I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but my two daughters are obsessed with popsicles—they’d eat them every day if I let them. I’ve experimented with different homemade versions—including simply freezing orange or apple juice—but so far nothing has quite made the cut.
So when I came across these three healthy homemade ice cream ideas on Instagram, I had to try them. All were pretty quick, easy and required no-cooking but there was one clear winner.
1. High-protein chocolate Magnum
Created by online fitness coach Alfie Evans, this recipe was the quickest and easiest to make—it took two minutes to mix the ingredients in a bowl and shape them into individual ice creams. After they had been in the freezer for four hours they were dipped in melted chocolate (we used leftover Easter eggs!). Another 30 minutes in the freezer and they were ready to eat.
This recipe made two popsicles and we’ll definitely be making them again. My daughter thought it tasted too strongly of peanut butter, so we’ll probably use less next time, but overall, they were a hit.
2. Mango Magnum
I’m a sucker for anything mango flavored so when I saw this recipe by Shivesh Bhatia, I had high hopes. With just four ingredients, it was easy and quick to make—and we decided to substitute milk for coconut milk.
I didn’t have the right popsicle molds so I had the bright idea to repurpose an old Mini Moon ice cream tray (you can find the right type on Amazon).
I managed to make four mini popsicles and they were so delicious I didn’t think they even needed the chocolate coating—my daughter drank the leftovers like a smoothie!
The mixture of coconut milk and mango was superb, and would make a refreshing sorbet-type dessert on a warm night.
3. Fruit ice pops
These colorful, layered pops looked amazing in the video, but in practice, were trickier to make.
Created by Jovana Tomic Poepelt (aka Super Mini Eats), they’re made with just blended fruit and a teaspoon of coconut milk per layer. To get the rainbow effect, each fruit layer needs to be frozen before adding the next.
We didn’t have time (or freezer space) for that so we ended up pouring the layers on top of each other and hoped for the best. If you’re up for freezing each layer separately (a process that would take a few hours) you might get a more visually exciting result.
Even though we didn’t follow the method exactly, they were really tasty and I liked that there were minimal ingredients.
My favorite
My favorite of these three recipes was the healthy mango Magnum. Not only was it super easy to make with minimal ingredients, but it tasted delicious too. My daughter really enjoyed making it with me and can’t wait to make it with her friends next time they come over.
Shop ice cream molds
Set of two silicone molds with 50 wooden sticks.
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