Homemade Freeze Pops

Whether you called them Otter pops or freeze pops, nothing screamed summer like opening up your freezer and seeing packs of those multicolored ice pops!

These homemade freeze pops bring back that nostalgia, but they leave out artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives.

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These homemade freeze pops are super easy to make, and each starts with just four ingredients: frozen fruit, lemon or lime juice, honey, and water. We made strawberry lemonade, peach, mango, pineapple kiwi, blueberry, and dragonfruit raspberry, but any frozen fruit will work!

These are perfect to stock your fridge with this summer, and they're sure to disappear quickly!

If you're looking for a more traditional popsicle, check out our Easy Homemade Mango Popsicles or these Watermelon Berry Popsicles.

Jump to:

• Homemade Freeze Pop Ingredients
• How to Make this Homemade Freezer Pops Recipe
• Substitutions and Variations
• What to Serve with Homemade Freeze Pops
• Equipment
• Storage
• Tips and FAQ
• Top tip
• More summer popsicle recipes
• Reviews

Homemade Freeze Pop Ingredients

For the freeze pops

• Frozen fruit: you can freeze fresh fruit or buy it bagged at the grocery store. We used strawberries, peaches, mango, kiwi, pineapple, blueberries and dragonfruit, but have also experimented with watermelon, cherry, and others. Be sure to let the fruit thaw out a bit on the counter, or microwave it for 30 seconds before blending.
• Lime or lemon juice: we used lemon or lime juice depending on the flavor of pop. Freshly squeezed is always best! These lemon and lime juicers really come in handy when you're squeezing large quantities of juice at a time. We use them almost daily!
• Honey: we like the taste of honey, but it can be a bit overpowering. You can use agave instead, or you can leave it out entirely if you're looking to cut down on sugar and have no issues with a fairly tart popsicle.
• Water: water ensures the pops have that delightful crushed ice style consistency. If you leave the water out, you'll likely have trouble blending everything together as well.
• Mint: we used this for color in our kiwi-pineapple popsicles. It's optional, but we really love how refreshing it tastes, and it quickly became one of our favorite flavors!

How to Make this Homemade Freezer Pops Recipe

STEP 1: Thaw fruit out on the counter for 30 minutes, or microwave for 30 seconds. Add fruit to a blender with water, lemon or lime juice, and honey/agave. Blend until smooth.

STEP 2: Pour into plastic sleeves or reusable silicone ones, using a funnel to make things easier. Freeze for 8 hours, or overnight, and enjoy!

Substitutions and Variations

Frozen fruit: you can also use fresh fruit, but that involves a bit more preparation (peeling, cutting, and then freezing), so we used frozen fruit. If you do use fresh fruit, freeze the fruit spread out an a tray, then transfer to a container so the fruit doesn't stick together in a clump.

Types of fruit: feel free to use your favorites, just keep the ratio the same: 2 cups of fruit, ½ cup of water, 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice, and 2 tablespoons of sweetener. A few other types of fruit you could use: cherry, watermelon, blackberry, cranberries, grapes, apple and more.

What to Serve with Homemade Freeze Pops

These are the perfect palate cleaning dessert for a summer dinner, like these Mediterranean Grilled Tofu or this super easy Melon and Prosciutto Salad.

Equipment

• Disposable Ice Pop Bags: We used disposable for this post to show off the colors and flavors, but there are also several reusable options available.
• Reusable Silicone Ice Pop Bags: They come in multiple colors, so you can coordinate the color & flavor so you always know what you're getting.
• Funnel: We use a collapsable silicone funnel that's super easy to use and store!
• Lemon & lime juicer: These are totally optional but we use them ALL the time!
• Blender: You'll definitely need a blender for this recipe – this is the one we use.

Storage

Once these are frozen, you can keep them in the freezer almost indefinitely, but we doubt they'll make it more than a couple days once your friends and family get their hands on them.

Tips and FAQ

More tips

• Be sure to use a funnel when filling up the popsicle sleeves, otherwise this will get very messy very quickly!
• If you're not comfortable using plastic, you can purchase reusable popsicle sleeves.
• Try not to smush the popsicles too much in the freezer - if they freeze with lots of kinks and bends, they won't come out of the sleeve smoothly and just won't be as fun to eat.

More summer popsicle recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

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