About This Recipe
The Paloma is Mexico’s everyday tequila highball, and it is a near-perfect match for grilled beef. Grapefruit and lime bring bitterness and acid, the soda keeps it light, and the whole thing scrubs the fat off your palate between bites of tri tip.
Already a pairing favorite on this site, it earns its own glass here. Keep it built on fresh grapefruit and only a whisper of agave, so it stays bright and bitter rather than sweet. That is what makes it cut.
Grapefruit and lime want the same flavors on the plate. Start people with pico de gallo and chips when they arrive, then keep the palomas going straight through the tri tip tacos later. It is the same bright, citrusy note from the first pour to the last bite.
The recipe
Paloma
Tequila, fresh grapefruit, lime and soda. Bright and a little bitter, the Paloma scrubs the smoke and richness of tri tip off your palate between bites.
Ingredients
- 2 oz blanco tequila
- 2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
- 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz agave syrup, optional
- Soda water, to top
- Salt, grapefruit, and ice, to serve
Instructions
Rim a glass with salt if you like, then fill with ice.
Note The salt rim is traditional and it plays well with a salty, charred plate. Skip it if you prefer.
Add the tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, and agave, then top with soda water and stir gently.
Note Fresh grapefruit, not soda from a bottle. It is the difference between a real Paloma and a sweet one.
Garnish with a grapefruit wedge.
Note Scale it up into a pitcher for a crowd: just hold the soda until serving.
Nutrition Facts
Per serving
- Calories
- 190
- Protein
- 0 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Sat. Fat
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 14 g
- Fiber
- 0 g
- Sodium
- 15 mg
- Cholesterol
- 0 mg
Values are estimates based on standard ingredients and serving sizes.