This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
All recipes on Doggone Baking are intended for humans — the dogs are just our enthusiastic photo assistants and taste-test spectators.
Frozen Margarita Pie Recipe
Frozen pies are one of the best summer desserts out there. They’re cool, creamy, and easy to make ahead of time. Whether you’re planning a Memorial Day cookout, a 4th of July BBQ, or just want a refreshing treat to bring to a summer picnic, this frozen margarita pie is the recipe for you. This frozen margarita pie with a pretzel crust is an easy pie recipe that’s perfect for beginner bakers and is a delicious twist on a margarita.
What is Frozen Margarita Pie?
Frozen margarita pie is a no-churn, margarita-flavored ice cream pie served in a sweet and salty pretzel crust. The pretzel crust brings a salty, crunchy contrast to the sweet, creamy filling, similar to salting the rim of a margarita glass. The no-churn ice cream filling is made with sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, tequila, and triple sec, with whipped cream or Cool Whip folded in to give it a light, fluffy texture. This recipe also adds cream cheese to the mix, which stabilizes the filling and makes it noticeably creamier.
Because this is a no-bake dessert with an easy pretzel crust, frozen margarita pie is a great summer recipe for beginner bakers just getting into home baking.
History of Frozen Margarita Pie
Mentions of frozen margarita pies first appeared in the mid-1980s. The Wilton Bulletin, a local newspaper from Danbury, Connecticut, published a recipe for frozen margarita pie on July 31, 1985. A few cookbooks followed with their own versions beginning in 1986.
A pie called “margarita pie” did exist before the frozen version. Prior to the 1980s, there were recipes for margarita pie that were published.Those earlier recipes were chiffon pies rather than frozen pies, with a light, margarita-flavored mousse filling instead of a no-churn ice cream.
What is a Margarita?
A margarita is one of the most popular cocktails in the world, and it’s been around since sometime in the 1930s or 1940s. It’s a beautifully simple drink made with tequila, triple sec, and lime juice, with salt around the rim of the glass. A classic margarita is equal parts of each: about 2 tablespoons of tequila, 2 tablespoons of triple sec, and 2 tablespoons of lime juice. If you like your margarita on the sweeter side, a tablespoon of simple syrup does the trick. Finish it with a salted rim and a lime wedge garnish.
This frozen margarita pie captures all of those same flavors, using lime juice, tequila, and triple sec to flavor the no-churn ice cream filling.
What is Tequila?
Tequila is a Mexican spirit and, in terms of raw sales, the most popular liquor in the United States. Along with mezcal, tequila is distilled from the blue agave plant. Think of tequila as the non-smoky version of mezcal. It’s been around since the 1880s and has only grown in popularity since then.
What is Triple Sec?
Triple sec is a clear, orange-flavored liqueur that originated in France sometime in the 1800s. It’s made with the peel of bitter oranges and typically runs between 20-40% ABV. You can also substitute Cointreau for triple sec in this recipe if you’d like.
The Science of No-Churn Ice Cream
Ever wonder why no-churn ice cream actually works? This section breaks down the science behind it. For a much more detailed deep-dive, head over to my post on frozen lemonade pie.
Reducing Water Content in No-Churn Ice Cream
One key factor in no-churn ice cream is using highly condensed and concentrated ingredients. The biggest obstacle to a smooth, creamy ice cream texture is water molecules, and the simplest solution is also the most obvious one: use less water.
Sweetened condensed milk is usually used in place of regular milk in no-churn ice cream, and it pulls double duty. First, as the name suggests, the milk has been reduced down to a thicker consistency and most of the water has been boiled off. Second, as we’ll discuss further below, sweetened condensed milk is also an invert sugar product, which means it’s doing even more work behind the scenes.
Introducing Monosaccharides in No-Churn Ice Cream
Monosaccharides like glucose and fructose are more efficient in binding water molecules and preventing the formation of ice crystals than disaccharides like sucrose. In commercial ice cream production, glucose syrup or invert sugar syrup is often used as a sweetener.
Invert sugar syrups are created by heating sugar and water for a long period of time until the sucrose molecules break up into individual glucose and fructose molecules. Because sweetened condensed milk is also held at high heat for a long time, it is also an invert sugar product. Therefore, not only is using condensed milk a way to reduce the water content in no-churn ice cream, it’s also a way to introduce more monosaccharides into the mixture. Two birds, one very delicious stone.
Making No-Churn Ice Cream Fluffy with Whipped Cream
Since no-churn ice cream doesn’t get air introduced during a churning process like traditional ice cream, we need to find a different way to suspend air bubbles in fat molecules. Whipped cream is perfect for this. Folding whipped cream (or Cool Whip) into the no-churn ice cream mixture traps all of those tiny bubbles within it. As it freezes, the whipped cream plays a similar role to churning, incorporating air into an ice cream mixture.
Using Cream Cheese as a Stabilizer in Ice Cream
While commercial ice creams use commercial stabilizers and gums, cream cheese can be used as a stabilizer in homemade ice cream. Most frozen margarita pie recipes don’t call for cream cheese. However, I made this pie with and without cream cheese, and the results were noticeably and significantly better with it. The final result of the no-churn ice cream has a more substantive mouthfeel, closer to real ice cream, and a much fluffier texture. The pie also holds up in the freezer much better when cream cheese is included.
