These sweet and sour grapes taste like candy! They make a wonderful light summer snack or dessert, made with just 4 ingredients! Tart green grapes are sprinkled with lemon juice then rolled in a mixture of sugar or monk fruit sweetener and citric acid. They can be served chilled or frozen. I find them to be too cold on my teeth when they come out of the freezer, and prefer to chill them in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving. Rather than reaching for sour candy like sour patch kids or sour worms, pop these in your mouth instead for a sweet treat! I also provide instructions to add flavors below!

Sour Candied Grapes

Sour Candied Grapes

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

Grapes – I use green grapes for this recipe. They have a mild, sweet and tart flavor and crispy texture that makes them perfect to pair with lemon juice and sugar. Be sure to buy seedless grapes.
Lemon juice – The lemon juice adds a tartness while also helping the sugar mixture to adhere to the grapes.
Sugar – The grapes are rolled in a combination of sugar and citric acid for the candy coating.
Citric acid – Citric acid is used in many recipes to keep foods looking fresh. Here I use it to add acid to the grapes for added tart flavor to balance the sweetness without adding additional moisture. You can find it online here.

How to Make Sour Candied Grapes

Step 1: Toss grapes in lemon juice.

Rinse and drain grapes, patting them completely dry with paper towels. Add to a medium mixing bowl. Add lemon juice and toss to combine.

Step 2: Roll in sugar.

On a baking sheet or in a shallow bowl combine the sugar (or monk fruit sweetener) and citric acid (if using). Add the grapes in batches, rolling each in the sugar mixture.

green grapes tossed in sugar mixture on baking sheet

Step 3: Chill or freeze grapes.

Remove to a baking rack or bowl and refrigerate or freeze until chilled, at least 30 minutes and serve.

Tips and Tricks for This Recipe

Swaps and substitutions

The green seedless grapes can be swapped for seedless red grapes. I find cotton candy grapes taste similar enough to seedless green grapes when chilled it’s not worth spending the additional money.
The lemon juice can be swapped for another citrus like lime juice.
While I candy the grapes in granulated sugar, you can swap for monk fruit sweetener to cut down on added sugar.

How to make sour patch grapes

To add some flavor varieties inspired by sour patch kids candy and satisfy that sugar craving, swap the sugar for jello powder mix. Roll the grapes in the separate flavors working in batches to keep the colors and flavors different. I recommend using flavors like the Jello Jolly rancher watermelon and sour green apple flavors as well as lemon and/ or orange jello mix. You can also use gelatin flavors like strawberry!

Other Recipes to Try

If you enjoy this easy sour candied grapes recipe, give these a try: