Sugar-Free Watermelon Sorbet
You just need a blender and 2 ingredients to make this incredibly refreshing, sugar-free sorbet that’s bursting with real watermelon flavour! It’s the best icy treat for cooling down on a hot summer day :)
CONTENTS OF THIS RECIPE POST
I always recommend reading the entire post to get the best understanding of the recipe, helpful tips, information about ingredients, storage advice etc. Here’s a quick look at what topics are included in this recipe post :)
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WHAT INGREDIENTS GO INTO A WATERMELON SORBET?
Frozen Watermelon
For this recipe, I first dice 3 cups worth of watermelon and place it into a freezer bag to freeze until firm. You can use seedless watermelon or deseed your watermelon cubes before freezing.
Lemon Juice
This adds a little tartness to balance out the flavour of the sorbet. If you don’t have lemon juice you can use a bit of lime juice. The amount you use can also vary - for example, if your fruit is sweeter, you can use a little more lemon juice; if your fruit is tarter, then you can use a little less lemon juice :)
Salt
I recommend adding just a pinch of salt to this sorbet also.
DOES SUGAR MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SORBETS?
Yes. You can make any sorbet sugar-free however, it there will be a noticeable difference, as sorbets made without sugar will not have the perfect sorbet consistency. Sugar is needed to create the creamy texture associated with the store-bought or restaurant served sorbets you’re used to and will make the sorbet beautifully scoop-able. Without sugar, the texture will be more icy than creamy, and of course the flavour will be less sweet.
Here’s a side by side comparison of the texture of two sorbets I made.
The one on the right is this sugar-free watermelon sorbet, while the one on the left is a white peach sorbet made with rich simple syrup (a.k.a sugar syrup).
SUGAR-FREE SORBET
SORBET made with SUGAR SYRUP
Notice how the white peach sorbet on the right is much creamier in consistency, while the sugar-free watermelon sorbet is leaning more towards icy.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE WATERMELON SORBET?
You can make this watermelon sorbet in just 5 minutes, because the frozen watermelon chunks once blended with the other ingredients will give the consistency and coldness of a sorbet. If you serve your sorbet immediately out of the blender it will have more of a soft-serve sorbet consistency. If you want it to be of a firmer sorbet consistency, transfer it from the blender to a freezer safe, airtight container, cover the surface of the sorbet with a bit of parchment paper (to prevent ice crystals from forming on top), then seal and freeze for a couple of hours or until firm :)
HOW TO FREEZE WATERMELON:
This recipe requires frozen watermelon. To freeze watermelon, simply remove the green exterior and dice the pink watermelon flesh into cubes. Remove the seeds and place the deseeded watermelon cubes into a freezer bag, seal and freeze until firm.
If you don’t want to deseed your watermelon, then you can use a seedless watermelon to makes things quicker and simpler.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SORBET AND ICE CREAM?
If you’ve tried my 10 minute vanilla ice cream recipe, then you know how easy it is to make perfect ice cream at home with just 3 ingredients and no ice cream machine needed. But while these recipes have convenience in common, there are some key differences that separate ice cream and sorbet:
DAIRY-FREE
Sorbet is naturally dairy-free as, unlike ice-cream, sorbet contains no dairy products. Instead the creamy texture in a sorbet traditionally comes from the addition of sugar. This makes it a great option for those following a dairy or lactose-free diet, as well as for vegans. It also means that sorbet is lower in fat than ice cream, but is higher in sugar. As you see in this recipe, sorbet can also be made sugar-free.
FLAVOURED WITH FRUIT
Whilst ice cream flavours can range from vanilla, chocolate and caramel to peanut butter and cookie crumble, sorbets are almost always flavoured with fruit, which can often mean they carry those extra nutrients ice cream usually doesn’t contain. Since they utilise frozen fruit, this also means sorbets are a great way to enjoy your favourite fruits when they’re not in season or to help you use up an abundance of fruit you may have on hand.
ICY
Whilst sorbets also have a creamy, scoop-able texture, they are definitely far more of an icy treat than ice cream, which makes them the perfect treat for cooling down on a hot summer day. It’s summer at the moment here in Australia and these sorbets are honestly such a refreshing snack to have during these heatwaves we’re experiencing at the moment! :)
MADE IN A BLENDER
A lot or sorbet recipes will tell you that you need a machine to churn the sorbet or if you don’t have one, that you’ll then have to keep opening the freezer every half hour to stir the sorbet with a fork, but neither of those are true. If you freeze your fruit first, then pop it in a blender you will get the same effect as machine churned sorbet without having to actually buy the machine! You can serve your sorbet straight from the blender - for a soft serve consistency - or transfer it to a freezer proof container and freeze for another few hours for a firmer consistency. Either way you’ll have proper and perfectly scoop-able sorbet without any added hassle or expensive equipment necessary! My ice cream recipe also does not require an ice cream machine, but it is not prepared in a blender. Instead you use electric beaters to incorporate air into the ice cream before freezing. So the equipment needed to prepare ice cream and sorbet are different, but both of these recipes prove that you can create a restaurant quality result without the need for ice cream and sorbet machines. That means less expense, less precious storage space taken up in your kitchen and less to clean-up! :)
NATURALLY VEGAN
Ice cream needs animal products such as dairy or a combination of dairy and eggs, in order to be made the traditional way. It is therefore, a recipe which must be “re-created” in order to make it vegan, by cleverly swapping out ingredients to imitate the texture and flavour of real ice cream without using such animal products. However, the recipe for sorbet is naturally vegan and has never required animal products in order to produce. This means if you eat sorbet as it was initially intended to be enjoyed - you will still have a vegan product - no adaptations to the recipe required!
DO I NEED A MACHINE TO MAKE SORBET AT HOME?
No. You only need a blender to make this sorbet.
In order to store the sorbet in the freezer, you will need an airtight, freezer-proof container with lid.
HOW LONG WILL HOMEMADE SORBET LAST IN THE FREEZER?
This homemade watermelon sorbet can last for up to 1 month in the freezer, stored in an airtight, freezer-proof container with the lid on.
RECIPE
WATERMELON SORBET
Serves: 12
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy / Beginner
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INGREDIENTS
3 cups diced and deseeded, frozen watermelon
2 tsps lemon juice, or to taste
1/4 tsp salt
METHOD
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until combined into a smooth and creamy mixture.
Serve the sorbet immediately for a soft-serve consistency, or if you desire a firmer sorbet consistency, transfer the mixture to a freezer-proof, airtight container, place some parchment paper on the surface of the sorbet, seal with lid and freeze until firm. Once firm, allow to defrost for a couple of minutes and then scoop to serve. If it is still a bit too solid for your liking, you can quickly run it through the blender again to soften the consistency :)
STORAGE: This watermelon sorbet can be stored for up to 1 month in the freezer in an airtight, freezer-proof container wth lid on. I also recommend placing a piece of parchment paper against the surface of the sorbet before putting the lid of the container on, to help prevent ice crystals from forming.
When you try this recipe…
I’d love to know!
Please leave a comment below and share with me your thoughts on this wonderful watermelon sorbet recipe :)
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