We are legend. Our research on Jell-O shots (the strongest Jell-O shot, lighting Jell-O shots on fire, nailing Jell-O to a wall, the best tasting Jell-O shot, the best blue Jell-O shot) and Halloween (preserving your pumpkin, ultimate trick-or-treat haul) has enriched the lives of thousands of revelers. Your feedback, encouragement, and suggestions have left us grateful and overwhelmed.
We have not shirked our duty. We have not put all that laboratory experience to waste. We have taken Jell-O shots to a new level. We present our Jell-O shot creations for Halloween!
Note: To get the full visual impact of many of these shots, you’ll need to use clear plastic cups, like 2 oz. portion containers, or real shot glasses. Some of these presentation ideas require special props, which you should be able to find online or at a medical supply store.
Tonic Water - The Secret to Ghostly Glowing Jell-O Shots
In Normal Light
Under the Black Light
This is the coolest – Jell-O that glows under black light. What’s the trick? Tonic water. The quinine is luminescent under ultraviolet light. Jell-O made with tonic water will light up eerily. We found that Berry Blue is one of the best colors to show off that ectoplasmic glow. You’ll get a brighter light if you make your Jell-O with tonic water as the only liquid (boiling half, and adding half cold), but it won’t taste that good. Plus, you want some booze in there. We found that some Malibu takes the edge off the quinine’s bitterness and works well with the berry flavor. Make regular Jell-O shots, or use a mold to make a glowing brain. Glowing Jell-O also looks good in other props, like syringes and petri dishes.
Boo-Berry Black Light Jell-O Shots
3 oz. pkg Berry Blue Jell-O
1 cup Tonic Water
¾ cup Malibu plus ¼ cup tonic water
Bring one cup of tonic water to a boil. Add to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the Malibu and additional tonic. Pour into cups and chill. If using a brain mold, multiply this recipe by four (use two 6 oz. boxes of Jell-O).
The Eyes Have It
Your guests will feel like they’re on Fear Factor when you serve them these eyeball Jell-O shots. Canned lychee nuts make pretty convincing and gross looking eyeballs. For an extra burst of alcoholic goodness, soak them in vodka overnight. Stuff them with gumdrops (we used Dots candies) or maraschino cherries, and add a bit of licorice candy for the pupil.
Then place them in cups and pour in the Jell-O. If you’re using an opaque or dark colored Jell-O, fill the cups halfway and put in the fridge. When the Jell-O is set, put your eyeball on it, and pour Jell-O around the eye so it’s peeking out the top.
Construct the Eyeballs from Lychee Fruits
If you’re using transparent Jell-O, these shots really look best in clear cups, so you get the full effect of seeing the eyeball floating in it. But they also work in paper cups as long as the eye is peeking up above the Jell-O’s surface.
Eyeballs in Aspic
2 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin
2 cups water
1 cup Peach Schnapps (or other clear schnapps)
1/2 cup sugar
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a saucepan and let sit for a few minutes. Heat over low heat until gelatin starts to melt. Add sugar and keep stirring until the sugar and gelatin are completely dissolved. Add schnapps. Pour into cups (with or without eyeballs) and chill.
Eyeballs in Toxic Green Jell-O
3 oz. pkg Lime Jell-O
1 cup water
1 cup Apple Pucker or other sour apple schnapps (or ½ cup water + ½ cup vodka or other hard liquor)
Bring the water to a boil. Add to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in liquor. Pour into cups with eyeballs and chill.
Strawberry Pink Eyes
3 oz. pkg Strawberry or Wild Strawberry Jell-O
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup vodka
3/4 cup Strawberry Pucker
Bring the water to a boil. Add to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Slowly stir in the cream and mix until totally incorporated. Stir in the liquors. Fill cups halfway and chill till firm. Place an eyeball in each cup and pour Jell-O around it till it is partially covered. Chill again until firm.
For those who like their eyeballs straight up, no chaser, we also made some eyes molded from gelatin using a ice tray designed to make spherical ice balls. Getting the gelatin into the mold was a little tricky. We carefully poured the gelatin mixture into the hole in the top of each individual sphere until it was half filled, chilled it, and then filled it the rest of the way. You may have to do something different depending on the type of tray you use. After unmolding, we painted on irises and pupils using gel food coloring. Regular food coloring is too liquid and will run.
Coconut Malibu Eyeballs
2 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin
1 cup canned, unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup Malibu
½ cup sugar
Sprinkle the gelatin over the coconut milk in a saucepan and let sit for a few minutes. Heat over low heat, stirring, until the gelatin starts to dissolve. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved. Cool till just warm. Stir in the Malibu. Pour into spherical ice mold that has been sprayed with cooking spray. After chilling and unmolding, paint on details with gel or paste food coloring.
Use spherical ice cube molds
For added grossness, use a large syringe to squirt some red (gelled) Jell-O into the center of the eyeball, or some other thick filling, like pudding. Insert the syringe carefully and squirt the filling out slowly so it doesn’t explode the eyeball.
Most Disgusting Jell-O Shot?
