Make Your Own Homemade Fruit Popsicles
Healthy homemade fruit popsicles made with five ingredients or less! Four delicious recipes to choose from, strawberry, watermelon, lemon, and coconut. An easy and refreshing treat to help you cool down from the heat.
There’s nothing like enjoying homemade fruit popsicles on a hot day. The problem with the store-bought kind is that they typically contain high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors. Not these! All my popsicle recipes are 100 calories or less and made with only natural sweeteners!
Warm weather means beautiful ripe fruit start to appear at the local market. With so many choices I decided to make four recipe variations. I hope you have as much fun creating these frozen treats as I did. Almost anything can be frozen, so grab your favorite ingredients and let’s play around!
Making homemade fruit popsicles are a fun way for kids and adults to experiment in the kitchen. It’s also an easy way to add more nutrients into your day without using refined sugar.
The keys to success
- Molds: Popsicle making technology has impressively advanced since I was a kid. Companies like Zoku have come up with smart gadgets. Consumers have also gotten impressively creative with shapes, characters, and even light sabers! I decided to ditch my old school plastic contraption for a slightly updated Norpro Ice Pop Maker that I found on Amazon.
- Fruit: I like to puree naturally sweetened fruit with lemon or lime for some acidity to reduce the overly icy texture. Fruit juice such as orange, lemon, guava, grape or apple make the most reliable pops that tend to melt slower. A combination of puree and juice mixed also works to infuse different flavors. To add texture and visual appeal, you can chop small or thinly sliced pieces of fruit like watermelon, strawberry, mango, pineapple or kiwi.
- Creamy Popsicles: Adding yogurt for protein and probiotics for digestive health creates a natural creaminess that adds a smooth texture. Pureed bananas with the juice can also create a soft bite. Unsweetened coconut milk adds a creamy popsicle texture with subtle sweet flavor. Mixing or blending juice, whole fruit and something creamy also make for a consistently creamy popsicle.
- Freeze Time: Depending on the ingredients, at least 4 to 6 hours is needed to turn the parts from liquid to solid. Overnight freezing is the safest bet, and something to look forward to the next day!
I asked Jason and James what healthy homemade fruit popsicles I should make for a refreshing dessert to enjoy together. As you would guess, everyone had a different request. I wanted everyone happy, so I made four different flavors:
- Peach Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles
- Minty Watermelon Popsicles
- Blackberry Lemon Popsicles
- Orange Mango Coconut Popsicles
Each popsicle hs a distinct flavor and texture. In fact, James told me “mommy these are yummy! I love popsicles.” That’s a Mom win! I love that I can make something my family can enjoy that is healthy, and they wouldn’t even know it. My son enjoys making new flavors with me, so it’s a great way to bond together and teach kids about eating more fruit each day.
With a little bit of creativity, you can take wholesome fruit, juice, yogurt and milk and turn them into delicious homemade frozen popsicles. Since my popsicle mold has ten spots, I like to add different flavor combinations by adjusting the recipe size, so we have variety whenever cravings hit. I’ve even made chai tea latte popsicles and strawberry yogurt granola popsicles.
We’ve come a long way from Otter Pops, and I always feel good about offering one of these healthy popsicles to my family. To prevent the inevitable melted popsicle drip from making a total mess, I cut a small slit in the bottom of a cupcake liner and placed the popsicle stick through the bottom to catch the juice. It’s saved us a few times from some unwanted messes! What popsicle flavors will you create? Let me know in the comments section below so we can share ideas!