These Valentine's Day-Themed Jell-O Shots Are Going Mega Viral, So I Tried Them To See If They're Worth The Hype

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13-02-2025

Well, folks, it's officially that time of year: love is in the air, your local flower shop is overwhelmed, and couples everywhere are trying to get last-minute reservations. That's right, it's Valentine's Day!
If you're anything like me and appreciate the joy of staying in on this holiday (whether you're happily single or just tired of overpriced prix-fixed menus), stumbling across fun recipes can be even more exciting than getting a Resy notification when a table has opened up. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I came across Barbara "Babs" Costello's (aka @brunchwithbabs) mega viral strawberry Jell-O shots.
Babs has built her reputation on basically being social media's wholesome grandma, teaching her viewers everything from cleaning the filter in your dishwasher to roasting the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. Personally, I trust her with my life, and after seeing the 12 million views her video racked, I now trust her with my Valentine's Day-themed treats.
I won't lie: Jell-O shots make me a little nervous since I'm not 21 anymore, but these were too cute to pass up. So here's everything I used to recreate them, straight from Babs herself:
Claudia Santos
I chose to cut Babs' Jell-O shot recipe in half because grocery prices would not allow me to buy three containers of strawberries, so double these amounts if you're planning to make more:
— 1–2 16-ounce container(s) of large strawberries
— 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips
— 1/2 cup chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips
— 1/2 cup vanilla vodka
— 1/2 cup boiling water
— 1/2 packet of gelatine
— 2 teaspoons coconut oil
STEP 1: Slice about one-quarter of your strawberries horizontally. You want to cut off just enough so that you create a flat surface on top and the lighter inside is visible. Make sure you keep the leaves intact for easy dipping!
Remember to do as I say, not as I do, and get large (or extra large) strawberries. Mine were on the smaller side, so I had to make sure not to cut off too much, or else there wouldn't be enough left to create the "cup" to fill with the actual shot.
STEP 2: Carve out the "cup" into the cut side of the strawberry, avoiding scooping out too much and puncturing a hole. Otherwise, your gelatine mixture will spill out the other side. My 1/2 teaspoon was the perfect size to do this, but a melon baller or small spoon would also work. Plus, you get a little chef's snack from the scooped-out bits.
STEP 3: Lay your strawberries scooped side up on something like a muffin tray. One of Babs' tips is to stick a paper towel under any that are a bit misshapen and wobbly, which works wonders for keeping them in place.
STEP 4: In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatine in 1/2 cup boiling water and stir until there are no clumps. Pour in the vodka and give it another mix to combine.
STEP 5: Now it's time for the slightly tricky part: pouring the gelatine-vodka mixture into the strawberries. I transferred my mixture into a measuring cup with a spout to make it a little easier, but you can use that same spoon you used to scoop out the strawberry insides (in hindsight, I think this might've been a better method).
STEP 6: Transfer your tray to the fridge to set. This took about two hours for me since the shot wasn't very big, so it may vary depending on how large your strawberries are. Just make sure that the gelatine is completely solidified before moving on to the next step.
STEP 7: Right before pulling your strawberries out of the fridge, melt the white and dark chocolates with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil each. You can do this by popping them in the microwave in 20-second bursts and stirring after each interval. Alternatively, a double boiler will also work if you're like me and can't fit a microwave in your alleyway kitchen.
Claudia Santos
A double boiler is super simple to set up: just fill a pot with about two inches of water and bring it to a simmer. Once simmering, add a heat-proof bowl on top with the chocolate, stirring occasionally until melted.
The bowl should be big enough to comfortably fit on the pot and not touch the water.
STEP 8: Dip your strawberries into the melted chocolate, alternating between white and dark (this is purely aesthetic and to up the cute factor). A small, narrow container, or even a cup, is perfect for completely covering the strawberry in chocolate, but you can also spoon it on if you see some bare spots.
STEP 9: Place the dipped strawberries onto some wax or parchment paper and stick them in the fridge again for about 10 minutes to harden the chocolate. Since the berries are cold, the chocolate will likely start hardening soon after you dip them (the coconut oil gives it that "magic shell" effect).
And there you have it: adorable Jell-O shots that your college self could only dream of having. I have to say, I was worried that the lack of sweetness in the gelatine itself would make these a little unappealing, but the sweetness of the strawberries and chocolate totally balanced it out, and they were delicious. I actually think using a sweetened gelatine would be overkill.
