Hell's Kitchen Watermelon Fresno Margarita

This spicy watermelon margarita is the Watermelon & Fresno Margarita from the cocktail list at Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen in Miami, where the menu describes it as Lunazul Blanco tequila, Fresno chili spiced triple sec, watermelon and lime. Here it is made at home: you steep sliced red Fresno chilies in triple sec for 10 to 20 minutes, blend and strain fresh watermelon, shake it hard with tequila and lime, and pour it over fresh ice in a glass rimmed with chili-lime salt.

Lunazul Blanco is the tequila the menu names, and any good 100% agave blanco works the same way here. The whole drink takes about 30 minutes the first time, most of it the chili steep, and the spiced triple sec keeps in the fridge for the next round. Below is why each step works, how to set the heat exactly where you want it, and a pitcher version for six to eight people. For more drinks from the Ramsay world, the Food & Drink section collects them.

What Is in the Hell's Kitchen Watermelon Fresno Margarita?

The Hell's Kitchen watermelon Fresno margarita has four parts: blanco tequila, triple sec spiced with Fresno chili, watermelon and lime. It is a classic margarita build (spirit, orange liqueur, citrus) with fresh watermelon juice added for body and sweetness, and with the heat carried by the orange liqueur instead of by a muddled pepper. That one choice is what makes it a spicy watermelon margarita you can control: the chili goes into the triple sec on its own, you taste it until it is right, and every drink you shake after that has the same heat.

Blanco tequila is unaged, so it tastes mostly of cooked agave and pepper, which suits fresh fruit. Under the US standard of identity, tequila has to be made in Mexico under Mexican rules, and the broader agave-spirit class only has to be 51 percent agave. A bottle labeled 100% agave has no other sugars in the mash, and that is the kind to buy for a drink this simple. Here is how the menu version and the home versions line up:

The steeped triple sec is the part worth getting right. Everything else is fresh fruit and a good shake.

Fresno Chili Triple Sec: Why the Heat Moves Into the Liqueur So Fast

Fresno chili triple sec takes only 10 to 20 minutes because capsaicin, the compound that makes chilies hot, dissolves easily in alcohol and barely at all in water. The US National Library of Medicine's PubChem entry for capsaicin lists it as practically insoluble in cold water and freely soluble in alcohol. Triple sec is usually somewhere between 15 and 40 percent alcohol, so it pulls the heat out of sliced chili quickly, while a watermelon juice or a sugar syrup would barely touch it. That is also why water does nothing for a burning mouth, and a sip of something fatty or boozy does.

Slice two Fresnos into thin rounds, drop them into a cup of triple sec in a small jar, and taste a drop on a spoon after 10 minutes. Stop when it tastes warm and fruity with a clear kick at the end; for most people that lands between 10 and 20 minutes. Strain out every piece of chili the moment it tastes right, because the liqueur keeps extracting as long as the chili sits in it. Strained, the spiced triple sec keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a month, and its heat stays where you left it.

The heat control lever is the white tissue inside the chili. According to New Mexico State University's chile program, capsaicinoids are made in glands on the placenta, the pale ribs the seeds hang from, and the seeds themselves are not the source of heat; they only pick some up by touching the ribs. So for a milder margarita, halve the chilies and scrape out the ribs along with the seeds before slicing. For a hotter one, leave the ribs in or steep a few minutes longer. The Fresno itself sits in the same range as a jalapeño, about 2,500 to 10,000 Scoville units according to its cultivar profile, but the ripe red ones taste fruitier and sweeter, which is why they suit watermelon.

Fresh Watermelon Juice for a Watermelon Margarita

The best watermelon margarita uses juice you make the same day: blend cubed seedless watermelon until smooth, then push it through a fine-mesh strainer. Watermelon is about 92 percent water according to the National Watermelon Promotion Board, so 4 cups of cubes give you roughly 2 cups of juice, enough for eight drinks. Straining matters. The pulp is bits of cell wall, fiber held together by pectin, and left in the drink it settles into a pale layer and makes the margarita gritty and dull. Strained juice shakes up silky and stays an even pink.

A fine-mesh strainer is the one tool this drink really needs: it clears the watermelon pulp out of the juice, and the smallest sieve in a set fine-strains each shaken drink into the glass so no ice chips or chili flecks get through.

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Even strained, fresh watermelon juice separates as it sits, and its fresh flavor fades within a day, so keep it cold and stir or shake the container before you measure. Treat it like cut melon. The FDA advises scrubbing firm produce such as melons with a clean produce brush before cutting, because a knife carries whatever is on the rind into the flesh, and keeping cut fruit refrigerated at 40°F or below. Taste the juice before you shake: a ripe, deeply red melon often needs no agave at all, while a pale, watery one needs a quarter ounce.

