You don't need boring old Jello to make Jello shots! Here's how to use agar agar to make delicious vegan jello shots!
Gelatin is not vegan. It's not even vegetarian! Conventional gelatin is made from ground up bones and tendons. YUM! Some folks have told me that Kosher gelatin is vegan, but from what I've read it's derived from dead fish.
Luckily, you don't need powered bones to make a jelly dessert. You can just grab some agar agar and get to it!
Confession: I am not a big booze-drinker. At most parties, I'd much rather stick to beer or wine. The way to get me to do the booze thing is to hide it in desserts, so when my friend Kip said that she wanted to make grown-up vegan jello shots for her birthday party, I was all in!
We made root beer shoots and cosmopolitan ones, and we learned some lessons. For the cosmo shots, we used exactly the amount of agar that the recipe called for. For the root beer ones, we doubled it. The cosmo ones came out OK, but they were a little bit soft. The root beer ones....I think I'm still chewing the root beer one that I tried. The lesson: use one and a half times the amount of agar agar! Here are the recipes we used (adapted from Jelly Shot Test Kitchen), adjusted accordingly.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cosmopolitan Jello Shots
Ingredients
- 1 cup cranberry juice - the 100% juice blend kind
- 1 cup orange vodka
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup orange liqueur
- 1 ¾ teaspoons agar agar powder
- lime zest
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, heat half of the cranberry juice and lime juice with the agar agar, until it’s simmering. Stir for a few minutes, until the agar agar is fully dissolved.
- Quickly add the rest of the juices, stir, then add your booze.
- Pour the mixture into a square pan and chill for a few hours, until everything is gelatinized.
- Flip your jello shots onto a flat surface, like a cutting board, and slice them into cubes. Grate some lime zest over them, and you’re ready to serve!
Carmel
Will it work with not 100% fruit juice?
Becky Striepe
Yes, it should.
Aixa
The Vegan Cosmopolitan Jello Shots does not state a unit for the agar agar powder. Is it teaspoons, cups? Thanks.
Becky Striepe
Oops! That's teaspoons. I'll fix it up. Thank you!
james
what is the shelf-life of agar agar gels? If they were sealed how long could I make them in advance?
Becky Striepe
Ooh that's a good question. We made them a day ahead, so I'm not sure beyond that.
Noah
Hi. Alcohol is antiseptic but the gel itself contains a lot of free water, that is, water that bacteria or fungus/mold could use to grow. I think a shot like this could taste fresh for at least three days, maybe longer, and probably won't actually spoil for weeks because of the alcohol. You could probably also freeze them, where they'll keep for months (assuming they're packed really, really airtight). They will pick up flavors from other things in the fridge....
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Noah!
Sonja
How much agar agar for the cosmos? Thanks. Going to try them now for my birthday party if I can get the mesurments
Vegangie
Hi, I'm wondering if the "t" after the measurement for the agar powder is supposed to mean teaspoon or tablespoon.
These look lovely. I want to try some for a potluck <3
Becky Striepe
It stands for teaspoon. :) Happy shot-making!
Jes
Ohmygoodness vegan jello shots! I love it! I actually had my first jello shot the other day at a wine festival--I guess it was wine shot? (I was rather sloshed by the time we had that...hmm...)--and I'm loving your take on it. And I'm so breaking out the agar agar because real gelatin still gives me the shivvers.
Becky Striepe
Wine shot! That sounds so good! Maybe with a bit of lime or something? I'm not sure if wine on its own would gel - you might have to experiment. Alcohol is tricky. Let me know how it goes!
Lizerati
Don't ask me why *this* is the thing that caused me to do more reading, but I poked around and kosher gelatin is absolutely NOT vegan as a matter of course. There are some versions made with carrageenan, agar-agar, etc, but they also make it with collagen, a mammal product (and there are fish versions too).
I'm going to have to stop reading about it now, because this is the same kind of rabbit hole that led me to spend an hour and a half researching the Amish not too long ago.
Becky Striepe
Even grosser than I thought! Thanks for going down the rabbit hole!