How to Make Popsicles

Today we’re going to review how to make popsicles!

Homemade popsicles are super easy to do and what kid doesn’t love popsicles as a warm weather treat? Sure, you can buy them at the store, but you’re giving up control of the ingredients and you’re missing out on a ton of fun! We make lots of homemade fruit popsicles; it’s a great way to get your kids excited about working in the kitchen and creating their own recipes. So prepare for stickiness because we’re about to give you all the basics on how to make homemade popsicles. We’ll even show you one of our new favorites, honey lime ginger mango popsicles!

Before digging in, an important disclosure .

Finding the Best Popsicle Molds

We’re not talking complicated here, it’s a frozen treat on a stick. Still, how do you get that stick perfectly placed and frozen in the popsicle? Is that some sort of voodoo magic? Of course not! It’s actually super easy, you just need a great popsicle mold. Don’t worry, there are lots of options and we’ll help you find the best popsicle mold to fit your popsicle needs and we’ll share a few of the tricks we’ve learned through experimentation.

We have had a lot of success with these popsicle molds:

With this mold, you can make 10 popsicles at a time, which turns out to be a good number for a family of 5. It’s super easy to make the popsicles and we’ve found that the only trick is getting the popsicles out of the mold once they are frozen and ready to enjoy. Not to worry,  just take the popsicles out of the freezer, run hot water on the outside of the popsicle you are pulling out for about 10 seconds, and then gently pull.  Pops right out! Remove as many as you need and put the rest back in the freezer.

Craft sticks make great popsicle sticks

We lost the sticks that come with the above mold, but luckily we had a ton of leftover craft sticks from a kid’s craft project. That’s all you need, craft sticks make great popsicle sticks so we just tend to buy craft sticks in bulk.

More popsicle mold options

If you are looking for an individual, stickless popsicle molds, or a mold that you could even send in a lunch box, these silicon molds are our favorite:

I usually stick the tubes in a mason jar (or something else to hold it upright), fill, then freeze them.  Kids love the different colors to choose from and Mom loves that they are super easy to clean and that I don’t find sticky popsicle sticks all over the place.

I wish we had discovered these baby/toddler popsicle molds  when we had really little kids because I’m guessing they would have been pretty popular and made feeding new veggies way more fun. We’re always looking for new creative ways to make veggies, fruit, and healthier options more enticing.

Finding Popsicle Recipes

If you can get it into a liquid form that you can then freeze, then you can turn into a popsicle! Granted, a dirt and rain water popsicle might go over less well than something with a fruit base so choose your ingredients accordingly. But  acquiring a great popsicle mold was definitely the tough part (even though it was super easy),  so now you’re on to the fun part.

First, an internet search will yield you about a bazillion popsicle recipes. Here are 10 homemade popsicles from Real Simple. And 33 more cool popsicles from Buzzfeed. You get the idea? You have no excuses.

Second, if you’re adventurous and love fun, an even better approach is to come up with your own popsicle recipes. Let your kids name some flavors as a starting point and that’s a great way to get them interested and involved in the process. Any way you can get your kids engaged, you up the learning potential. And who doesn’t want their own tribe of young chefs? We’re starting them on popsicles, but soon I’m sure they’ll be serving me Eggs Benedict as I spend a lazy morning in bed….right? 🙂

One of our favorite popsicle recipes

The past couple years in the spring we’ve discovered that it’s ataulfo mango season.  We end up buying them by the case, making tons of mango salsa, testing out some new recipes, eating a ton, and then stocking the freezer.  And mangoes became a key ingredient in one of our favorite popsicle recipes.

But first, let me share a few mango peeling tricks. Since we were regularly faced with many mangoes to chop, we did a little research on the best way to peel mangoes.

Peeling Mangoes

I think the most popular method is to cut the two sides of the mango off with the skin on, then score the flesh and remove it from the skin.  But you can also use a y -type peeler, like the  popular method  in this post.  I prefer using a small paring knife and this second method of cutting up mangoes.

Popsicles Make a Great Healthy Dessert

My kids are always asking for dessert.  Usually, before we are even done eating dinner!  I’ve found that having the freezer stocked with healthy, homemade popsicles is a good way to satisfy their dessert craving while keeping it healthy.  These are also a perfect treat that keeps them hydrated on those hot days when they are outside biking and running around all day.

The dressing from this salad inspired our mango popsicles.  I think the combination of mango, lime, honey, and ginger is pretty amazing.  Plus it’s a short list of healthy ingredients.  If you are worried the ginger will be too “spicy”, I think the amount could be cut back, my kids ended up liking it, but the first taste was a shock.  Honestly, I think kids like any time of fruity popsicle, so it’s hard to go wrong.

I have even frozen orange juice and it’s a hit.  Basically, buy a few different molds, pour in some fruit juice or blend up some fruit with some lemonade and there you go.  If you are looking for a popsicle a little more filling or with some veggies, we have poured our berry spinach smoothies into popsicle molds and voila–breakfast popsicles for those mornings the kids want to get right outside to bike or play.

Our Honey Lime Ginger Mango popsicle recipe coming up below the cool pictures. Scroll down!