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Craving a refreshing slushie? You don’t need a blender or any special equipment, just a few simple ingredients, a couple Ziplock bags, and some ice and you will have a delicious slushie in 5 minutes!
Ready to be the favorite mom on the block? These slushies (or “flushies” as my 3-year old would say) are the coolest thing ever. You throw them together, shake, and BAM – instant slushie. They are a HUGE hit with my kiddos and they taste just like the slushies that you get at the gas station. No high powered blender, no big mess, no freezer, no big chunks of ice, just smooth slushie goodness. This is the perfect drink for hot summer days when plain juice or soda doesn’t seem cold enough to quench your thirst and you don’t want to deal with melty popsicles.
You can make these with fruit juice or with soda. My personal favorite is making it with vanilla Dr. Pepper. You can buy a Slushy Magic Kit online for upwards of $10 or you can make your own homemade slushie at home for a few cents.
This is so easy to do, even a 3 year old can do it… really! You literally can be drinking a slushie in 5 minutes from now. I bet you have everything you need right at this moment. All you need is ice, salt, juice, and a couple Ziploc bags. That’s it!
Ingredients and Supplies
To make a 5-minute slushie, you’ll need the following ingredients and equipment:
- Your choice of juice, soda, or flavored beverage (prepared Kool-aid or drink mixes work great)
- Two sturdy, resealable Ziplock-style plastic bags (one small and one large)
- Ice cubes – the bigger ice cubes tend to work better and melt slower than smaller ones.
- Salt – Ice cream salt works best but coarse Kosher salt or even regular table salt will work fine.
- Gloves (optional, to protect hands)
How Does It Work?
A slushie’s science involves lowering the freezing point of a liquid. The salt in the outer bag lowers the temperature at which the mixture freezes. When the liquid is supercooled below its freezing point, agitating it creates tiny ice crystals throughout the liquid, giving it a slushie texture. So, when you drink a slushie, you’re enjoying a tasty mix of icy crystals and yummy flavors. It’s a cool and refreshing treat that’s perfect for a hot day!
How to Make a Slushie
Follow these simple steps to create a refreshing slushy in no time:
- Pick your flavor: Start by choosing your desired juice or soda.
- Packets of Ice: Take the larger resealable plastic bag and fill it halfway with ice cubes. Add salt over the ice cubes to speed up the freezing process.
- Small Bag Insert: Place the sealed small bag containing the flavored drink mixture into the larger bag of ice. Ensure both bags are sealed tightly.
- Shake and Knead: Hold onto the sealed ends of both bags and gently shake and knead the bags for about 5 minutes or until the liquid mixture inside the small bag has transformed into a slushy consistency. The bag gets VERY cold so we recommend using winter gloves to prevent injury. The ice will help rapidly chill and freeze the mixture.
- Check Consistency: After 5 minutes, carefully remove the small bag from the larger bag of ice. Open the small bag and check if the mixture has achieved the desired slushy texture. If needed, continue massaging the bag for a little longer until you reach the desired consistency.
- Enjoy: Transfer the slushie to a glass or slushie cup, grab a straw, and indulge in the refreshing taste of your homemade slushy. Sip, savor, and beat the heat with this quick and refreshing summer treat.
More Slushie Tips
Keep in mind that when you are shaking the bags, they get SUPPPERRRR cold. Especially when my kids are shaking them, I like to wrap them in a hand towel or dish towel so their little hands don’t freeze.
If yours doesn’t seem to be getting cold enough, add another teaspoon or so of salt and maybe a couple more ice cubes.
The amounts I put below seemed just about right for us, but if you are in a place where it is really hot, you may want to add a little more ice and salt.
Some favorite recipes include grape juice and Sprite, apple juice, strawberry lemonade, cherry lime juice, mango juice, coconut and pineapple juice, or Gatorade. The possibilities are endless. They really are like MAGIC!
Garnish with sliced strawberries or a wedge of pineapple for fruit slushies.
Questions About Slushies
Diet soda has a lower freezing point than regular soda or juice so it will take a lot longer to freeze. It’s best if you use regular soda or juices for optimal freezing.
The salt should go in the outer bag, along with the ice. Don’t add any salt to the juice or soda. Just use it for keeping the ice super cold. To avoid any salt seeping into the juice make sure to use heavy duty Ziploc bags.
The trick is making sure the juice or soda gets cold enough, if it doesn’t seem to be working you will need to add more ice and salt. You want the juice surrounded by ultra cold ice.
More Refreshing Summer Drinks
- Frozen Butterbeer
- Orange Julius
- Frozen Hot Chocolate
- Tropical Slush
- Boba Smoothie
- Chick-Fil-A Frosted Lemonade
- Watermelon Lemonade
5-Minute Slushie Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 6 cups ice cubes (or enough to fill about half a gallon-sized bag)
- 1-2 tablespoons Ice cream salt (Kosher salt or table salt work great too)
- 1 cup juice or soda (not diet)
Instructions
- Place ice cubes and salt in a quart-sized Ziploc bag.
- Place juice in a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag, press out all the air and seal tightly. If it isn't sealed tightly enough, salt will get in and it won't taste good.
- Place the small bag of juice IN the larger bag of ice and seal. The larger bag will be holding the ice, salt, and the baggie of juice. *PLEASE NOTE: You will have two separate bags – a quart bag with ice and salt, and a sandwich bag with juice.
- Shake for about 3-5 minutes or until juice gets slushy. If your hands get too cold, wrap a dish cloth around the bag or use gloves and continue shaking.
- If your slushy isn't getting slushified. Add more ice and salt to the outer bag and keep shaking.
