Watermelon Popsicles

Creamy Watermelon Popsicles with Greek yogurt are refreshing yogurt popsicles made with fresh watermelon. Only 4 ingredients required for this hydrating and healthy summer treat!

The hardest part about cooking for two is being forced to buy a lot of one ingredient when you only need a small amount.

Take watermelon, for example. When you buy a watermelon, you end up with a lot of watermelon. A lot. Even the smallest one I found left me with watermelon for days.

And although I did snack on it, I needed to start making recipes with it, such as my watermelmon ice and watermelon slushie.

Otherwise, it would soon become wasted watermelon.

Because watermelon is essentially 92% water, I wanted to make something refreshing and cold.

I have my strawberry popsicles and pineapple popsicles, but I wanted something a little more creamier.

My first thought was ice cream, but heavy cream and watermelon don’t exactly go together. I’ve made watermelon ice cream before and it’s…fine. Also a little odd.

What if I paired it with Greek yogurt? It would still have that creaminess but won’t be as heavy as ice cream.

And that’s how these Watermelon Popsicles were born. Creamy refreshing Greek yogurt popsicles made with only 4 ingredients.

Of course making homemade popsicles means you need to plan ahead for freezing them overnight, but they are well worth the wait.

Plus since you have to freeze them anyway, that means using up your leftover watermelon without having to throw it away.

Ingredients For Watermelon Popsicles

You only need the following 4 ingredients for your watermelon pops!

• Watermelon: The star of your watermelon pops!
• Greek yogurt: Adds a bit of creaminess and tanginess
• Sugar: In addition to sweetener, sugar lowers the freezing point and reduces ice crystals, ensuring your popsicle is “soft” enough to bite into without hurting your teeth.
• Lemon juice: Adds brightness to your yogurt popsicles

How To Pick A Watermelon

Although you can buy packaged watermelon slices at the store, there’s no guarantee as to how fresh and juicy they’ll be. That’s why I opted for a whole watermelon.

Buy what’s best for your household. If you honestly won’t eat a whole melon, there’s no point in wasting your time, money, and fruit.

If you do decide to buy a whole watermelon, here’s how to pick the best watermelon:

First, it should be heavy to lift, even the small ones. Watermelons are 92 percent water. It should most definitely feel like it too.

Second, look for a yellow spot. This is called a sun spot and indicates that the watermelon has sat on the vine long enough to ripen.

Third, it should be symmetrical and free from cuts and bruises. If it’s oddly shaped, pick another melon.

How To Make Watermelon Popsicles

This watermelon popsicle recipe is SO quick and easy, it’ll take you longer to cut up the watermelon than to make the filling!

1. Blend together watermelon, Greek yogurt, sugar, and lemon juice until smooth.
2. Fill popsicle mold, secure the sticks, and freeze until firm.

When stored properly, watermelon pops can last up to 3 months in the freezer.

Line a baking tray with plastic wrap or wax paper then lay the unmolded pops on top. Freeze until firm again, about 30 minutes.

Wrap each pop in plastic wrap then place them in a freezer bag, squeezing out the extra air.

What Can I Use As A Popsicle Mold?

In order to make homemade popsicles, first you need a popsicle mold.

I went a little fancy with mine and bought this Norpro Frozen Ice Pop Maker from Amazon (affiliate link).

I personally love the fudgesicle shape to it, but really any popsicle mold will work.

However, you certainly don’t need to buy one, especially if you’re trying to save money or simply don’t have the room for one.

Buy some 3-5 ounce paper or plastic cups (often called Dixie cups), as you can see with my peach popsicles.

After filling the cups, wrap the tops in foil and make a small hole so you can hold the sticks in place.

Once frozen, you can cut away the cup to unmold the pops.

For the popsicle sticks, you can easily buy them from the craft section of most stores.

How To Unmold Popsicles

Now comes the fun (and perhaps the most challenging) part – unmolding your fresh batch of homemade Greek yogurt pops!

If using a plastic mold, fill a container deep enough for your mold with warm (not hot) water. Let the mold sit in the water for about 30 seconds then gently pull upwards to remove the pops.

If you get some resistance, let the mold sit in the water again for 30 second increments until loose.

Alternatively you can run the plastic part until warm running water, making sure you don’t accidentally get water into the top of your mold.

If using plastic or paper cups, you can use the same method as above. If you can’t pull them loose, you can cut away the cups.

What To Do With Leftover Watermelon

As I mentioned earlier, a whole watermelon for 1-2 people is a lot of fruit! However, with a little bit of planning you can easily use up the rest of the fruit in no time by making these other refreshing watermelon recipes:

• Sriracha Shrimp Tacos with Watermelon Salsa – A creative way to eat watermelon for dinner (and in case you get tired of making dessert)
• Margarita Popsicles – More watermelon popsicles but this time for adults only.
• Watermelon Sorbet Floats – A fun fruity twist on root beer floats.

First published July 3, 2014