Try these margarita flavored sugar free Christmas jello shots for the holidays. They are fun for holiday celebrations like New Year’s Eve or St. Patrick’s Day too. All the flavor of a delicious margarita using lime green jello and tequila! Easy to make and fun to eat, try these simple keto jello shots at your next Christmas party. Each festive shot has only 25 calories and 0g net carbs!
You might also like these low carb hurricane cocktail jello shots!
Recently I went to a party with some friends from my book club. Some of the ladies brought fun gelatin and pudding shots and I realized how easy it would be to make them low carb.
So I played around and came up with these margarita sugar free Christmas jello shots. They were so good and I thought they would great for holiday party.They really had that margarita flavor and you only needed a few ingredients. Plus each one only had 25 calories and no carbs. So these are perfect for those on a keto diet.
If you are looking for a fun drink to take to a Christmas or New Year’s Eve party or other celebration give these easy holiday jello shots a try. The vibrant green color of these boozy treats is great for Christmas or even St. Patrick’s day!
Table of Contents
- Can you make jello shots using sugar free jello?
- Recipe ingredients and substitutions.
- If you want to add a sugar or salt rim on the shots.
- The basic jello shots recipe.
- How to make sugar free Christmas jello shots.
- What is the alcohol content of these jello shots.
- Where to find shot glasses for jello shots.
- More low carb drinks for the holidays.
- Nutritional information.
Can you make Jell-O shots using sugar free jello?
Yes you can. And with the selection of sugar free gelatin available these days you can make a slew of drinks with them. And while I used lime gelatin for a classic margarita, you could use additional flavors like raspberry, strawberry or lemon jello flavors instead. There are so many choices and combinations you could use.
Recipe ingredients I used and substitutions.
All you need to make this recipe is 4 simple ingredients: box of sugar free lime Jell-O, orange extract, tequila and limes. While lime is not my favorite flavor of Jell-O it’s perfect for that classic margarita flavor. A classic margarita uses tequila, triple sec, lime juice and some sort of sweetness.
Sugar Free Lime Jell-O
The lime jello mix has that great sweet and tart flavor as well as the gelatin so that takes care of the gelling, flavor and sweetness. You can use any brand of lime green gelatin you want.
You could also make these with unflavored gelatin. It would be a bit more difficult though. I would use lime juice and sweetener for the sweet and tart flavor but you would have to play around with the amounts of water. You can also use lime zest for extra flavor.
Orange Extract
The orange extract mimics the triple sec in a margarita which is an orange liqueur. You could be able to find this just about any grocery store. As a substitution you could add some orange zest. I would not use orange juice though. Just the zest.
Tequila
normally use vodka in my shots but today I used tequila as that is what goes in a margarita. However if you want you can use vodka or rum if you just want a lime green jello shot. Tequila, vodka and rum all don’t have any extra carbs as long as you don’t use a flavored alcohol. However Absolut flavored vodka usually does not have any carbs in it. Check out the brands website for carb counts.
Also I like a mid shelf tequila with this recipe. I find that in most recipes it’s best to buy mid shelf liquor instead of the cheapest. But you can do whatever you want.
If you want to add a sugar or salt rim on the shots.
Additionally I added lime zest and a sugar/salt rim on the shots. I wanted to dress it up a bit because they were quite plain looking but I found it added a lot of flavor to the recipe.
So I zested one lime and mixed equal parts of salt and granular sweetener together on a plate and used a pinch on top and around the glass rim.
The basic jello shots recipe.
When making classic jello shots you want to substitute ¼ of the liquid with your liquor. So if you read the (0.3oz) box of gelatin and it calls for 2 cups water, you would use 1 ½ cups of water and ½ cup of alcohol.
Also you need to use 1 cup of boiling water first to dissolve the gelatin and then the liquor and cold water for the remaining water. But that is all there is to it so you can see how easy it is!
How to make sugar free Christmas jello shots.
Step 1: To make these delicious jello shots, pour 1 cup of boiling water (or just really hot water) in a 2 cup measuring cup with the box of sugar free lime gelatin powder. Mix well to dissolve the gelatin.
Step 2: Next add in the ½ cup cold water and ½ cup of tequila. I used a kettle to boil my water but you could heat the water on the stove or microwave.
