How to Make Granita

Updated September 17, 2020

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Somewhere between sorbet and a sno-cone, a granita is the perfect refreshment when you're hot, cranky, and looking for an excuse to stick your face in the freezer every 30 minutes.

Much simpler than churned ice creams and sorbets, granitas (or "granités") can be prepared with no special equipment. All you do is put a sweetened liquid or puree in a shallow container, pop it in the freezer, and occasionally scrape it up with a fork to form its granular to flaky consistency. This is frozen dessert at its most primitive, so the process of making it is really simple.

My preferred method for making granitas is to start off by cooking up a batch of simple syrup. It just takes a few minutes of heating up water and sugar (usually between 1 to 2 parts sugar to 1 part water) together until the sugar dissolves. With the syrup on-hand, I can make a granita base without turning on the stove. Simple syrup keeps for quite a while in the fridge and having it around is also very useful in making summer cocktails.

"I could hardly stop myself from stuffing my freezer (and my face) full with granitas."

With all the ripe summer fruit around, there was no shortage of possibilities. I could hardly stop myself from stuffing my freezer (and my face) full with granitas. When it was too hot to venture to the store, I even found the makings of granitas in my pantry.

I initially went for intense flavors and smooth, dense textures, thinking that a watered-down base would be flavorless. Some of these flavor-packed granitas came out really delicious, but I loved the flaky ice crystals and refreshing lightness of the less concentrated granitas. After all, that ability to refresh is the main appeal of a granita, isn't it?

Learn how to make granita using the syrup sweetening method, and feel free to adjust it to your liking—either flaky and light or smoother and dense. Check out the step-by-step below.

How to Make Granita

Purée Fruit, Juice, or Another Flavorful Liquid

Pureed fruit, juice, or other flavorful liquid

Often made from the juice or purée of fresh fruit, there are countless other liquids you can use in your base. Espresso, spirits, herbal infusions, puréed roasted or stewed fruit are just a few other possibilities.

For a lighter granita: Start with juice, strained puree, and other watery liquids.

For a denser granita: Use thick purees and liquids with some fat in them.

Make a Syrup

Alternatively, you can heat your purée or juice with sugar, but I liked sweetening the base ingredients with syrup.

For more concentrated flavor: Use a rich simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water).

For a lighter flavor and texture: Use 1 part sugar to 1 part water or dilute even further.

A syrup made with turbinado sugar adds a richer, more complex flavor. Keep in mind that its amber color can affect the appearance of your granita. Honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, and fruit preserves are other sweetening options.

Balance With Acidity

Adding a couple teaspoons of lemon or lime juice balances out the flavor of a sweet granita.

Pour Into a Shallow Container, Cover, and Freeze

A cold metal or pyrex pan covered with plastic wrap will chill the granita nicely, but if your freezer is overstuffed like mine (with a high risk of freezer avalanche), you might do well with a well-sealed and shallow take-out container.

Scrape It Up

After the first hour, or when the first ice crystals start forming, use a fork to scrape up the ice crystals. Then every 30 minutes, or whenever you remember to, check in on the progress and scrape some more.

Getting Close

This coconut granita is close to done, but there is still some liquid among the flakes of ice. It needs another 30 minutes or so in the freezer.

After Several Hours, It’s Done

When the granita has frozen into a flaky and just slightly slushy mix, it’s time to dig in. Eat it as is, or garnish it with fruit, whipped cream, or whatever else will provide you with maximum refreshment. It tastes best eaten within a day or two of making it. Store it in the freezer, but if the granita happens to melt, you can refreeze it, scraping it along the way.

Granita Varieties

Here are the granitas I made, roughly in order from lightest to richest. I didn't get around to savory granitas (that's a whole other world of possibilities: cucumber, basil, chicken consommé?) or spiked granitas (though I will say don't go too heavy on the booze or your granita won't freeze properly). I'll leave it to you to chime in with suggestions on these as well as your favorite sweet granitas.

Watermelon granita with chocolate chip "seeds." Very light and refreshing. 1 1/2 cups of a watermelon puree, 1/4 cup simple syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water), and the juice of one lime. The chocolate, stirred in at the end, sweetened it up a bit more, but a little more syrup would not have been a bad thing.

Blood orange granita with whipped crème fraiche. Without any fiber, pulp or fat in it, this was one of the flakier, icier granitas. The flavor of blood oranges is pretty intense and came through clearly sweetened with a more concentrated syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water). 2 cups of store-bought blood orange juice with 3 tablespoons of rich simple syrup tasted just right (you may want to use more or less depending on the sweetness of the juice and your tooth). Lightly sweetened whipped crème fraiche added a nice creaminess to this bracing granita.

Mocha Granita. Like a Starbucks frappuccino only it doesn't slap you in the face with sweetness. Rather than using syrup, it seemed easier here to just dissolve 1/3 cup sugar in 2 cups of hot and very strong coffee. I poured the sweetened coffee over 1/4 cup of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate. When the chocolate was melted, I whisked the mixture until it was smooth and froze it.

Coconut granita. After trying both light and regular canned coconut milk, I liked the creaminess of the full-fat version, especially when combined with lime juice. This was 1 can of coconut milk (13.5 fl oz), 1/3 cup or so simple syrup (1 sugar: 1 water), and one very juicy lime. I used canned organic sweet corn as a garnish. It didn't have the same salty-sweetness of the conventional brands, but a few grains of coarse sea salt sprinkled on top more or less made up the difference.

Strawberry granita. I used frozen strawberries and a little lemon juice here. With all the seeds and strawberry fibers, this made a very thick puree. A diluted simple syrup (less than 1 part sugar to 1 part water) ended up producing the most refreshing and light granita. I tried aged balsamic vinegar with it (pictured here), but liked it better with just a little bit of mint chiffonade or without any garnish.

Blueberry granita. I followed a tip from Madeleine Kamman's The New Making of a Cook and sweetened fresh blueberry puree with blueberry preserves. Packed with lots of blueberry flavor, it was also packed with fragments of blueberry skins. Next time, I'd strain the berry purée through a chinois first.

Roasted plum granita with ricotta. Breaking my own no-heat rule, I pitted, halved, and roasted plums at 400°F for 20 minutes. Then I pureed them, and added a rich simple syrup before freezing. The result was this very intense, jammy and sorbet-like granita. The ricotta, with a lemon zest stirred in, provided the necessary balance. Not a granita I'd make for refreshment, but delicious at the end of a meal.