How to Shake a Spicy Watermelon Margarita

Shake a spicy watermelon margarita hard with plenty of ice for about 15 seconds, because the shake chills, dilutes and aerates the drink all at once. Cocktail scientist Dave Arnold measured this on Cooking Issues: a shaken drink drops below 32°F (0°C) in under 10 seconds and levels off around 19°F (minus 7°C) in under 17, after which more shaking changes very little. A metal tin helps, since steel conducts heat away from the liquid fast, which is why the outside frosts over. Fill the shaker at least two-thirds with ice so it chills before it melts away.

Dilution is part of the recipe. When Punch measured working bartenders' shakes, a 10-second shake added about 20 percent water and a full shake about a third, just over an ounce in a single drink. That water takes the edge off the tequila and opens up the watermelon, so a margarita stirred in a glass tastes harsh next to a shaken one. The hard shake also beats in fine air bubbles that give the top a light, frothy texture. Strain over fresh ice, since the shaker ice is already half melted and would water the drink down fast.

Chili-Lime Salt Rim: Balancing a Spicy Watermelon Margarita

A chili-lime salt rim does more than look good on a spicy watermelon margarita; salt makes the drink taste sweeter and less bitter. In a study published in Nature, Paul Breslin and Gary Beauchamp found that salt suppresses bitterness more than it suppresses sweetness, so the sweet flavors stand out. Here that softens the bite of the tequila and the bitter edge of lime and lets the watermelon read louder. Mix kosher salt with ground chili and grated lime zest, run a lime wedge around the outside of the glass, and roll it through. Rim only half the glass if your guests like to choose.

Taste and balance the drink cold, the way it will be drunk. Sweetness is weaker when it is cold: researchers writing in Nature traced this to the sweet-taste channel TRPM5, which responds more and more strongly as temperature climbs from 59°F to 95°F (15 to 35°C). A mix that tastes right at room temperature will taste tart and thin once it is shaken to 19°F. So build it by the numbers, shake one, taste it, and adjust the next with a little agave if it is too sour or a little lime if it is flat. The chili changes the balance too: heat makes a sour drink feel sharper, so the hotter your triple sec, the more you may want that quarter ounce of agave.

Watermelon Margarita Pitcher for 6 to 8

A watermelon margarita pitcher for 6 to 8 is the single recipe multiplied by eight, plus cold water to stand in for the shake. Stir together 2 cups blanco tequila, 3/4 cup Fresno triple sec, 2 cups fresh watermelon juice, 3/4 cup lime juice and agave to taste, then add 1 1/4 cups cold water, which is about the 20 to 25 percent dilution a shake would give. Chill the pitcher for at least 2 hours so it starts cold, stir it again just before serving because the watermelon juice settles, and pour it into rimmed glasses over fresh ice.

Keep the pitcher in the fridge, not out in the sun with ice in it: ice in the pitcher keeps melting and turns the last glasses weak. The batch tastes brightest the day you make it, since fresh lime and watermelon both lose their fresh notes overnight. Each drink carries 2 ounces of tequila plus the triple sec, a little more than one and a half standard drinks by the NIAAA's measure of 1.5 ounces of 40 percent spirit per drink. Serve it to guests 21 and over.

Zero-Proof Watermelon Margarita and Other Swaps

A zero-proof watermelon margarita keeps the watermelon, lime and chili and drops the tequila and triple sec. The Hell's Kitchen Miami menu has its own alcohol-free cousin in the mocktail list, the Hot Melon, made with watermelon cactus water, jalapeño, lime and watermelon juice. At home, muddle two or three Fresno rounds in the shaker, add 3 ounces of watermelon juice, 3/4 ounce lime, 1/2 ounce orange juice for the triple sec's orange note and agave to taste, shake hard, strain over ice and top with a splash of soda water. Muddling works here because crushing the chili breaks open the cells and puts the oil straight into the drink; without alcohol to dissolve it, a long soak would not. For a whole spread of party drinks without alcohol, our party mocktails include a smoked pineapple fizz that sits well next to this one.

For a watermelon jalapeño margarita, steep a green jalapeño in the triple sec instead of the Fresnos; the heat is similar and the flavor is grassier and greener. Cointreau, a stronger and drier orange liqueur, works in place of triple sec and extracts the chili a little faster. A reposado tequila, which the Miami menu offers as an upgrade, gives a rounder, vanilla-oak version. For a frozen margarita, blend the same ingredients with frozen watermelon cubes instead of shaking; a sturdy blender handles that, and our guide to stainless steel jar blenders covers the ones built for ice.

