All you need is some fresh fruit and you can enjoy Healthy Homemade Popsicles whenever the icy cravings hit! These fruit popsicles require just two ingredients, a blender, and popsicle molds for a quick and delicious treat!
During the warmer summer months, I love eating fresh and fruity dishes like this pineapple Dole whip, cottage cheese ice cream and strawberry yogurt!
Table of contents
Sucking on brightly colored juicy popsicles when we were younger is in everyone’s memory bank! And why wouldn’t they be? They’re cold, refreshing and so so good at keeping us cool on hot summer days!
The thing is now we know exactly what they were made of. Food coloring, artificial ingredients, and a whole lot of sugar!
No, thank you.
So, today I’m sharing my 2 ingredient recipe for healthy homemade popsicles made with real fruit. They’re gluten free, naturally sweetened, and refined sugar free. They’re still cold, refreshing, and delicious but they’re super easy to make and healthy too!
I mean, if we can turn key lime pie into healthy key lime pie bars and a cheesecake into a healthy no bake strawberry cheesecake, then you can bet we can turn a classic frozen treat into a healthy real fruit popsicle.
Mission accomplished! I whipped up 3 batches of cantaloupe, melon, and strawberry fruit puree, tossed in some fresh mint leaves, and that was it!
Later that day my kids were enjoying vibrant, colorful, and healthy popsicles. And let’s be honest, so was I!
Ingredients for Homemade Fruit Popsicles
All you need are just two ingredients and you’re on your way to the best homemade popsicles!
- Fruit: Whatever fruit or berries you decide to use, make sure they’re ripe and sweet.
- Mint leaves: Mint always helps to elevate the refreshing flavor of any type of fruit.
Fruit Suggestions
Use my recipe as a guide and have fun and get creative with what you decide to use. Get the kids to pick their favorites and make a variety of flavors.
- Red: Strawberry, raspberry, cherry, watermelon.
- Yellow: Pineapple, lemon
- Orange: Peach, cantaloupe, apricot, orange, mango
- Green: Melon, pear, kiwi, lime
- Purple: Blueberries, blackberries
Yogurt and Other Ingredient Suggestions
- Mix and match the fruit. You don’t have to stick with just one kind. You could go the faster route and blend the two fruits at once. Or you could blend them separately and fill half of the popsicle mold with one type. Freeze it and let it set. Then, fill the remaining half with another type of fruit and freeze it. That way can have two distinct flavors and colors in one!
- Blend the fruit with some full fat coconut milk for a hint of coconut flavor and a creamier popsicle. This is also a great way to lighten up the color of the fruit.
- To sweeten them up just a tad you could add a little bit of honey to the fruit purée. This would depend on how sweet your fruit is, to begin with, so do a little taste test!
- If you want a stronger flavor, add a little fruit juice to the mix. It’s concentrated so it will enhance the taste.
- Plus, you can make a similar fro-yo style treat by combining the blended fruits with a little yogurt. Either blend it fully or swirl the yogurt in for a marble effect.
Full fat coconut milk and yogurt, Greek or plain, will result in a creamy fruity popsicle. It may remind you of a creamsicle! Both, especially the yogurt, will add tartness and tang to the flavor. You may want to add some extra sweetness in this case.
How to Make Healthy Popsicles
The hardest part of this 2 step recipe is waiting for them to freeze, but they are worth the wait!
Blend Ingredients
Start by picking the best fruit. Using seasonal fruit will not only taste better but is more budget friendly. You want ripe, sweet, juicy fruit that smells as sweet as it looks.
Go ahead and do a little taste test along the way. Test your fruit because there’s nothing worse than looking forward to enjoying a popsicle that tastes off!
There’s no need to add any additional liquids unless you want to add juice or yogurt. This homemade popsicles recipe doesn’t need it. There is enough water from the fruit itself to blend nicely.
In a powerful blender, blend all ingredients until very smooth.
