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Do your kids love slushies? I’m sure they do, especially the store-bought kind from convenience stores like AM/ PM and Shell gas stations. But then, these stores tend to make these drinks with super high sugar content. So, knowing how to make a slushie with a blender yourself won’t just cut your trips to the store. It can also be a great way to help get your kids used to low-sugar desserts.
In any case, this review will show you various ways you can make a homemade slushie at home or during your road trip. So, you’ll always have a treat for your sweet tooth and at the same time cool down on a hot summer.
Making a Slushie with a Blender vs a Slush Machine
Similar to many culinary roles, there’s a dedicated machine that you can get to make slushies. The tool usually features a blending cage that shaves the ice into a fine, showy texture. Then, you can add with your fruit flavor and have yourself a homemade slurry drink
Even so, that’s the only purpose of the appliance. Of course, you can use the showy ice to make the famous frozen margaritas and rainbow snow cones as well. But considering a blender can also blend ice into a fine texture, it’ll be more worthwhile.
If you have a high-speed blender like Vitamix V1200 or A3500, you’ll be able to perform roles for other kitchen appliances. That includes a juicer, food processor, mixer, and a grinder if you’d love to make a Starbucks mocha Frappuccino and meat snacks like hamburgers.
Therefore, it’ll be better to just invest in a good blender than buying a slush maker that will be collecting dirt in storage most of its life.
What Makes Homemade Slushies So Good
While your kids might not like it at first, making a slushie at home definitely pays off. Some of the benefits are:
- Very Cheap: making slushies at home can help save some coins that you’d have otherwise used at the convenience store.
- Readily Available: once you know the formula, you can make a slushie for the kids or yourself anytime, anywhere.
- Customize Anyhow: Similar to smoothies, you can make slushies of any kind using all the favorite flavors for your kids or yourself.
- Maintain a healthy diet: Indeed, you can make your slushie using only natural, healthy ingredients without artificial coloring or flavors
- Quick to Prepare: You can make a slushie in 5-15 minutes when you have everything in the house. Thus, saving you all the time you would have used to drive to Shell or AM/ PM supply chain.
How to Make a Slushie with a Blender
As I’ve just said, you can make a simple slushy drink in five minutes or less. The kind of recipe only requires a mixture of ice, drink mix/ powder, sugar, and your liquid of choice (water or club soda). After you add into your blender container, then blend into a smooth slurry texture.
If you’d like to make a healthy, whole fruit slushie, the recipe will need an extra five or ten minutes to prepare the ingredients. But the process to make is all the same, whereby you load all the ingredients into the blender container, then blend until slurry.
That said, let’s look at some of the ways you can make your slushie in a blender.
How To Make A Quick Slushie With Drink Mix/ Powder
A drink mix is one of the quickest ways to make a slushie for your kids at home or even when camping. Kool-Aid flavors are the most common drink mix as you can get a dozen packet packs at around $5 on Amazon and other drinks aisle. But you can also use Starburst drink mix flavors or any other brand available in your area.
Once you have your drink mix, you just add it into your blender together with ice, sugar, and a carbonated drink like club soda/ tonic water/ sprite. Then, you blend on high speed for 30 seconds or until you have smooth but slurry consistency. Serve immediately.
How To Make A Healthy Slushie Treat With Whole Fruit
A fruity slushie treat is also a perfect way to cool down on a hot summer. In fact, we can say it’s too perfect as you get to use natural flavors instead of the artificial ones in the method (1) above. So, you get to maintain your healthy eating habit and also replenish your body with various essential vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
A great fruity slushie recipe I’d recommend is with a pure mango and pineapple flavor if you fancy tropical refreshments. It only requires frozen mango, pineapple (fresh & diced), ripe banana, mint, coconut water, and ice.
Next, you add all the ingredients into a blender jar and blend until smooth. Finally, garnish with an edge of pineapple and enjoy!
How To Make An Adults Slushie With Margarita
Indeed, you can also enjoy those hot, sunny days with a more “grown-up” limeade. But instead of doing it with the regular cocktail, try it with a touch of some frozen twist. I’m sure you’ll find it more fun and refreshing than those from the restaurant, which are often too sugary.
Even better, the frozen margarita slushie is very easy to make at home, RV, or even when camping. It only requires a good blender, ice, tequila, lime juice, triple sec, and a drip of agave syrup (or any other sweetener).
Next, you add all the ingredients into the blender jug and blend at the highest speed until slushy smooth. Then, pour into the drinking glasses and sip with your book under the shade.
