This delicious Mexican candy shot recipe is perfect for serving at your Cinco de Mayo party. A tasty twist on the classic margarita!

Given our love for fruity drinks and fun cocktails, we thought these Mexican Candy Shots would be the ultimate refreshing and fun shots to try!

And if you have ever had Mexican candy, you’ll know that it has an explosion of sweet and slightly spicy flavors and ingredients.

So it’s the perfect inspiration for this tequila shot recipe (even though you can consume it in a bigger cocktail version.)

mexican lollipop shots - cocktail servings in a cup

Table of Contents

What is Mexican Candy?

Mexican candy typically combine the sweet fruity flavors (usually from mango, strawberry, or watermelon) and sour and spicy flavors (usually from tamarind, grapefruit and lime). Known as the Mexican lollipop, it is hard candy dusted with chili powder.

Why is It Called Mexican Candy Shot?

The drink is called a “vero rebanaditas” because it’s based on authentic Mexican candy, which has been coated in chili powder. It comes in 3 different flavors: watermelon (or paleta), strawberry elote style–and mangoes!

What Kind of Hot Sauce Should You Use?

If you’re looking for the perfect Mexican Candy Shot recipe, you’ll need to choose the right hot sauce. We recommend using a bright and fruity hot sauce like mango habanero hot sauce. This will give your shots a sweet, spicy flavor that everyone will love. Trust us, your guests will be begging for more!

Ingredients Needed

Tequila — We used silver tequila, but other types work. Silver tequila is clear and more commonly used for mixing cocktails like skinny margaritas and blue motorcycle recipes.
Watermelon juice — Fresh is always best, but bottled juice is fine. You can substitute watermelon juice for mango or grapefruit juice. Both versions are equally delicious!
Tabasco or any spicy hot sauce
Lime juice — Substitute for grapefruit or lemon juice if you want to play around with the recipe.
Lime wheel — For garnish
Granulated white sugar, lime zest, and powdered chilies — For our sweet Tajín-inspired rim. Tajín is a Mexican mix of spices, and we’ll show you how to make our sweet version that balances out the sourness of the shot.

mexican candy shots - mixed sweet tajin in a spoon

How to Make Mexican Candy Shots

To prep your shot glass:

1 — Mix in the sugar, powdered chilies, and lime zest in a small bowl to make your sweet Tajín mix.

2 — Rub a lime wedge around the rim of the glass. This will help the sweet Tajín mix stick to the glass.

3 — Dip the shot glass into the sweet Tajín mixture to garnish the rim.

mexican candy drink - sweet tajin in a bowl

To make your shot:

1 — In a cocktail shaker with ice cubes, combine the watermelon juice, the silver Tequila, the lime juice, and the Tabasco sauce. Shake well until the shaker gets cold.

2 — Strain the mixture into the shot glass.

3 — Garnish with a lime wheel.

mexican candy shot recipe - cocktail with chili pepper

Recipe Notes and Tips

Play with the ratio between the fruit juice and the tequila to adjust it to your taste. In our case, we preferred to have 1 part tequila with 2-3 parts of fruit juice.
If your fruit is not yet ripe, add more sugar to the mix or even a dash or two of simple syrup.
You can use white sugar instead of Tajin for the shot glass rim.
Instead of watermelon pucker, you could use another flavor like strawberry schnapps, mango schnapps, etc.
Whether you make chamoy yourself or buy it at the store, you can enjoy it. Follow the recipe as usual after adding the chamoy to the rim.

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