Learn how to make a refreshing watermelon granita with this easy recipe. This fruity pink granita is flavoured with a little tequila and lime juice for zing!
Did you know you can buy watermelon at the grocery store in the fall and winter months too? Grey skies and really big life-changing decisions call for something bright, colourful, cheery and a little festive, just like watermelon with its vibrant pink flesh and green rind. I actually had a hankering for a creamsicle when I thought up this dessert combination. So I came up with a more sophisticated version: watermelon granita "ice" and lime white chocolate pots de crème.
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Ingredients
- watermelon: use a ripe seedless watermelon to make the process easier otherwise, you may have to remove a lot of seeds because you don't want to blend those with the fruit. To be sure the watermelon is ripe, look for a watermelon that has a discoloured spot on one side (yellow or even white) that is a striking contrast with the green of the peel. It should sound a little hollow when you thump it.
- limes: you will need the zest and the juice. Please use fresh lime juice and not bottled lime juice for the best flavour.
- sugar: use granulated sugar because it won't interfere with the delicate flavour of the granita.
Please see the recipe card for the ingredients and exact quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Ginger: add fresh ginger when making the syrup to infuse this granita with spicy ginger flavour
- Citrus: use lemons, limes, or oranges in this frozen dessert, but always use fresh lemons or limes for the best flavour!
How to Make Watermelon Granita
Granita is so easy! And you can make it from any juice! Here's how to make it:
Step 1: Combine watermelon juice with other ingredients then transfer to a shallow baking dish with a rim (image 1). My dish is 9x13-inches (23-x33-cm).
Step 2: Freeze for 2 hours until semi-solid (image 2).
Step 3: Use a fork to break up the ice and/or scrape at it with a fork. Repeat the freezing and scraping steps every few hours until the mixture is granular (image 3).
Serving Suggestions
Feel free to make the watermelon granita and serve it on its own, as a light dessert or a palette cleanser at your next fancy dinner party. You can also drizzle it with a little more tequila and lime before serving to bring out and enhance those flavours!
For a fancier presentation, serve it over these white chocolate pots de crème for a pretty spectacular watermelon dessert.
If you tried this recipe for watermelon granita (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Watermelon Granita
Ingredients
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 125 mL water
- 15 mL lime zest
- 1 kg seedless watermelon cubed
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 60 mL tequila I like Cazadores
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and lime zest with the water until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- In a blender (I used this this Cuisinart food processor I bought on Amazon), blend together the syrup with the watermelon, lime juice, and tequila.
- Strain the mixture and then pour into a 9x13 deep dish that can go in the freezer (like this one on Amazon).
- Freeze the juice mixture for 2 hours, then stir/scrape with a fork. Freeze for another hour, stir/scrape with a fork. Repeat until you have a granular watermelon granita.
- Store in the freezer, covered, until you are ready to serve. Serve the watermelon granita as is or over the white chocolate pots de crème (see recipe below).
Notes
- Makes 4 cups of granita approximately
- Feel free to use more lime juice and less water, and play with the ratio of watermelon to sugar and lime juice to get the flavour you want.
- Beware of using too much alcohol as alcohol will lower the freezing point and too much may result in the granita not freezing properly or melting too fast.
- Initially, it will take a long time to partially freeze this volume of juice, but then as you repeat the process, you will need less and less time between scraping to get the right granular texture.
- Flavour variations:
- Citrus: this works with oranges, lemons, or limes
- Ginger: infuse the syrup with a little fresh ginger, grated!
Nutrition
For more great watermelon recipes, be sure to check out the watermelon.org website.
This post is sponsored by the National Watermelon Promotion Board for their #EatMoreWatermelon campaign.
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