Watermelon Slushie

Imagine the sun blazing down as you lounge beside a pool or flip burgers on a grill. Now, picture an icy, bright pink watermelon slushie in your hand keeping you cool. The good news is that to make this dream a reality, all you need is a blender with ice, fresh watermelon, a lemon and sugar.

When should you serve a watermelon slush? Whenever it’s it’s warm, hot, sweltering or scorching! It’s one of our easier patio drinks, so it’s a good recipe to keep around when you need a refreshment quickly. This one’s a crowd-pleaser, so make a pitcher for any summer party you throw. It’ll be a hit with adults and kiddos alike.

The recipe below makes enough for four drinks. Depending on the size of the watermelon you bought, you’ll have enough to double the recipe or even use leftovers in other summery watermelon recipes.

Watermelon Slushie Ingredients

• Seedless watermelon: If you can find a seedless watermelon, it makes slushie prep extra quick and easy. If not, you can either pick out the seeds before blending or leave them in (although you may notice their texture in the finished drink). It may surprise you to learn that watermelon seeds are super nutritious, and contain magnesium and folate among other vitamins and minerals.
• Lemon juice: You’ll want fresh-squeezed juice for this recipe. Don’t have a citrus reamer or press? Here’s a hack for squeezing lemons without cutting them.
• Sugar: Nothing fancy here. You’ll just want plain granulated sugar to make this watermelon slushie recipe.
• Ice cubes: Make sure your ice cubes haven’t been in the freezer for too long, as they can pick up odors!

Directions

Step 1: Blend up your slushies

Place the watermelon, lemon juice and sugar in the blender.

Cover the blender and process the ingredients until they’re smooth.

Add the ice, cover and process until the mixture is slushy.

Serve the watermelon slushies immediately.

Recipe Variations

• Spike your slushie: Make a boozy slushie by adding your favorite alcohol to the mix. I’m partial to rum with my watermelon, but you could use whiskey, vodka, gin or tequila. For inspiration, here’s a recipe for bourbon slush.
• Change up the fruit: Most fruits would work beautifully in this recipe, although if you use one that’s more tart than watermelon, you may want to increase the amount of sugar. You could combine watermelon with another fruit, or leave out the melon altogether. If your grocery store carries yellow watermelon, it makes a beautiful slushie. Other great options include strawberries, pineapple, mangos, peaches and mixed berries. You can use fresh or frozen fruit.
• Branch out with simple syrup: Add more flavor to a batch of slushies by using a squirt of flavored simple syrup in place of the sugar. Floral syrups—like rose, lilac or lavender—would be a nice complement to watermelon.
• Add herbs: Bring elegance to your slushie game by adding a couple sprigs of mint or basil to the blender along with the fruit and sugar. You can use whole leaves to garnish your slushie, too!
• Make it sparkle: Before you serve your watermelon slushie, add a splash of sparkling water to each glass. Top with your watermelon mixture, and stir gently to combine.

Can you make a watermelon slushie in advance?

No, you’ll want to make watermelon slushies right before you serve them. If you try to store watermelon slushie in the fridge, it will melt. If you try to keep it in the freezer, it will harden. Thankfully this recipe is so quick to make! If you don’t think you’ll need four servings of slush, you can cut the recipe in half.

On the other hand, if you need more watermelon slushie, prepare enough ingredients for two batches, and process them one after the other.

Watermelon Slushie Tips

What else can you serve with watermelon slushies?

Watermelon slushies fit right in when you’re grilling in the backyard, so serve them alongside any of your favorite retro barbecue recipes. Because slushies are cool and refreshing, they go nicely with foods that include spicy or smoky sauces, like tangy pulled pork sandwiches. Try watermelon slush alongside taco recipes and serve them in margarita glasses for a fun non-alcoholic twist (you could also blend in some tequila).

Should you serve slushies with a straw?

It’s really nice to drink a slushie through a straw, but plastic straws harm the environment and are dangerous to animals, so we like to skip them wherever we can. Thankfully there are plenty of alternatives to plastic straws. Stainless steel straws are always winners!