Happy Friday, friends! It’s been a minute since I’ve done a #CocktailFriday post. Admittedly these Melon & Mint Slushies aren’t particularly boozy, but hey – it’s more about the cool, refreshing treat and less about the vodka here. Low ABV drinks are totally a thing right now, so let’s just put these slushies right into that category. Enough about the booze though…let’s talk about the MELON! I’m a big fan of honeydew, especially when it’s juicy and sweet like this one was. I combined that juicy sweetness with a bit of minty simple syrup, fresh mint leaves, and lime juice to really play up that cool, fresh flavor.
I’ve tried this recipe both as a granita and as a slushie (like you see here). I personally preferred the slushie version because it’s easier and more fun to slurp down. You can totally make it as a granita by cutting 1 oz of vodka from the recipe and scraping it down more often during the freezing process to make it nice and fluffy. If you don’t scrape it down enough using a fork or spoon, you’ll end up with big icy chunks instead of fluffy, spoonable bits of melon ice.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to make these Melon & Mint Slushies at home:
- Honeydew – I love those summer-sweet honeydew melons and this recipe is a perfect way to use a bunch of it! You could also make this with cantaloupe if you prefer.
- Vodka – I went with a neutral tasting spirit here to let the honeydew shine, but gin or rum would work really well too!
- Sugar – We’re using granulated sugar and water in this recipe to help make a mint simple syrup. You could make a honey syrup instead if you prefer.
- Lime juice – Some acidity from lime juice helps balance out the sweetness of the melon.
- Mint – We use mint two ways in this recipe – first for mint simple syrup, but also some fresh mint blended into the melon mixture. You can skip it if you prefer, but I think it adds a refreshing kick of flavor!
Shop for this Recipe
Here are some items I used to help make this recipe a success.
Recipe
Melon & Mint Slushie
Ingredients
- 7 cups honeydew, chopped, (1,190 grams)
- 5 oz vodka
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 oz lime juice
- 6 sprigs fresh mint
Instructions
- Add water and sugar to a small pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then remove from heat, add 4 of the mint sprigs, and cover for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the mint sprigs and discard.
- Add honeydew, simple syrup, lime juice, and fresh mint leaves from 2 remaining mint sprigs to a high speed blender. Blend until smooth, then pour into a baking sheet and freeze for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, remove from freezer and scrape using a fork or spoon. Spread evenly into pan and freeze for another hour.
- Scrape the mixture again using a fork or spoon, then scoop into serving glasses. Serve immediately.
Tips & Tricks
- For a more granita-like consistency, decrease the amount of vodka to 4 oz and scrape the melon mixture every 30 minutes while freezing.
- These can be made kid friendly, just skip the vodka. Be sure you use a touch of honey in its place to help keep the granita from freezing solid.
Nutrition Information
For my macro trackers out there, I wasn’t able to create a My Fitness Pal barcode for this recipe since I would have had to decide for you whether to put the alcohol calories in as carbs or fats – that’s up to you! The 22 carbs listed here are just for the sugars in the simple syrup, lime juice, and melon. For my non-macro trackers, here’s more info on what I’m talking about.
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