Healthy Fruit and Veggie Popsicles for Kids

These healthy fruit and veggie popsicles for kids will be a fast favorite. Sweet fruity flavors will refresh your family on hot days with an added veggie bonus no one will even notice! These are the perfect healthy treat for the whole family.

One snack that my boys never turn down is popsicles! I love giving them treats that I know they are going to enjoy. However, just because my kids like something, doesn’t mean it’s good for them. 

This summer I was gifted popsicle molds from a friend who was doing some spring cleaning. I make SO MUCH of our food from scratch, but never thought much about healthy homemade popsicles! 

I’m so glad that she gave us that jumpstart with gifting us the popsicle molds because the possibilities for flavors and combinations are endless. 

Why Should I Make Homemade Healthy Popsicles for my Kids?

Store bought popsicles (like the frozen pouch ones) have artificial ingredients and lots of added sugar that I’m not thrilled about.

They can contain high fructose corn syrup and artificial dye to name just a few. It may seem like a daunting task to begin making something you normally buy homemade, but the hardest part is just waiting for the popsicles to freeze!

I’m much more willing to give my kids a frozen treat now that I know exactly what simple ingredients are in them.

As an added bonus, I don’t have to plan for the sugar high the store-bought ones always brought with them! 

These homemade fruit popsicles contain real fruit and fruit juice as well as zucchini from our garden! Not only are they enjoying a delicious frozen dessert, but they’re a great way to get my kids eating a fruit AND vegetable with every bite. 

What do I Need to Make Healthy Fruit and Veggie Popsicles?

What you need for these popsicles is super simple:

• Banana
• Canned Pineapple Zucchini
• Blender
• Popsicle molds

That’s it! 

If you don’t have canned pineapple zucchini, you can sub in fresh zucchini and 100% pineapple juice. Use about 1 and 1/2 cup of chopped (peeled) zucchini and 1 and 1/2 cup of pineapple juice.

If the zucchini you are using is large, I’d also recommend scraping out the center with the seeds. The best texture/flavor is found in the outer, firmer part of the vegetable.

Taking the peels off also removes the green color from your popsicles. 

How to Make Fruit and Veggie Popsicles?

If you are using canned pineapple zucchini, add that to your blender first. 

(If you’d like to make the canned mock pineapple, I have a recipe for that here! )

If you are using fresh zucchini begin by peeling your vegetable and scraping out the seeds from the center. Cut the zucchini into 1/2 pieces and add to the blender. 

Add a peeled, halved banana to the blender, then add your pineapple juice. 

My blender has an ultra blend setting, but you just want to make sure that the entire base is smooth before adding to the popsicle moulds.

We’re essentially just making a fruit puree in this step.  

Pour the popsicle mixture into your popsicles molds.

Add your popsicle sticks to the molds.

After taking the pouring job for myself, my kids are eager to help with something, so I usually have them place these for me.

It’s a fun way to get them involved in cooking, even if it’s a small part!

My popsicle molds only have four, and telling two young boys under 5 that they have to wait until tomorrow to try their popsicles was hard for them.

Luckily, this recipe makes enough to fill 6 popsicle molds, so my boys could enjoy the leftover fruit and veggie mix as a smoothie while they wait.

Put the popsicles on a level surface in your freezer. We put ours in after dinner and they’re ready in the morning!

When you’re ready to take them out of the moulds, let them sit on the counter for a few minutes, or warm them under running water until they come out cleanly.

Enjoy!

Are There Other Variations of Healthy Fruit and Veggie Popsicles for Kids?

YES! If you ask me, the possibilities are endless. Choosing other favorite fruits is probably the easy part, but I know choosing other veggies to sneak in might be more challenging.

When choosing your veggies to turn into popsicles consider the flavors: a good level of sweetness, or mild flavor vs tangy or bitter.

A tomato might not be the best choice since it’s so acidic and something like cabbage will probably impart a strong, bitter flavor.

However, something like carrot works well! Think about how much we all love carrot cake. Pumpkin would be a great choice as well. Plus, we all know kale is a famous smoothie add-in!

You could also use zucchini in many recipes alongside a change up in the fruit.

Berries hide other veggie flavors well because they are tart and sweet, and the color is strong. Banana is a good addition for a creamier popsicle, but the flavor isn’t always strong enough to make the popsicles very fruity on their own.

If you want to make smoothie pops, blend your fresh fruit and veggies with coconut milk, greek yogurt, or this raw milk yogurt to change it up.

Most importantly, get your kids involved and have fun! You never know how many veggies your kiddos will be willing to love when they’re turned into a sweet frozen treat that they helped make!

Storing Homemade Popsicles

I find that once the popsicles are frozen, it’s best to remove them from the molds to store them in the freezer.

There are a few ways you can go about storing your healthy fruit popsicles depending on your preference.

• Individually wrap the popsicles in unbleached parchment paper
• Store in an air tight container, like a reusable silicone storage bag
• Ziplock freezer bags

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