Red White and Blue Jello - Frugal Upstate

Searching for a patriotic themed treat to wow your family and friends? Look no further than this adorable and tasty Red White & Blue Jello! Walmart asked me to share a Fourth of July treat and I knew this dessert fit the bill. After all, Walmart’s moto is “Save Money, Live Better”–and this striped Jello is inexpensive and easy, yet impressive.

This recipe has 4 ingredients: red strawberry Jello, berry blue Jello, Great Value sour cream and water. It’s an easy dessert to make but it does take time. If you want your layers to be nice and crisp you MUST let each layer chill for at least 30 minutes in between stripes. I tried to push it with 20 minutes and almost made a huge mess with the layers running together.

For this recipe you will use a small size box of Jello for every two layers (ie solid red and pastel red)–I made a 9×11 pan and used 6 boxes of Jello and a container of sour cream.

For each layer you open a box of Jello and mix in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour 2/3 of the Jello into you pan and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill. Next take the remaining 1/3 cup of Jello and mix in 2/3 C sour cream.

Whisk it together until your sour cream/Jello mixture is a uniform color and consistency. After the plain Jello has set for 30 minutes, you pour this mixture on top and then return the pan to the fridge for 30 more minutes. Then you start the same process for the blue Jello.

I did 12 layers, 6 boxes and it took me most of the day in between other chores. I am a bit insane though, and that made enough Red White & Blue Jello for a good sized BBQ full of folks. You may want to make less–for example if you used a smaller brownie pan (8X8) each layer of Jello would be thicker, and you’d fill the pan up with only 3 or 4 boxes.

There is a trick to getting Jello out of a mold. Some folks like to spray their pans or molds with PAM. Personally I haven’t used that for over 5 years–I just brush things down with a bit of oil instead. That didn’t seem like a good idea with Jello though, way too greasy. Luckily a bit of hot water will melt and loosen Jello. I just put a bit of really hot water in the bottom of a roasting pan that was bigger than my 9×13 and then carefully set everything into it. I may have overflowed a bit of water onto the stovetop, but it worked. I ran a spatula around the edges, put a big platter I have on top, and flipped the whole thing over.

I cut them into cubes and served in some cupcake baking liners I had (Walmart has some cute Patriotic Cupcake Liners that would be perfect!) for easy serving.