I'm used to wincing the second I down a Jell-O shot, but these were pleasantly not too boozy even though they used the same ratio of water to alcohol as most Jell-O shot recipes. My guess is that the small size plus sweet fruit helped mellow it out.
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I've personally never had a pudding shot, but after a quick search, I found a recipe from Food.com to go off of and slightly tweak. Here's everything I grabbed to try it out:
More specifically:
— 1–2 16-ounce containers of large strawberries (you might have some pudding left over, depending on the size of your strawberries)
— 1 3.4-ounce box of instant chocolate pudding mix
— 8 ounces Cool Whip
— 3/4 cup milk
— 1/2 cup vanilla vodka
— 1/4 cup Kahlúa or any coffee liqueur of your choice (Mr. Black is a great option if you don't want something super sweet)
— 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips
— 1/2 cup chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips
— 2 teaspoons coconut oil
When I first read this recipe, my first thought was, "Is the Cool Whip really necessary?" and the short answer is yes. Since we're not using gelatine, the Cool Whip helps set the pudding and make it solid so you don't have runny pudding strawberries. It also makes it a great texture for freezing.
STEP 1: The first few steps of this one are going to be identical to the original recipe, so I won't bore you by showing you how to cut strawberries again. To quickly recap: slice off a small bit of your strawberry, use a spoon or melon baller to scoop out the insides and create a "cup," and place the hollowed-out berries on a muffin tray lined with paper towels to keep them in place.
STEP 2: Add the instant pudding mix to a large bowl along with the milk and whisk until there are no clumps. No need for any fancy equipment here — manually whisking gets the job done!
STEP 3: Add the Kahlúa and vodka to the mixture and stir to combine.
STEP 4: Fold the Cool Whip into the mixture until it's smooth and creamy. You might want to do this in batches since it comes out in a big solid block. I also found that just folding it in with my rubber spatula didn't quite get rid of all the lumps (and took forever), so I used my whisk to speed things along.
STEP 5: Spoon the pudding mixture into the strawberries. Once again, a measuring spoon makes this much easier than just pouring it, as you can see from the mess I made.
Claudia Santos
STEP 6: Freeze your pudding-shot strawberries for about two hours until they are solid with an ice cream-like texture. Once again, I'm begging you to do as I say, not as I do, and actually put these in the freezer. I threw mine in the fridge because I had zero room in my freezer, and while the pudding did set, it was a little too runny, which made dipping them in chocolate tricky. I make mistakes, so you don't have to, friends.
Claudia Santos
STEP 7: Melt the two chocolates with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil each (if you want to make both recipes, melt all the chocolate together to use for both batches of strawberries). Dip your pudding-shot strawberries in the melted chocolate, set them on parchment or wax paper, and throw them in the freezer again for just a few minutes until the chocolate hardens.
Claudia Santos
You can see how tricky this was with the runny center. If you run into the same issue, I'd recommend just spooning over the chocolate.
I have to give the Bab's community credit: these were phenomenal. I'm not sure why, but they tasted a little boozier than the original recipe, even though they had the same ratio of alcohol to liquid. (Maybe I just filled them more? Maybe the Kahlúa added something extra? Maybe my taste buds were off after trying one too many? I'm not sure!) At first, I thought they'd be too sweet, given the pudding and Cool Whip of it all, but I was pleasantly surprised. That said, I did prefer the dark chocolate-dipped strawberries rather than the white chocolate to help counteract the sweetness a bit.
Claudia Santos
Since I had a lot of the mixture left over, I ended up freezing some in small Jell-O containers, and let me tell you, it made a WORLD of difference in the texture — almost like soft serve. So, yeah, please freeze these if you want to avoid pudding running down your hands.
Claudia Santos
I definitely wouldn't say one of these recipes is better than the other (and I wouldn't dream of disrespecting Babs like that). If you're looking for something more subtle with a slight kick, go with the original recipe. But if you have more of a sweet tooth (or can't eat gelatine!), I'd highly recommend giving the pudding shots a try.
Whether you make them for your Valentine, your Galentines, or even yourself (!!!), I'd love to know how these Jell-O shots turn out for you!
And if you want more fun recipes, you can follow Babs on TikTok and Instagram.
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