Fruity, wobbly and perfectly chilled: jelly shots truly are a great way to celebrate life's best moments.
Whether they're breaking the ice at a party, upgrading a back garden BBQ or enjoyed hanging with friends- jelly shots always get people smiling.
Here's how they can be bought pre-made, either from us or Amazon, or made at home yourself:
Pre-made and ready-to-serve
The quick and easy choice is a pack of our ready-to-serve, individually-sealed jelly shots.
They're confidently boozy, naturally flavoured and free from animal products.
You can see our range of flavours here - all with free shipping.
Make them yourself at home
Before we perfected our bespoke jelly recipe we got really good at making them the old-fashioned way using store bought ingredients.
We're sharing that knowledge below, step by step.
To clarify, what is a home-made jelly shot?
A home-made jelly shot is comprised of (unequal parts) of patience, booze, store-bought jelly cubes and boiling water.
This careful blend of ingredients is combined and poured into shot glasses, then put in the fridge to set.
Are jelly shots vegetarian or vegan friendly?
Unfortunately the base of store-bought jelly, gelatin, is an animal product.
Which is NOT suitable for a vegetarian or vegan diet.
Good news though, you can buy vegan jelly shots here.
What ingredients do I need to make jelly shots?
The ingredients to make a no-frills jelly shot are surprisingly simple:
1) Jelly cubes from the supermarket (like these)
2) Hot water
3) Alcohol
Your alcohol choice isn't limited to vodka
If you're looking for a flavour-forward alcohol, rum is a common choice.
Other options to include in your recipe are tequila, whiskey, brandy and gin.
But if you're playing it safe and want predictable results vodka is the go-to for its neutral flavour.
For best results stick to a liquor that's around 40% ABV
We know, it's tempting to say the boozier the better, but:
Using an alcohol that's over 40% ABV means your jelly might not set properly (alcohol has a lower freezing point than water).
And let's be honest, higher-proof alcohols don't taste as nice and can easily overpower the flavour of your jelly shots.
Packing too much alcohol into a sweet little jelly can make it easy to over consume (and over-drink).
Don't go too cheap on the booze
It's also temping to go as cheap as chips when buying alcohol for jelly shots- after all, the sweetness will mask the sins of cheaper brands... right?
Not really.
And you can bet the cheaper the alcohol the less care was made filtering out the by-products of fermentation, which increases the risk of a pounding headache and horrible hangover the next day.
We've never regretted using premium, multi-purified alcohol in our jelly shots- so do your taste buds and body a favour and do the same.
What equipment do I need to make jelly shots?
To make your shots you're going to need:
- A whisk (or a fork if you're in a pickle).
- A measuring jug.
- Some way to boil water - like a kettle or saucepan.
- Small plastic or glass cups in which the jelly will set. We recommend buying plastic as it's flexible and allows easier removal when the jelly sets.
Step 1: Dissolve the jelly
As it's the most common jelly in the UK, for this guide we're going to assume you're using a standard 135g pack of Hartleys jelly - it doesn't matter which flavour as they're all prepared the same way.
Firstly stick some water on to boil.
While that's heating, open up your pack of jelly and separate it into little squares.
You can use your fingers to pull it apart or plop it onto a cutting board and use a knife.
It doesn't need to be perfectly squared- just separated.
Place the pieces into the measuring jug.
Once the water is boiled pour half a pint (285ml) into the measuring jug.
Whisk until the jelly is completely dissolved.
Step 2: Add your alcohol
It's important to let the jelly mix cool for a few minutes before adding your booze- if the mixture is too hot it can cause the alcohol to burn off.
Which would be a tragedy :(
Don't worry about the jelly setting while you're waiting as it would take hours at room temperature.
Now, how much alcohol you add is up to you, but we wouldn't recommend more than 120ml because:
- Too much alcohol and it'll become the overpowering taste.
- It'll stop the jelly from setting properly so you might end up making a strangely thick vodka liqueur- yuk!
Top the mixture up with cold water to one full pint (570ml) once you've added your booze.
Step 3: Pouring into shot glasses
Once you've thoroughly whisked the jelly, alcohol and water together it's time to pour it into your prepared shot glasses.
Pop the filled glasses into the fridge and let them cool for three to four hours.
Once they're fully set they're ready to serve.
Jelly shots can usually be stored safely for a few weeks in the fridge - the sugar and alcohol are both natural preservatives.
However, consider keeping them in a sealed container as the fridge will suck moisture out of the jelly and make it a tad lifeless.
How strong is a jelly shot?
If you stick to our recipe and use 120ml of vodka your shots should end up at roughly 12% ABV.
That's about the same strength as the average wine.
While a couple of these shots won't get your drunk, their sweetness and ease of eating means you can overindulge quicker then you might expect so please consume responsibly.
Pro tips
If you want to take your shots to the next level, you can try:
- Fruity bits: Try adding some small, chopped-up pieces of fresh fruit to each pot. Berries are a great choice. Stay away from pineapple though as the natural acids in the fruit will stop the jelly from setting. Note: if you're going to use fruit in your shots be sure to consume them within a few days otherwise the fruit can spoil. That's a one way ticket to poopy time.
- Mixing flavours: Get creative by using multiple flavours of jelly to craft mixed-fruit tastes, or even add food flavourings to give the shot an extra level of taste complexity.
- Flavoured alcohol: There are a ton of flavoured vodkas on the market- lemon, grape, cherry... even marshmallow! The combinations are endless.
- Rainbow shots: To create layers of different flavoured and/or coloured jellies, follow the recipe as above but only part fill each shot glass. Allow the jelly to set before adding the next colour/flavour. Repeat as many times as you like until your reach the level of crazy kaleidoscope you're looking for.
For those interested: a brief history of jelly shots
Considering jelly shots are a pretty weird idea to pop into someone's head one day I thought it'd be interesting to look into their history.
It turns out jelly was a pretty niche food until the 19th century, when the invention of gelatin powders made it really easy to make jelly at home and get consistently good results.
One of the earliest references to mixing alcohol with jelly was by a famous bartender called Jerry Thomas who included a 'punch jelly' recipe in his 1862 work 'How to Mix Drinks'.
Jerry used fish-bladder derived gelatin which he added to a fruit punch swimming with cognac and rum. Yum!
The more modern form of jelly shots was born in 1950's America, where it's claimed a musician named Tom Lehrer was so frustrated about a booze-ban at the navy base he was assigned to that he invented the jelly shot as a way to sneak alcohol past his superiors.
At Hard Jelly we like to think we're honouring Jerry and Tom by bringing jelly shots into the modern era using natural flavours, premium alcohol and cruelty free ingredients- long live jelly shots!
