A sweet and tangy watermelon lime sorbet is a great way to cool off in the summer. As a bonus, this recipe is frozen back in the watermelon rind and cut off into slices.
It’s hot. The type of heat where when you step outside the door and your skin is wet before the door swings shut behind you. It’s a hot that hangs in the air, letting you breathe it in, that is cured only by two things: being completely immersed in water or hiding indoors, the air conditioning cranked as far as it will go.
I find that the heat makes me very unmotivated to do things like take a walk, water and weed the garden (though I have forced that one on myself) and prepare food and eat it. However, when the promise of cooking provides ice cold watermelon sorbet, I just may be convinced. I’m fairly certain it didn’t take much convincing to get the kids to come grab a slice or sorbet either.
Start by cutting your watermelon as a simple syrup simmers on the stove. If you’re going to serve your sorbet in the rind, cut a watermelon (smaller is better) in half and scoop the watermelon flesh out. Place the hollowed-out rinds in the freezer to get cold while you make your sorbet.
When your simple syrup is cool and watermelon chunked, blend them together in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add in lime juice to cut the sweetness. The first time we made watermelon sorbet we didn’t do this, and it was much too sweet for our taste. I went with a 1/3 cup lime juice.
Cool the liquid completely in the refrigerator for a few hours. When it’s good and cold, throw it in your ice cream machine and freeze. If you saved them, take your watermelon rind out of the freezer and fill it with your sorbet, perhaps throwing in a few mini chocolate chip “seeds” along the way.
This then goes into the freezer. It really doesn’t need that long, and if you let it sit for four to five hours, you’ll be ready to slice easily. Longer freezing just requires you to take it out a bit before you want to scoop or slice. No rind? Just store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Tip: Dip your scoop or knife in warm water before scooping or slicing to make it easier.
There’s nothing like a slice of watermelon on a warm summer day, especially when your slice happens to be sorbet.
Truly, nothing.
A few tips if you want to make slices:
- Use a small, personal size watermelon.
- Freeze only long enough for the sorbet to set, or if you freeze longer, give it a good amount of time on the counter to soften up.
- Dip your knife (I used a large chef’s knife) in warm water in between each cut, and try to cut 2″-3″-thick slices off the watermelon. Too thin and they don’t hold together as well.
How are you staying cool in the midst of this heat wave? Are you enjoying the pool, spending time hiding indoors or heading towards museums and other air-conditioned retreats?
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (depending on personal preference and watermelon sweetness)
8 cups cubed fresh watermelon
1/3 cup lime juice
Place water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until sugar is completely dissolved to create a syrup. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a food processor or blender, mix together watermelon cubes, syrup and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Add to an ice cream machine and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Serve immediately as soft serve sorbet or freeze in an airtight container and remove a few minutes prior to serving to let soften for scooping.
Makes 8-10 servings.
Oh my gosh…this is absolutely amazing!! Thanks for sharing!!!
This is one of the best ideas that I’ve seen all summer! So awesome, Shaina!
Thanks, Jamie! We really enjoyed it.
Love this! PS – what cuties you have!
That is SOOOOO fun and creative Shaina!!! I am in awe of your talent. As always!
Okay I am in love with this idea and recipe. They might melt in a hot minute today but they would be worth it đ
WHat a fun treat!!
Great idea! I love freezing the sorbet in the rind and serving that way. So cute.
Oh my gosh! This is so cute!!
So delicious! Again I must tell you what gorgeous kids you have!
Thanks, Maris! You know, you’re welcome to give one a spin for the weekend. đ
What an adorable idea!! So creative; I love it!
This is awesome! Best way to eat watermelon ever!
Awesome! I bet the kids had fun helping with this one. It’s obvious they enjoyed eating it. =)
Pure genius. Seriously!
Hmmm thats Genius act.. I luv it..
This looks so good! I’m getting an ice cream maker this weekend, and I think this is the first recipe I’ll try! I hope it’s okay, I put a link to this recipe on my blog post about watermelon.
I love when people share! Thanks, Sam!
I LOVE THIS! I keep bookmarking recipes for the ice cream maker I’m going to buy… and with this weather, I think it will be very soon!
I just found this on the TidyMom.com blog and love it. What a fun idea. I would have never thought to put the sorbet back into the watermelon rind. I can’t wait to try this idea. How fun especially when the tempertures are soaring right now. I might try it with frozen blueberries instead of the chocolate chips.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Dried blueberries would be a great idea, Vicki! I actually just left the other half of this watermelon “seedless.”
Love this idea!
This is one of the cutesy ideas I have ever seen!
This is the most creative & adorable idea ever!!! Love it. Your kids must have gone nuts for this.
Thanks, Marla! The kids were so excited when I finally pulled it out of the freezer to cut it. They’d been waiting a full week for their slice of sorbet!
That is so cool (literally)!! I’ve never seen that idea before, I love it. đ
Absolutely love this and your pictures (kids) are priceless!
