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Home » Recipes » Desserts

Homemade Freeze Pops

Published: Jun 9, 2024 · Modified: Jun 9, 2024 by Lexi

10.7K shares
Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

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.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I may earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. Read our full affiliate disclosure here.

Overhead view of freeze pops surrounded by fruit.

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
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Reviews

Homemade Freeze Pop Ingredients

Overhead view of homemade freeze pop ingredients, including frozen fruit, limes and lemons, and honey.

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.

Overhead view of blended strawberries.
Overhead view of pineapple kiwi mixture.
Overhead view of peach popsicle mixture.

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!

Overhead view of unfrozen popsicles.
Popsicles after freezing.

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.

Close up view of green popsicle.

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.

Overhead view of frozen popsicles on a sheet pan.

Tips and FAQ

Top tip

Start with a little less than ½ a cup of water: you want to achieve the consistency of a slightly thinner smoothie. It should be pourable, but have a bit of viscosity.

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.
How long to popsicles take to freeze?

Homemade freezer pops should take about 8 hours to become completely frozen in the freezer.

More summer popsicle recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

  • Overhead of the finished lemon popsicles on top of ice.
    Lemon Popsicles
  • Overhead view of mango popsicles on a blue background.
    Easy Homemade Mango Popsicles
  • overhead view of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon yogurt popsicles on blue backdrop with fresh melon.
    Melon Yogurt Popsicles
  • overhead view of watermelon prosecco popsicles on pink backdrop with crushed ice and lime wedges.
    Watermelon Peach Prosecco Popsicles

Tried this recipe?

Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Facebook or by subscribing to our newsletter.

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📖 Recipe

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Overhead view of freeze pops surrounded by fruit.

Homemade Freeze Pops


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5 from 1 review

  • Author: Lexi
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4-5 popsicles per flavor 1x
  • Diet: Vegetarian
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Description

These homemade freeze pops will make you feel like a kid again, but they leave out artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives.


Ingredients

Units Scale

For each type of popsicle:

  • 2 cups frozen fruit, thawed for 30 minutes at room temperature or 30 seconds in the microwave
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons honey or agave
  • Mint leaves for color (for kiwi pineapple flavor)

Strawberry Lemonade (Red):

  • 2 cups frozen strawberries
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons honey

Mango (Yellow):

  • 2 cups frozen mango
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons agave

Peach (Orange):

  • 2 cups frozen peach
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons honey

Kiwi pineapple (Green):

  • 1 cup frozen kiwi
  • 1 cup frozen pineapple
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons agave
  • ¼ cup mint leaves

Blueberry (Purple):

  • 2 cups frozen blueberries
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons honey

Dragonfruit raspberry (Pink):

  • 1 cup frozen dragonfruit
  • 1 cup frozen raspberry
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons agave

Instructions

  1. Thaw frozen fruit for 3o minutes at room temperature or for 30 seconds in the microwave. Add to a blender with water, lemon or lime juice, and honey. Blend until smooth.
  2. Pour into popsicle sleeves, using a funnel so you don't make a mess. Move to the freezer and freeze until completely solid - about 8 hours or overnight.

Notes

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.

Be sure to use a funnel when filling up the popsicle sleeves, otherwise this will get very messy very quickly!

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.

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Category: Desserts
  • Method: Freezer
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 2 popsicles
  • Calories: 146
  • Sugar: 27.7 g
  • Sodium: 7.9 mg
  • Fat: 0.3 g
  • Carbohydrates: 38.9 g
  • Fiber: 4.7 g
  • Protein: 1.1 g

Did you make this recipe?

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Comments

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  1. Katrinna says

    July 12, 2024 at 10:57 pm

    Excellent recipe. I made some mixed fruit ones with lime juice that are excellent.

    Reply
  2. Israelle M says

    July 10, 2024 at 12:12 pm

    Hi there! If I don’t freeze them immediately, will they start to taste funny because of the lemon? I’m traveling with them a few hours away so I was thinking of blending and packing them, and freezing them the next day when we get to our destination. Thanks so much for this recipe!

    Reply
    • Brent Harrison says

      July 14, 2024 at 11:16 am

      Probably not, but if you could, I'd recommend freezing them first and putting them in a cooler if possible!

      Reply
      • Mel says

        April 24, 2025 at 11:31 am

        Do you have to freeze these immediately? Or, once made can they go in the refrigerator overnight and be placed in a freezer the next day?

      • Lexi says

        April 29, 2025 at 12:30 pm

        They should be frozen right away.

  3. Harshi Agrawal says

    June 27, 2024 at 7:34 am

    is frozen fruit a must or can we use fresh fruits? then why are we thawing frozen fruits?

    Reply
  4. Caroline says

    June 11, 2024 at 12:16 am

    How many pops does one fruit recipe make?

    Reply
    • Lexi says

      June 11, 2024 at 8:47 am

      One fruit will make 4-5 pops of this size!

      Reply
  5. Katrinna says

    June 10, 2024 at 1:44 pm

    This looks so good. How many pops does each batch make?

    Reply
    • Lexi says

      June 11, 2024 at 8:47 am

      Each batch makes 4-5 pops!

      Reply
Lexi and Beth toasting with wine.

Hi, we're Lexi and Beth, a mother-daughter team from Michigan. The recipes you'll find here are a reflection of how we bring our family together around the dinner table despite various dietary differences.

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