Soft serve margarita, the internet’s new popular drink
Soft serve margaritas are taking TikTok by storm, with people driving hours to get their hands on one.
Social media’s newest obsession is sweet and soft, and people drive hours and come across state lines to find it. Soft-serve ice cream margaritas have captured the attention of people across the United States, and they’re now looking for restaurants to serve them.
The latest soft-serve margarita obsession gained popularity after videos of the drink went viral, including a clip showing the treat from La Playa Mexican Restaurant & Mariscos in Cleveland, Ohio. People started uploading videos showcasing the colorful soft serve ice cream and alcohol in giant margarita glasses, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes.
Here’s what we know about virus trends.
Soft serve margaritas are all the rage right now, but they’re not new.
But soft serve margaritas aren’t new to some restaurants. Nothing Left Brewing Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has had alcoholic soft-serve ice cream on its menu for more than five years, co-owner Lacey Richards told USA TODAY. The current popular flavor is watermelon coconut margarita soft serve ice cream.
“In the last five years, we’ve done all sorts of things, like doing peach cobbler, doing things like espresso martini styles, you name it,” Richards said. “We’re just managing to stay within our limits because as a brewery we’re not allowed to bring in alcohol, so ours isn’t tequila-based. In fact, ours is hard seltzer-based, with very little flavor. So we get to do all kinds of fun things and play around.”
Richards said alternative drinks for the brewery started with alcoholic slushies and then evolved into ice cream.
“We’ve been drinking alcoholic slushies for a long time, and one day we thought, why not do the same thing with ice cream,” Richards said. “What we actually offer is what’s called a frozen flight, so whatever month it is, it’s one alcoholic soft-serve ice cream. And the rest is three alcoholic slushies. It’s a lot of fun.”
For Richards, the appeal of soft serve margaritas is rooted in people’s desire for ice cream and things that are aesthetically pleasing. This trend is driving people away from the state for soft-serve ice cream, she added.
“What we’re saying here is that people already love what they’re used to, and we’re repackaging those favorites into something fun and interesting. So incorporating two things we know we like, margaritas and ice cream, and combining them together is the limit of magic,” Richards said. “…We have so many people coming from all over Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri just to try soft serve margaritas. It’s so much fun, and now that it’s getting warmer and more spring-like, it’s the perfect time to have soft serve.”
Select restaurants are participating in soft serve margarita parties
That sentiment is shared by Doña Leti’s Restaurant & Bar in Houston, Texas, which recently added a mix of dairy-free mango, strawberry, and soft serve margarita flavors to its menu following a surge in popularity.
“Customers love it…everyone loves margaritas, and I think just taking something that everyone loves and just rotating it to add some kind of unique concept to it, that always works,” co-owner Kari Lozano told USA TODAY. “I think people are really excited to have something new and different from something they already love, like a margarita.”
Lozano said the restaurant purchased an ice cream machine and tried more than 20 recipes over five days to find the right concentration and alcohol combination before officially adding it to the menu. Customers can choose to customize their margaritas, including adding chamoy or tagine seasoning, or a rim of salt or sugar.
Lozano said that like Richard’s and the brewery, customers come from neighboring states to try the new margaritas, and traffic increases during the restaurant’s busy season.
“Actually, the other day, someone drove from Louisiana because they saw our soft-serve ice cream margaritas and wanted to try them, so we had a lot of first-time guests come,” Lozano said. “It’s funny, not only first-time guests, but we’ve had a lot of people from other restaurants come and check it out.”
Social media is looking for soft serve margaritas
The Soft Serve Margarita video gained traction on social media, garnering hundreds of thousands of views as people sought out local stores that served the soft serve.
Both Lozano and Richards said they’ve seen guests record themselves as they sample the treats, adding to the fun trend.
In addition to people filming themselves trying the trending soft-serve ice cream, videos asking where to find soft-serve ice cream in cities across the country have also appeared on social media, racking up thousands of views and comments as people try to find the answer. Social media users have called out on platforms in cities like Dallas, Atlanta and Boston, with most lamenting the distance to soft-serve ice cream margaritas.
How to make soft serve margaritas at home
Some soft serve margarita fans choose to make soft serve at home using ice cream or a stirrer that gets cold enough to have the same effect on the ingredients.
The soft serve margarita recipe posted by Ninja Kitchen, which also created the Ninja CREAMi ice cream maker, calls for ingredients such as lime juice, orange liqueur, tequila, and your favorite sweetener. Mix these ingredients with ice until smooth, then pour into Ninja CREAMi and it will mix automatically to create soft serve ice cream.
Other posts on social media include similar recipes that use sugar, heavy cream, salt, whole milk, lime zest and water, which also need to be mixed and run in an ice cream maker to achieve the texture and consistency of soft serve.
Kate Perez covers national trends and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kperez@usatodayco.com or X @katecperez_.