Looking for something even grosser than eyeballs? Make the brain hemorrhage Jell-O shot, which is based on the drink of the same name. Clear Jell-O shot cups are a necessity to get this one to work its magic. A few dropperfuls of Irish Cream coagulate into a fleshy, phlegmy-looking glob suspended in clear gelatin “formaldehyde”. A bit of red cherry Jell-O “blood” finishes it off. Bon appetit.
Brain Hemorrhage Jell-O Shots
2 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin
2 cups water
1 cup Peach Schnapps
1/2 cup sugar
Bailey’s or a similar Irish Cream liqueur
Cherry Jell-O
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a saucepan and let sit for a few minutes. Heat over low heat until gelatin starts to melt. Add sugar and keep stirring until the sugar and gelatin are completely dissolved. Cool till just warm. Stir in the peach schnapps. Pour into cups and let stand at room temperature until the gelatin sets to the consistency of egg whites. With an eye dropper, carefully drop some Irish Cream into each shot. In order to get the best effect, you may need to submerge the dropper so it releases the liqueur into the center of the shot.
Use a dropper to spooge in the Irish Cream
Add two or three droppers, until you have a goopy, blobby mass. If the Irish Cream does not stay suspended in the gelatin and just falls to the bottom of the cup, let the gelatin stand and thicken a little longer. Mix up a small amount of cherry Jell-O mixture, with or without alcohol (you can just add a little water to a few spoonfuls of Jell-O powder). Add a few drops of cherry Jell-O to each shot, on top of the Irish Cream. Chill till completely firm.
The Great Drunken Pumpkin
What’s better than pumpkin pie? Pumpkin pie with booze in it! This is an alcoholic spin on a traditional fall favorite that you can use throughout the holidays. You can pour the pumpkin mixture straight into cups, or use Keebler ready-to-use mini graham cracker crusts. You could even crush up some graham crackers and make mini crusts inside Jell-O shot cups. Because it has no eggs and little dairy, this recipe lacks some of the richness of regular pumpkin pie. We added some butterscotch schnapps to make up for that, and a dollop of whipped cream will do the rest.
Vodka and Butterscotch Schnapps
Great Drunken Pumpkin Pie Jell-O Shots
8 Keebler mini graham cracker crusts
1 envelope Knox gelatin
1 cup water + 1/4 cup for later
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ cup vodka
½ tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp butterscotch schnapps
Whipped cream topping
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in saucepan and let sit a few minutes. Heat over low heat while stirring until the gelatin is dissolved. Add the pumpkin, sugar, and spice and continue stirring over low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool for 30 minutes. Combine liquors, ¼ cup water, and cream in a bowl. Whisk in the pumpkin mixture and pour into pie crusts or shot cups. Chill and serve with whipped cream.
Candy Apple Jell-O Shots
Candied apples are another favorite Halloween time treat, and here we’ve created a Jell-O shot version. This apple gelatin is good by itself – tasty, tart, and with just a hint of effervescence from the cider. Top it off with some caramel ice cream topping and it’s perfect. Or, if you want to go the gross-out route, stick in some gummy maggots before it gels for a maggoty apple shot.
Basic Apple Cider Jell-O
1 envelope Knox unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 cup hard apple cider, divided in half
1/4 cup Apple Pucker or other sour apple schnapps
Combine the water with ½ cup cider in a saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over it and let sit for a few minutes. Heat over low heat, stirring, until the gelatin starts to dissolve. Cool till just warm. Stir in the remaining cider and the apple schnapps. Pour into cups and chill. Top with caramel ice cream topping if desired.
It’s Not Halloween Without Candy Corn
Candy corn is a Halloween staple, and though some people love it or hate it, we think everyone will enjoy these candy corn Jell-O shots. We did our best to approximate that sweet candy corn flavor using vanilla schnapps, but there’s also tropical overtones from the coconut, pineapple, and orange. These take a little extra time and work because of the three layers, but they look great and your guests will be impressed. It’s important to get the layers in the right order so the colors correspond to the candy. This is one where it’s important to use clear shot cups in order to get the full effect.
Candy Corn Jell-O Shots
Mix the white layer first and fill your Jell-O shot cups about 1/3 full (about ¼ inch deep on a 2oz cup), then chill till firm. Mix the orange layer and fill the cups till they’re about 2/3 full. Keep in mind that you’ll need a little room at the top because you won’t be filling the cups to the brim with the final layer. After the orange layer has chilled, mix up the yellow layer and top off the shots.
White Layer
1 envelope Knox unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup canned, unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Vanilla Schnapps
Sprinkle the gelatin over the coconut milk and water in a saucepan and let sit for a few minutes. Heat over low heat, stirring, until the gelatin starts to dissolve. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved. Cool till just warm. Stir in the vanilla schnapps.
Orange Layer
3 oz. pkg Orange Jell-O
1 cup water
4 oz. Orange sherbet (about one scoop)
1/2 cup Vanilla schnapps
3 Tbsp Butterscotch schnapps (optional)
Orange food coloring (if desired)
Bring the water to a boil. Add to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Add sherbet while still warm and mix thoroughly as it melts. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla and butterscotch schnapps. Add a few drops of orange food coloring to make the color more vivid if you want to.
