Here’s an easy recipe to make homemade, classic Orange Sherbet using just 5 ingredients and your ice cream maker.
Does orange sherbet remind you of your childhood? That’s what I wanted all the time when we were given a choice of desserts in our freezer. Remember the push-pops that were sherbet too? Those were amazing. The ice cream truck jingling down the street always had them. You can still find orange sherbet in the store, but it’s much more delicious to make it homemade. Grab your ice cream maker, and create some childhood memories!
Ingredients needed:
- white sugar
- unflavored gelatin
- orange zest
- no-pulp orange juice
- milk
- orange food coloring (optional)
How to make Orange Sherbet:
The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.
One frozen, you can scoop out orange sherbet and place it in a dish for serving. I love to let it sit for a few minutes so it gets nice and creamy and melty and soft. Enjoy!
Is it Sherbet or Sherbert?
I grew up saying “sherbert.” That’s what my Mom always said. If you buy it at the store, you will see that the container clearly says, “sherbet.” According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, sherbert isn’t wrong. Both spellings of this frozen fruit dessert have been around a long time. Although sherbert is used less frequently, it’s definitely an established variant spelling of sherbet.
The Best Frozen Dessert Recipes:
- Snickers Ice Cream Brownie Pie
- Chocolate Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
- Frozen S’Mores
- Easy Candy Bar Ice Cream Cake
- Marshmallow Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

Orange Sherbet
Ingredients
- 1½ cups granulated white sugar
- One .25-ounce envelope unflavored gelatin
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (or 1 teaspoon orange oil)
- 3¾ cups no pulp orange juice, divided
- 1 cup milk
- orange food coloring
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and gelatin. Stir in 2 cups of the orange juice. Cook and stir until the sugar and gelatin dissolve. Remove from heat. Stir in the remaining orange juice, the orange zest (or oil), milk and a few drops of orange food coloring.
- Transfer the mixture to the frozen ice cream maker container. Process according to your maker's instructions.
- Transfer the sherbet to another container, and freeze at least 4 hours before scooping and serving.