- Pour slush into a cup and serve immediately.
i used apple juice and it was just all, liquid i thought it would actually work
Had mad doubts. Awesome recipe and will definitely use it again! I feel like the angrys need to read the recipe a FEW more times so they can get it!!
this doesn’t work for me either very disappointed it did nothing i wasted a good drink. then i tried it and i could taste the salt.
It sounds like you may have been confused on the directions. The salt does not go in the drink. The Kosher salt and ice are mixed together in one plastic bag, then the juice is poured into a separate plastic bag. The sealed juice bag goes INSIDE the ice/salt bag.
This worked perfectly.
Perfect fingers crossed this works for my party
The trick is making sure the juice gets cold enough, if it doesn’t seem to be working you will need to add more salt and possibly more ice. You want the juice surrounded by ultra cold ice.
I tried but it didn’t work !!! ☹️ Maybe I didn’t put enough salt . But the thing is the salt became one . Like it chunked together so I’m pretty sure why it didn’t work that well. I’ll try again with all the helpful advice . Thanks favfamilyrecipes.com!!😇❤️
Hi Christine- I am so sorry this didn’t work for you!The salt definitely shouldn’t be chunking together. That could be part of the problem. What kind of salt did you use?
My brother’s family made ice cream like this, but I believe they put the bag of ingredients in a coffee can and ice and rock salt in the can. Then they sat in a circle and rolled it back and forth to each other until it was done.
I remember doing this when I was in elementary school! Ice cream made like that tastes sooo good!
Lol did this in school to make ice cream put the ice. Cream mix and a sandwich bag then ice and salt in the other wrap i big towel around it then theyed have 2 kids jump rope stype swing it then so long later you had icecream was fun you can also do it by just shaking the bag up but school wanted to make it a group activity
What a fun way to make ice cream! We haven’t tried making ice cream this way yet, but I totally want to. Thanks for the comment! 😀
Try using rock salt too. 🙂 lots of ice.
Rock salt.. great idea!
I was really craving a slushee and I saw this recipie… I had my doubts but in the end…AHHHH it works! I used Hawaiian Punch for the slushy, the only thing is that the serving size is rather small so if your looking for a long lasting slushee I think I would add some more juice but yay I’m happy!
Hi Jane! So glad you liked it! The serving size is small– we found it to be just right for a kid just wanting a quick treat but you can absolutely add more juice to make it a more refreshing drink for an adult. Thanks for your comment!
And also all fruit juice like oasis works
Thanks it worked great but it was too salty I put some more of the same juice in and it worked
The salt and ice cubes are in the outer bag and the juice goes in the inner bag. Hope this helps.
This was so easy and worked wonderfully! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Love making these with my kids. Instead of pouring juice in a baggie I use a juice pouch. Shake for 5 minutes and then just cut open top of pouch. Perfect every time!
I love this idea! Thanks for sharing.
Hi I’m sorry but this just doesn’t seem to work maybe I’m doing something wrong but I tried so many times and with different drinks but it never worked ????
Hmmm … are you using enough ice and salt in the outer bag? You need it to get REALLY cold so you may want to add more of each. Be sure to use plenty of salt so it gets cold enough. HOpe this helps!
Does sea salt work?
I haven’t tried it with sea salt but I don’t see why it would make a difference. If you try it, let us know if it affects the recipe at all!
I used one tablespoon of Trader Joe’s sea salt and it worked perfectly for me.
this doesnot work we tried this with orange juice and literatlly shook for twenty minutes and it was just foamy juice
That is so werid… I have never tried it with orange juice though so maybe that is something worth noting? We have just used juices that aren’t pure fruit juice.. and sodas. I wonder if that makes a difference?
this doesn’t work you lied to two very desperate 6 year olds
Hi Farley- I am so sorry this didn’t work for you. There could have been a number of reasons this didn’t work. You may have no had enough salt or enough ice. What kind of juice were you using? If if doesn’t start freezing within a couple minutes it’s because the juice isn’t getting cold enough. You may want to add more salt and ice– the more frozen the ice, the better (bagged ice might not always work because it seems to melt faster). We always use the big cubes directly from our freezer. We haven’t had problems with this recipe before so I don’t know what else to suggest. Sorry!
Just tried this for the first time today with orange juice (not from concentrate) and it worked perfectly following the instructions exactly (maybe the other poster did not add salt?)… Thanks!!
thats a little mean iv used this for 5 years and its worked every time
It doesn’t work with Dr. Pepper or V8 Splash Watermelon Cherry either. 🙁
I just tried it with Dr Pepper and it worked just fine for me
I am so glad it works with Dr.P. . Im making this!
I also tried it with root beer and it did not work. It definitely got colder but it wasn’t at all frozen
Do you think this would work with wine? There are special mixes out there for that, but I’m wondering if this would work just as well. What do you think? Have you ever tried it?
I am thinking because alcoholic drinks have a lower freezing point, it may not work. You can try it and let us know though!
Thanks for sharing!!! I love your idea. My kids will be so happy…
I am a good mother.
We have used diet drinks and it works okay, just not as well. We bought the magic slushy drink mix to make a slurpee drink for my diabetic son who can’t drink slurpees. I like your idea of making your own kit. Thanks for sharing!
What a smart idea! Easy to catch kids attention and get them involved. But what is a role of the salt in the bag with ice cubes? Just curious.
haha I knew this was going to be asked 🙂
The short answer: Because salt makes ice/water have a lower freezing point– in short, it makes it colder so the juice can freeze faster.
The long answer: http://www.espsciencetime.org/student_life.cfm?subpage=295673
Interesting! Thanks. I think I should go back to school again 😉
Why can’t you use diet soda?!
I’m not exactly sure, something to do with the artificial sweetener makes it not ice up as well!
Amazing recipe used it for pineapple juice. Loved it!