Three striped juice pops stacked on top of each other.

Bet you sas these stunning striped juice pops, clicked on the image, didn’t even bother reading the headnote, and rushed straight to the recipe so you could jot down the ingredients to grab from the store…and then you saw beet and carrot juice and thought “What the…?!” We know. Hold on a sec. Let us explain. We swear that what really comes through is the innate sweetness of the root vegetables in marvelous harmony with watermelon and apples rather than any lingering vegetal-ness. Truly. What results is magnificently sweet, unconscionably healthful, and altogether lovely. No one will ever know there’s vegetables as long as you don’t say anything. It can be our little secret.–Renee Schettler Rossi

  Striped Juice Pops Recipe Striped Juice Pops Recipe

Three striped juice pops stacked on top of each other.

Striped Juice Pops

5 from 1 vote
Magnificently sweet, outrageously vibrant, unconscionably healthful, and altogether lovely. That's what we think of these juice pops. Dare you to guess the ingredients.
CourseSnacks
CuisineAmerican
Servings6 servings
Calories85 kcal
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 30 minutes

Equipment

  • Ice pop molds or small Dixie cups, popsicle sticks

Ingredients 

For the watermelon-beet juice

  • 1 1/2 pounds watermelon (in case you take a ruler to the store, this equates to a rind-on wedge about 5 inches by 4 inches), preferably seedless
  • 2 tablespoons red beet juice
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons agave nectar (preferably light, not dark, agave) or runny honey

For the carrot-apple juice

  • 1 cup carrot juice
  • 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons agave nectar (preferably light, not dark, agave) or runny honey

Instructions 

  • To make the juice pops, cut the watermelon flesh from the rind and roughly chop it, removing any seeds. Place it in a blender and process until liquefied. Pour the watermelon mush through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl, pressing the pulp with a flexible spatula to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the solids. You should have about 1 cup of watermelon juice. Stir in the beet juice, lime juice, and agave or honey.
  • In another bowl, stir together the carrot juice, apple juice, lime juice, and agave or honey.
  • Pour the watermelon mixture into a measuring cup and fill each popsicle mold about a quarter full. Insert sticks and freeze until set, about 30 minutes.
  • Fill each mold another quarter of the way full with the carrot juice mixture. Return to the freezer and freeze until set, 30 to 45 minutes.
  • Repeat once more with each juice mixture to make 4 layers total. Freeze until firm, at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
  • To unmold the pops, run hot water over the outsides of the molds for a few seconds, then gently tug on the sticks.
Perfect Pops Cookbook

Adapted From

Perfect Pops

Buy On Amazon

Nutrition

Serving: 1 popCalories: 85 kcalCarbohydrates: 21 gProtein: 1 gFat: 1 gSaturated Fat: 1 gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1 gMonounsaturated Fat: 1 gSodium: 32 mgPotassium: 291 mgFiber: 1 gSugar: 16 gVitamin A: 8174 IUVitamin C: 16 mgCalcium: 21 mgIron: 1 mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe?Mention @leitesculinaria or tag #leitesculinaria!
Recipe © 2011 Charity Ferreira. Photos © 2011 Leigh Beisch. All rights reserved.

Recipe Testers’ Reviews

These pops are absolutely inspired, and I am in awe. The flavor is balanced and rich, sweet-tart, a little mineraly, and so cooling to your core. I normally drink juice in the morning, but since the temperature was above 80 degrees twice this week when I awoke, I ditched the glass and enjoyed a pop while I walked the dog. Heaven! Kids will equally enjoy this recipe. If they (or you) need a little extra sweetness to get over the slight carrot essence, swap the lime juice for 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in each of the prepared juice mixtures. This should enhance the sweetness of the fruits and veggies better than the lime, without making them too tart. When adding the sticks, wait until the second layer is almost frozen, otherwise the sticks will not stand up straight — plus, inserting them so deeply into the first layer doesn’t leave much to hold on to. While working, keep the juices refrigerated. This prevents too much melting of the previously frozen layers when building the pops.

These sounded way too healthy, but they turned out to be really tasty. Perfect for summer. The striping is a little fiddly, but either the watermelon or the carrot mixtures would be good for a single-flavor ice pop. It only took about a cup and a half of watermelon to make one cup of juice. This easy recipe is fun for kids to make and eat.

Originally published August 17, 2017




About David Leite

David Leite has received three James Beard Awards for his writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and more.


Hungry For More?

Pumpkin Meringue Pie Ice Cream

A cool, creamy version of our favorite pie. Pumpkin ice cream with chunks of crunchy crust and, get this, swirls of marshmallowy meringue.

8 hrs

Apple Sorbet with Ginger

Pretty in pink is this lovely sorbet, thanks to the inclusion of the entire apple, blush red peel included, as well as a little Geürztraminer for sweet sophistication.

4 hrs 45 mins

New York Super Fudge Chunk

Ben & Jerry, we love you and we always will. But we make our own Super Fudge Chunk now that’s even more riddled with chunks of all sorts of super fudge-y spectacularness.

1 hr


Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




6 Comments

  1. If someone could tell me where those particular popsicle molds came from it would be much appreciated.

  2. 5 stars
    Brilliant. I love both beets and carrots for their sweetness and how it plays off creamy-salty salad dressings/dips or just plain sour cream. But I’d never have thought of this. The recipe is going in my hot weather folder today. Love it!