If you don’t have an Ice cream machine you can freeze the cubed watermelon before you put it in the food processor. You may have to cut it into smaller chunks but it will produce the same effect
That’s a great tip, Holly! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, this makes my mouth water! Thank you!
That is TOO CUTE! I love this idea! I’ve seen jello in orange rinds before, this reminds me of it đ
This is just absolutely brilliant… I love it!!
I love this idea!!
Shaina, I’m nearly speechless. This is sheer brilliance! We will absolutely be making this within the week. đ
Looks tasty! I tried this same presentation and put it in one of my cookbooks, but I didn’t use nearly as much lime juice in my recipe. I’m wondering–does this really taste like watermelon, or mostly like lime? I’m sure the lime would be refreshing, but does the melon flavor come through, too?
It tastes very much like watermelon. đ The recipe uses 8 cups of watermelon, where most watermelon sorbet recipes use closer to 4. The 8 cups is necessary to fill both halves of a small melon, though, and so it makes quite a bit of sorbet. Hope that helps explain it!
This was a very good idea in theory, however, in actual practice it is much harder than it seems.
I definitely found slicing to be a challenge at first, too. See my tips above for how it worked for us!
Love it!!! You found the one thing that could be more refreshing then a slice of watermelon on a hot day. I have to try this. Thanks for sharing.
The is the cutest recipe for these hot, rainless summer days in Texas!
Shaina, this is brilliant. Creative, smart and perfect for summer. And on another note, your kids are adorable.
Cool
what an idea
I agree with everyone. This is the best idea I have seen this summer.WOw!
What a wonderful idea, very clever and unique!
Love this idea! Very cute and oh so creative.
This looks amazing!!!!! I wish I had an ice cream machine to make this, or is it possible to make it without one, because I have a watermelon thats sitting in the fridge waiting to be made into sorbet đ
Oh my gosh, this is such a cute idea! My kids will be amazed when I make this. We are eating lots of sweet watermelon this summer, and this is a perfect way to cool off on these very hot summer days in Texas.
this looks like such a fun and delicious idea! i will definitely try it đ
Are you supposed to mix the water and sugar together before heating it? or just pour them both in the pan and heat like that?
You can just add them to the pan and give them a stir quick. The sugar will sit on the bottom until it starts to dissolve.
and should you just use the chunks from the watermelon? or do you use all the juice that’s in it as well?
Slice into chunks or scoop the watermelon as you would to eat it. Any juice that drips out as you’re cutting it can be discarded. Hope that helps!
I’m sitting here with my mouth watering now, and I can’t even have watermelon because of allergies. *whimpers*
Maybe I could adapt it to strawberry lime sorbet…
What a great idea. One to try for sure!
So completely brilliant!! So glad I saw this before the end of summer!
Great presentation! Nice writing style and beaut pics. I’ll come back here đ
What a wonderful ,pretty and fun way to serve desert !
Your photos are wonderful too đ
This looks delicious. My family loves watermelon… just not as a fragrance. I will have to try it.
p.s. My daughter’s name is Shaina đ
Whenever i eat Water melon I am afraid about seeds, With the help of this idea i have no tension
wow what a customized water melon
I just added this to my recipe binder. Brilliant!
This looks amazing! What a cute serving idea too. Now we just need summer to come!!
I can’t wait for summer to try this recipe! What a great idea to prepare watermelon; such an art!
This looks great, but I dont understand what is heating in the pot. It does not specify. it just says “once your simple syrup is cool and watermelon chunked, blend them together in a food processor”
Did you heat up the lime juice and some sugar?
If you read the recipe at the bottom, it gives the full directions and amounts. It’s a simple syrup with water and sugar, and then the lime juice and watermelon get blended together with that syrup.
How much would the the recipe be compromised by switching out the water with say, vodka? Making it an adult treat? Might be worth a try! đ
i dont think vodka will freeze,but you can try :))
It would taste good, but it won’t freeze as firm (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but may inhibit the slicing if you want it packed in the rind).
I see your site, I really appreciate your works, I like watermelon.this site truly amazing, so thanks for sharing!
Watermelon is always my fev and its realy good for skin… Thanks for the great post.. đ
Looks wonderful. Just wondering, though, is it put in the ice cream machine then the watermelon rind or skip the ice cream machine and put directly in rind?
In the ice cream machine first, then packed into the frozen rind until firm.
What an awesome recipes, great fun for the kids. Love the tip: Use a personal sized watermelon! hehehe
I don’t know about the chocolate chips… Doesn’t sound like it’d go well with watermelon to me :] I’d rather use blueberries! But otherwise, this is adorable and I love it so much :]
What a great idea! đ
LOOKS incredible! I must try it! I am going to try to cut the sugar down for health reasons but the lime with it looks amazing!! How fun! I need a watermelon right about now! THANKS FOR SHARING! Kristy from http://www.apronsandapples.blogspot.com my healthy, Diy, crafty, big family blog!
