Natural form

A sealed clear glass bottle of triple sec liqueur, showing the bright amber-orange liquid inside.

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Beverages

Triple Sec

Sweet orange liqueur for margaritas and cosmopolitans

Bright with candied orange, triple sec is the citrus backbone of margaritas, cosmopolitans, and a sidecar. Cointreau is the premium pour. Keep the bottle at room temperature.

Triple sec is a clear, orange-flavored liqueur made by steeping bitter and sweet orange peels in neutral spirit and sweetening the result. It tastes of bright candied orange with a clean, slightly bitter edge, and it's a backbone of the margarita, cosmopolitan, and sidecar. In the kitchen it's a flavoring liqueur first and a spirit second: it perfumes cakes, soaks sponges, lifts cranberry sauce and chocolate, and flames beautifully over crêpes Suzette. Cointreau and Grand Marnier are premium cousins in the same orange-liqueur family.

Measured in: ml
Storage: Room Temperature

Find it in

Beverages

Types & varieties

Triple sec (standard)

Clear, sweet, everyday orange liqueur

Cointreau

Premium, drier, balanced bitter-sweet

Grand Marnier

Cognac-based, oaky orange depth

Curaçao

Often blue-tinted, similar orange base

How to use in cooking

Triple sec adds concentrated orange aroma plus sweetness. Brush it over an orange cake, fold it into cranberry sauce or chocolate truffles, or flame it over crêpes Suzette and orange-glazed duck. Because it's sweet, account for it in the recipe's sugar. Add late or flame it to keep the volatile orange aromatics from cooking away.

How to choose

Basic triple sec is fine for cooking; Cointreau is cleaner and more intense; Grand Marnier adds a cognac warmth that's wonderful in desserts. For savory glazes, the simpler triple sec works well. Choose by how much orange depth and how much extra sweetness you want.

Common uses

Flambé crêpes SuzetteSoak orange and chocolate cakesBrighten cranberry sauceGlaze duck or hamFlavor chocolate trufflesLift a fruit saladSpike whipped cream or custard

Tips & pitfalls

Remember it's sweet — adjust the recipe's sugar.
Flame it over crêpes for the classic Suzette flavor.
Add real orange zest alongside to amplify the aroma.
Grand Marnier brings extra cognac depth to desserts.

Nutrition

No USDA FoodData Central match for Triple Sec yet. We surface a per-100 g profile once a generic whole-food entry is matched and verified.

In the shops

Matched grocery products

Cointreau Orange Liqueur
COINTREAU · l · Bonpreu
€18.95
Ramonetto Artisanal Orange Liqueur Km0
RAMONETTO · l · Bonpreu
€14.99

Good to know

Flavor: Candied orange, sweet, lightly bitter
Use in cooking: Desserts, glazes, sauces, flambé, soaking cakes
Alcohol?: Yes — ~15–40% ABV (varies)
Substitute base: Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or orange juice + zest
How to store: Room temperature, sealed; long shelf life

Substitutes

Cointreau — Premium triple sec — drier, more intense
Grand Marnier — Cognac-based, richer for desserts
Orange juice concentrate + zest — Non-alcoholic: the orange flavor without the spirit

Pairs with

OrangeChocolateCranberryVanillaDuck Almond LemonDark berries

Also called

triple sec · orange liqueur · cointreau · curacao · triple seco · licor de naranja