Bring me all your best popsicle recipes.

July 9, 2015 8:11 AM

I have shiny new popsicle molds. I wish to spend the rest of the summer making all sorts of tasty frozen treats. I'm sure there is going to be a certain amount of "throwing some fruit and juice together willy-nilly and seeing what happens", and we have a paleta-making friend we will consult for his advice, but I'm appealing to the hive mind for recipes or ideas. What unusual flavor combinations might we not think of? What awesome recipes can you send my way? Help me have the tastiest summer ever.

(Yes, we've done this before, but not in a while. I'm saving lots of good ideas from those threads, but maybe we have new people and/or new recipes since then?)

posted by Stacey to Food & Drink (27 answers total)

My basic approach is to make a fruit smoothie and then freeze it in the popsicle molds. Very basic:

1 banana, 1 bag frozen strawberries (mostly thawed), blend with immersion/wand blender, spoon into molds.

Also have done 1 banana and one bag frozen blueberries.

These are awesome.

I've also added a bit of rice milk and that's been good too (I use unsweetened rice milk).
posted by amtho at 8:17 AM on July 9, 2015

Korean black sesame soy milk makes a tasty, if unusual looking, binder. On its own, it makes for a charcoal-grey ice lolly. Perfect for that health-goth look.
posted by scruss at 8:17 AM on July 9, 2015 [9 favorites]

Include yogurt, basil, fruits. Oh I also heard about thai iced tea popsicles; they sound good.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 8:21 AM on July 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Watermelon and lime is my favorite. Popsicles don't really need recipes per se; my popsicle molds holds 4 oz and I have 6, so I know I want to end up with about 3 cups of liquid when all is said and done. I typically just taste as I go (though it's harder for the brain to taste sweet in cold so I always add just a pinch more sugar than I think I need).

I also like making yogurt popsicles with half yogurt, half fruit, and milk. Again the ratios depend on your own preference, plus what your blender can handle.

I also like what I call whole-fruit popsicles, where you use small whole fruits or cut larger fruit into decent sized chunks, fill up the molds and add fruit juice.

Honestly though, like smoothies, it really is just throwing stuff together. I love me recipes hardcore but they aren't that useful for this kind of thing.
posted by Aranquis at 8:22 AM on July 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Mark Bittman is my popsicle guru. I have made the strawberry-basil ones, which were delicious. Extra credit: some of these have booze.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:24 AM on July 9, 2015 [4 favorites]

I've heard good things about these Smitten Kitchen "breakfast" popsicles.
posted by telegraph at 8:24 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

A friend made a smoothie (or a slushee) the other day with mashed fresh peaches, coconut water, and a little sugar - it was awesome and I bet it would be great as a popsicle.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:25 AM on July 9, 2015

Some of our favorites around here:

Banana/yogurt/ovaltine powder
Banana/yogurt/peanut butter/honey
Apricots/yogurt/honey
Pineapple tidbits/coconut cream
Fresh cherries/yogurt/ovaltine powder
Strawberries/frozen raspberries/spoonful of sugar
Peaches/fresh grated ginger/yogurt/honey
Mango/yogurt/honey

You are probably sensing a theme of fruit/yogurt/honey, and I'm not gonna deny it. It's really good. It's also a good way to get some protein into my carbivore children, especially using Greek yogurt. And a good way to use up those fruits that are maybe getting a little overripe for eating out of hand.
posted by fancyoats at 8:28 AM on July 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Those breakfast popsicles up there are great. I've also made her strawberry, lime and black pepper popsicles, which were a hit with the tart flavor lovers.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:37 AM on July 9, 2015

Sangria Ice Pops
Strawberry Mojito Ice Pops
Pimmsicles
Avocado Ice Pops
Mango Lassi Ice Pops
posted by melissasaurus at 8:51 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Pudding pops! We sometimes just stick a popsicle stick into a little pudding cup and put it in the freezer. Kind of ghetto but it's really good, with a nice soft-firm texture.
posted by pocams at 9:14 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Any kind of fruit + yogurt is heavenly to me.
posted by easter queen at 9:19 AM on July 9, 2015

Make the herb syrup. In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups water with 1 cup sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. When the syrup starts to bubble, turn off the heat and throw in a big handful of any herb, rinsed. Cover, remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer the syrup to the fridge and chill until you’re ready to use it.

I use this method of making herb syrups all the time; the original intention is for cocktails, but they work equally well in iced tea, smoothies, and yes, popsicles.

Don't underestimate how much using unrefined sugar (not just turbinado, but piloncillo or panela) can influence the taste of a syrup. Like, in a good way.
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:19 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I can't find the recipe right now. For a friend's birthday a couple of years ago I made a yogourt and lemongrass lolly with wild blueberries in it. They were delicious.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:29 AM on July 9, 2015

I've been obsessed with coconut milk in my popsicles lately. I made some really good ones with coconut milk, lime juice, and basil but I can't seem to find the recipe.

