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 starts 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 easy to add more nutrients to your day without using refined sugar.
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 makes 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, 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 juice can also create a soft bite. Unsweetened coconut milk adds a creamy popsicle texture with a 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 are needed to turn the parts from liquid to solid. Overnight freezing is the safest bet and something to look forward to the next day!
Four different flavors
- Peach Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles
- Minty Watermelon Popsicles
- Blackberry Lemon Popsicles
- Orange Mango Coconut Popsicles
Each popsicle has 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 and teach kids about eating more fruit daily.
With a 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.
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!
More popsicle recipes
How do popsicles freeze?
A fundamental property of liquid solutions is that increasing their concentrations of dissolved solids will lower their freezing points. That means that adding ingredients like sugar, salt, minerals, fruit, and proteins in a solution increases the time required to freeze the product and the need for lower temperatures to freeze thoroughly. When freezing a juice popsicle, the water will freeze first at 0°C. However, the fruit juice will never freeze completely, and it will remain icy and slushy unless the temperature is well below 0°C. This is desirable for popsicles so that they melt quicker in the mouth and are not as difficult to bite!
Healthy Homemade Fruit Popsicles
Ingredients
Peach Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles
- 3 cups strawberries, pureed to 1 ½ cup
- 3 cups peaches, peeled and sliced, pureed to 1 ½ cup
- 2 tablespoons honey, divided
- ⅔ cup vanilla greek yogurt
Minty Watermelon Popsicles
- 3 cups watermelon slices, divided
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves
- 1 ½ cups coconut water
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
Blackberry Lemon Popsicles
- ⅔ cup lemon juice, plus zest from lemons
- 2 ½ cups vanilla greek yogurt
- 2 ½ cups blackberries
- 2 ½ cup mixed berry Greek yogurt
Orange Mango Coconut Popsicles
- 4 cups mango, divided
- 2 cup coconut milk, whisked and divided
- 3 tablespoons orange juice
- 3 tablespoons honey
Instructions
Peach Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles
- In a blender, puree strawberries with four teaspoons honey then set aside. Clean blender, puree sliced peaches with two teaspoons of honey, set aside.
- Layer the popsicles as follows; 2 teaspoons strawberry puree, 1 teaspoon yogurt, 2 teaspoons peach puree and repeat. Make a fruit puree your last layer.
- Tap the mold on the counter to make sure all of the layers settle. Use a small spoon to drag vertically from the bottom to the top of the mold a few times to create a swirled pattern.
- Gently tap the molds on the countertop to remove any air bubbles. Insert the popsicle sticks, and then freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
Minty Watermelon Popsicles
- In a blender, puree 2 ½ cups diced watermelon pieces, mint leaves, coconut water, lime juice, and honey. Cut the remaining ½ cup watermelon slices into ¼-inch cubes.
- Evenly divide the diced watermelon into the molds, tapping them down to the bottom.
- Stir the popsicle mixture then evenly divide it among the popsicle molds.
- Insert the popsicle sticks, if it does not stay in place use a piece of tape to hold them into place. Freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
Blackberry Lemon Popsicles
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together lemon juice, zest, and vanilla yogurt, set aside.
- Puree blackberries and mixed berry yogurt, set aside.
- Layer the popsicles as follows; 1 tablespoon lemon, 1 tablespoon blackberry, repeat. Swirl layers if desired.
- Gently tap the molds on the countertop to remove any air bubbles. Insert the popsicle sticks, and then freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
Orange Mango Coconut Popsicles
- Puree 3 cups mango slices, 1 ½ cup coconut milk, orange juice, and honey.
- Cut the remaining 1 cup mango slices into ¼-inch cubes. Evenly divide them among the popsicle molds.
- Add 3 tablespoons of mango coconut mixture, gently tapping mold on the counter to make sure liquid fills in the diced mango spaces.
