Gummy Recipe (easy) | Sugar Geek Show (2024)

Published: Dec 31, 2017 · Modified: Mar 12, 2020 by Elizabeth Marek · This post may contain affiliate links · 92 Comments

An easy gummy candy recipe made with gelatin and juice!

I love this easy gummy recipe. Made with any kind of juice or drink, gelatin and some corn syrup. These gummies are soft, chewy and work great as accents on a cake or as treats at a party!

Gummy Recipe Using Corn Syrup

One of the things that makes this gummy recipe so stable is the corn syrup. Corn syrup gives the gummy body and that chew without adding a lot of water. This results in a gummy that can be left out at room temperature without fear of any shrinkage.

Corn syrup in your gummy recipe will also make it nice and sweet! In this recipe, I use flavored drink as my base so I don't have to go out and buy special candy flavoring (another complaint of the original recipe). Even though most drinks are already pretty sweet, the addition of the corn syrup and sugar is a must.

What Do You Need To Make A Gummy Recipe

All you need to make some perfectly yummy gummies is some flavored drink (I like things like fruit juice or Gatorade because they have lots of flavors). Gelatin (or agar agar if you don't want to use gelatin). Corn syrup (or golden syrup), granulated sugar and citric acid (can be found in the canning section at the grocery store in most places). A little candy flavoring oil (in the baking section) to intensify flavors.

If you want clear gummies then use a drink that is flavored but already clear and preferably not bubbly or you'll get lots of foam when you mix your ingredients together.

How to make homemade gummies

This gummy recipe is a great basic recipe to have on hand. You can use any flavored liquid you like whether it's juice, fruit puree or even wine. It's super easy to make. No special heating required.

• Just combine your sugar, gelatin and citric acid in a heatproof container. Add in your flavored liquid and stir gently. Try not to incorporate any air. I like to use a fruit juice for my liquid but other things like gatorade will also work. You can also add in 1-2 drops candy flavoring to intensify the flavor. Experiment and have fun!
• Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes so that your gelatin has time to absorb the liquid and properly bloom. If you rush this bit your gummies could potentially lose some of their stability and not be firm enough.

• Melt your mixture slowly, I prefer the microwave. I start with 30 seconds, stir, 15 seconds and stir again and so on until the mixture is fully melted.
• Add in your corn syrup and citric acid and stir. The citric acid is also super important, it adds that yummy "bite" that you taste in most gummy candies. If you leave it out your candy will just taste kinda blah.
• You will notice the liquid is cloudy at first. Let it sit for 10 minutes until it's clear and all the foam has risen to the top. You should be able to scoop the foam off the surface. Don't skip this part or you'll have white foam messing up your pretty jewels.

• Once you've skimmed the foam you can pour the mixture into your molds. You can use any type of mold but I found these beautiful gem molds at Target and this other one from Nerdy Nummies at Michaels. I sprayed the molds with a nice coat of coconut oil and wiped out the excess to prevent sticking.

• They cure pretty quickly, about 1 hour is all you need. You can remove the gems from the molds and put them on some plastic wrap to further dry out over the next couple of days. They will get chewier and more gummy like with time, or you can eat them as is.
• Once the candies are where you want them to be, you can store them in a plastic zip lock container to enjoy as you like.

How Do You Keep Homemade Gummies From Sticking Together?

The thing about sugar is it's pretty sticky. It likes to stick to itself and everything else. If you lightly dust your gummies with some corn starch and shake them in a bag it can keep them from sticking.

I don't love this technique because it takes away the pretty shine. I prefer to spray my gummies with a little more coconut oil. It doesn't affect the taste and keeps them nice and shiny.

Gummy Recipe Without Using Gelatin

Not everyone can or wants to eat gelatin since it is animal based. Agar is the perfect substitute to traditional gelatin. It’s made from a plant source rather than from an animal one. That makes it suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets, and other diet restrictions.

Just don’t expect the same results when replacing gelatin with agar in a recipe. Agar agar is stronger than gelatin so you'll need to use a little less. Start with half and see where that get's you. Agar is a bit more firm than gelatin as well and not quite as chewy but still is a great alternative.

How to use Agar Agar In A Gummy Recipe

Follow the instructions on the container but just remember, you have to dissolve the agar agar in liquid before adding it to your other liquid, just as you would with gelatin. You need to actually boil the liquid mixture to dissolve the agar and then add it to your other mixture to get it to set.

How To Make Clear Gummy Diamonds

To make clear gummy diamonds, I used some propel flavored sports drink that was already clear. I added in my gelatin, sugar, citric acid and corn syrup to make my gummy mixture. This mixture tends to be a little yellow-ish which can be slightly counter-acted by adding a small touch (like a speck) of violet food color.

Strain the mixture through some cheese cloth to remove any leftover impurities. Pour your mixture into some gem molds. I had a leftover silicone diamond mold that I used for isomalt gems that works really well for this.

One little tip for removing the gems is to pull away the top edge and loosen the gem first before popping it out of the mold. Let them dry out a couple of days as usual. You can also use a wine like Rose to make gummy gems.

How To Make Glitter Gummies

If you want to add a little extra sparkle to your gummies you can add 1 teaspoon of edible glitter to your gummy mixture. I love using flash dust from Never Forgotton Designs. Just make sure whatever you use is really edible glitter and not just non-toxic since these gummies are meant for eating and you can't eat around glitter imbedded in the gummy.

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