Healthy Popsicles with Fruit and Yogurt

These healthy popsicles are full of flavor and fun. They’re also full of healthy ingredients that make for a delicious snack on a hot day that will both refresh and recharge kids – or grown ups – when they eat them. Fruit and yogurt popsicles are always a big hit!

We do a lot of cooking, and we don’t always think about how healthy a recipe might be when we make it. We just think about the taste. However, there’s always room for delicious, healthy treats in our minds and in our bellies.

This summer, we wanted to switch things up and create a popsicle recipe that was absolutely delicious AND good for us. So we set out to create something that captured all the feels of the classic sweet frozen treat but that had actual health benefits, as well. What we came up with were these delicious fruit and yogurt popsicles! They’re easy and delicious. It doesn’t get better than that!

Finding our Frozen Way to These Healthy Popsicles

These delicious popsicles are packed with flavor and health benefits, to boot, which is a great combo. They’re the perfect treat on a hot day, but without the infention of frozen dairy products and a happy accident involving a boy and his drink in California, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy these delicious treats.

History of Ice Cream

It might seem odd to include a brief history of ice cream in a post about popsicles, but the addition of yogurt to this popsicle is reminescent of frozen yogurt, which was, of course, inspired by ice cream.

People have been freezing and sweetening liquids for centuries. Food historians know that Alexander the Great enjoyed eating snow and ice flavored with honey, for example. There are even references in the Bible to King Soloman enjoying iced drinks during harvest season. Roman Emperor, Nero Claudia Caesar often sent runners into the mountains for snow, which he would have flavored with fruits, juices, or a combination of the two.

Centuries later, Italian explorer Marco Polo brought a recipe back to his homeland that was akin to what we know as sherbet today. It was this recipe that food historians believe evolved into what we now know as ice cream sometime in the 16th century.

In 1660 ice cream finally became available to the general public. The Sicilian Procopio introduced a recipe that blended milk, cream, butter, and eggs at Cafe Procope, the first of its kind in paris.

History of Popsicles

While ice cream has been around for centuries, and its predecessors for even longer, popsicles have been around for far less time. 1895, in fact. And unlike other frozen treats, popsicles were a happy accident.

In 1895, a boy named Frank Epperson who lived in Oakland, California accidentally left a glass filled with water, powdered soda mix, and a wooden stir stick outside overnight. It was a cold night, and the mixture froze. 

The next day with Frank found it, he ran the glass under hot water and removed the frozen block with the wooden handle. After that first mistake, he knew he’d made something great and began making the pops for his friends. Later, after he’d grown up and started a family, he made them for his kids.

Epperson filed for a patent on his creation in 1923. For years, he’d called them Eppsicles, but his children demanded that the name be changed to Pop’s ‘sicles. It stuck, changed a bit over time, and today, we call these frozen treats popsicles. 

Epperson partnered with Joe Lowe Co., which allowed for broad distribution of popsicles, and they became an immediate hit, being popular treats at amusement parks, fairs, and the like. 

Fast forward to today, and there are more popsicle flavors, shapes, and varieties than you can shake a stick at, including our healthy popsicles with fruit and yogurt!

Healthy Popsicles

These healthy popsicles are full of fruit and Greek yogurt. They’re packed with vitamins, anti-oxidants, and a punch of protein, as well.

They refreshing, delicious, and healthy, and they come together in no time at all. In fact, the hardest part of this recipe will be waiting for the popsicles to freeze! They’re the perfect treat for everyone, especially kids. After all, the less sugar the better, when it comes to the kiddos. Am I right? Yes. Yes, I am.

Ingredients

Ingredient lists don’t get much simpler than this one. It only takes four ingredients to make these delicious popsicles. That’s it. Even better, all four of these ingredients are incredibly simple and can easily be found at your grocery store. Here’s what you’ll need.

• Orange juice
• Vanilla Greek yogurt
• Fruit
• Popsicle molds

That’s all there is to it! Simple ingredients that are easy to find.

Making the Popsicles

You’ll find the complete recipe with amounts at the end of this post, but I want to give you an overview of the recipe here so you can see just how easy it is to make. In fact, the overview is not much different than the recipe itself.

• Blend all ingredients until smooth.
• Pour into molds and freeze until firm.

Does it get any easier than that? No. Not at all. It takes five minutes of prep and five hours of freezing. The bulk of this recipe is just waiting! Throw them in the freezer and come back later for delicious, healthy popsicles.

Variations

This popsicle recipe is as versatile as it is easy to make. The base is simply fruit juice, fruit, and Greek yogurt. That means there’s an entire world of possiblities out there. There’s no end to what you can do.

Change the Juice

This recipe calls for orange juice, but you can use apple juice, grape juice, or pineapple juice for a different flavor.

Change the Fruit

All sorts of fruits will work very well in this recipe. Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries will all work incredibly well in this recipe. The best part is that they can be fresh or frozen.

Serving Healthy Popsicles

Serving this popsicles is as easy as making them. Simply pop them out of their molds and hand them to your family and friends. These delicious popsicles are perfect for any summer get-together from backyard barbecues to holidays like Labor Day, Memorial Day, and the 4th of July. They’re also equally perfect for a simple afternoon snack for no reason at all.

Serve these up at your next party, on the porch, or by the pool.

Storing the Healthy Popsicles

Again, easy is the world. These are posicles, so to store them, you simply leave them in the freezer. That’s all there is to it! These popsicles are good for a couple of months, so there’s no need to hurry to eat them. Although, you probably will!

FAQ

There really no tips or tricks to this recipe. These healthy popsicles are so easy that you absolutely can’t go wrong. Thish FAQ is really just to ensure that we’ve covered everything you migth possibly need to know.

Do I have to use Greek yogurt?
We recommend you use Greek yogurt. It has more protein and less sugar than other yogurts. It’s also thicker which helps create the texture of these healthy popsicles.

What fruits can I use in this recipe?
We recommend using berries. They work the best in this recipe. They also have a flavor that’s strong enough to give a great pop of fruity goodness to the recipe.

What kind of juice can I use?
You can use almost any fruit juice you like in this recipe. We love orange, pineapple, apple, and grape juices.

What kind of popsicle molds work best?
Any! Use a traditional popsicle shape or any of the fun shapes available on the market. They all work well.

Try These Healtlhy Popsicles This Summer

These healthy popsicles are made with fruit and Greek yogurt, and they’re packed with vitamins, anti-oxidants, protein, and – let’s not forget – flavor!

These popsicles are so easy, they come together in just five minutes, making them just about the easiest recipe you’ll ever make. Give these healthy popsicles a try, and I know you and your family will be enjoying them all summer long.

PIN IT!!

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