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Taste the rainbow...literally... with this delicious and festive Rainbow Jello! It's perfect for St. Patrick's Day!
Rainbow Jello!
Do you have favorite family recipes that make their debut at holidays year after year?
Rainbow Jello is one of those recipes that is an absolute favorite in our family. I think my love for Rainbow Jello comes mostly because my mom was famous for it. Whenever we had a reunion or an extended family gathering (including Thanksgiving!), everyone wanted her to bring her famous Rainbow Jello. This recipe was not original to her, but it sure was one of her trademarks.
Rainbow Jello is perfect for St. Patrick's Day
I'll be honest. I'm not a huge lover of Jello, but give me a serving of Rainbow Jello with fresh whipped cream on top and I'll ask for seconds. And thirds. St. Patrick's Day is such a fun occasion to make Rainbow Jello.
Related: Tons of Rainbow Party Ideas
What You Need:
- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple Jello mix
- Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 9x13 glass pan
- Recipe below!
- Whipped cream for the top layer
This Jello is a staple at our Thanksgiving dinner, but I got to thinking about how festive it would be for St. Patrick's Day. I mean, with all those stories about leprechauns and gold at the end of the rainbow, well, Rainbow Jello would be perfect!
Confession
This recipe is not the quickest one in the world. Easy yes, but quick no. It will be worth every minute you spend, but you'll want to plan on it taking a good chunk of the day to make. It takes a few hours because you have to wait for each layer to set up before adding the next one. The good news is that you can do other things while you are waiting for the layers to set up.
Here's the recipe!!
Print📖 Recipe

Marilyn's Famous Rainbow Jello
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 9x13 pan- 24 squares 1x
Ingredients
- 3 oz box of jello in the following flavors: lemon, lime, orange, cherry or raspberry, blueberry, and grape.
- 1 cup boiling water for each flavor
- 2 cups sour cream or greek yogurt
- 12 Tbsp cold water
- whipped cream or cool whip topping
Instructions
- Spray 9x13 pan and set aside.
- The key is to make one layer at a time.
- Start with red. Boil 1 cup water and add it to the cherry jello powder. Stir will. Then, divide that in half into 2 bowls.
- To one half, add 2 Tbsp. cold water.
- To the other half, add ⅓ cup sour cream and mix until incorporated.
- Pour the cherry gelatin with cold water into the pan.
- Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
- Then pour the red jello with sour cream onto the first red layer.
- *Then, you will just repeat for all the layers. You can do them in any order, but I prefer red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.
To recap: 1st layer: red jello with water; refrigerate 20 minutes; 2nd layer: red jello with sour cream; refrigerate 20 minutes; 3rd layer: orange jello with water; refrigerate 20 minutes; 4th layer: orange jello with sour cream; refrigerate 20 minutes.
- Repeat for all layers. Right before serving, top with cool whip or whipped cream.
- *Make sure the jello you are adding is cool so that it won't melt the previous layer. To speed up the process, you can make two flavors at a time and let the other one cool while the first one is setting up.
- Prep Time: 4 hours
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