Learn how to make a slushie in your blender at home with just 4 ingredients. This homemade slushie recipe, using Kool-aid powder, is a summertime favorite and comes together in less than 5 minutes!
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Forget the gas station! Homemade slushies are a daily summertime favorite in our home. Years ago, Ben learned how to make a slushie in our blender and we've been making this slushie recipe ever since. My 10-year old now makes them all by himself and shares with the neighbor kids.
We grew up on the 7-Eleven slurpee from the gas stations and the ICEE at the movie theater. But it is easy to make slushies at home so we rarely buy them anymore, except for the occasional Sam's Club visit. It's also a refreshing summer treat for the kids. They love cooling off with a homemade slushie while playing in our backyard.
🧾 Ingredients
You only need a few simple and cheap items to make a slushie in your blender.
Grocery List for homemade slushies:
- Club soda (or tonic water, or Sprite)
- Sugar
- Kool-aid powder
You also need ice, but don't buy it at the store if you have an ice maker in your fridge or ice trays in your freezer.
📋 Instructions
- Pour club soda, sugar and Kool-aid powder into blender.
- Add ice and blend.
Can you believe how easy it is to have your favorite slushie and not have to go to a gas station to get it?? We change our flavors all of the time. My favorite is watermelon and the kids love the sour ones.
Click here for the full slushie recipe ingredients and instructions.
We use Kool-aid powder in our slushies. Pick up all your favorite flavors in the drink aisle -- the packets are only around $.30 each, so go wild! We make two batches of homemade slushies out of one Kool-aid envelope so you're looking at cheap cheap cheap!
The other ingredients we use are also super cheap and accessible -- club soda, ice and sugar.
👩🏽🍳 Alternatives to Kool-Aid
You can use other drink powders that are not Kool-aid brand. We have used Starburst flavors, a cotton candy flavor, and bubble gum. The cotton candy and bubble gum flavors are not powders, but liquids. You will need to use ¼ teaspoon.
One of the kids' favorite flavors is A&W Root Beer drink mix. I can only find that powder at Walmart and not Kroger, though.
💭 Best Tips
Blender - Use a high powered blender that can crush ice. We've owned our Blendtec for years, but a Ninja will do!
Consistency - We know our perfect ice to soda ratio for our preferred consistency and the type of ice cubes we use. This is reflected in the recipe below. But, you can play with it to your liking and add more or less ice.
Storing - For best results, serve immediately. If not consuming right away, place in the fridge or freezer to temporarily store (but not for long!)
Double recipe - This recipe makes about 3 cups, which is 3 servings for us. You can easily double it by doubling all the ingredients, except the ice. You may not need as much as double of ice.
Print this homemade slushie recipe or PIN it to save for later. Made this recipe? Leave a star rating and tag me on social media @seededtable so I can see. I love hearing from you!
Recipe Card
Homemade Slushie Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz. club soda , preferably cold
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon drink mix powder , such as Kool-aid
- 3 to 4 cups ice cubes
Instructions
- Pour club soda, sugar and drink mix powder into a high powered blender. Add 2 cups ice and blend for 30 seconds.
- Add 1 more cup of ice and blend another 30 seconds until desired consistency is reached. Use up to 1 more cup of ice, if necessary.
Video
Notes
- Nutritional information is an estimate only.
Lee says
Supa tasty and obviously threw my own spin on it! Used Coca-Cola as my liquid base and a a powdered cherry candy to create a cherry-cola slush! I loved it and my dad did too— He said it reminded him only 7-eleven during the 90s Super simple recipe anyone could follow and make off the top of their head, but it’s great that it’s available online with clear directions and simple ingredients ❤️
chase says
it was just like flavored water to much liquid
Nikki Gladd says
Hi Chase, make sure you are not mixing the koolaid mix according to the package directions and that you are actually just adding the powder to the recipe.
Dawn says
Thanks for this simple recipe! I didn't have the exact ingredients and tried subbing tonic water for club soda-even though I read elsewhere 'it would be too bitter'-Nope! Worked just fine. I used 1/2 cup of Gatorade powder since that's all I had, added no more sugar since that's mostly what that powder is. I used fruit punch powder and the 10 year old was happy! I have a ninja blender and used the pre-crushed ice from my freezer.
