them? How did you make them?

  6. Corinne Sanches says:

    Hi! Can you give bulk measurements for a Punch bowl ?

    1. Sara Anderson says:

      That depends on how much you want to make. If you want to make enough for 10 drinks, then multiply each ingredient by 10 :)

  7. would salt on the rim work? thats one of my favorite parts of a margarita!

    1. Sara Anderson says:

      Absolutely! Just account for the sodium if you’re tracking that sort of thing :)

  8. What brand of tequila do you suggest?

    1. Sara Anderson says:

      For this recipe, we prefer silver tequila. Cazadores, Don Julio, and Herradura are great options that you can find in your local grocery store. :)

4.39 from 34 votes (32 ratings without comment)

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