How to Make Popsicles (Ice Pops) at Home

Making your own homemade popsicles is cheaper and healthier, plus it’s a great summer activity for kids. Homemade popsicles are a healthy snack that helps keep you and your kids cool while enjoying the outdoors. Since they’re packed with natural sugars from fruit, homemade popsicles are a great way to replace unhealthy desserts that have refined sugar and provide zero nutrients. There are a variety of ways to make delicious popsicles at home. Sure, you can pour some juice into popsicle molds and freeze them. But for better-than-store-bought homemade popsicles, keep reading to learn our tricks of the trade.

Fruit Smoothie Popsicles

These smoothie popsicles are rich and creamy. They’ll remind you of ice cream, but they’re actually healthy!

You’ll need:

• 1 ½ cup orange juice
• ¾ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 2 ½ cups frozen fruit of your choice (mango or berries like strawberries or blueberries are great!)
• Silicone popsicle molds

Instructions:

1. Use a blender to blend the orange juice, yogurt and half of the frozen fruit.
2. Once blended smooth, add the rest of the fruit and blend or pulse until you have small chunks. For an entirely smooth and creamy popsicle, you can skip the chunks and just puree everything until smooth.
3. Add to silicone popsicle molds and freeze.

Watermelon Mint Popsicles

These popsicles are minty fresh and blasted with watermelon and berry flavors. Perfect for hot summer days.

You’ll need:

• 3 cups watermelon chunks
• 1 Tablespoon fresh mint leaves
• 1 ½ cups coconut water
• 2 ½ cups blackberries
• 2 ½ cups mixed berry Greek yogurt
• Silicone popsicle molds

Instructions:

1. Blend all the ingredients until smooth
2. pour into silicone popsicle molds and freeze.

Rainbow Popsicles

This one is extra fun for the kids. It’s more work to puree the different layers of the rainbow separately, but what you get is a piece of art your kids will be proud to help create. It’s impossible to make these fun popsicles in the short-lengthed popsicle molds, but they work great in longer silicone popsicle molds like the ones from Sunsella.

You’ll need:

Red layer ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• water for blending (as needed)

Orange layer ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• ¾ cup frozen mango chunks
• 1 small orange, juiced

Yellow layer ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas
• ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• water for blending (as needed)

Green layer ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas
• ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• water for blending (as needed)

Blue layer ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas
• ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• water for blending (as needed)

Purple layer ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 cup frozen mixed berries
• water for blending (as needed)

Instructions:

1. Start with the red ingredients and blend until smooth. Start without adding water, and add water 1 tablespoon at a time if needed for the ingredients to blend.
2. Transfer the red mixture into a bowl or cup.
3. Rinse the blender and then repeat the whole process with each of the other colors.
4. To layer the rainbow popsicles, use a tablespoon to scoop a dollop of each mixture, red to purple, into the mold. It doesn’t have to be perfect, since the slight blending is what gives the popsicles a cool ombre effect.
5. Once all the molds have been filled with each color, pop them in the freezer to set and firm up.

Getting Started Making Popsicles at Home

Making homemade popsicles are a great way to introduce your kids to more fruits (and even vegetables) in a fun way. Once you have your molds, you can let the experimentation begin! You can mix ice cream with nuts to freeze an on-the-go snack, or you can freeze some of your favorite yogurt to eat on a hot day. Get creative! The recipes we gave you here only scratch the surface of what’s possible.