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Easy Homemade Almond Jello

We used to rely on occasional trips to the Chinese market to stash up on our supply of prepared Almond Jello packets.  No longer.  It couldn’t be easier to make your own homemade Almond Jello at home, using pure and simple ingredients you feel great about.  If you haven’t tried Almond Jello yet, this is your moment.

Almond Jello

This one brings me back to the olden days of my youth.

My 10-year-0ld has officially coined my childhood days as way back then.

I’ll embrace it.  Hubby and I are gettin’ old.  But I still can eat like a kid, and I’ll devour Jello with the best of ’em.

But not ordinary Jello.  It has to be Almond Jello.

Almond Jello offers a throwback to childhood every time I eat it.  If you’ve had Almond Jello, you know it’s like gelatin nirvana.   It’s in a crazy good category way above the red/green/blue stuff.

If you haven’t tried almond jello?  Taste, just taste it.  And never turn back…

Bowl of Almond Jello

My dad used to make homemade Almond Jello for us kids often.  He had the perfect recipe for it.  Except his recipe was written in Chinese characters on a tattered old slip of paper taped onto the inside of his pantry door.

And that recipe has long since disappeared to nowhere land.  Plus I can’t read Chinese.  Yeah.

So I did my google search and tried out a couple of promising looking Almond Jello recipes.  None worked out quite the way I envisioned.

So the only thing left to do was tinker with gobs of gelatin in my kitchen until we got it just right.  This here?  This recipe comes after batches of Almond Jello, working until we got it just right.

Almond Jello Ingredients

We fitzed with sugar amounts until the jello was sweet yet not overbearingly sweet.  

We adjusted the amount of pure unflavored gelatin vs. liquid ratio until we came up with a finished Jello that was firm enough to be a finger jello.  It should stand up to cutting into bite size squares and gently tossing with favorite fruits.

Classically, Chinese Almond Jello is served with fruit cocktail.  But really, does anyone love fruit cocktail?  No judgment if you raised your hand.   The Littles around here would happily join you.

My personal favorite fruit combination, however, is simply lychees and mandarin oranges.  The flavor combo is exotic and delicious.

Almond jello Lychee

This Almond Jello is so easy, even kids can do it.  In fact, my 10-year-old is the one who made our last batch. His proud creation was gobbled up in about 4 minutes.

It’s just how I remember it when my dad used to make it for us… inhaled within minutes.

Guess things aren’t that different today than they were way back then.

Did you make this?

Please give us a rating and comment below. We love hearing from you!

Bowl of Almond Jello

Easy Homemade Almond Jello

4.91 from 32 ratings
Forget the store-bought packets of almond jello powder. Make your own homemade almond jello, with just 4 pure ingredients! It's too easy to pass up. This homemade version is sweet, almond infused, and firm enough a finger jello. If you like your jello a bit softer, add a bit more milk.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients  

  • 1 ⅔ cup boiling water
  • 2 envelopes, .25 oz each plain gelatin (I use Knox)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 4 tsp pure almond extract
  • ½ cup cold whole milk
  • Optional: Lycheese, mandarin oranges, mangoes, or your favorite tropical fruits

Instructions

  • Pour boiling water into a bowl and whisk in the gelatin to fully dissolve. Add sugar and gently hand-whisk to dissolve. Add almond extract and whisk. Add milk and whisk.
  • Pour into an 8x8 or similar sized dish. Chill 2-3 hours or longer.
  • When completely set, cut into squares and serve with your favorite fruit. We love lychees, ripe mangoes, or mandarin oranges.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 138kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 19mg | Potassium: 53mg | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 49IU | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 0.1mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Method: Assemble

Source:  Chew Out Loud

Here’s another easy, refreshing sweet treat for the warmer days… in drink form.  This Mango Smoothie is what blenders were made for.

Mango Smoothie 2

 

While we’re talking smoothies, here’s another tasty one.  This Avocado Coconut Shake Smoothie is a popular Asian drink that is making a wave everywhere.

Avocado Coconut Smoothie 5

 

This sweet and pure Yogurt Honey Dip is awesome for treating that sweet tooth.  Without ANY guilt at all.

Greek Yogurt Spice Dip 5

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Recipe Rating




56 comments

    • Adrienne
    • 5 stars

    I made this and the measurements are perfect! Also the suggestion to add more milk to have it softer i did as well and it was perfect and a hit for everyone that never tasted this.:). I substituted honey instead of using white sugar so it came out a pale honey color but it still looked pretty. Also i cut up strawberries and added a can of longan and mandarin oranges. Thanks for a well tested recipe! I appreciate that so much!

      • Amy Dong

      I’m so glad you loved this! 🙂

    • sfbk
    • 5 stars

    Fond memories of this as a child. It made an appearance at every mom’s friends gathering. I make it for my kids now on occasion, it’s the only time I will eat fruit cocktail. We grew up with fruit cocktail and lychee from the can…only way I can eat almond jello now (comes that way at dim sum too).

    • Christine
    • 5 stars

    I just made this almond jello, but with 1/4 tsp of pure almond extract…I misread it. I thought it still tasted delicious and didn’t. Did you mean 1/4 teaspoon or is it 4 teaspoons?

      • Amy Dong

      I use 4 tsp, but sounds like you still enjoyed it with less! 🙂

    • Elaine
    • 5 stars

    So yummy you can eat it by itself!

      • Amy Dong

      Yes, agreed!

    • May
    • 5 stars

    Since I buy gelatin in bulk, 2 packets of Knox = 5 tsp.
    I’ve been making a much thicker version of this jello, using hot coffee and nut milk instead. Cut into cubes and added into iced coffee, it’s my substitute for boba.

    • Mie

    Is this us cup ?

      • Amy Dong

      Yes 🙂

    • PBR

    Hi. Can you substitute half & half for the whole milk?

      • Amy Dong

      Yes, you can!

    • LavenderBee

    I want to make this recipe for my vegan friends, but will have to substitute the gelatin with agar agar and milk with almond milk. Is this a bad idea? Any thoughts.

    • Patti Kish
    • 5 stars

    Haven’t made your recipe yet but I so remember Almond Jello! Love, love, love! Will be making this very soon. Yummmmmmmm!

    • George Moy

    I haven’t made this jello dessert yet, but I had tried at a all you can eat buffet and it was good I was just looking through the website to find this recipe because the other site Allrecipes had a recipe too, but so reviewers fuss about having the’real’ thing so for those who don’t like substitute go to your major grocery store and try to buy it, but you won’t like it when you find out its not cheap, at $7-8 dollars a box of mix you be better off make your own jello.

      • Amy Dong

      This homemade version is from my dad – I think you’ll love it even more than the buffet version 🙂

    • Or
    • 4 stars

    For the longest time I thought almond tofu was a made up dish, but apparently it’s based on this dish so my mistake XD

    This does tasty pretty good, but I don’t know if I’m ever gonna make this again.
    I think I added too much almond extract…

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