Jilliann says
Just Made it for my little sister. We used Sprite, Crystal Lite Fruit Punch flavor. We also only used 1/4 a cup of sugar because I felt like that was a lot of sugar. She said it was very good. Thanks for sharing!.
WILLIAM says
If you find the ice doesn't break up enough. try pre blending the ice into smaller chunks before you add the other ingredients. You'll find even with a weaker blender it works much better.
Sharon Dearing says
We made this for the grandkids and their friends today and they loved it. It was so simple and a great drink to cool them off after an afternoon of swimming.
Daniel says
How will replacing the club soda with sprite affect it.
Nikki Gladd says
It will be sweeter and have a lime taste added
Amara McNair says
it wont
DC says
So good and so addicting! I was amazed by how good this is! I've made this about five times in the past few days.
Nikki Gladd says
Yay! Love hearing this, DC! Thanks!
Kb says
First time visitor to your wonderful site. Fyi, I tried watching the slushie recipe video and each time it kept loading ad after ad, I never got to see the video 🙁 maybe linking to a YouTube video may be easier? Wanted to point it out in case you weren't aware. I am using an iphone to access your site. Thank you for the written recipe and article!
Nikki Gladd says
Thank you for letting me know! Contacting my ad manager now! 🙂
anonymous says
if we are making them on a wednesday and then serving them on a friday, would it stay good in the freezer?
Nikki Gladd says
No, it would freeze and you would just need to blend it again. So I would suggest just doing it the day you want to serve it.
Karen says
It looks like you are pouring more than a half a teaspoon of koolaid???
Jimmy says
Can you use soda stream flavors?
Nikki Gladd says
Hi Jimmy,
I am not familiar with the soda stream flavors and haven't tested using them so cannot answer for sure.
Anonymous says
Hello, would it be possible to leave out the kool-aid and use Coke instead of the club soda for a Coke slushie? We love that flavor.
Nikki Gladd says
Hi! We haven't tried using Coke and omitting the kool-aid but you can give it a shot! I feel like it could work but you may need to play with the proportions because it could taste watered down since kool-aid is a concentrate. We have found Root Beer flavored powdered so maybe there is a Coke flavored powder out there.
Willie says
Can i use mtn dew
Nikki Gladd says
Hi Willie,
We have not tested with Mountain Dew, but if you use it in place of the club soda you will have an added mountain dew taste in addition to the powder you choose to use.
Anonymous says
Can I use kiddie cottail or Sunkist? its all I have
Karen says
Could you possibly use the Koolade drink mix instead of the package ones? These look so good awesome for the hot summer days!
Nikki Gladd says
Do you mean the big can of the powdered mix?
Anonymous says
We made it today and used about a Tablespoon of the Kool-Aid mix that already has sugar in it. We omitted the 1/2 cup sugar and it came out so delicious!
Kylie says
Has anyone tried this recipe as an adult slushie?
Kyle Whitefeather says
Yes. It is delicious.
Anonymous says
That’s my type of drink.
Le Poo Poo says
i tried the recipe. i think if you have kool-aid powder and you want it more flavorful, use an extra 1/2 teaspoon. when i made mine it turned out very lightly colored and there was not any real flavor, just little hints, but when i added the extra 1/2 teaspoon it made it better.
Madeleine says
I followed the recipe exactly, & the slushies were AMAZING! I used blue Kool-aid & called the drinks Glacier Icees for my Iceland party. Everyone was astonished that it was possible to make that slushie consistency at home. Super-cool. Thank you!
Nikki Gladd says
I love this, Madeleine! Thank you!
Charity Burriss says
You can find the AW powders at the Dollar Tree
Nikki Gladd says
Thanks for this tip!
Thomi says
I wonder if I can use snow cone syrup (basically kool aid mix w simple syrup) in place of the powdered mix. We will test it for my Grandson's snow cone business. Thanks for sharing!
Nikki Gladd says
Let us know how it turns out, Thomi! 🙂
samuel says
I haven't tried it yet but I would like to know if there are any alternative things you could use instead of club soda or any type of soda because I am twelve and don't like soda and even though I have not tried the recipe I'm sure it's good so I'll give it five stars
Nikki Gladd says
Hi Samuel! I recommend trying with the club soda even if you don't like soda. It doesn't turn out a very fizzy drink at all. You can also use tonic water or sprite. 🙂
Patty Banzhof says
The club soda "inflates" or "expands" the volume making the drink fluffy mimicking a convenience store Slushie. Can't wait to try this.
