Cantaloupe Sorbet

Homemade melon sorbet is one of my favourite summer treats. I love to make it with the good old cantaloupe variety – it grows locally where I live and it’s the taste of melon I know from childhood. This sorbet recipe is great with other melon varieties too, so feel free to use your favourite one.

Made with just three ingredients, this creamy cantaloupe sorbet is incredibly simple. It’s a quick and refreshing dessert that’s perfect for beating the heat. It is also naturally vegan and without refined sugar. Keep reading to find out how to make the best cantaloupe melon sorbet in just a few steps. 

Ingredients for the cantaloupe sorbet

To make this delicious cantaloupe melon sorbet, you will need only three simple ingredients:

• Fresh, ripe cantaloupe (or other type of melon)
• Fresh lemon juice
• Maple syrup or agave syrup

This sorbet recipe works great with any sweet melon. Cantaloupe is just my personal choice, but honeydew melon is a great option too, and so is a watermelon! The only thing to keep in mind is that you’ll need a sweet, ripe fruit with all the seeds removed to make the smoothest, creamiest sorbet.

A bit of lemon juice is added to enhance the flavour, but it won’t make the sorbet taste sour. Maple syrup will bring out the flavour even more, and also improve the texture of the sorbet. It will make it smoother, creamier and easier to scoop when frozen.

Instead of maple or agave syrup, feel free to use raw honey. For a non-carb sweetener choice, my favourite is xylitol simple syrup (1:1 to 3:2 ratio of xylitol and hot water, stirred until dissolved).

You can also skip the sweetener and use just melon, which is already naturally sweet. In this case, you will lose a bit of that creamy, silky texture that you get with the syrup. Still, nothing to worry about – the sorbet will be amazing without sweetener too.

How to make cantaloupe melon sorbet

There are two ways to make this cantaloupe sorbet, depending on what you have at home. I’ve tried it both in a blender and in an ice cream maker, and both options are great. The process is a bit different, so I’ll write down the details for both:

Making cantaloupe sorbet in a blender or a food processor

If you have a high-speed blender or a food processor, this is the easiest and least messy way to make the melon sorbet.

• Cut the cantaloupe into small cubes.
• Lay the cubes on a flat surface (not touching each other) and freeze them overnight or for six hours.
• Put the frozen melon cubes into a blender or a food processor, add the lemon juice and sweetener, and blend until smooth.
• You may need to stop the blender or food processor a few times to scrape down the frozen melon chunks before the mixture is completely smooth (If your blender has a stick for mixing, use it instead). Add a tablespoon or two of water if necessary. 
• Transfer the frozen sorbet mixture to a food container and leave it in the freezer for an extra hour or two to harden a bit. Or, just enjoy it straight after blending if that’s the texture you prefer.

A high-speed blender or a powerful food processor works best for this recipe. I’ve tried it in a small food processor model too and it worked, but took longer and required more frequent scraping.

Making sorbet in an ice cream machine

If you have an ice cream machine, you can skip the overnight freezing and blending of frozen chunks. This will save you time and effort while producing a deliciously creamy sorbet. Here is all you need to do:

• Dice the fresh cantaloupe into cubes and immediately puree using your preferred method. A handheld immersion blender works great.
• Put the pureed melon, maple syrup and lemon juice into an ice cream machine and run it until you get a smooth and frozen sorbet. The time needed depends on the specific machine you have.
• Store the sorbet in a closed food container in a freezer.

The ice cream machine method is great because it gives you a smooth and creamy sorbet without any extra effort. You don’t even need to get some fancy one – there are so many basic ice cream machine models nowadays. It’s essentially just a frozen bowl with a mixer that does all the work for you. I got myself one of those and love it.

To achieve the perfect sorbet texture, you’ll need a powerful blender, food processor, or ice cream maker. Simply blending fresh cantaloupe and freezing it won’t yield the desired results. 

Sorbet’s signature smooth and icy consistency comes from finely crushed ice crystals, created by blending frozen fruit or gradually freezing a fruit puree. If you prefer a frozen treat without the effort of sorbet-making, popsicles are a delicious alternative.

Storing the homemade cantaloupe sorbet

This homemade cantaloupe sorbet is simply stored in an airtight food container in the freezer. In a regular home kitchen freezer, it will probably lose its silky consistency over time. I say probably because we never got to test it in my home – we usually eat it within a few days, a week tops.

Equipment for making cantaloupe sorbet

This is what I use for the perfect homemade cantaloupe sorbet:

• High-speed blender – my favourite for making a quick sorbet out of frozen melon cubes.
• Food processor – instead of the blender, works great too. The stronger and larger food processors will work the best, but a smaller model like this one is also an okay option.
• Silicone spatula for scraping the frozen melon chunks while you blend.
• Ice cream maker machine if you prefer the second method.
• Immersion blender (also for the second method without a food processor or big blender).
• Airtight food container for freezing.

Yield: 4 portions

Homemade Cantaloupe Sorbet

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Enjoy my easy homemade cantaloupe sorbet recipe. It works great with other melon varieties too. This 3-ingredient sorbet is naturally vegan and refined sugar-free.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 750 g fresh ripe cantaloupe or other melon (cca 25 oz, 1 small melon or ½ larger one)
• 1 ½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3-4 tbsp maple syrup or honey

Instructions

1. Peel the cantaloupe and cut it into cubes.
2. If you use a blender or food processor to make the sorbet, then first freeze the cantaloupe cubes for 6 hours or overnight.
3. Place the frozen cantaloupe cubes, maple syrup, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor.
4. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Use a silicone spatula, or a mixing stick for the blender if you have one. For smoother results, you can add a tablespoon of water.
5. If you use an ice cream maker instead, then just blend the fresh cantaloupe with maple syrup and lemon juice into a smooth puree, and transfer it into your ice cream maker.
6. Turn the ice cream maker on and let it run until the consistency is smooth, creamy, frozen and sorbet-like.
7. Transfer your sorbet to a food container, close it and leave it in the fridge for an hour to harden for perfect scoops. Or, enjoy it freshly made!
8. Store your homemade melon sorbet in an airtight container in a freezer and ideally consume it within a week to keep the perfect smooth texture. It won’t go bad after that, but it may lose a bit of its initial smooth and creamy texture.

Notes

Instead of cantaloupe, you can use honeydew or other melon variety. Watermelon is also great for this sorbet recipe.

You can add some fresh mint or basil to your recipe if you want to play with the flavour. I like to keep it simple because I love the cantaloupe flavour so much, but mint and basil definitely complement it well. You can use them for garnish too.

Instead of maple syrup, you can use raw honey or agave syrup.

For a non-carb sweetener option, I like to make xylitol simple syrup. The ratio is 1:1 xylitol to hot water, or 3:2 if you want it denser and more syrupy. Just stir xylitol in hot water until dissolved and your syrup is ready.

Not using any sweetener is also an ok option. You will lose a bit of the creaminess and flavour, but you’ll still get a delicious sorbet.

Make sure to prepare your ice cream maker a day ahead if it needs to be frozen overnight or longer.

This sorbet is the best fresh, within a few days of making. If you decide to store it in the freezer for longer, keep in mind it will probably lose the creamy, silky texture with time and get larger ice crystals instead. That’s why I prefer to make this cantaloupe sorbet in smaller batches that usually get eaten in a couple of days or up to a week.