Looking for a healthy treat to cool down for a hot day? Watermelon popsicle is a refreshing treat made with healthy and natural ingredients.
Choose your watermelon, mix it with glutinous rice flour and lemon, and assemble it with a layer of kiwi and yogurt to complete that appealing watermelon look.
A Refreshing Fruity Popsicle For Summer
If you have read my other dessert recipes, you would know how much I enjoy making refreshing drinks and treats like Hand-Brewed Lychee Tea With Lemon, Mango Pomelo Sago Dessert 楊枝甘露, and Grass Jelly.
Whether you want something cold to hydrate or a fun activity to do with the kids, a watermelon popsicle is your go-to icy treat. It is incredibly easy to make with just a few simple steps, including blending, freezing, and decorating.
It is only the freezing step that takes time, but the rest of the steps are quick and effortless. This recipe calls for 3 main ingredients: fresh watermelon, glutinous rice flour, and lemon juice. For decoration and extra flavor, I added a layer of yogurt and green kiwi, and a few dots of chocolate to mimic the watermelon seeds.
I love that this recipe is healthy and natural since I used fresh fruits without adding sugar or food coloring. It is the perfect cold treat for a hot summer day that you can make with the family.
Plus, no waste here at Kitchen Misadventures! Rather than tossing out the watermelon rind, I repurpose it to create this sweet and satisfying Watermelon Rind Candy, ensuring that every part of the fruit is utilized to its fullest potential.
For more fruity recipes, check out these tasty treats:
- Tanghulu (Candied Fruit)
- Mango Mochi
- Thai Mango Sticky Rice Dessert
- Hong Kong Style Mango Pancakes
- Mango Pomelo Sago Dessert 楊枝甘露
- Pandan Coconut Jelly
- Strawberry Sandwiches
- Grass Jelly
- Pineapple Cake
- Snowflake Crisps
How To Choose The Right Watermelon
Choosing the best watermelon is the key to a great-tasting popsicle. Watermelons may look the same from the outside but are actually different from the inside. You want to go for ripe watermelon that is sweet and juicy.
Avoid unripe or overripe watermelon since the taste will be less appealing. Generally, the perfect watermelon should be round with a yellow spot and lots of webbing. If you have no clue on how to pick a good watermelon, here are several tips to try:
- Look at the physical appearance. Buy a watermelon that has a dark and dull appearance, is round with lots of webbing, and has a yellow spot. Avoid those that are shiny, oblong, have no webbing, and have a white spot.
- Carry the watermelon and see if it is heavy for its size. It should not feel too light.
- Tap or knock on the watermelon. It should have a deep, hollow sound. It should not sound solid or like a thud.
Picking And Customizing Your Ingredients
You don’t need to follow the exact ingredients I used. There are other flavoring ingredients to try to further enhance the taste and texture of your popsicle. Here are some ideas worth looking into:
- Fresh watermelon juice: I blended scoops of watermelon and made about 650g of watermelon juice. Strain the blended watermelon through a sieve to separate the juice from the flesh. You can use fresh whole watermelon, pre-cut watermelon slices, seedless watermelon, or store-bought watermelon juice. If you’re using a whole watermelon, you can blend additional juice and utilize any leftover juice to make watermelon mochi.
- Glutinous rice flour: I used glutinous rice flour to thicken the watermelon base. This makes the popsicle creamy in texture and not icy. It helps prevent the popsicles from becoming rock solid after freezing. You can replace this with other thickeners, such as cornstarch or potato starch.
- Lemon juice: Lemon juice adds a refreshing flavor boost. Its acidic taste brightens up the overall taste of the popsicle. Fresh lemon, store-bought lemon juice, or lemon concentrate are doable for the recipe. Aside from lemon juice, you can also use fresh lime juice and orange juice.
- Yogurt: After freezing the watermelon layer, a thin layer of yogurt is added on top to create the white inner layer of a fresh watermelon. Not only is this added for decoration purposes, but it lends an extra creamy and milky taste. You can use regular yogurt, soy yogurt, dairy-free yogurt, or coconut cream.
- Green kiwi juice: The final layer of the popsicle is the green kiwi. This creates the green skin of a fresh watermelon. Aside from fresh kiwi or store-bought kiwi juice, you can also use green grapes, melon, and greengage plums.
- For decoration purposes: If you want the watermelon base layer to have a deeper red color, add about 2 drops of red food coloring or natural food coloring, such as strawberry juice, beet juice, beet powder, and cherries. When the popsicle is fully frozen with all the layers, decorating it with dots of chocolate on the outside completes the look of a watermelon with black seeds.
- Optional flavoring ingredients:
- Adjust the sweetness: Make it sweeter with sweeteners, such as maple syrup, cane sugar, muscovado sugar, or coconut sugar.
