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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!
The Best Slushie Recipe Ever
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! 🩷Erica
Ingredients and Supplies
To make a 5-minute slushie, you’ll need the following ingredients and equipment:
- Juice or soda – Your choice of any sugary juice, soda, or flavored beverage will all work great (prepared Kool-aid or drink mixes work great). Diet or zero sugar drinks don’t work as well.
- Zipper Bags – Two sturdy, resealable Ziplock-style plastic bags (one smaller and one larger). You can use a quart-sized bag and a sandwich bag or a gallon and a quart. Just so one fits inside the other. The keyword here is sturdy. You don’t want thin bags that will tear easily or ones with weak seals. Freezer bags work great.
- Ice cubes – I have actually found that smaller ice cubes work better than larger ones. Even crushed ice is great! It cools the juice faster. However, ice cubes from the refrigerator will also work fine, you may just need to add more.
- Salt – Ice cream salt works best but coarse Kosher salt or coarse salt also work great. Table salt will work fine in a pinch but doesn’t work quite as well.
- Gloves or a towel – Optional, to protect hands.
How to Make a Slushie
- Take the larger resealable plastic bag and fill it halfway with ice cubes. Add salt over the ice cubes.
- Fill a smaller (quart sized) bag and fill it with juice. Seal it tightly, making sure there are no gaps. Any little leaks will allow salt to get in and no one wants salt in their slush!
- 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 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 or wrapping it in a towel. The ice will help rapidly chill and freeze the mixture.
- 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 shaking the bag for a little longer until you reach the desired consistency.
- Transfer the slushie to a glass or slushie cup, grab a straw or spoon, and enjoy!
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. It’s a cool and refreshing treat that’s always a hit and perfect for a hot day!
Pro Slushie Tips and Troubleshooting
- 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. This also helps the ice to not melt so quickly because your hands are warm and can melt the ice faster.
- Crushed ice or smaller cubes work faster than large ice cubes. If your cubes are big, the drink may take longer to 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.
- If it tastes salty, the inner bag probably leaked. Double check that the sandwich bag is sealed really tightly before shaking. You can even double-bag it if needed. The salt and juice should definitely not mix!
- Overfilling the juice bag can also cause leaks. Leave a little room in the bag so the liquid can move around while freezing.
- 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 and you may need to shake it longer.
- 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!
Frequently Asked Questions
Fruit juice, lemonade, sports drinks, and regular soda all work really well. Drinks with a sugar tend to freeze into the best slushy consistency.
That usually means some of the salt water leaked into the drink bag. Make sure the inner bag is sealed really tightly before shaking. I like to press out the extra air and double-check the seal before putting it into the ice bag.
Usually it just needs more ice, more salt, or more shaking. Make sure the outer bag has plenty of ice surrounding the drink bag and keep shaking constantly. Using drinks with sugar also helps it slush up faster.
More Frozen Summer Drinks
Have you tried these Easy Magic Slushies? I’m excited to hear what you think! Leave a comment or tag us on Instagram @favoritefamilyrecipes and show us your creations! 📸🍧
5-Minute Slushie Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 4-6 cups ice, small cubes or crushed works best
- 1-2 tablespoons Ice cream salt, Kosher salt or coarse 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. Using gloves, mittens, or a towel will protect your hands and also keep the ice from melting too fast.
- 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.
Equipment
- 2 Zip-top bags (one larger and one smaller, I usually do a quart-size and a sandwich size)
Notes
- Make sure the inner bag is sealed very tightly before shaking. If salt water leaks in, the slushy will taste salty.
- If the slushy isn’t freezing after a few minutes, add more ice and a little more salt to the outer bag and keep shaking.
- Wrap the bag in a towel or wear gloves while shaking. Keeping the bag cold the entire time helps the slushy freeze faster and will also protect your hands.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Why can’t it be made with sugar-free juice mix ? Or diet pop ? Can you tell those of us that can’t have sugar but crave slushy how we can do this in a sugar-free option. Thank you . Be safe. God bless
The sugar substitutes in sugar free juice and soda affect the freezing temperature, so you won’t be able to freeze the liquid.
The best slushie ever! So much better than store bought and fun to make too!
My kids love these slushies, 5 times a day they are asking to make them. Thanks for this recipe.
SO easy to make and delicious! My kids went crazy for these.
Thank you for this!!!!
Saves me a trip to Burger King to get my kid the frozen Fanta!
A little salt seeped into my juice bag….probably due to my aggressive shaking 😅 but kids didn’t seem to notice.
Oh wow! This was such a huge hit and my teens haven’t stopped making slushys since they’ve seen this recipe! So refreshing and painless too! Thank you for such an easy recipe!
My kids really enjoyed tis super easy summer treat! Thanks for the recipe!
Yes! These are so perfect for the upcoming summer months! My kids love these! Thank you for these easy and fun directions! On the list: Mellow Yellow, Orange Crush, Grape Fanta, and my kids want to see if it will work with chocolate milk, too. Finger’s crossed! 😀
one word.
yum 😽
First time I tried this, didn’t work, second time, it did! The only downsides is that when you have a large amount of liquid , you have to shake longer so def more than 5 mins. It also melts really fast and has a strange texture but over all its really good!
Such a fun recipe to make with the kids! They love it!
DELISH! These slushies are going to be enjoyed all summer long!
it’s so salty 🧍🏻
but i liked the part where i got to smash ice 🦵
girl what you dont mix the liquid with the salt
bestie pardon me?
this recipe is amazing it was so good i can´t wait to make another one it is so good i LOVE this recipe🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💐💐💐💐💐💐🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🥀🥀🥀🌷🌷🌺🌺🌸🌸💝💝💝💘💘💘💘💖💖💖💖💖💗💗💗💗💗💓💓💓💓💞💞💞💕💕💕💌💌👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍🤛🤛🤛🤜🤜🤜🥤🥤🥤🥤🥤🥤🥤🥤🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🧊🧊🧊it was so so so so so so so good who ever made this recipe THANKYOU it was so good👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💓💓💓💓💓💓💗💗💗💗💗💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💌💌💌💌💌
It’s like a party but in your MOUTH!!!
Hi! Do you know if this works with water? I’m planning on adding kool aid liquid to the water to make slushies.
I think that should work!
It was kind of a hit and miss with this recipe but when it worked it worked well
Wow! Very easy and yummy! I did it with lemonade.
WOW! At first, I didn’t think it would work but it turned out great! This recipe is GOLD!
Hi, I thought it was great too!
This is the greatest idea ever!!!!! 🙂