These Rainbow Jello Cups are a fun treat to share for a side dish, snack or dessert! Only two ingredients!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! What do you do to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day?
When I was growing up, we really didn’t celebrate holidays like St. Patrick’s Day. I think with the beginning of Pinterest, came the beginning of taking holidays to the next level. You have so many ideas right at your fingertips!
Whenever I’m waiting for my kids at piano lessons, or sitting in the waiting room of my dentist’s office, I’m usually on my cell phone checking out the latest pins. Every holiday, my pin boards swell with new ideas of things I want to try from bloggers around the web.
I’m sure you’ve seen some sort of cute rainbow jello thing before on there, as it’s not a new concept. I’ve had rainbow jello for years and years! My mom might not have celebrated smaller holidays, but she was awesome at making fun things like rainbow jello! 😉
I am a HUGE jello fan! I love the versatility of it. You can make it a million different shapes, colors and sizes.
One of my favorite fun ways to serve it up for my kids, is in individual serving cups. Last year I posted the recipe for these Layered Jello Cups that I thought were pretty dang darling. I used the same cups to make individual servings of rainbow jello this time and my kids loved them!
I thought it was appropriate to share these on St. Patrick’s Day because who doesn’t love rainbow goodies on St. Patrick’s Day?! But in reality, you can serve these little cups any day of the year and your family or guests will be thrilled!
There are only two ingredients to make these and they’re very easy but a little bit time consuming. One plus about making them in individual cups is that each layer of jello sets up quicker because of the reduced surface area. It takes a little longer for the jello to set up in a larger glass square, rectangular or round dish – but feel free to do it in one of those if you want!
The sour cream/yogurt layer adds such a creamy richness – it’s probably my favorite part about this dessert. And of course a dollop of Cool Whip is the perfect topping! I hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day!
Ingredients
- 6 3-oz pkg. Jello (rainbow colors)
- 3 cups light sour cream or yogurt
- whipped cream for serving if desired
Instructions
- For each layer, add 1 cup of boiling water to each package of Jello one at a time. Stir and dissolve Jello.
- Set half of it aside. Using a whisk, stir 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt into the other half of the Jello.
- Pour the creamy Jello layer into clear plastic cups (I used 7 cups with 5 colors of Jello). To the other half of Jello, add 3 Tbsp. water and set aside.
- When the first layer is set, pour second layer on it. Repeat process for remaining packages of Jello.
If you liked this recipe, you’ll love these too:
Cranberry Fluff
Fluffy Lemonade Jello
I love these! You have made yours so pretty! My kids loved it when I attempted these last year but never thought about the layers of whipped cream!
These are gorgeous, Jen! I adore them! Happy St. Patrick’s Day 🙂
These are so great!! I know your kids loved them! Mine would be ecstatic!
These turned out so pretty. Love looking at all the different colors. So glad you’re a fellow jello lover 🙂
I love the creamy layers alternating with regular jello….and, of course, it’s SO PRETTY!!
Thanks Cathy!! You’re so nice! The layers are much easier when they’re made in smaller cups! I just kept them in the fridge the whole time and poured the jello into them. SO much easier!
I’ve made this, but in one big dish. Not sure why I didn’t think to put it in smaller cups. Makes way more sense 🙂 Love them! Thanks for sharing.
These look so fun! How big are the cups that you used? I’m thinking of doing these on a small scale for a potluck.
That’s a great question – I’ll add this into the recipe… I used 9 oz. cups and I believe I got 8 total cups out of it. These would be so fun for a potluck! You could even do shot glass size!
Thanks for the information! I’m going to try this out 🙂
How long did you wait in between layers?? These look delicious!! 🙂
Hi Emily! I didn’t wait long at all! When you are using small cups like these, it only take probably 15 mins between each layer (maybe less!) If you’re using a big dish instead of cups, it takes longer to set, like 25 or 30 minutes. I hope you try these, they’re so good!
Did you add any cool water to the non-creamy/dairy layers? Just the 3 T of cool water?
Hi! Yes, you only need 3 Tbsp. of water for each brightly colored layer (without the sour cream or yogurt). No other cold water is needed. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I love this and am making them for my son’s birthday tomorrow. Did you refrigerate them to get the layers to set? I’m making them right now but it’s taking longer than expected for the layers to set :/ thanks!
Hi Kristen! Yes, I refrigerated between layers and it didn’t take too long. Are you using small individual cups?
I’m planning to make these this weekend for a birthday party. Will that creamy layer start to seep (or vice versa) if I make them the day before and leave in the fridge? Trying to avoid making these the day of.
The layers definitely won’t leak or seep through! I’ve made these way in advance and they stay good for days. Your birthday guests will love them! Good luck!
I made them. They were beautiful and delicious! Next time I’ll start in the morning and do it over the course of a whole day, so the process isn’t too tedious. Super easy to do, but definitely time consuming.
Hi, I’m planning to make this for someone’s birthday and was just wondering if light sour cream or yogurt works better? And which one did you use specifically? Thanks! 🙂
I like light sour cream the best! I think it’s easier to blend and tastes the best! I hope this helps – sorry for the delayed response!
I love these! i’ve been looking for a healthier option, and love the idea of yogurt. I was curious, i prefer the look of the bright white layers, and the idea of yogurt. have you ever made these using unflavored for the white layer? is there some other way to use this recipe without coloring the white layer? thanks!!
Hi Lynn! I actually do have another recipe that has a white layer and uses the unflavored jello. Check it out here: https://www.yummyhealthyeasy.com/2013/08/layered-jell-o-cups.html
I want to make this for my toddlers class and was wondering if I can make these 3 days in advance and store it in the fridge?
Hi! These are definitely great to make in advance. I’m not sure how watery they will get three days prior, though. I would say a day or maybe two before at the most would be best but if you do end up trying it, let me know how they look making them three days in advance. Sorry I’m not much help. Thanks for the comment!
Thank you for the reply. I think I will go ahead and make 2 days ahead instead of 3. Dont want to take any chances …I will let you know how they turn out.
I’ve been making this same recipe since 1980. (Published in several church cookbooks.). I keep a 9 x 13 pan just for this (not warped from baking). Metal is the best conductor of cold, so it sets up rather quickly. I ‘frost’ it with cool whip or whipped cream. No one can see all the colours until they have a square placed before them for dessert. Always get rave reviews!
Ah it’s just taking a lot longer to set.
Did they turn out okay for you?
Would this work with regular sour cream?
Absolutely! You can definitely use regular sour cream. I hope you give it a try!
Would condensed milk work instead of the sour cream?
Hi Ksusha! No, sweetened condensed milk won’t work for this recipe. :/ Sorry!