Yellow Layer
3 oz. pkg Pineapple Jell-O
1 cup water
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
1/2 cup Vanilla schnapps
Yellow food coloring (if desired)
Bring the water to a boil. Add to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in coconut milk and vanilla schnapps. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring for more vivid color.
Black Jell-O Shots
Jell-O shots typically come in a rainbow of colors, but for Halloween, we took things over to the dark side and cooked up some black Jell-O. The secret ingredient is black gel food coloring. For true black Jell-O, you can use unflavored, uncolored gelatin as a base. You can also add black food coloring to regular Jell-O. The black gel food coloring is so intense it would probably turn any flavor of Jell-O black, but a hint of the original color would probably remain. We suggest using one of the darker colored Jell-Os like Black Cherry. You can use any liquor you like in black Jell-O, although, again, if the liquor is brightly colored it might tint the black a little, so we suggest something clear or dark. We thought black Jell-O should taste licorice-y, so we chose to use Jagermeister, but you could also use any licorice liqueur.
Solid black shots look cool, but we also made some layered shots with black and orange and black and green. For better contrast against the black, we added a bit of orange and lime sherbet respectively to the orange and green, to lighten the color and give it some opacity. Black Jell-O also looks cool in molded Halloween shapes. We made some skulls using a silicone ice tray. If you’re using a mold, be sure to spray it with cooking spray first for easy release.
Black Jell-O
1 envelope Knox unflavored gelatin
1 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Jagermeister
Black gel or paste food coloring
Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a saucepan and let sit for a few minutes. Heat over low heat, stirring, until the gelatin starts to dissolve. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved. Cool till just warm. Stir in the Jagermeister. In a small dish, mix a few drops of food coloring into a small amount of water till dissolved. Repeat if the gelatin doesn't look black enough. Pour into shot cups and chill.
Black Cherry Black Jell-O
3 oz. pkg Black Cherry Jell-O
1 1/4 cup water
3/4 cup Jagermeister
Black gel or paste food coloring
Bring the water to a boil. Add to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in Jagermeister. In a small dish, mix a few drops of food coloring into a small amount of water till dissolved. Add to the Jell-O and stir in. Repeat if the Jell-O doesn't look black enough. Pour into cups and chill.
Blackberry Black Jell-O
3 oz. pkg Blackberry Fusion Jell-O
1 cup water
3/4 cup Blackberry schnapps
1/4 cup vodka
Black gel or paste food coloring
Bring the water to a boil. Add to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in Jagermeister. In a small dish, mix a few drops of food coloring into a small amount of water till dissolved. Add to the Jell-O and stir in. Repeat if the Jell-O doesn't look black enough. Pour into cups and chill.
Intensive Jell-O Ward
Medical and lab themed props are another great way to make your Jell-O shots scarier. Use large syringes (without needles) to suck up your Jell-O mixture, and then chill as usual. A size somewhere between 30ml and 60ml will deliver a decent shot sized “shot”. The 60ml catheter tip syringes we found were ideal and included a cap to put over the end – nice to keep the Jell-O from dripping.
An IV or feeding bag with tubing is another creepy Jell-O delivery method, with the flavor of choice being blood-red cherry. Guests can just suck their Jell-O shots right from the tube. Because the tubing is very narrow, the Jell-O mixture needs to be more liquid than usual so it can flow. You can achieve this by adding more liquid (either more water or alcohol) and chilling the filled bag only enough to get it cold, not to gel the contents. If adding more liquid to the mixture makes it taste too watery, add a little cherry Kool-Aid powder to bring some of the flavor back.
To really get into mad scientist mode, serve Jell-O shots in plastic petri dishes (available from science supply stores). Wash the petri dishes out before you use them, then pour in your favorite Jell-O shot mixture. After they’ve chilled, you can add “microbes” by topping the Jell-O with candy sprinkles, other flavors of Jell-O powder, or cotton candy (to simulate mold). Serve them with large wooden tongue depressors so guests can scrape out the contents.
The Worms Crawl in, the Worms Crawl Out
Bugs and other creepy crawlies can find their way into your Jell-O shots. Gummy worms are the best because you can drape them over the edge of the cup so they look like they’re crawling out, but you can add any gummy bug to your Jell-O. It would be cool if you could put real edible insects in your shots, and there are real cooked insects that you can buy packaged, like Crick-ettes crispy fried crickets, but those come in savory flavors like cheddar cheese and sour cream and onion, so they wouldn’t go well with Jell-O.
One note with regard to insect infested Jell-O: Don’t garnish your shots with plastic spiders, flies, or other plastic or rubber insects. Some drunk person may accidentally try to swallow them and they could be a choking hazard.
Gummy Worms in Lime Slime
3 oz. pkg Lime Jell-O
1 cup water
4 oz. Lime sherbet (about one scoop)
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup water
Add 1 cup boiling water to Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Add sherbet while still warm and mix thoroughly as it melts. Allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in vodka and 1/2 cup cold water. Pour into cups, add gummy worms, and chill.
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