Deliciously refreshing, Easy Fruit Sorbet with just 3 ingredients! Perfect summer treat and the best way to take advantage of the summer fruit bounty! Plus it’s an easy, healthy dessert/snack idea for kids!
First published in Sept 2015. Edited in July 2018 to add new flavors and Video.
This guest is a little late to the party. About four months too late. I wish I had written this easy fruit sorbet post months ago, in time for summer, but hey, better late than never right? There’s always the next summer to look forward to. And for those living in the southern hemisphere that’s just around the corner (you lucky ducks!).
This post came to be as a result of a late surfeit of summer fruits in our local grocery store last month. The fruits got cheap, we got greedy, and the result was more fruit at home than we could possibly eat before they went bad. So enter, easy fruit sorbet!
Remember the easy fruit soda syrups I made earlier in the summer? And all those insane popsicles? These Easy Fruit Sorbets just might be (dare I say it) an even better idea for cooling down in the summer! Not only do they cool you down, they are healthier, super easy to make, gluten and dairy free, and vegan! Plus they taste fantastic! If that didn’t convince you, get this. You can take almost any fruit you want, any flavour you want and transform them into refreshing and delicious sorbets! Think Raspberry, Pineapple, Honeydew melon, Peaches and even Strawberries, Apricots, Cantaloupe etc. etc. etc. Damn, now I wish I could do summer all over again! Today I’m sharing with you the recipes for the sorbets we made most this summer – Raspberry, Peaches, Mango, Kiwi fruit, and Pineapple. Plus those colours are just so much fun! 🙂 I even tried this with Honey dew melon, watermelon and cantaloupe and you get a refreshing and healthy slushie instead!
There is a very simple idea behind this easy fruit sorbet. An embarrassingly simple idea. A sorbet is basically blended fruit that’s sweetened and then frozen. Though I call these recipes here, they are really more like an idea, a how to sort of guide for perfect, easy fruit sorbets!
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE HEALTHY AND EASY FRUIT SORBET
- An ice crushing blender or a small food processor
- Your favourite summer fruits (frozen, or fresh bought and then diced and frozen)
- Simple syrup as a sweetener (or agave or honey or maple syrup)
- And just a squeeze of lemon juice (this isn’t needed if the fruit is sour, like kiwi fruit)
And here’s the very simple idea behind my sorbets –
I love my ice crushing blender because I love eating crushed ice. Love it, to the point where Mr K thinks it’s downright weird. Anyway, I figured if I turned fruits into ice cubes, OR I cut them into small pieces and freeze them, then I can crush those fruit ice cubes and turn them into delicious sorbet goodness! The only addition I’d need is some extra liquid, which in this case is agave syrup (you can also use simple syrup, or maple syrup). It adds the sweetness and the liquid component required to turn your fresh summer fruits into glorious sorbets that are ready to eat in minutes! In addition to the sweeteners, you can add water or orange juice or lemonade IF your blender does need a little extra liquid to make that sorbet!
Do I have to buy fresh fruits?
Not at all!
You can BUY frozen fruits from the supermarket to make life easier. We all buy the frozen fruits to make our morning smoothie, so we can easily use the same frozen fruits to make this sorbet. BUT you do have the option to use overripe fruits from the market and use it to make sorbet. You tend to add less sweetener when the fruit is overripe because of the natural sweetness of the fruits already.
If you buy fresh fruits, you will have to peel (if the fruits have inedible peels) and cut your fruits into cubes and then freeze them on a parchment paper-lined baking tray (spread the chunks out in a single layer, don’t stack them up so that they freeze into one big solid mass). Once frozen, you can store them in freezer bags. This way your fruits will last longer too. And for smaller fruits like raspberries and blackberries or blueberries you don’t even need to cut them up. Just freeze them whole.
And then, when sorbet time rolls around, you can take out whichever fruit ice cubes your heart desires and whip up some deliciously refreshing sorbet!
8 oz / 226 g of frozen fruit will give you 1 very generous portion of sorbet or 2 smaller portions.
Can I make this sorbet ahead of time and store them?
This recipe for sorbet is best eaten immediately – straight after blending.
Here’s why – The fruit only has a little sweetened and other liquids. So, if you put it back into the freezer, it will freeze solid. Like a big chunk of ice. IF YOU DO WANT TO STORE IT FOR LATER, you can do so – but you will need to leave the sorbet out for a few minutes to soften until you can scoop the sorbet out.
But I want to make the sorbet ahead of time! How can I make sorbet to store?
You can absolutely make sorbet to store for later. To do this, you will absolutely need to add more sugar or alcohol (or both!). Sugar acts as an interference for freezing, and keeps the sorbet relatively soft even at freezing temperatures.
How much sugar should I add to sorbet that I want to store or make in bulk?
