In-Sandiary Recipe

By
Maggie Hoffman
Maggie Hoffman is a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Maggie Hoffman
Maggie Hoffman is a longtime food and drink expert whose recipes and cocktail-making tips can be found on her newsletters What to Drink and The Dinner Plan. She is the author of  The One-Bottle Cocktail and Batch Cocktails, both published by Ten Speed Press.
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Updated March 28, 2025
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Jessica Leibowitz

Back away from the Watermelon Pucker. Instead, make this simple, refreshing drink from cubes of real watermelon (it's mostly water!) and a little lime and tequila. The spicy rim is essential—each sip is a flash of heat, followed by the cooling cocktail. Not too sweet, not too tart, nothing artificial.

This cocktail was developed by Joaquin Simo (a founding bartender at Death & Co. in New York) and included in the Food & Wine 2009 Cocktail Guide. According to the book, the name is a play on sandia, the Spanish word for watermelon, as well as "incendiary" for the spicy chile salt rim.

Recipe Details

In-Sandiary Recipe

Prep 10 mins
Active 8 mins
Total 10 mins
Serves 1 serving
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Ingredients

For rimming the glass:

  • 1 ounce fresh lime juice

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1 teaspoon sugar

  • 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder

For the cocktail:

  • 1 cup cubed ripe watermelon, seeds removed

  • 2 ounces blanco tequila

  • 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

  • 1/4 ounce simple syrup

  • Ice

Directions

  1. Place 1 ounce lime juice in a saucer. Mix kosher salt, sugar, and ancho chile powder. Place in second saucer. Dip serving glass into lime juice, rotating so outer edge of the glass becomes moist. Repeat in the second saucer with the chile salt mixture.

  2. Juice watermelon or muddle well in a cocktail shaker to yield 2 ounces watermelon juice. Strain and discard solids.

  3. Add 2 ounces watermelon juice, tequila, 1/2 ounce lime juice, and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake well. Fill rimmed serving glass with ice and strain drink into the glass. Serve immediately.

Special equipment

Cocktail shaker and strainer

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
216 Calories
0g Fat
23g Carbs
1g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories 216
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1263mg 55%
Total Carbohydrate 23g 8%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 18g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 31mg 154%
Calcium 19mg 1%
Iron 0mg 3%
Potassium 237mg 5%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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