How to Serve It the Hell's Kitchen Way

Serve the Hell's Kitchen watermelon Fresno margarita on the rocks in a chili-lime salt rimmed glass, with a small watermelon wedge on the rim and one thin Fresno round floating on top as a warning of what is coming. It is a bright, fruity drink with a slow-building heat, so it suits food with char and salt: tacos, grilled prawns, or a burger like the Gordon Ramsay backyard burger, which sits on the same Miami menu. To finish the night the restaurant way, the Gordon Ramsay sticky toffee pudding closes out nearly every set menu in Miami, from the prix fixe to the five-course tasting menu.

This spicy watermelon margarita is a restaurant cocktail that needs a jar, a blender, a strainer and a shaker. For the drink Ramsay himself is tied to, read our piece on Gordon Ramsay's favorite cocktail, and for warm-weather and holiday drinks without the tequila, the non-alcoholic holiday drinks are a good next stop.

Hell's Kitchen Watermelon Fresno Margarita

The spicy watermelon margarita from the Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen Miami menu: 100% agave blanco tequila, triple sec steeped with red Fresno chili, fresh strained watermelon juice and lime, shaken hard and served on fresh ice with a chili-lime salt rim. Makes one drink, with enough Fresno triple sec for about ten. Serve to guests 21 and over.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Course Drinks, Cocktail

Servings 1 drink

Calories 240 kcal

Ingredients

  

Fresno chili triple sec (about 10 drinks)

• 1 cup triple sec
• 2 red Fresno chilies, sliced into thin rounds (scrape out the ribs and seeds for a milder steep)

Fresh watermelon juice

• 4 cups cubed seedless watermelon (makes about 2 cups juice)

Chili-lime salt rim

• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground chili powder
• 1/2 tsp finely grated lime zest
• 1 lime wedge, for the rim

One margarita

• 2 oz 100% agave blanco tequila (the menu pours Lunazul Blanco)
• 3/4 oz Fresno chili triple sec
• 2 oz fresh watermelon juice, cold
• 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
• 0 to 1/4 oz agave syrup, to taste
• ice, for shaking and serving
• 1 small watermelon wedge and 1 thin Fresno chili round, to garnish

Instructions

 

• Make the Fresno triple sec: put the triple sec and sliced Fresno chilies in a small jar. Taste a drop on a spoon after 10 minutes and every 2 to 3 minutes after; when it has a clear, warm kick (usually 10 to 20 minutes), strain out all the chili. Seal and refrigerate.
• Make the watermelon juice while it steeps: scrub the whole melon before cutting, blend the cubes until smooth, then press through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the pulp. Chill and use the same day; stir before measuring.
• Mix the salt, chili powder and lime zest on a saucer. Run the lime wedge around the outer rim of a rocks glass and roll it through the salt. Fill the glass with fresh ice.
• Add the tequila, Fresno triple sec, watermelon juice and lime juice to a shaker. Taste the mix and add agave only if it is too tart.
• Fill the shaker at least two-thirds with ice, seal, and shake hard for about 15 seconds, until the tin is frosted.
• Fine-strain into the prepared glass over the fresh ice. Garnish with the watermelon wedge on the rim and a Fresno round on top, and serve right away.

Notes

Pitcher for 6 to 8: stir 2 cups blanco tequila, 3/4 cup Fresno triple sec, 2 cups watermelon juice, 3/4 cup lime juice, agave to taste and 1 1/4 cups cold water; chill at least 2 hours, stir again and pour over fresh ice in rimmed glasses. Strained Fresno triple sec keeps up to a month in the fridge. Hotter: leave the ribs in or steep longer; milder: scrape out ribs and seeds and stop at 10 minutes. Jalapeño works in place of Fresno. Zero-proof: muddle 2 to 3 Fresno rounds, add 3 oz watermelon juice, 3/4 oz lime, 1/2 oz orange juice and agave, shake, strain over ice and top with soda water. Serve to guests 21 and over.

More drinks from the Ramsay collection: Gordon Ramsay's favorite cocktail, party mocktails for a crowd and non-alcoholic holiday drinks. Browse everything in Food & Drink.

Spicy Watermelon Margarita FAQs

The questions that come up most: what is in a spicy watermelon margarita, what the ratio is, which tequila to use, how to make the drink less or more spicy, whether you can make it ahead, whether triple sec or Cointreau is better, and how to make it without alcohol.