- For every 500 g (a little over a pound), I use 200 g of sugar or 150 g of honey or maple syrup.
Check out my recipe for the Pink peppercorn and pineapple sorbet in the post here (that uses extra sugar to keep it soft), or my Frozen Mango margarita for mango sorbet that I make with alcohol.
Feel like mixing flavours? No problem. It’s as easy as combining two frozen fruits together in your blender.
This is so delicious, and healthy, you’ll be buying fruit just to make sorbets next time!
I personally love the Mango, while Mr K favours Pineapple. What will be your favourite? 🙂
Some other fruit flavours that you could turn into easy sorbets –
Mango (this is AWESOME! – if you get your hands on some sweet mangoes, you have got to try this!)
Apricot
Watermelon
Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Blackberries
Feijoas (YUM!!)
Cherries
Papaya
Kiwi Fruit
Banana
Banana + Passionfruit
The world is your oyster! Now go make sorbet.
CHECK OUT THE RECIPE VIDEO FOR EASY FRUIT SORBET
No churn Easy Fruit Sorbet (four flavours plus make your own!)
You can switch between US and Metric measurement by toggling between the buttons below the ingredients.
Ingredients
Raspberry Sorbet
- 8 oz Raspberry
- 3 tbsp sugar syrup or maple syrup (to keep it refined sugar free) or orange juice (if you prefer less sweet)
- lemon juice optional
Pineapple Sorbet
- 8 oz pineapple nose removed, cut into ½ inch cubes (fresh or frozen)
- 3-4 tbsp sugar syrup or maple syrup to keep it refined sugar free or orange juice (if you prefer less sweet)
Peach Sorbet
- 8 oz Peaches peeled, fresh or frozen, cut into ½ inch cubes
- 3-4 tbsp sugar syrup or maple syrup - to keep it refined sugar free or orange juice (if you prefer less sweet)
- lemon juice
Honeydew Melon Sorbet
- 8 oz honeydew melon flesh only, cut into cubes
- 3-4 tbsp sugar syrup or maple syrup - to keep it refined sugar free or orange juice (if you prefer less sweet)
- lemon juice
Sugar Syrup (if you're not using Maple syrup)
- 8 oz white sugar
- 2 cups 2 cups water
Instructions
Sugar Syrup
- Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for a further 15-20 minutes until you get a sugar syrup. Pour into a glass jar/bottle. Let it cool completely and for best results, chill in the fridge until you need it.
Fruit Sorbet
- Cut up whole fruits into ½ inch cubes (except raspberries - these can be frozen whole).
- Lay out the fruits in a single layer on parchment paper lined baking trays (it's OK if the fruits touch).
- Freeze the fruits completely and store them in freezer bags.
- Roughly weigh out 8 oz of the frozen fruit and place it in a small food processor or ice crushing blender.
- Pulse to crush the fruits into small pieces and add the simple syrup, a tablespoon at a time (while pulsing) to create a smooth sorbet-like paste. Please see notes.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice and run the blender for a few seconds to mix.
- Spoon it into a bowl and serve immediately - or store in the freezer until you’re ready.
Recipe Notes
Note 1 - When using the blender, it's best to use it in short bursts as the blades heat up and this could melt your sorbet. The smaller the fruit pieces the faster it will puree. Just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't melt.
Note 2 - Adjust the sweetness/sugar level by adding more or less sugar syrup. If you don't like sweeteners, you can substitute it with just water, or orange juice (or any kind of fruit juice).
For more refreshing summer recipe ideas – check out the ones below!
Technicolour Ombre Peach Melba Popsicles {Thyme, Peach & Raspberry Paleta}
Make Rainbow Ice Cubes (No food coloring) for your lemonade with this sorbet recipe!
Salted Lime Sherbet (Margarita Ice Cream)
Cherry and Blackberry Red Wine Granita
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How do you get the seeds out of the raspberries first? Heat , then strain, then freeze pulp and start from there?
Hi Helen!
If you want to remove the seeds, then you will have to blend or process the raspberries first, strain them and freeze them into small ice cubes. You can cook them with some sugar first if you like too.
But make sure you freeze them in smaller portions, as larger ice cubes may not turn into sorbet in the blender. Keep the frozen pulp as small as a raspberry if possible.
Hope that helps.
Try putting lime zest or mint in your pineapple sorbet!
Can you start with unfrozen fruit if it’s going to be made into popsicles? It sounds so delicious I can’t wait to try it..
Hi Chava!
Absolutely! If you start with unfrozen fruit, you can definitely make some fruit popsicles. I would even recommend adding some lemon or orange juice to make the popsicles taste even better!
