If you perform a search for “chocolate-covered watermelon,” you’ll find a plethora of recipes that pop up with images looking something like this:
Looks good, right? If you like watermelon and you like chocolate, it is. It’s like a chocolate-covered popsicle, but way more refreshing because it’s actually made with real fruit. If you want to get your hands on some of these, let us warn you: many of the recipes we found online left us frustrated, disappointed and without chocolate-covered watermelon.
Making chocolate-covered watermelon is not complicated, but it is certainly not as simple as dipping watermelon into just-melted chocolate, like most recipes suggest. If you try that, you’ll see that chocolate wants nothing to do with wet watermelon ― it slips right off ― and the juice that determinedly drips off the melon into your melted chocolate will quickly transform it from something smooth and beautiful to a big clumpy mess. It’s a disaster.
But, for the sake of National Watermelon Day this August 3, we persevered and found a way to make it work.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Watermelon, cut into small triangular wedges and frozen
- 12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- Sprinkles, optional but fun
Here’s what most of the other recipes don’t tell you.
The watermelon should be frozen if you want the chocolate to have any hope of sticking. And even when frozen, it will still want to slide off. You’ll need a spatula to help spread the chocolate on the watermelon when dipping.
Here’s how to make it happen.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. To help the chocolate spread more easily on the watermelon (and harden more solidly), add two tablespoons of coconut oil to the chocolate and stir it in well. Once melted, dip and spread the chocolate on the frozen watermelon slices. Place the dipped watermelon slices on the parchment paper, add sprinkles on top and refrigerate until ready to serve and eat.
And that’s how you get yourself some chocolate-covered watermelon.
