Healthy Homemade Otter Pops
Try this healthy, real-fruit version of the super-popular Otter Pop that kids love to eat on hot summer days.
Why Make Your Own Otter Pops
One day earlier this summer I was at the store with my 4-year-old. She spotted a box of Otter Pops, and had never had one so she kept asking me about them. I decided to buy some as a hot summer day treat… little did I know I had opened Pandora’s box!
I don’t know if it was because she had never otter pops before, or if it was because they were so refreshing to her on a hot day, but she became obsessed! Every time she went outside she thought she needed an otter pop.
As a health-conscious parent, I don’t love this. Store-bought otter pops are basically just sugar and water… not exactly something we want our kids indulging in every single day. I started doing a little looking and found a company that makes otter pop packaging, called Zipzicles! So I ordered some, and we decided to make our own healthy otter pops.
What Containers Are Good for Homemade Otter Pops?
Zipsicles are a refillable otter pop container that’s BPA-free, and also recyclable! It’s basically a Zip-top bag that comes in a tall, skinny shape. It’s perfect because it’s so customizable. You can make whatever kind of healthy Otter Pop you want! They have tons of yummy and healthy recipes on their website. We made two different kinds (recipes at the bottom of the post!) and they both turned out great.
How to Make Healthy Otter Pops
To make these, all you need to do is combine your ingredients in a blender. Then use a funnel or some kind of narrow pitcher to pour your mixture into each bag, and freeze! We did find it was possible to fill the pouches straight from the blender using a steady hand. But if you want a zero-spills experience, a small funnel helps.
Here are some filling guidelines:
Each Zipzicle™ ice-pop bag holds 1/3 cup of liquid. Make one, or make a dozen.
- 1 c filling = 3 Zipzicle™ ice-pops
- 2 c filling = 6 Zipzicle™ ice-pops
- 3 c filling = 9 Zipzicle™ ice-pops
- 4 c filling = 12 Zipzicle™ ice-pops
Find them on Amazon, here.
Is it worth it to make your own?
YES! True, homemade pops will cost a little more money than the store-bought sugar-water kind. But when you make your own healthy otter pops you reduce sugar intake, add fruit and veggies into your kids diet, and help your kids stay hydrated on a hot day.
Here are some tips for making the best pops:
- Use ripe, in season fruit and they will be naturally a lot sweeter.
- Make a fruit or veggie smoothie and pour the leftovers into these Otter Pop molds for a quick treat!
- If you want a creamier texture, add a banana, coconut milk, or Greek yogurt.
- Add lemon juice, lime juice or blended raspberries to make a more tart Otter Pop.
- If you have a fruit that is not very sweet, use honey or maple syrup to sweeten.
Healthy Otter Pops
Ingredients
Pina Colada Pops
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup pineapple cut into chunks
- 1/4 banana
Creamy Strawberry Pops
- 1/4 cup yogurt
- 10-12 ripe strawberries rinsed and hulled
Instructions
- Blend until smooth. Pour into pop container and freeze.
Nutrition
My kids LOVE the creamy strawberry pops 🙂
My kids love pops! Would love to try and cut the sugar!
Otter pops ARE my favorite frozen treat! Thank you so much for these recipes!
My kids love homemade popsicles. Can’t wait to try some of the recipes on the zipzicle website. I also liked their facebook page!
My kids love everything frozen! Frozen Lemonade, Pops, or just simply frozen fruit! I would love to win these and cut out the junk! Thanks for the giveaway!
My kids love our homemade strawberry Popsicles!
My daughter loves frozen yogurt pops and frozen blueberries!
My girls are Popsicle fanatics! Any kind of frozen treat they love! Would love to try these & make our own!
My son LOVES pops! He wanted one for breakfast today. Tonight I am going to freeze some orange juice in my pop molds so he can have an OJ pop for breakfast tomorrow. What else would one have for breakfast in 90-degree morning weather? 🙂
Kids love the chocolate pops
My kids love frozen treats in general! But they’re always asking for popsicles. These would be so much fun!
My kids love home made 100% juice Popsicles and I think they would love some of these. 🙂 I think I may try out the pina colada recipe in the popsicle mold tomorrow. 🙂
my kids love frozen smoothie pops!
My son loves anything with frozen yogurt!
My kids love almost anything frozen. We love to be creative and try new recipes or make up our own! Would love to try these!
I want to try all the favors
My kids LOVE freezer pops! I’m betting they would love all of the recipes you have posted – which would make me happy (no added sugar or food dyes!)
My daughter loves popsicles but i’m not a fan of how much sugar is in them. Would love to try these.
My son LOVES the creamy strawberry pops!!!
Ice cream is their favorite frozen treat. We’ve been loving popsicles too this summer – esp just plain, frozen fruit juice.
My daughters LOVE frozen yogurt and smoothies… what could be better then it all together in a pop form?!
Would love to give my 2 year old something sweet without the sugar to help cool off in this muggy summer we are having. She would love the Pina Colada pop!
My children love homemade vegan ice cream and popsicles :).
I would love these! I make smoothie pops but the container doesn’t work well so would love these!
My kids love frozen ice pops and it’s hard to find 100% juice ones. I also love them in the winter for sore throats. Would love to make my own.
My kiddos love push ups!
The creamy strawberry pops
I am looking with this kind of wrapping for popsicle/zipcicle. In the Philippines, stores sells like this and when I visited there I always buy a lot of wrappers and so I can make for my kids.
My kids love frozen Juice Plus+ Complete smoothies! These little containers would be perfect!! 🙂
My kids love homemade berry Popsicles 🙂 excited to try these recipes. Thanks!
Any “red” flavor!
