Quick and easy homemade strawberry popsicles are the best way to beat summer heat. A splash of lemon juice helps to balance the sweetness in these bright red treats.
Strawberry Popsicles
A cool, icy snack on a hot day provides welcome relief, but many treats contain ingredients you don’t want to eat—and some you don’t recognize. Simple, sweet pops like these homemade strawberry popsicles contain only fruit, sugar, lemon juice and water, and they couldn’t be easier to make. In fact, you don’t even need to go to the store for popsicle molds if you have small paper cups and food-safe wood popsicle sticks. These fruit treats blend up in a flash, so you can make them in the evening and let them freeze overnight for a delicious treat the next day.
Ingredients for Strawberry Popsicles
- Strawberries: You can use fresh or frozen berries that have been thawed. The berries should be unsweetened.
- Sugar: Sugar will help make the popsicles less like a block of ice, in addition to making the sweetness level more consistent.
- Lemon juice: This brightens the strawberry flavor and takes the edge off the sweetness. The pops will still be sweet, just not glaringly so.
- Freezer pop molds or paper cups and wood pop sticks: Make sure the wooden sticks are meant for popsicles and are food-safe. Don’t use random wood sticks from the craft store unless they’re specifically marked as usable with food.
Directions
Step 1: Make the puree
Put the strawberries, sugar, water and lemon juice in a blender, and puree the mixture until it’s smooth.
Step 2: Fill the molds and freeze
Pour the mixture into the freezer molds or cups. For molds, place the holders on top; for cups, cover the cups with a piece of foil and push the stick through a slit in the middle. Place them in the freezer, and let them freeze completely.
Step 3: Unmold the pops
When you’re ready to serve the popsicles, let them sit out for about five minutes. That will help loosen them so you can pull them out of the molds or cups more easily.
Strawberry Popsicle Variations
- Add diced strawberries: Try adding some diced strawberries to the pops before freezing. You can either place some at the bottom of the molds or cups for a layer of fruit at the top of the pop, or you can add some diced berries along with a little puree, freezing that for a short time, then adding another layer of diced fruit and puree on top, repeating as necessary until the molds/cups are filled. Store the puree in the refrigerator in the meantime. If you have extra strawberries after making these pops, here are some great ways to use fresh strawberries and our favorite strawberry desserts.
- Make a strawberry-lemonade version: Popsicle recipes can be made in any fruit flavor. Try the strawberry puree for one half of the popsicles and lemonade for the other. Pour the puree into the molds or cups, filling halfway. Freeze for 30 minutes or so, just enough to make the surface solid, then fill with lemonade and freeze completely.
How to Store Strawberry Popsicles
If you’re planning to eat the pops within a few days, keep them stored in the molds or cups until you’re ready to eat them. For longer storage, remove the pops from the molds or cups and wrap each tightly in plastic wrap. Place them in a freezer bag.
How long do strawberry popsicles last?
This frozen treat can stay in the freezer for up to three months.
Strawberry Popsicle Tips
Can you remove the strawberry seeds for this strawberry popsicle recipe?
After you blend the ingredients, push the puree through a mesh strainer with the back of a spoon to separate the seeds from the puree.
Is the lemon juice really necessary?
The lemon juice will help mellow out the sweetness a bit and give the strawberry flavor a little more emphasis. But if you don’t have lemon juice, you can try making these without it. The flavor will be a bit different, of course.
How do you make the sticks stop tilting when using cups and foil?
When cutting through the foil to make a hole for the popsicle stick, cut a small slit through the foil with the tip of a knife. Slowly push the stick through so the slit opens just enough to let the stick through without tearing. Using heavy-duty foil may help as well, as it’s stiffer than regular foil.
Strawberry Popsicles
Prep Time
10 min
Yield
about 6 popsicles
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 6 freezer pop molds or 8 paper cups (3 ounces each) and wooden pop sticks
Directions
- Place strawberries, water, sugar and lemon juice into blender; puree until smooth. Pour into molds or paper cups; top molds with holders. If using cups, top with foil and insert pop sticks through foil. Freeze until firm. To serve, let pops stand at room temperature 5 minutes before unmolding.
Nutrition Facts
1 popsicle: 51 calories, 0 fat (0 saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 1mg sodium, 13g carbohydrate (11g sugars, 1g fiber), 0 protein.
These quick and easy strawberry popsicles are the best way to beat summer heat. A splash of lemon juice helps to balance the sweetness in these bright red treats. —Taste of Home Test Kitchen, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Recipe Creator