Oh, don’t forget to “frost” the rim of your glass with a bit of salt (preferably coarse kosher/ sea salt) if you really want to feel that sweetness and sourness of the drink.
How To Make A Clean Keto Slushie With Low Carbs
Are you on ketosis? You can also make a sugar-free frozen slushie treat for yourself or the entire family. The recipe is very easy to make as it calls for only three easy-to-get ingredients, including ice, diet club soda, and sugar-free Kool-Aid drink Mix. Then, you just add all the ingredients into your blender and blend into a smooth, slurry texture.
Alternatively, you can make your Keto slushie more “healthy” by sticking with natural flavors. For instance, you can choose to go with strawberries (low carbs), lemon juice, some agave, and ice. Then, blend at the highest speed until smooth. Pour into the drinking glass and serve immediately.
Here is how to make a mango slushy in a blender.
Blending Tips When Making a Slushie with a Blender
Blender Power: making a slushie involves blending ice and frozen fruits. So, you’ll want a blender like Vitamix or Ninja, or Blendtec that can easily handle the tough ingredients.
Consistency: Just as the name, your slushie drink will need to have a slushy texture after blending. Thus, don’t add too much water or over-blend, especially if using Vitamix or Blendtec machine as it could start melting the ice. Thereby turning your frozen treat watery or into a smoothie.
Serving & Storing: for the best flavor and refreshment, you’ll want to serve your homemade slushie immediately after finishing to blend. The reason for this is to make sure you get to enjoy the whole frosty deliciousness before the ice starts to melt.
If any of the slushie recipes remain, you’ll also want to store them in the freezer or fridge, but, of course, not for long. Otherwise, storing for too long will turn your drink into ice and you’ll have to go back to your recipe again.
Recipe Proportions: Typically, it’s always good to add the ingredients of your recipes in the right amount to achieve your desired taste. The same applies to slush treats, especially for the ice part if you want your drink to be more slushy.
That said, the chart below has the perfect proportions for the recipes in my slushie list above. You can double the quantities if you need to make a larger batch for more people.
| Recipe | Servings | Total Prep Time | Ingredients Required |
| A Quick Slushie with Drink Mix | 3 Servings | 5 Minutes | 8-oz club soda, 0.5 cup sugar, 0.5 teaspoon drink mix powder, & 4 regular ice cubes |
| A Tropical Whole Fruit Slushie | 3 Servings | 15 Minutes | 0.5 cup coconut water, 1 large banana, 1.5 cup pineapple, 4 leaves of mint, 1 cup frozen mango, & 1.5 cup ice |
| A Frozen Margarita Slushie | 4 Servings | 5 Minutes | 1 cup tequila, 1 cup lime juice, 0.5 cups triple sec, 2 tablespoons agave syrup, & 6 cups ice |
| A Quick Keto/ Low-Carbs Slushie | 4 Servings | 5 Minutes | 5 cups ice, 1.5 club diet soda, 0.5 teaspoons sugar-free Kool-Aid drink powder, & 2 squirts of stevia (optional) |
| A Whole Fruit Keto Slushie | 4 Servings | 10 Minutes | 16-ounce fresh strawberries, 1 lemon (to squeeze), 3-4 tablespoons agave, & 3 cups ice |
Recommended Product:
Good of Budget: Ninja BN701 Total Crushing Blender
Best features for making slushies include:
- Reasonable pricing
- Fast-moving blades
- Proprietary 6-blade assembly
- Preset program for crushing ice
- preset program for frozen desserts
- XL pitcher for blending large amounts
What I don’t like:
- It’s a bit tricky to make single slushies
- The system has plastic parts, including the gear drive coupling
Good investment: Vitamix A3500 Brushed Stainless Blender
Bests features for making a slushie include:
- High blending power
- Settable digital time
- Pummels through ice well
- Up to ten variable blending speeds
- Preset program for frozen desserts
- Can make single and large amounts
- Sturdy build, including the metal drive system
What I don’t like:
- It’s very expensive to buy
- Doesn’t come with most accessories
Trick and Treat
A slushie is a very simple frozen dessert to make if you have a blender at home. The best part, you don’t just save the money you have used at the convenience store, but also you can customize your recipe however you like. So, you can be alternating the yummy and sugar-free flavors.
Even better, you can use the whole fruit slushie recipes on your children who fuss a lot about eating particular fruits. Thereby satisfying their sweet tooth while at the same time treating their overall health.