Step 3: Arrange your shot cups on a small rimmed baking sheet and pour the gelatin mixture into the plastic cups. You should get about 12 shots out of the recipe but that depends on how big your shot cups are and how much you fill them. They come in 1, 1.5 and 2 ounce cups.
Step 4: Place the baking tray in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours or maybe less until the jello is firm. Note chilling time may vary.
In the meantime make your zest and sugar mixture. Add the zest of 1 lime, 1 tablespoon of granular sweetener and 1 tablespoon of salt together on a small plate.
Step 5: Make sure your Jell-O is completely gelled before you do this. Get a little glass of water and wet the rim of the shots. Place the rim in the salt mixture and try to get it the whole rim covered.
You can make these a few days in advance. Just cover the whole baking sheet with plastic wrap or place them all in an airtight container.
Right before you serve the shots, sprinkle a little of the zest/salt mixture on top of the jello shots for more flavor. It does tend to disappear a bit and might liquify the jello shot.
Maybe add little bowl of the mixture for people to spoon on top. This is of course optional. (Please scroll down for the printable recipe card.)
What is the alcohol content of these jello shots.
I used ½ cup of alcohol in this whole recipe which is equal to 4 fluid oz. So with 12 shots each of these festive treats has ⅓ oz of alcohol.
Where to find shot glasses for jello shots.
If you have a Dollar Tree near you there are all sorts of fun things to buy for your jello shots. Below you can see the pretty polka dot shot glasses they had (for a dollar!). They also have these nice plastic condiment cups with lids.
And if you look in the background they have these mini spoons which are perfect for eating the jello shots out of disposable plastic cups.
I’ve also seen red solo cup shot glasses at the grocery store and they have all these things in my Amazon Associate shop. However check out the Dollar Tree if you have one nearby.
More low carb drinks for the holidays.
I have quite a few low carb drinks on the blog but here are my favorite holiday cocktails.
Well I hope you give these margarita flavored sugar free Christmas jello shots a try. This delicious adult alcoholic treat was lots of fun to make and eat. It’s sure to put your in the holiday spirit!
The nutritional information for 1 shot is 25 calories / 0g fat / 0g carbs / 0.3g protein
Sugar Free Christmas Jell-O Shots Recipe
These margarita flavored keto Christmas jello shots are lots of fun to make and eat. You only need a few ingredients to make these boozy party treats and each one has just 25 calories and no carbs. So it's perfect for those on a keto diet at an adult holiday gathering.
Ingredients
- 1 box sugar free lime jello (0.3 oz size box)
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- ½ cup tequila
- 1 ½ cups water
- lime zest (from 1 lime) optional
- 1 tablespoon Swerve granular sweetener (optional)
- 1 tablespoon salt (optional)
Instructions
- Place shot glasses on a small baking tray and set aside. I used 12 plastic shot glasses for this recipe but you may get more or less depending on how big you make your shots.
- Boil water and pour 1 cup into a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Add the jello mix and whisk until the gelatin dissolves.
- Add in ½ cup of cold water and ½ cup of tequila and whisk to combine. I like to use mid shelf tequila but you can use whatever want.
- Place the plastic cups on a small baking sheet and then pour the gelatin mixture into the shot glasses. Refrigerate about 2-4 hours until the jello has set. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
- To add a salt/sugar rim (optional): Mix the lime zest, salt and sugar on a small plate. Once the jello has set completely wet the rim of the shot glasses and rub the rim into the salt mixture. Make sure to get some on the whole rim.
- Keep the exra salt mixture and serlve along side the jello shots along with mini spoons. They can add a bit of the solution on top of the jello and eat with a spoon. I bought my shot glasses and mini spoons at the Dollar Tree!
Notes
This recipe makes 2 cups liquid (or 16 oz).and I made 12 shots per box of gelatin. The nutritional information for 1 shot is as follows.
25 calories / 0g fat / 0g carbs / 0.3g protein
You can make your shot smaller or bigger but the ntutrtional information will change.
Shot glasses come in all sizes. Most are 1oz, 1.5oz and 2oz. So choose accordingly depending on how many shots you want to make.
Check out your local Dollar store for the plastic glasses or try condiment cups with lids.
Note I used tequila because that is part of the margarita flavor but you can use flavored vodka or even rum if you prefer.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 25
Katie
How much orange extract do you use?
Denise
Hi Katie, I used 1 teaspoon of orange extract. I hope you like them!