32 Spirited Halloween Jell-O Shots Recipes from Around the Web (2024)

FAQs

How do you make Jello shots come out? ›

How do you get a jello shot to come out easier? Before pouring your liquid into your little plastic cup containers, you can spray a small amount of nonstick cooking spray into each cup and use a paper towel to wipe it evenly around the inside.

All you'll need to do is pour the mixture into a glass dish or baking pan, allow it to set, cut the Jell-O into individual mini squares, and let guests help themselves.

How Strong Is a Jello Shot? If you make the basic Jell-O shot with a single 80-proof liquor, the alcohol content comes out to be about 12 percent ABV (24 proof). That's equivalent to the average wine.

1 small box of jello yields about 15 jello shots (2 cups of liquid). 2 boxes (or 1 large 6 oz. box) yield 30 shots, which will fit nicely on a baking sheet to transport them easily to the refrigerator.

Make Jello as instructed on the package, substituting the cold water for the alcohol. You will want your mixture to cool a bit before stirring in the alcohol, you don't want to “vaporize” the booze by adding it while the mixture is hot. Pour into cups/molds after stirring, and let it set as normal for a few hours.

Jello shots won't set properly if you add too much alcohol. Generally, a basic batch of jello shots is made with one cup of juice or water, one packet of gelatin, 1/2 cup of cold water and 1/2 cup of alcohol. However, jello shots can be made with as much as 2/3 cup alcohol without changing their texture.

Place shot glasses on a baking tray for easy transport. Pour gelatin mixture into paper or plastic shot cups* and chill in refrigerator until set, 1 hour or more. *Reviewers suggest coating the shot cups lightly with cooking spray so the shots slide right out.

Vodka and white rum are both great options for your alcohol, although other spirits, like gin, whiskey, tequila and brandy all work.

But the best vodka for jello shots is a good middle-shelf option. I'm not talking about high-end $35 a bottle stuff. That's for martinis and vodka sodas. A $12 bottle of Absolut or Smirnoff will work just fine.

Why do you need cold water for jello shots? ›

Pour a half-cup of ice water into the bowl and whisk to combine. Adding this to the gelatin (along with the spirits) helps it set and firm up more quickly, which is necessary to achieve that "jello" texture, so the colder the water then the better. Pour the mixture into plastic or paper shot glasses.

Technically, you should put 1/2 cup of liquor into your Jello Shots. However, you can use as much as 2/3 cup without changing the texture of the Jello Shots. If you add too much alcohol, it will cause the Jello Shots to not set properly.

Jello Shots, like life, are all about balance. That said, if you want a strong one, it is possible if you leave it in the fridge long enough. In a Supercall experiment, we found that the strongest Jello Shot that will set is three-to-one ratio of 80-proof alcohol to water, and it took a full day to become mostly solid.

The alcohol in a Jello Shot may jump out and make you believe it's super high-ABV, but that's unlikely. “Jello Shots should be less boozy than a standard co*cktail as far as the amount of booze,” Williams says.

Jello shots won't set properly if you add too much alcohol. Generally, a basic batch of jello shots is made with one cup of juice or water, one packet of gelatin, 1/2 cup of cold water and 1/2 cup of alcohol. However, jello shots can be made with as much as 2/3 cup alcohol without changing their texture.

How Long for Jello Shots to Set? If you're wondering how long it will take for your jello shots to set, it depends on which type you make, but a general rule is two to four hours. A basic jello shot recipe should be allowed to set in the fridge for at least two hours. Four hours is better.

"Gelatin is a thermoreversible, cold-setting polymer: if the gel is reheated, it will convert back to a liquid because the forces favoring the amorphous state (mainly configurational entropy) outweigh those favoring the aggregated state (mainly hydrogen bonds).