how do you make frozen mason jar drinks

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For most of the summer, a gin and tonic (or an “other stuff and tonic”) will do. But when temps climb and humidity gets thick—but I’m still trying to entertain friends outdoors—all I want to do is stick my head in the freezer. Or suck down a frozen cocktail.

While the ingredients are the same—spirits and sometimes liqueurs, juices, and ice—frozen drinks just get me in a cooler state of mind. A frozen G&T is way more fun than a fizzy one. A frozen margarita? Yes, please, with a salted rim. And so I set out to add three new frozen drinks to the Epicurious cocktail archives—three particularly awesome ones.

InstructionsBlend frozen lemonade concentrate, rum, and frozen fruit (and sweetener if needed ) in a blender until smooth.Add ice and blend again until thick and frosty.Pour into a mason jar, garnish and serve, or freeze up to one month in the freezer.

1. Blend frozen lemonade concentrate, rum, and frozen fruit (and sweetener if needed ) in a blender until smooth.
2. Add ice and blend again until thick and frosty.
3. Pour into a mason jar, garnish and serve, or freeze up to one month in the freezer.

How to make frozen cocktails that stay frozen

Over years of trial and error in recipe development, I’ve found that your success with making frozen drinks at home (sans professional slushy machine) depends a lot on the temperature in your kitchen. Heat is the enemy. When I lived in a spot where summer was the same 65-ish degrees as every other time of year, I could make frozen drinks with a cup of ice and everything blended into a perfectly cool slush that stuck around. But if it’s hotter where you live, you’ll need to protect that chill.

You can certainly load the blender with extra ice if the ingredients still look pretty liquidy rather than evenly slushy, thick, and almost creamy after blending. The downside? The more frozen water you add, the more diluted the flavor of your cocktail becomes. A few extra cubes won’t hurt—go ahead and add them if you need them—but an extra cup will make a difference in the final taste.

The best way to battle the problem of melt is to batch up your drinks in advance and chill the mix in your freezer. I use mason jars for this, but any freezer-safe container will work as long as it really seals. Thanks to alcohol and sweetener, most cocktails won’t freeze solid, even if you keep them in the freezer overnight. But particularly juicy drinks, and any that are lower in alcohol, may become slushy after a couple of hours. Pour or spoon them into the blender with the measured ice—if they’re truly frozen, a minute on the counter should make this possible. Once blended, the prechilled combo will stay slushy for longer, because the cold beverage won’t immediately start warming up the ice the way room-temperature ingredients would.

One other note: If you aren’t working with a high-powered blender, you may want to keep your batched drink in the freezer while you crush some ice. (A meat mallet can make quick work of it provided that you put the ice in a resealable bag wrapped in a kitchen towel.) The crushed ice will save your blender a bit of work, and the less time your drink spends in the blender getting smooth, the less the machine will heat up.

Now that we’ve covered the technique, it’s time to pick a recipe and get you a little closer to having a blended cocktail in your glass.

How to make candy mason jar drinks

FAQ

How do you make frozen drinks ahead of time?

How do you make a frozen drink without a machine?

Can you make a frozen cocktail from a mason jar?

Here are 20 of our most favorite at-home frozen cocktail recipes, from DIY Mason Jar frosé to cherry cola bourbon slush, and everything in between. The time-honored country glass, the mason jar, makes the perfect vessel for making and partaking in this ice-cold summer sipper. The best part? No blender needed. You can shake it all together by hand!

How do you mix bourbon & whiskey in a mason jar?

Pair mason jars with 375 ml bottles of Jack Daniels or your preferred bourbon or whiskey. Instructions to make cocktails. Pour bourbon/whiskey into mason jar and allow to infuse for 3 or more days. Before serving, remove fruit & spices and strain to ensure no solids remain. Serve on ice garnished with cocktail cherries.

Can you use mason jar glasses for cocktail recipes?

However, you can grab a set of mason jar glasses for your drinks. Of course, if you don’t have mason jars handy, you can use any glass to serve these delicious cocktail recipes. Remember, it’s not about the glass but what is inside it! All of the recipes above are great for serving at any family event or barbecue.

What is a mason jar cocktail?

Anyone can use a fancy glass and spout fancy words. A mason jar cocktail speaks to my soul and it’s saying we are all real people having a good time together. Cocktails are fun: Even if you are a picky drinker, there is an adult beverage for you. Fast and fabulous: You don’t need to overthink these mason jar drinks. Gotta love that!