- Incorporate more fruits: Create more fruit combinations by adding strawberries, mangoes, apples, and blueberries.
- Enhance the taste with herbs: Give the popsicles a lingering cooling effect with mint leaves. You can also make it sweet and slightly peppery with basil leaves. For something citrusy and minty, put in lemon balm.
- Make the base creamier: In this recipe, the watermelon juice is thickened with glutinous rice flour. However, you can make it even creamier by blending it with yogurt, coconut milk, coconut cream, and cashew cream.
Prepare These Tools And Ingredients
Here are the tools you need:
- Knife and chopping board
- Blending or food processor
- Strainer
- Pot or pan
- Whisk
- Popsicle mold
- Piping bag (for making the chocolate seeds decoration)
The ingredients to prepare are the following:
- 650g of watermelon juice
- 6g of glutinous rice flour
- 10g of lemon juice
- 2 drops of red food coloring (optional for a deeper red color)
- Yogurt
- Green kiwi juice
- Melted chocolate (for the seed decoration)
Follow These Detailed Instructions
Basically, you will make and freeze the 3 layers of the popsicle: the watermelon base, yogurt, and blended green kiwi. Once it is fully frozen, carefully remove it from the mold and decorate it with melted chocolate. Learn more about the steps by watching my step-by-step tutorial video on Instagram or TikTok.
- Chop the watermelon in half. Scoop out enough watermelon flesh to make 650g of watermelon juice.
- Blend the watermelon in a blender or food processor.
- Strain the juice from the watermelon bits directly into a pan using a strainer.
- If you haven’t strained the juice directly into a pan, transfer the watermelon juice to a pot or pan. Combine glutinous rice flour and lemon juice with the watermelon juice. Use a whisk to mix the mixture well.
- Optionally, add red food coloring if desired.
- Cook the mixture until it thickens slightly.
- Pour the watermelon mixture into popsicle molds, filling them up to about 80% of the mold.
- Freeze the popsicles overnight or until completely solid.
- Once the watermelon layer is frozen, add a layer of yogurt on top of each popsicle. Return them to the freezer and freeze for about half an hour until the yogurt layer solidifies.
- Blend the green kiwis. After the yogurt layer is solid, pour green kiwi juice on top to create the final layer. Do not overfill the last layer and make sure it does not touch the popsicle mold cover. In this way, it will be a lot easier to remove the popsicle from the mold.
- Freeze the popsicles for about 3 hours until fully set.
- When ready to serve, briefly dip the molds in water for about 10 seconds to loosen the popsicles. You can also run warm water on the popsicle molds to loosen it.
- Gently remove the popsicles from the molds and place them on a serving plate. You can try wiggling it slightly to loosen the popsicles from the mold.
- For a final decorative touch, melt your chosen chocolate and place it in a piping bag. Decorate the watermelon popsicles with dots of chocolate to create the seeds. Serve the watermelon popsicles right away and enjoy! These popsicles can last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Watermelon Popsicles Recipe (With Yogurt & Kiwi)
Ingredients
- 650 g of watermelon juice
- 6 g of glutinous rice flour
- 10 g of lemon juice
- 2 drops of red food coloring optional for a deeper red color
- Yogurt
- Green kiwi juice
- Melted chocolate for the seed decoration
Instructions
- Chop the watermelon in half. Scoop out enough watermelon flesh to make 650g of watermelon juice.
- Blend the watermelon in a blender or food processor.
- Strain the juice from the watermelon bits directly into a pan using a strainer.
- If you haven't strained the juice directly into a pan, transfer the watermelon juice to a pot or pan. Combine glutinous rice flour and lemon juice with the watermelon juice. Use a whisk to mix the mixture well.
- Optionally, add red food coloring if desired.
- Cook the mixture until it thickens slightly.
- Pour the watermelon mixture into popsicle molds, filling them up to about 80% of the mold.
- Freeze the popsicles overnight or until completely solid.
- Once the watermelon layer is frozen, add a layer of yogurt on top of each popsicle. Return them to the freezer and freeze for about half an hour until the yogurt layer solidifies.
- Blend the green kiwis. After the yogurt layer is solid, pour green kiwi juice on top to create the final layer. Do not overfill the last layer and make sure it does not touch the popsicle mold cover. In this way, it will be a lot easier to remove the popsicle from the mold.
- Freeze the popsicles for about 3 hours until fully set.
- When ready to serve, briefly dip the molds in water for about 10 seconds to loosen the popsicles. You can also run warm water on the popsicle molds to loosen it.
- Gently remove the popsicles from the molds and place them on a serving plate. You can try wiggling it slightly to loosen the popsicles from the mold.
- For a final decorative touch, melt your chosen chocolate and place it in a piping bag. Decorate the watermelon popsicles with dots of chocolate to create the seeds. Serve the watermelon popsicles right away and enjoy! These popsicles can last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
