Sweet and tart with a subtle hint of basil, these Refined Sugar-Free Strawberry Citrus Popsicles are the perfect summer treat! Just boil the ingredients, blend, add to the popsicle forms, and freeze for 6 hours before serving. WFPB option available.
Place all of the ingredients in a medium pot over medium-high heat. After a few minutes, the strawberries will defrost and you can crush them with a potato masher.
(If you are following the whole-food variation of this recipe, you should remove the citrus membranes before blending.)
Using a hand blender, blend the ingredients until smooth.
Allow the mixture to cool for two to five minutes. Then pour into the popsicle molds.
Put the lids on the popsicle molds and place in the freezer. Freeze for at least 6 hours before enjoying.
To remove the popsicles from the mold you can defrost for a few minutes on the counter or run the molds under warm water. You might need to twist and wiggle the molds a little before the popsicles break free.
The popsicles will last several weeks in the freezer.
This recipe tastes great using either freeze or pre-squeezed juice. I've tried it both ways and I preferred the fresh juice slightly more, but both are delicious.
To make this recipe whole-food plant-based, you can use peeled citrus fruits. Just place the fruit flesh directly in the pot with the strawberries (this will keep all of the fiber intact). Remove the membranes before blending. The flavor is slightly less sweet--but I probably only noticed because I was trying them side-by-side with the batches made from juice. If you find them to be too bitter, try adding two pitted dried dates to the mixture before bringing to a boil.
If you are making the WFPB version of this recipe, try to avoid as much of the whites of the orange as possible, as these tend to be more bitter.
If you find the WFPB version still too bitter, try adding 1 or 2 dates to the mixture in step one.
I recommend using frozen strawberries over fresh because they are (generally) frozen at the peak of ripeness and the flavor intensifies in the freezing process. Plus, frozen strawberries are available year-round. That said, if you are the lucky owner of more ripe summer strawberries than you know what to do with, have at it.
Keyword fruit popsicles, healthy popsicles, strawberry popsicles, sugar free popsicles