Using Cool Whip vs Homemade Whipped Cream for Frozen Margarita Pie
Some recipes for frozen margarita pie call for “whipped topping” (or Cool Whip), while others call for whipped cream. The good news is that either will work for a delicious pie, so you can use whichever you have on hand or prefer.
That said, there are a few real differences between the two. Cool Whip is slightly lower calorie, with an 8oz tub coming in at 625 calories versus 1 cup of heavy whipping cream at 960 calories. They both add air bubbles stabilized with fat molecules into the mixture, but one uses butterfat while the other uses vegetable oil. The final product made with whipped cream will feel, well, creamy, while the version made with Cool Whip is more likely to feel slightly oily or like it’s leaving a film in your mouth.
If you prefer to use Cool Whip over homemade whipped cream for this recipe, you can substitute one 8oz tub in place of the heavy whipping cream.
Step-by-Step Frozen Margarita Pie Recipe
Crust:
Frozen margarita pie is often made with pretzel pie crust. The pretzels offer a salty flavor, mimicking the salt around the rim of a margarita glass. That said, if pretzels aren’t your thing, any crumb crust will work well here. A classic graham cracker crust is a great alternative, and some recipes even use a saltine cracker crust, similar to the one used for Atlantic Beach pie.
Frozen Margarita Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3oz Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature (85g)
- 14oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
- ½c Lime Juice (120mL)
- 2T Tequila (30mL)
- 1T Triple Sec (15mL)
- 2t Lime Zest (~2 limes)
- 1½c Heavy Whipping Cream, cold (340mL)
1.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth.
2.
Add the sweetened condensed milk and whip until no chunks of cream cheese remain.
3.
With the mixer running, slowly add the lime juice, tequila, and triple sec. Mix until smooth.
4.
(Optional) Pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl for an extra-smooth filling.
5.
Fold in the lime zest.
6.
In a clean mixing bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
7.
Very gently fold the whipped cream into the tequila ice cream mixture.
8.
Carefully pour the frozen tequila pie filling into your prepared pretzel crust.
9.
Transfer the pie to your freezer and freeze for 6-12 hours.
10.
Decorate, slice, and serve!
Other Frozen Pie Recipes
Frozen margarita pie falls into a class of pie called frozen pies. Frozen pies are pretty self-explanatory; they’re served frozen. Frozen lemonade pie is probably the most popular frozen pie, but there are many delicious frozen pie recipes out there.
- Frozen Lemonade Pie: Frozen lemonade pie is a classic frozen pie. Frozen lemonade concentrate is used to make a no-churn lemonade flavored ice cream in a graham cracker crust.
- Frozen Pink Lemonade Pie: Similar to frozen lemonade pie, but uses frozen pink lemonade concentrate for a fun pink filling, rather than regular frozen lemonade concentrate.
- Banana Split Pie: A banana split, but in pie form! This is a modern recipe with many different versions and twists.
- Frozen Key Lime Pie: Key lime pie is the most popular pie across the United States (at least in search volume). It has spawned many delicious variations, and the frozen version freezes a no-bake key lime mousse inside a graham cracker crust.
- Baked Alaska: Baked Alaska is not quite a pie, but I consider it a pie-adjacent dessert. Layers of ice cream sit on top of a cake base encased in toasted meringue.
How to Store Frozen Margarita Pie
Since this pie is frozen, it must be stored flat in the freezer. You can pull it out about 10 minutes before serving if you’d like to soften the filling slightly before eating. Frozen margarita pie can last for up to a week in the freezer.
It’s worth noting that the filling for this frozen margarita pie recipe holds well for that full week specifically because of the cream cheese. The cream cheese acts as a stabilizer, maintaining the texture of the no-churn ice cream over time. Versions of frozen margarita pie that omit the cream cheese will start losing their texture after a couple of days, and will begin to lose their fluff and form ice crystals.
We’d love to see your frozen margarita pie creations! If you give this recipe a try, tag @doggone_baking on social media so we can share in the baking fun.
Frozen Margarita Pie
Ingredients
- 1 Pretzel Pie Crust
- 3 oz Cream Cheese, softened (85g)
- 14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk (300g) ¾ of a 14oz can
- ½ cup Lime Juice (120mL) homemade recipe in post
- 2 tbsp Tequila (30mL)
- 1 tbsp Triple Sec (15mL)
- 2 tsp Lime Zest (~2 limes)
- 1½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream, cold (340mL) or 1 8oz tub of Cool Whip
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the sweetened condensed milk and whip until no chunks of cream cheese remain.
- With the mixer running, slowly add the lime juice, tequila, and triple sec. Mix until smooth.
- (Optional) Pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl for an extra-smooth filling.
- Fold in the lime zest.
- In a clean mixing bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
- Very gently fold the whipped cream into the tequila ice cream mixture.
- Carefully pour the frozen tequila pie filling into your prepared pretzel crust.
- Transfer the pie to your freezer and freeze for 6-12 hours.
- Decorate, slice, and serve!
About Me
In 2016, I left my office job and became a professional baker. These days I spend my days testing recipes and baking pies while my two dogs snooze happily nearby.
Leave a Reply