Anonymous says
Use water
Alissa says
If you have a soda steam use that
Colette says
Followed recipe and my son loved it!
Anonymous says
Can you use lemonade powder instead of koolaid?
Nikki Gladd says
I bet you can! We use all sorts of different kinds of powder drinks for this recipe. 🙂
Lori says
Has anyone tried it with a sugar substitute?
Anonymous says
Can I use Another type of soda instead of club Soda?
Nikki Gladd says
Hi! Yes, you can use another type of carbonated beverage. We have used LaCroix, Bubly, Sprite, etc.
Anonymous says
It’s amazing yet it does come with a few flaws such as sucking up big pieces of ice and it being a little watery out the blender. It’s great though. I’m 13 and I used sour blue razberry mix(also I would say put a full tsp for the flavor.)
Nikki Gladd says
Thanks for your feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!
Kathy says
Sorry to say but that flaw would be your blender lol
Anonymous says
Did not like it, it was to sweet
Ray says
I found this to be the perfect ratio of water to ice when using the full 4 cups of ice and the sweetness is very similar to a slushee, not too sweet at all. I used 20 pieces of regular moon-shaped ice and served immediately. Ill be trying all the kool-aid flavors I can find. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Madeleine says
I made this for a themed party, used blue kool aid, and called it blue glacier ice. It turned out perfectly!!! We were all amazed at the fluffy texture. It was a big hit with kids & adults alike. Thank you for such an easy, cool recipe!
Nikki Gladd says
Love this idea! Thanks for your feedback, Madeleine!
D. Smith says
Thank you so much and this will help save a lot of money with 4 children's we made it and it was so tasty.
Nikki Gladd says
I'm so glad to hear this! Thank you and enjoy!
Anonymous says
Do you need club soda can I just use water
Nikki Gladd says
You can use carbonated water. You need the carbonation or it will taste flat.
Sarah Bissell says
Gonna be making these today. But using the kool aid that doesnt need sugar.
Nikki Gladd says
Let us know how they turn out with that kind of kool-aid! The sugar we add helps the texture, so I'm curious if the texture is still okay with the type of kool-aid you used and not adding sugar 🙂
Anonymous says
it doesnt work for me what should i do?
Nikki Gladd says
Hi there, Can you be more specific on what isn't working for you? Thanks!
Anonymous says
yum!!!!!!!!!!! so good!
Anonymous says
I haven't tried it yet but I might try it later by these comments I think It's gonna turn really good and taste really good!!!!
Anonymous says
so i was wondering can you make it with just juice??
Nikki Gladd says
Hi there. We have not tested this recipe with only juice.
Scott David Gardner says
I'm glad you asked because after reading all these I was surprised to see that they all have soda. I like the slushies you find at Shell or AM/PM without the airiness and carbonation unlike Slurpies. I just use any 100% juice, usually grape juice or pineapple, only a few spoonfuls of sugar (or none at all) and a squeeze of 100% lime or lemon juice. and of course ice. For those of us that are used to super high sugar content you may not like this one as much but I think it's important to get our kids used to low sugar drinks anyway and if they haven't had the high sugar drinks to begin with they won't know what they're missing and it's healthier. So that's all I use and Juice works great. You can also use sugar free powders, most companies have sugar-free powder options. More mild tasting juice like Apple doesn't work as well but experiment with all different kinds of 100% juice ice and a little bit of sugar and taste great!
L. Evans says
I would think you could use juice mixed with carbonated water and still get that same fluffy consistency with a lityle sugar that you added. Thanks for the idea. I am also going to do it with real watermelon and soda water and ccx a little sugar and see if it works.
Anonymouse says
yes but you need ice too
Jennifer says
I want to make these for our cleaning ladies since it's supposed to be really hot this week and I wanted to do something nice for them.
Do you think I can make these at home and then drive them about 20-30 to work?
Nikki Gladd says
That is really kind of you, but I think they will melt in that 20 to 30 minutes.
Anonymous says
Made these yesterday. Yummy! Love the grape.