Watermelon sorbet is a fast & easy summer dessert. All you need is a few ingredients, and about 5 minutes of time to make it! No ice cream maker required.
What is Sorbet?
Sorbet is a frozen dessert, typically made from sweetened and flavored water. Sorbet is dairy-free, so it’s less creamy than ice cream. Instead, it’s more like eating a flavorful and refreshing snow cone, or shaved ice.
Is Sorbet Healthier Than Ice Cream
Store-bought sorbet usually has more sugar than ice cream, but in this case, homemade watermelon sorbet is naturally-sweetened and dairy-free. You can even leave the sugar out entirely if you want to!
How to Make Watermelon Sorbet
To make Watermelon Sorbet, you’ll need to start with frozen watermelon. (Here’s how to freeze watermelon if you want a photo tutorial.) Starting with frozen fruit let’s you make this without an ice cream maker.
I like to freeze fresh watermelon, cut into cubes, on a sheet pan the night before I plan on making this, but you can freeze it even further in advance as long as you store it in an airtight container in your freezer.
In the bowl of a large food processor, combine the frozen watermelon and lime juice, and process briefly to break it down.
Add maple syrup, one tablespoon at a time, and process again, until the watermelon sorbet tastes as sweet as you want it to.
From there, you’ll just need to add water, one tablespoon at time, and blend until the sorbet reaches your desired serving consistency. It should be soft and scoop-able, so you can serve it right away.
If you need to make this in advance, I recommend making it no more than 1 to 2 hours before you need to serve it. If you freeze it for too long, it becomes rock-solid and is very difficult to scoop.
As an alternative, you can store the leftover sorbet in an ice pop mold, to make frozen popsicles for later!
Watermelon Sorbet (only 3 ingredients!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups frozen watermelon chunks (561 grams)
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice (15 grams)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup (22 to 44 grams)
- 1 to 2 tabelspoons water , as needed to blend (16 to 32 grams)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a large food processor fitted with an "S" blade, add in the frozen watermelon and lime juice. Process briefly to break down the watermelon; it should look like shaved ice in the bowl.
- Add maple syrup to taste, starting with just 1 tablespoon, and process again. Taste the watermelon mixture and if you want it to be sweeter, add another tablespoon. Process again.
- To help make the watermelon sorbet scoopable, you may need to add some water to help it blend into a smoother consistency. Start with 1 tablespoon of water, process, and then add another tablespoon (or more) if needed, until the watermelon sorbet looks smooth enough to serve.
- This frozen dessert has a great texture right away, so I like to serve it while it's soft an scoop-able. If you want to make it in advance you can transfer this mixture to a pan and freeze it for 1 to 2 hours. If you freeze it longer than that, it will become very hard and difficult to scoop, so keep that in mind.
- Leftover sorbet can be transferred into ice pop molds for an easy frozen dessert later, too.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is for 1 of 4 servings. This information is automatically calculated, and is just an estimate not a guarantee.
If you try this Watermelon Sorbet, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too! We can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite summer treat?
Thank you so much for making a watermelon sorbet recipe that is free of added sugar! I cannot wait to make this!
Made this over the weekend and it was really refreshing! I used the whole lime, which was about 1 1/2 tablespoons. Definitely a winner.
This is so easy and refreshing. And if the watermelons is really sweet you don’t even need to add any extra maple syrup.
Lite and refreshing. I used agave instead of maple syrup.