How could we make this WITHOUT an ice cream maker? Not all of us have one đ
I would love to make this but dont have an ice cream machine. Are there alternatives that anyone knows? Dont want to buy one just for this đ
I think that if you freeze the cubes of watermelon for a couple of hours and then blend them up, it will work pretty well. I don’t have an ice cream maker either and I do this with frozen banana to make sorbet and it works well.
This is a great idea!
Love it! This is the idea of the day!!!!!
WOW Nice Website and Love the idea
Thanks for Sharing
Hi,
Its a unique,very interesting thing that I have learnt today..thank you very much for sharing!!!
Regards
Abhigyan Mukherjee
Indian Cuisine-Made easy for beginners.
http://delicacyindiancuisine.blogspot.in/
Cooking made easy to all beginners.My blog will not only have common and traditional recipes,but the recipes will be very detailed and meticulous
OMG those look fantastic… perfect for summer in the South!
This looks fantastically refreshing (Especially for June in Georgia!)!! My only issue is, I don’t have an ice cream machine. Can this just go in the regular freezer?
You could make it, but it’d be best as granita. Put the blended mix into a tub and every 2-3 hours you scrape down the sides with a fork to create a sort of slush. Still refreshing and delicious, but a different texture.
I hope that helps!
What a great idea, perfect for a summer bbq or get together. So refreshing and a great way to get kids eating fruit!
Could you replace the suger and water step with Karo syrup ? That could be a simple way to cut out the time needed for this step!!
Could you substitute honey for the “simple syrup”? I am trying to eat clean and stay away from refined white sugar…
I think you’d be fine with the switch. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
even with the lime juice it is waaaay too sweet for me….i like the idea, tho, and may play with it to get it suit me….it does look so pretty when it is cut into slices….and i like the idea of the chocolate “seeds”, altho i did not do that this time
This has got to be one of the most gorgeous deserts I’ve ever seen – and so easy to make! I’ll be buying watermelon during my next trip to the store. Yum!
Your watermelon sorbet looks so amazing! Just made some pineapple sorbet (https://happytoeat.jux.com/523379) but I should have scooped out the inside of the pineapple and put the sorbet in there. I’ll try it next time!
My goodness this looks delicious.
This looks delicious – I saw it on Pinterest – Thank you so much!
Shane
Just made this (it is watermelon season in New Zealand!). Used 2 tblsp of Orange Blossom Water (mediterranien ingredient). No chocolat chips because of taste clash, and hard enough to remove the seeds anyway. THE GUESTS LOVED IT! Very refreshing!
I love watermelon and this looks so easy. I saw this on Pinterest and repinned so when I’m ready to make it I have it with the touch of my iPad.
What is simple syrup??? Where can I get it??? Exact answers and brands would be nice!
The simple syrup is the water and sugar you cook together at the beginning of the recipe. Let me know if you have any other questions!
What a great recipe to enjoy summer with the fresh watermelon lime.
I really want to make this sorbet – but I don’t have an ice cream machine. Is there another container in which the blended ingredients can be frozen (prior to filling the watermelon rinds with the sorbet)? Thank you.
I am not sure if this would work, but I have seen other recipes that tell you to put itin the freezer and, every 20 minutes, take it out and “mix it” with a fork. That would keep it moving, and primitively, do the same thing as the ice cream maker. I hope it works for you if you decide to try it!!!!
This works great if you aren’t making the slices. It would be a granita texture then, so a bit icy, but still delicious.
Yum! I’ve got to try this next Summer! Thank you for the recipe. đ
I hope you can still read this?
Um, I’d like to ask what difference an ice cream maker will make – is it the texture difference? Because I don’t think there will be difference with or without it. Thanks.
-Christabel
Hi, Christabel. The ice cream maker helps the sorbet freeze quickly and evenly. The faster the mix freezes, the smaller the crystals. If you simply place the mix in the freezer, it will freeze into a hard block with large crystals. You can do this and scrape it with a fork to create a granita, or you can pour the mix into a zip-top bag and smush it every hour or so as it freezes to create a similar effect. They are still delicious, but you won’t get that smooth sorbet-like nature to it.
A lovely idea. I’m going to have to make room in my freezer for the ice cream maker.
Very Cute!!
That’s so creative and cute,my little ones would enjoy it,i’m definitely making this soon,
Thank you for great idea!
Hi,
This recipe sounds delicious! What if I don’t have an ice cream machine? Is there some alternative way to make it?
Just freeze the pieces of watermelon and mix it with the cold syrup. After this you can just place it in the watermelon. No need for an ice cream machine ;-).
I see your site, I really appreciate your works, I like watermelon.this site truly amazing, so thanks for sharing!
It was perfect the first time. I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
I tried this recipe of yours, turned out so tasty… and love the way you have explained the recipe and shown steps by pictures.. love and wishes ?
no lo me gusta esta “sorbet”…mas dulce…pero el idea es bueno
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