Hope that helps 🙂
I hate working with mango, I tried it again and I still didn’t get enough to make up 8oz so I improvised. It came out liquidy. But I had frozen strawberry and banana pieces already in my freezer and they came out awesome. This is so simple I’m not giving up, the options are endless. I have a cantaloupe screaming to be turned into sorbet
OMG! This recipe was really great! It’s quick and easy and it takes, like, 10 minutes! I tried mango and it turned out great. I think next time I’ll try peach and strawberry! –Ellie
Thank you so much Ellie, I’m really glad you liked it! 🙂
They all sound yummy. The peach sounds yummy.
hi the all look good im gonig to try one tomoz can u freez them thnk you
My husband is diabetic can I use sweetener instead
Hi June!
Absolutely you can! You can use any kind of sweetener you like, but since you only need a little sweetener, you may need to add a little extra water or fruit juice to help with blending the frozen fruit.
I hope that helps! 🙂
Hi! don’t know if you still reply to these but just wondering how long this will last in the freezer about how long till i should toss it? btw this looks delicious can’t wait to try it!
Hi Brooke, thank you for the question. The longest these have lasted in our freezer is about a month and the sorbets still tasted great! I honestly can’t be certain as to how long you can go before having to toss them out, but they should last several weeks easily. Hope that helps!
I tried with mango. Most of the pieces were about a half inch square but for some reason the blender would cut the mango at the bottom when i pulsed but then it would build up just out of reach of the blade. I was literally pulsing once, scrape the sides, pulse again, scrape the sides, repeat. It took me like 40 minutes. Adding more liquid didn’t help. Wonder what I did wrong… tasted great though
Hi Wendy!
I’m so sorry that it didn’t work well! In my experience, whenever I use my less powerful blender, I find that the fruit gets stuck. But with a powerful ice crushing blender (usually they create a vortex to create even blending), this doesn’t happen. If your blender is powerful enough, the problem could be that your blender maybe too big for the amount that you used. I suggest, doubling the amount, or increasing the liquid a little bit (in which case you may need to keep it in the freezer for a couple of hours to harden again).
I hope that helps!
Looks delicious! If I make this ahead of time, then freeze it, will it scoop like store-bought sorbet? Or become hard like an ice-cube?
Thanks!!
It will definitely be scoopable like storebought ice cream 🙂 If it is too hard (depending on your freezer) you can use a warm scoop and it will be a smooth dreamy sorbet! 🙂
If you freeze it as ice cubes, they will become sorbet ice cubes.
What about watermelon? I used to make watermelon pops…..just smashed up watermelon in pop like plastic things…..for my children?
And how would you do bananas?
Hi Karen!
You can use watermelon to make watermelon sorbet the same way I’ve used honey dew melon here. It would have a higher water content, so will be more slushy-like than other fruits.
For Bananas, you can cut them up into slices and freeze them overnight. Blend them with a little vanilla, and a little orange juice or milk (in place of the syrup), and you will get a delicious creamy “Nice cream”. It’s a great alternative to ice cream and healthier too.
Hope that helps! 🙂
I love the idea of this recipe! Would you be able to use honey instead as a sweetener?
Hi Vaya!
Thank you for visiting my blog. Yes, you can absolutely use honey instead as a sweetener. 🙂
Thank you! I will definitely try this recipe!
Awesome!
I have agave. But how much do I add? Do I mix it in water?
Hi Jessica! If you have Agave Syrup, you don’t need to mix it with water. Add about 3 -4 tbsp (or enough to sweeten the sorbet to your preference)
Awesome thank you! I have my Honey Dew freezing now! Can’t wait to try this!
Yaay! 😀 Please let me know how it comes out! I hope you love it 🙂
Girl, you need to stop! Just kidding keep going! I love that these are so simple to make and I’m going to use the rest of my summer fruit for this!
You had me at vegan 🙂 These look so awesome Dini!!! I’m always cold so I will be eating this under a blanket 🙂
hahaha!! 😀 I love eating cold stuff no matter what the weather too 🙂 I’ve got some Vegan recipes coming up on the blog soon! We had guests with dietary restrictions – so I made some Vegan recipes!
They all look gorgeous and so tempting. I would definitely love to try mango first though. 🙂
Wow! How delicious! What a fresh and fruity snack – who knew it was so easy to! I need to whip up a batch asap!
Dude. It’s like your reading my mind. I was just wondering about how to make sorbet. Never too late for sorbet in my opinion.
Also, my cookbook came!!! Thanks again. I’m thrilled by the prospects!!
Yaaay!!! I got a email from them today to tell me they mailed it to you on Monday but forgot to tell me! 😀 hahaha!!!
I know you will love the book! I’m already making my 5th thing from the book 🙂
Your photos are mouth-watering Dini!
I have a craving for Pineapple sorbet now 🙂
weird but ever since childhood I’ve always preferred sorbet over ice-cream
Thank you so much Winnie! I had a pineapple sorbet this weekend too! It’s so refreshing! 🙂