Make your own slush ice – 6 methods + 10 recipes (with and without a machine)

A slushie is basically semi-frozen water ice with sweeteners. So simple and yet so delicious. The advantage of homemade slushies is that, depending on the recipe, they contain less sugar and no dyes, as they are made from significantly healthier ingredients (e.g. whole fruit) can be produced. The great thing about homemade slush is that there are no limits to creativity when it comes to homemade slush ice cream.

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The easiest way to make your own slush ice is to crush ice cubes and then pour juice or syrup over them. To do this, take the frozen ice cubes out of the mold and crush them either with a mortar or in a blender. If you don’t have a mortar or blender, you can also wrap the ice in a towel and crush it with a hammer (order an ice crushing bag from Amazon here / AD). Hand-operated ice crushers are also a convenient alternative to a blender.

Then, if you wish, you can pour the juice over the frozen ice cream. However, you should not pour too much juice over the crushed ice, otherwise the consistency will become too liquid.

Tip: Sugar acts as a kind of antifreeze. Very sugary juices can melt the slush during mixing. If you want a stronger slushie, you can also freeze the juice directly with water and then crush the mixture. If your slush ice is too hard, you can add more juice to the ice.

Recipe #01 – Passion Fruit Slush

• 500 ml of passion fruit juice
• 500 g of ice cubes

This is how it is done: Crush the ice cubes using one of the methods above, then mix the ice well with the juice.

Recipe #02 – Peach Orange Slush

• 500 ml of peach juice
• 500 ml of orange juice

This is how it is done: Blend the juices together and pour the mixture into ice cube trays. It is best to freeze the whole thing overnight. When everything is frozen, you can crush the ice with a blender, ice crusher or a towel (and smash with a hammer) and pour the slush ice cream into cups.

You can also easily make slush ice cream with syrup. If desired, simply add syrup to crushed ice instead of juice. Then mix the slush ice cream well so that the syrup is evenly distributed in the ice cream. The more runny the ice cream is, the better you can mix the ice cream and syrup together. If the ice is not liquid enough, you can just add a little juice or water and the syrup should mix better.

Recipe #01 – Syrup Slushie Basic Recipe

• 500 grams of ice cream
• 200 ml syrup of your choice
• 1 squeezed lemon

This is how it is done: For a basic recipe where the syrup is sultry, just ice and syrup, it’s important to add some acidity to the mix to neutralize the sweetness and still achieve an intense flavor that isn’t too watery. It works best with lemon juice, but unsweetened orange juice or squeezed limes work well too.

Recipe #02 – Blue Lime Slush

• 500 grams of ice cream
• 4 cl lime or lemon juice
• A good sip of Blue Curacao syrup
• 100 ml of lemonade

This is how it is done: Blue Curacao syrup works very well for bright blue slush. Due to the orange flavor of the syrup, other citrus fruits also work very well in slushie recipes. For the blue lime slush, you can either mix all the ingredients together directly in the blender, or mix the ingredients together first, freeze them, and then use a blender to crush the slush ice cream.

As a particularly healthy alternative, you can also use whole fruits to make slush ice cream. All you need is a blender, fruit, a little sweetness and liquid (ideally juice or thick juice). You can mix the ingredients and freeze the fruit mixture overnight on an ice cube tray. Sugar usually takes a little longer to freeze. You can then process the frozen fruit ice cubes into slush ice in a blender or ice crusher.

Recipe #01 – Lemon Lime Slush

• 8 lemons
• 6 limes
• 200 ml of water or juice (eg orange juice)

This is how it is done: Squeeze the lemons and limes and place the juice in an ice cube tray. Now let the whole thing freeze and then mix well with water or orange juice in a blender. You can also crush ice cubes with an ice crusher. Then mix all the ingredients well.

Recipe #02 – Melon Slush

• 500 g of honeydew melon
• 200 ml of peach juice

This is how it is done: Blend the melon pieces and peach juice well, then pour the mixture into an ice cube tray and freeze overnight. Next, you can crush the frozen ice cubes in a blender or ice crusher. If the ice cream is still too thick, you can add a little more juice.

Tip: Watermelon can also be used instead of melon for the melon slush. Dark berry juices are suitable for the recipe with watermelon. To prevent the slush from tasting too watery, you can add 4 cl of concentrated apple juice to the watermelon mixture.

Adult slushies are mainly alcoholic versions of slushies. Summer drinks can be perfectly mixed with alcohol. Certain alcoholic beverages are also very suitable for direct freezing.

Recipe #01 – Mango Wine Slush

• 500 g of ice cubes
• 1 mango
• 100 ml passion fruit juice
• 0.4 l of dry white wine (e.g. Chardonnay)

This is how it is done: Place all ingredients in a blender and blend for about 10 to 20 seconds. Done!

Recipe #02 – Watermelon White Wine Slush

• 500 g of ice cubes
• 150 ml of dry white wine (e.g. Riesling)
• 200 grams of watermelon
• 4cl Grand Marnier

This is how it is done: Place the ingredients in a blender and blend well for 10 to 20 seconds. For a more intense flavor, you can mix the watermelon directly with water instead of ice and thereby strengthen the ratio of watermelon to water (500 ml instead of 200 g also 400 g per 300 ml). Then pour the mixture into an ice cube tray and let it harden in the freezer (preferably overnight).

Of course, you can also make slush ice with the Thermomix. The unit cannot cool and freeze on its own, but you can use the blender function to crush or mix ice and ingredients. The advantage of the Thermomix is ​​that you can weigh the ingredients directly in the device.

Recipe #01 – Raspberry Grapefruit Slush

• 200 grams of raspberries
• 200 ml of grapefruit juice
• 500 g of ice cubes

Here’s how it works: Place all the slush ingredients in a mixing bowl and chop on speed 8 for about 20 seconds. Then scrape the mixture down the sides and mix again on speed 8 for 10 seconds.

Recipe #02 – Strawberry Rose Slush

• 200 grams of strawberries
• 200 grams of ice cubes
• 200 ml of pink wine

Here’s how it works: Preparation takes place in two steps, as described in the first Thermomix recipe.

You can also use a slush maker (order here on Amazon/AD) to get extra quick slush ice cream. Slushy makers are cups that are placed in the freezer and then filled with a juice mixture. As you stir or knead the cup, the slush mixture then freezes, allowing you to make your own summer soft drink in just minutes.