Watermelon Granita Recipe (2024)

I often make a smoothy like this with lime instead of lemon. Lime is perfect with watermelon!

We did not add the sugar, and it still tasted great.

Made a cubed watermelon salad with lime and mint and olive oil and pepper flakes and way overestimated how much my gang would eat. So I tossed the leftovers in the freezer and then pulled them out a week later to make this granita. I feel like a leftovers genius! The mint was a nice addition to the granita and the olive oil and pepper flakes were unnoticeable. So from here on out, I'll double the watermelon salad and know that I've got a future dessert in the bag. Yay!

For those who are NOT making these for the kids, I used:16 oz frozen watermelon4 oz Limeade (not concentrate)3 oz tequila1 oz triple secblend and serve with watermelon and lime garnish, rim glass with sugar

The frequent attention this recipe needs to prevent a solid block of ice precludes it from being called "easy" in my book.

Why would you add sugar to an already sweet fruit? At minimum a responsible thing (this is supposed to be a dessert for a "vacation house full of children" would be to mention that extra sugar may be added to taste. Kids (and adults) need to learn what natural things are supposed to taste like without the added sugar, fat or salt right away and unnecessarily.

Throw ingredients into an ice cream maker and treat like sorbet or ice cream. The dasher does the work of breaking up the ice crystals for you. Easy peasy.

Made with a splash of dark rum is yummy!

SO delicious! Ate it poolside yesterday (100 degrees in LA woof) and it got rave reviews. Depending on the sweetness of the watermelon, you might not need to add the sugar.

How much lemon juice ?

This is really tasty, but I thought the step where you freeze the watermelon chunks added needless complication.

@Dieter– The added sugar (a mere 2 tsp/10g to 1 lb/450g) actually helps keep the H2O in the fruit from freezing solid, and that's why there's always sugar in frozen desserts like ice cream sorbet, granita, and semifreddo. Read more here: https://www.dreamscoops.com/ice-cream-science/sugar-in-ice-cream/ Also sugar levels vary from crop to crop, and commercially available watermelon in the US is less sweet than heirloom varieties.

I just puree the ingredients, freeze the mixture in ice cube trays, then put it in my ice shaver. Goes great with some sweetened condensed milk on top.

I've been making this for a long time, but always substituting Creme de Cassis for the lemon juice and sugar. It's really pretty good.

I used the granita to make popsicles! So refreshing!

Agree on not adding the sugar. Add mint leaves, by all means but the sugar? Just no.

In a Vitamix the frozen cubes of watermelon did not liquefy. They just seized up without enough water to keep things moving. I would modify it next time to accommodate the need for liquid in a high-speed blender. It came out crunchy and icy like a snow cone but not slushy.

Enjoyed the result. Consistent with other comments, the frozen watermelon cubes took forever to turn into something resembling slush. If alcohol will solve this problem, I’m there. I served the granita with a low-sugar, but rich, vanilla ice-cream so that essentially, we had 50-50s. Worked out well.

I threw in 1cup frozen red grapes to maybe 3cups frozen watermelon (filled a 48oz vitamix) plus 2 frozen key lime wedges, with rind (I feeeze all my fruit for smoothies). Added about a tsp of maple syrup but agree with other reviews it’s not even necessary. Came out amazing!! Perfect lime accent and the watermelon was ideal for granita texture.

I'm not sure why the first step of freezing the chunks is there. After freezing I had solid rocks of watermelon then my blender couldn't handle - I had to wait for it to thaw some before blending. It seems like if you're going to put it into the freezer after blending anyway, maybe the first freezing step isn't necessary?

SOOOO easy and yummy! Second time making it, forgot to set the timer, so it sat in the freezer overnight without being broken up. I was shocked to discover the next day that running a fork over the top still worked, producing lovely pink snow. A keeper, for sure!

Doubled the watermelon and lemon juice, sugar to taste, delicious and refreshing after some yard work. Agree that lime would be good too and certainly easy to adult it up if desired.

do you have to eat right away or can you leave in the freezer over night?

Lime juice instead of lemon, fresh mint, balsamic vinegar. Yummy

I’m tempted to try this recipe in my ice cream maker, wondering if anyone has experience with that.

I think that Laura's concern about frequent stirring required to keep it from becoming a solid block of ice might be easily resolved by adding a little vodka into the puree!

Why would you add sugar to an already sweet fruit? At minimum a responsible thing (this is supposed to be a dessert for a "vacation house full of children" would be to mention that extra sugar may be added to taste. Kids (and adults) need to learn what natural things are supposed to taste like without the added sugar, fat or salt right away and unnecessarily.

Why would you add sugar to watermelon?

For those who are NOT making these for the kids, I used:16 oz frozen watermelon4 oz Limeade (not concentrate)3 oz tequila1 oz triple secblend and serve with watermelon and lime garnish, rim glass with sugar

Add some tequila and a bit of gran marnier and you have gorgeous margaritas.