I've also been making this blueberry smoothie with coconut milk instead of almond milk for breakfast, and then freezing the leftovers as popsicles.
posted by Squeak Attack at 9:46 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Orange juice
Cream with about 1T sugar and 1 t vanilla per cup of cream

Put some OJ in the molds (about 1/3 of the mold) and freeze
Put in the cream mix on top of the OJ (another 1/3 of the mold) and freeze
Top off with OJ

Tada! Creamsicles!
posted by plinth at 10:06 AM on July 9, 2015 [4 favorites]

Also, most sorbet recipes will work.
This coconut lime sorbet recipe is easy and very tasty.
posted by plinth at 10:07 AM on July 9, 2015

funky monkey - banana/peanut butter/cocoa powder/yoghurt/milk

very berry - berries/yoghurt/fruit punch snapple
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:36 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: There's a great book called People's Pops, put out by a Brooklyn Pop shop by the same name, which has some delicious recipes. There is a "cooking from" thread on Chowhound which has reviews and recipe links you might enjoy.

I've had some very good treats made from Paletas cookbook.
posted by cat_link at 11:06 AM on July 9, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I'll second the recommendation for that Paletas book. My family has enjoyed the blackberry, strawberry, and watermelon pops from that book, but the favorite most-requested paleta recipe is this one for key lime pie popsicles. I probably make this one twice a month, year-round. I usually don't bother with rolling the finished popsicles in the crushed graham crackers, just because my kids don't care about graham crackers that much and it's honestly less messy to eat them sans crumbs. They are HEAVEN, especially as a dessert after a seafood dinner or Mexican food. Taste just like key lime pie.
posted by little mouth at 12:14 PM on July 9, 2015

Best answer: A frozen Arnold Palmer (half tea/half lemonade) is super refreshing. You could add booze to, if that's of interest (limoncello is lovely).
posted by librarianamy at 12:23 PM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Monkey bars!!!

In a large bowl, combine soft/about to rot bananas with almond butter. Put into popsicle molds and freeze.

When they are frozen, put a bunch of chocolate chips and a little coconut oil in a mason jar, microwave until chocolate is melted (doesn't take that long! do 15-30 seconds at a time!), stir chocolate, dip banana/almond bars in melted chocolate.

Wait until chocolate hardens and then eat.

You can just keep the chocolate in the jar, lid on, all summer and melt it when you need to.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 1:40 PM on July 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: My one complaint about popsicle recipes is that they can tend to be too icy, and lack that great texture you get with commercial popsicles. The best way I've found to achieve this is to make a syrup out of whichever juice you feel like using by simmering it with sugar until it reduces and thickens. Yes, of course this is unhealthy, but these are popsicles, not health bars.

If you use a nice quality juice to start with, even a single flavor (like orange) can be amazing. Even better is to boil the fresh fruit juice along with its rind, which works especially well with limes. I made some pretty spectacular ginger-lime popsicles a few years back by juicing a few limes and boiling the rinds in the juice along with some water, chunks of ginger, and enough sugar for the whole thing to turn into a syrup (which, er, is a lot). Oh, I bet you could even add some small chunks of candied ginger to the popsicle molds if you really wanted to be ridiculous. I'll have to try that...

Of all the popsicles I've made, my favorites were the coffee pops:

Brew a very strong, black coffee. Add a decent amount of condensed milk until it's thicker than normal coffee. You might want to play around until you find a ratio that works best for your tastes. Freeze that, and you will have the most delicious popsicles. They're a huge hit every time I make them.
posted by teponaztli at 2:56 PM on July 9, 2015 [5 favorites]

A friend of mine made alcoholic popsicles last summer and the ones that really stuck in my head were the ones that had basil in them. I think they were basil and strawberry? But basil is unexpectedly awesome with refreshing tasty sweet things. You can also look at frozen cocktail recipes for inspiration-- I bet some of the combinations in artisinal daiquiris or margaritas would work great.

I make sorbet sometimes and really like pineapple/cherry.
posted by NoraReed at 5:12 PM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Use double the unflavored gelatin recommended for jello. Makes the resultant popsicles chewy and rubbery without needing sugar to soften the ice.
posted by benzenedream at 12:34 AM on July 11, 2015 [4 favorites]

All via Vitamix:

1. Watermelon + lime zest + mint

2. Blueberries + white grapes + cinnamon

3. Pineapple + apple + ginger
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:00 PM on July 17, 2015

I have not made these lime margarita popsicles personally, but I have eaten ones made by someone else, and they are really really good.
posted by booksherpa at 11:48 AM on July 20, 2015