Mint and Green Chile Granita Recipe

By Max Falkowitz
Updated Apr. 15, 2020
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Brought to you by Häagen-Dazs® brand ice cream.

Like many granitas, this isn't so much a recipe as a guideline. Herbs and chiles vary in strength, so your cooking time and inclusion of sugar, salt, and lime juice may vary. Just don't cook the base too long—"cooked" mint flavors aren't very fun—and add your sweetener and seasonings a little at a time until you've reached your desired flavor. The base should taste a little stronger than you'd like the finished product, as cold dials down flavors.

If you're feeling daring, a tablespoon or two of tequila wouldn't be out of place here, not just for flavor but to give the granita a flakier, fluffier texture.

Recipe Details

Mint and Green Chile Granita Recipe

Active 40 mins
Total 0 mins
Serves 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 4 cups densely packed mint leaves, washed

  • 2 jalapeño chiles, sliced, seeds removed

  • 4 cups filtered or bottled water

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • Salt

  • Lime juice, to taste

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, combine mint leaves, jalapeño, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to below a simmer. Cook for about half an hour, adding small pinches of salt to taste, or until base tastes like bright mint. Do not cook base longer than 45 minutes, or "cooked" flavors will develop.

  2. Remove from heat and strain into a wide, shallow container, pressing against mint with a spoon. Add lime juice, a few drops at a time, to taste, and any additional salt needed. Place container in freezer. After 1 to 1 1/2 hours, break up any large ice crystals with a fork, scraping along edges of container. Repeat scraping every 45 minutes, until no liquid remains and granita has frozen into flaky shards of ice.

This Recipe Appears In

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
49 Calories
0g Fat
13g Carbs
0g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6 to 8
Amount per serving
Calories 49
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 36mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 13g 5%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 13g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 1mg 5%
Calcium 3mg 0%
Iron 0mg 1%
Potassium 6mg 0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)