Three-Ingredient Blueberry Sorbet
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This intensely-flavored sorbet is based on just three ingredients: Blueberries, a lemon and some sugar. No heating, cooking or syrup-making is necessary to make the base at all.
You know when you discover a “secret” recipe for making X, Y or Z and turns out it’s actually way, way better than you expected?This blueberry sorbet is one of those recipes.
Don’t have an ice cream maker? Click here to learn how to make fresh berry sorbet without an ice cream maker.
The simple “trick” to making this blueberry sorbet is that you use a whole, entire lemon — skin, flesh and all. You might think that the result would be super sour, or too bitter because ot the lemon skin and pith. But it’s not!
Magically, when the lemon is chopped into pieces, pureed in a food processor with sugar and blended with the berries, the separate parts come together like they were born that way.
The sorbet has deep flavor — definitely lemony, but not at all bitter — and the lemon seems to amplify the essential flavors of the blueberries.
It’s a good thing this sorbet and I found each other. When it’s right smack in the middle of summer guess whose family ventures to the New Jersey Pinelands to pick 20 pounds of blueberries? We love the abundance of summer blueberries!
Aside from putting blueberries in just about everything, including my favorite easy blueberry oat muffins, I froze a bunch of them and experimented with frozen desserts.
This sorbet, adapted from a recipe from the River Cafe in London, came out a winner. Try this sorbet method with any kind of berry, like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or a mixture.
It’s a great way to use up extra berries if you happen to have them, but the recipe works perfectly with frozen berries too.
Helpful tools for making blueberry sorbet:
- It only takes a few minutes to mix up the sorbet base, but you’ll need a food processor to make a fine puree.
- The finished sorbet has a little texture from the whole berries and lemon. If you like a smoother sorbet, just push the mixture through a strainer before freezing.
- An ice cream maker churns the mixture into a smooth dessert, but you can make sorbet without one if you don’t mind a little hands-on work.
How to make sorbet without an ice cream maker:
- Choose a shallow (less than 1-inch deep) metal pan and freeze it for at least an hour before making the recipe.
- Follow the recipe to make the lemon-blueberry puree.
- Pour the puree into the pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze.
- Scrape the mixture with a fork every 30-45 minutes or so to break down the ice crystals, moving the sorbet from the edge to the center each time. It could be about 3 hours depending on your freezer.
Three-Ingredient Blueberry Sorbet
Ingredients
- 1 small lemon, or half of a large one
- 1 ⅔ cups (350 g) sugar
- 2 pounds (1 kg) blueberries, fresh or frozen
Equipment
Instructions
- Trim the ends off the lemon and cut in half. Remove the seeds and chop the lemon into chunks.
- Puree the lemon and sugar in a food processor and puree until very smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl.
- Put the berries in the food processor bowl and puree, then stir into the lemon mixture until blended.
- If you want a smoother sorbet without bits of blueberry and lemon, push the mixture through a strainer. Otherwise, pour into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the directions of your machine.
- Transfer to a container and store in the freezer until ready to serve.
Notes
- Choose a shallow (less than 1-inch deep) metal pan and freeze it for at least an hour before making the recipe.
- Follow the recipe to make the lemon-blueberry puree.
- Pour the puree into the pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze.
- Scrape the mixture with a fork every 30 minutes or so to break down the ice crystals, moving the sorbet from the edge to the center each time. Total time will be about 3 hours, depending on your freezer.
- Try other berry-flavored sorbets using an equal amount of strawberries, raspberries or blackberries instead of blueberries.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey Karen, I made your sorbet recipe last night. It came out well and it froze well (unlike my lemon sorbet I made last week, which ended up frozen solid). I added some vodka to the blueberry sorbet to lower the freezing point to fix the texture issue I had with the lemon sorbet. The slight issue I had with the blueberry was that the lemon trick you suggested (which I liked), did not create enough liquid to dissolve all the sugar. I also found it difficult to fully process the sugar/lemon mixture and added the blueberries prematurely so the sugar/lemon would fully mix. However, the sugar never fully dissolved and you can feel some of the sugar crystals when eating the sorbet. The lemon sorbet used simple syrup, but I can see why that won’t work here. Do you have any suggestions. BTW I used allulose & monk fruit sweetener (crystals) instead of sugar.
This recipe is a winner! Intense flavor with depth from the lemon. It makes a large amount!, so I will likely halve the recipe next time. FYI — I reduced the sugar from 350g to 300g and it is still plenty sweet.
Haven’t made it yet, but am wondering if, after cutting the ends off of the lemon, the skin on the rest of the lemon gets pureed? Might be great, but also seems like it could be bitter.
Please let me know.
Thanks much,
Reuben
Hi Reuben – Yes, the skin is pureed. If you don’t want any bitterness, I recommend peeling the lemon, or using a Meyer lemon, which has a thinner skin.
Why so much sugar? Blueberries are so sweet already. Do you think this would work with no sugar or maybe just a quarter cup?
Hi Shelie – Great question. Sugar plays an important role in sorbets and ice creams. The sugar molecules reduce the size of the ice crystals, which results in a smoother texture and mouthfeel. The classic ratio for sorbet is 25-35% sugar per volume of fruit. So the more you reduce the sugar, the icier the sorbet will be. A frozen puree of blueberries and lemon with no sugar added will be very hard, like an ice cube.
This sounds amazing and I plan to try it. But one question: to make the sorbet without an ice cream maker, you say to scrape it with a fork every 30 minutes. But for how long? That is, do I have to keep doing it until it’s served? Or is there some point where I can stop?
Hi Catherine – Great question! If you’re planning to make this without an ice cream maker, use a shallow dish or tray. Freeze for about an hour, then stir with a fork from the outside edges to the center, every 45 minutes until it’s frozen. It could be about 3 hours depending on your freezer.
Very easy to make and super tasty!
The best tasting sorbet I ever had
With what can i substitute the sugar?
You can substitute with maple syrup. Start with 1 cup and taste. Add more if you prefer it sweeter!
I used “Swerve” the ultimate sugar replacement. Zero calories, and 1% carbohydrate per tea spoon
Thanks for sharing that!
Hi,
Looks great. How many cups of fresh blueberries would be 2 pounds?
Thanks
Hi Cynthia – It’s about 3 cups, depending on the size of the berries.
This sorbet looks so delicious and perfect for the summer!
This sorbet looks dreamy, I love the vibrant hue!