- Add 1 tablespoon of coconut milk, or until the mold is filled. Insert the popsicle sticks and then freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
Recipe Video
Equipment
Notes
- Removing Popsicles From Molds: Run the molds under warm water for ten to fifteen seconds. Slowly and carefully remove each popsicle. If the popsicles remain in the mold, run them under the warm water for a few more seconds, ensuring not to melt the pops.
- Recipe Yield: Each recipe makes approximately 10 popsicles, depending on the size and shape of your molds. Adjust batch sizes accordingly.
Jerry says
These look fantastic. Up to this point I’ve been freezing the puréed baby food pouches for my three year old. He hasn’t tasted the sweet popsicles you get at the store yet. Now, since we are weaning him off of pouches, I am looking for a family friendly version and this seems to hit the mark.
I am curious though, are there any recommendations for some mild vegetables that I might purée and add to the mix to give us some additional health benefits to the fruit and yogurt. I imagine carrots are a sweet addition we can easily work in. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.
Jessica Gavin says
I would steam the carrots or sweet potatoes before adding them to the popsicle base to make it a little softer. I have also found spinach to be very neutral in flavor, my kids don’t mind having it in their smoothie! Let me know how it goes!
Jonie says
Can use non-dairy yogurt to make the blackberry pops vegan?
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, you can use non-dairy yogurt. The texture may not be as rich, but will still be yummy. Let me know how it goes!
Cari says
Do you need to use Greek yogurt?
Jessica Gavin says
You could substitute the yogurt for coconut cream or other types of yogurt for creaminess.
Sarah Eisenstadt says
I tried the creamy strawberry and peach. I used vegan yoghurt . It came out amazing Super easy to make. Such a good base recipe I tried it with mangos and melons it was incredible! Thanks Jessica!
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you, Sarah! I’ll have to try mango and melon popsicle flavors, perfect for the summer and so refreshing!
Cameron Bales says
Whenever I make homemade popsicles the water always separates out from the mix. So it’s ice separated from concentrated juice, not nice homogenous frozen slush.
It’s always super lame. I don’t know if I need to freeze them faster, make the mixture much colder before freezing , add some sort of emulsifier.
Do you have hints so they aren’t so lame?
Jessica Gavin says
Can you please provide more info on what you’re adding to the popsicle mold? Just fruit juice, or are you making a puree and mixing? In popsicle manufacturing, stabilizers like xanthan gum and locust bean are used to help stabilize the ice matrix mix to prevent separation. The colder your freezer, the faster the popsicles with firm up, reducing the time allowed for any separation of the fruit particles and water to occur. Most commercial freezing operations have a blast freezer that goes below 0ºF to quickly solidify the popsicles. For creamy popsicles the fat helps with homogenization and separation; some people even add cornstarch for additional stabilization. For fruit popsicles, I would make sure to blend them well if using whole fruits into a smooth consistency. Increasing the sugar level and adding some corn syrup helps reduce the freezing point and gives a better texture. Let me know if that helps!
Candice says
Hello – I saved your recipes for homemade Popsicles & hope to make them soon.
I am a diabetic and wondering:
Can i substitute Monk Fruit Sweetener – White Sugar Substitute for the honey?
if yes how much should i use?
thanks
Amanda
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, you can substitute the honey with monk fruit sweetener. Is it pure monk fruit or is it a sweetener blend? I would check the package for the substitution amounts based on the brand you are using.
Julilly says
Do I have to use honey or other sweetener? I like the taste of plain fruit and yogurt, but will it freeze as well without the addition?
Jessica Gavin says
You don’t have to add additional sweetener to the recipe.
Sara says
Could you please reply to Cameron Bales, asking about the water separating? I too have that question and is kind of uncool to reply to everyone else but them. If you don’t know at least say that!
Deion says
Hello. My name is Deion. I have a question please. I love ‘Outshine’ popsicles, and I also love smoothies. Can a fruit popsicle be use to make a smoothie?
Jessica Gavin says
You could remove the popsicle from the stick, add it to a blender with a small amount of liquid and puree. And more liquid to adjust the consistency.