Some fruit has seeds, like strawberries, raspberries, etc. If you want to remove as many of them as you can, strain the purée through a fine mesh sieve, a nut milk bag, or cheesecloth before adding them to the molds.
The pulp of the fruit is what gives the purée its body and flavor. If you strain it you’ll be using more of the thinner juice. In this case, you may need to supplement it with a little added juice.
Pour Mixture into Popsicle Molds and Freeze
Pour into 6 popsicle molds and freeze for 3 to 4 hours. If I know we won’t be eating them right away, I will make them the night before and then freeze them overnight. That way there is no waiting.
When you add the popsicle sticks to the mold, the level of the popsicle mixture will rise. If you fill them all the way to the brim, you’ll notice some spill over. To avoid this, fill to just below the brim.
Make a couple of batches at a time. If you have kids that can’t decide on just one flavor, make a few different ones to have on hand. Keeping cool all summer just got a lot more fun!
Release from Molds
To remove the popsicle from the mold, hold it under hot running water for a few seconds. Plastic molds need more time under the water than stainless steel molds do.
As you’re gently turning the molds over onto the side under the water, carefully turn twist, and turn the popsicle stick handle to loosen it a bit.
Store
Keep in the freezer! Unless of course, you want to turn them back into a smoothie!
You can keep them in the molds if you choose, but then you’re holding your mold hostage until they’re all empty.
What you can do is release them from the molds, flash freeze them solid on a baking sheet and then transfer them to a freezer bag for up to 3 months. That way you can just take one out at a time when you want one.
Now your molds are free again to try a completely new flavor!
FAQs
They’ll last for up to 3-4 months in the freezer.
The fastest and easiest way to do this is by using a good quality high speed blender, like the Blendtec or Vitamix.
If you don’t have one, you could also try straining the mixture once it has been blended.
Yeah, you can! Grab some of your kids’ plastic cups and place them onto a baking sheet. Pour popsicle mixture into each cup, leaving a bit of space at the top.
Cover each cup with a sheet of foil and cut a slit into each one, just enough for a popsicle stick to fit in. Place a popsicle stick into each one and transfer everything to the freezer overnight.
Sure you can. Honey, agave, stevia, maple syrup, or your sweetener of choice can be added to your popsicles. The intensity of the flavor will decrease as it freezes. This also goes for the level of sweetness.
If you’re trying to make a sweet popsicle, I would add a bit more of the added sweetness than you normally would. You’ll need more to have the same level of sweetness as you would if it were not frozen.
More Healthy Cold Desserts You’ll Love
- Vegan vanilla ice cream
- Healthy chocolate ice cream
- Coconut mango ice cream
- Healthy iced coffee
- Healthy frappuccino
- Banana snickers
Healthy Homemade Popsicles with Real Fruit
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups any fresh fruit or berries ripe and sweet
- 12 large mint leaves
Instructions
- In a powerful blender, blend fruit and mint leaves until very smooth. Pour into 6 popsicle molds and freeze for 3 – 4 hours.
- To remove popsicle from the mold, hold it under hot running water for a few seconds (plastic needs more time than stainless steel to come off).
Notes
- Store: Freeze for up to 3 – 4 months.
- To make 3 kinds (2 each) of popsicles, I used heaping 1 1/4 cups of 3 kinds of fruit.
Great ideas! I hadn’t thought of coconut milk. Thank you!
Glad to hear, enjoy!
Banana, orange, pineapple combo!
A lot of mint. Do you use mint in all the flavors? I’m not a mint person.
Don’t add it then.
dilecieuse
can you use frozen strawberries?
If you thaw them first and then blend.
These popsicles are so easy to make! Tasty too!
How genius is this idea! I love the whole stainless steel set and would love to get one for myself. I would make a strawberry mango pop! I’m sure the flavor ideas are endless especially in the summertime. Thanks for sharing with us Olena!