A Taco Catering Party with Margaritas? Or a Margarita Party with Tacos?

No one needs to tell you to serve margaritas with tacos at a taco catering party. That much is conventional wisdom.

But if you’re going to hire mobile taco caterers for your next party, make sure your portable margarita bar is properly stocked to pair with the kinds of tacos being served. There is gastronomic science involved, sorta, that should be given full consideration.

(But before digging in too deeply on this, rest assured the tacos and margaritas you’ve had in the past likely were excellent choices, even without an education in it. The bottom line is tacos are awesome and margaritas are awesome. The point of this article is they can be even awesomer. Hire a taco catering company to show you how.)

We take this on the authority of Betty Crocker Kitchens, which issued a seminal press release on taco-margarita pairings in 2013. In case this passed your attention, Betty C. has come into the company of a certain brand of salsas, so she’s clearly branching out from fudge brownie mix and instant mashed potatoes.

While not what you might typically find from a mobile taco catering vendor, here are the pairings suggested by BCK that blur the lines between dinner and drinking:

Puffy tacos stuffed with chicken chipotle, paired with a citrus margarita with smoky chile salt. The recipe actually calls for three citruses – orange, lemon and lime – that seem to blend nicely with the puffy shells.

Beer battered fish tacos paired with an hibiscus lime margarita. While we may have had you at “beer,” the hibiscus actually comes in a syrup that “adds bright flavor and vibrant color” to the drink. And where is a taco-margarita party without vibrant color? Betty rocks.

Coconut curry chicken tacos with mango a Thai basil margarita. It’s not unusual to put something vegetable in a drink (think about your last celery screwdriver) but it’s this Thai basil that sets off the coconut curry, paired with crunchy peanuts in the taco.

Banh mi pork tacos, paired with a cucumber cilantro margaritas. Importantly, the cucumbers must be muddled to release the flavor into the drink. The secret ingredient in a banh mi pork taco is the sriracha mayo.

Gluten-free harissa roasted sweet potato tacos with a honey lemon margarita (also gluten free). The trick to gluten free is to use corn tortillas, then use herbed feta and Greek yogurt. The honey is consistent with the Middle Eastern nature of this combination.

So if Betty Crocker can span the globe on taco-margarita pairings, it’s a sure sign that you can too. You’ll never need to apologize for hosting a taco party in mixed company. Chances are, they’ll like the mix no matter where they are from.