Homemade Healthy Jello Recipe - Wilson Homestead (2024)

Homemade Healthy Jello Recipe

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Did you know there is such a thing as healthy jello?

You can still eat some delicious jello without all the chemicals and refined sugar and red dye number 40 that are in jello packets from the store.

Store boughten jello can also be made with gelatin from conventional animals fed a really poor diet, and without access to grass. So that can also introduce a lot of unnatural hormones into your body.

I’ve been avoiding jello packets from the store for years now, and it was only a couple years ago that I learned about making your own jello!

And since I’m apparently still a little kid at heart, I’ve been a little obsessed with it.

And the kids too I guess…haha

Gelatin, not collagen

This recipe is made with 100% beef gelatin from cattle that were able to eat grass. And this gelatin is actually really healthy!

Not only does it fill this jello with protein, but gelatin can also reduce joint pain, increase brain function, and it also is really great for your skin!

You just want to make sure that you are using actual beef gelatin and not collagen peptides, because it won’t gel properly.

Both collagen and gelatin are great sources of protein and are known to benefit digestion, hair, nails, and joints. They contain the same imino acids but they each behave differently.

I actually take a collagen supplement from radiant life, but gelatin is what we want to use for this recipe.

More about gelatin

Gelatin is actually something commonly used in diets like the GAPS diet, AIP (autoimmune paleo), and SCD (specific carbohydrate diet).

Gelatin digests more slowly than collagen and actually coats the small intestine as it goes through, which can help heal your gut.

Fabulous, isn’t it?

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Homemade Healthy Jello Recipe

Alright then…

This recipe is almost too easy, and I love that I can whip up a batch in almost no time!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 6 cups fruit juice or syrup from home-canned fruit
• 4 to 5 tbsp 100% beef gelatin

Pour about 1/2 cup of the cold fruit juice into an 8 by 8 pan. I love using some of the syrup from the fruit I can every year. It is healthy juice because I use very little sugar and what I do use is organic cane sugar. So it makes me happy that the syrup doesn’t go to waste!

This time I was using about 2 cups of unsweetened plum juice, and 4 cups of lightly sweetened pear syrup.

Bloom the gelatin

Then you measure out 4 to 5 tablespoons of beef gelatin into the cold juice. It is important to do this step with cold juice so that it can properly “bloom”. This process thickens and plumps the gelatin granules, and then they will be dissolved later in hot juice to turn it into jello.

But if you don’t do both, it won’t set- up properly. So just remember, bloom in cold juice first, and then dissolve in hot juice next.

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So once you have the gelatin in the pan whisk it up really well, and it’ll start to thicken up. Just let that sit for a little bit, while you heat up the rest of the juice in a pot. Don’t get it boiling, just hot to the touch.

Once it’s hot, start slowly pouring it into the pan with the gelatin while you whisk it.

It’ll start combining really easily and get more and more thin, and it won’t seem like jello at this point.

Optionally add some fruit!

You can also add in chunks of fresh fruit at this point, which is a really fun thing to do with this! Strawberries are my favorite one, but pretty much any fruit will be good. Just make sure, as you’re adding them in, that all the surfaces of the fruit get coated with the gelatin mixture so that they stick in the jello properly.

Set-it up

Now stick it in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours to set-up. You can leave it overnight too, sometimes I’ll make this in the evening and it’ll be in the refrigerator all night and ready by morning!

And it’s all done and ready to be gobbled up!

I like adding this to my toddler’s snack. A piece of cheese and a little chunk of homemade jello is a favorite snack around here!

And blessings.

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