Granita Siciliana
A traditional Sicilian frozen dessert with intense fruit flavor and a signature icy, crystalline texture. Made with just fruit, sugar, water, and lemon—no ice cream maker required.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Servings
- 4
- Calories
- 198
- Protein
- 1g
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh strawberries or raspberries (or a mix), hulled and roughly chopped
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- 1
Pour 1 cup of water and 0.75 cup of sugar into a medium saucepan and place it over medium-high heat.
- 2
Stir continuously until the sugar dissolves completely and the liquid looks clear with no grainy texture, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- 3
Remove the saucepan from heat and let the syrup cool for 5 minutes until it stops steaming.
- 4
Place 2 cups of chopped strawberries into a blender, then pour in the cooled syrup.
- 5
Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 0.5 teaspoon of lemon zest, and 0.125 teaspoon of salt to the blender.
- 6
Blend on high speed until completely smooth with no visible fruit chunks, about 60 to 90 seconds.
- 7
Pour the blended mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan, pressing gently with a spoon to extract all liquid and leave fruit pulp behind.
- 8
Place the pan in the freezer uncovered and set a timer for 30 minutes.
- 9
Remove the pan and scrape the surface with a fork, dragging it across the entire bottom and sides to break up any ice crystals and create a slushy texture.
- 10
Return the pan to the freezer and repeat the scraping process every 30 minutes for 2 to 2.5 hours total, until the entire mixture looks like wet, icy snow with no liquid pooled at the bottom.
- 11
Divide the granita equally among four serving glasses or bowls, scraping with a fork to fluff the crystals.
- 12
Serve immediately while fully frozen and icy, so the texture stays crisp.
Tools you’ll need
- medium saucepan
- blender
- fine-mesh sieve
- 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan
- fork
- serving glasses or bowls
Cook smarter
Get matched recipes for what’s in your fridge
CookSnap is a free iOS app that finds real recipes from the ingredients you already have. No more grocery-list aspirations.
