Significance Plasmonic bubbles are relevant in biomedical diagnosis and therapy, catalysis, and micro- and nanomanipulation. Hitherto, their behavior has mainly been analyzed in pure liquids. However, in general, these applications of plasmonic bubbles take place in binary or multicomponent liquids. Here we show that plasmonic bubbles in a binary liquid display surprising phenomena, resulting from the emerging complicated physicochemical hydrodynamics of a vapor bubble in such binary liquids. Depending on the application, these phenomena can be either a benefit or a hindrance. Our results are also relevant for other bubble nucleation processes in multicomponent liquids, such as boiling, electrolysis, or catalysis.