The child I babysitt has been loving the fruit and veegie popsicles weve been making mostly apple and carrots
My child is still on breast milk only but loves to teeth on frozen items and this would be awesome for the transition to real foods!
My boys love yogurt or ice cream pops!!
Oh how awesome are these. My son wakes up and runs to the freezer outside and brings me the otter pop he wants for breakfast. (Which we then battle over because of course he is t having one for breakfast.) but all my kids love anything frozen.
MY Daughter Loves Strawberry Banana!
My kids love frozen yogurt pops!
My kids love smoothies and frozen chobani champion tubes! It would be awesome to make our own!!!
My kids love frozen yogurt pops!!
Mango coconut orange smoothie pops are my boys’ favorite. 🙂 They’d love these. What a great idea!
we love all your recipe ideas you share!!! we want to try filling these with homemade frozen yogurt
Perfect! My kids fav treat are Popsicles … and so on point here, I hate all the sugar in them! I would LOVE to try these but my boys love purple so I’d have to try a recipe with blueberries 🙂 Yum Yum!
I love these recipes! I have reusable silicone containers for making ice pops that I bought on Amazon. They are awesome!
I love this product idea so much! My daughter can’t have regular Otter Pops, because she’s allergic to artificial dyes. And every time we go to a parade, someone passes them out and she has to be reminded that she’s not able to try them. I will be investing in a set of these for sure. For now, I’d say her favorite frozen treat is good ol’ ice cream.
We love frozen smoothie pops!
I liked you on Facebook. What an exciting product! My daughter loves frozen popcicles and these “freezie” type are so much fun! Strawberry is her favourite.
Kiddos love my homemade smoothies but these Zipzicles would be an extra special and healthy treat!
Kiddos love my homemade smoothies but these Zipzicles would be an extra special and healthy treat!
My kids love pops but I have never tried to make them and think that it would be a nice change for the kids!
Frozen watermelon & bananas for us 🙂
I would love to try these. We try to eat clean but I have not taken away ice cream/popsicles from my kiddos yet. KNOW I DON’T HAVE TO THANKS TO YOU GUYS!!!!
I love this idea! My kids love frozen OJ. I liked on Facebook too!
My kids love all forms of frozen treats, especially the popcicles with all sorts of nasty dyes in them. YUCK! Lately I have been making smooties and freezing those so these containers would be SOO helpful!!
My son loves all of them. I can’t keep them stocked between him and hubby. 🙂 I can’t wait to order some of these and try for myself. But would love to win some too. 🙂
My daughter loves creamy fruit popsicles and chocolate ice cream the most.
My kids love milk shakes and fruit smoothies! Love the idea of making my own otter pops!
My kids LOVE popsicles and eat TONS of them! Can’t wait to try some of these recipes!
My son loves strawberry
My kids love rainbow popsicles and coconut milk ice cream
My kids love kinds of frozen treats. I would love this and my kids would definitely love them!
Love these! I need to try them!
My daughter loves frozen fruit such as the pouches …i just put it in the freezer.
My kids love ice cream! We haven’t tried otter pops yet, but I think they would love these homemade zipzicle recipes!
Ice cream is the kids favorite and the parents too!
We make extra breakfast smoothies in the morning and freeze them. My son thinks he is getting something special when he gets to have a popsicle for breakfast and I know it’s good for him! 🙂
This packaging would make it even more fun! Thanks for letting us know about it!
My kids love strawberries, avocado, and splash of lemonade
I would love to win these! My girls love strawberry banana yoogurt pops we make at home, but they can be quite messy (they”re just 3 & 2 yo)! These would be really great!! Thanks for the chance to win, I also liked their FB page 🙂
Strawberry Yogurt is our favorite flavor!!
We call them freezies here in Canada… and I have bought the real fruit juice ones before, and i have also been known to wash out a freezie tube and re-use it with my own smoothie or juice, but there is always a potential to spill in the freezer. These are a GREAT idea! Just bought 3 packs! Would also be nice to win some free ones though! 🙂
strawberry and banana flavor…I would really love to try these!!
I had no idea these existed! My kids love cool treats, but so far, I’ve had bad luck with my Zoku and we’ve just been eating Breyer’s ice cream in moderation.
My kids love coconut milk, raw honey and strawberries
My kids would love this! They love freezer pops and homemade popsicles and this would be perfect combination of the two. Strawberry is a favorite around here and is banana.
My kids LOVE any kind of frozen treat!
My Rosie loves ALL fruit frozen… mostly banana and strawberries!!
These are a great idea! My kids’ favorite frozen treat is the homemade ice cream from the creamery a few miles away.
I’ve never heard of these before…how awesome!! I just liked them on FB. Crossing my fingers!!
My son loves ice cream a d the favorite flavor is always chocolate! he takes is after his mama 🙂
what a cool idea for summer treats!
Ana
It’s difficult to pick a favorite, but we really like the simplicity of just freezing V8 Berry Blend or Naked Juice Red Machine.
my daughter gobbles the creamy strawberry ones right up.
My daughter loves all kinds of popsicles!!! 🙂
My kids would love the creamy strawberry! And me too;)
My kids would love the creamy strawberry! And me too;)
My daughter (age 3) loves frozen fruit, Popsicles, ice cream, you name it!
My kids love Otter Pops! This is such a great idea…I had no idea there was such a thing as Zipcicles!
I’d love to try these! One of our favorites this summer has been homemade Strawberry Lemonade pops. YUM!
We love frozen bananas and they’re so easy too. The Zipzicles look great. Thanks!
My son has had cancer, and I want him to start eating healthier .. this would really help 100% .. He would probably like strawberry anything ~!
These are PERFECT! Thanks for sharing this! I am definitely going to be buying these for the kiddos and of course it would be nice to win some too! They would LOVE these in their lunch or as a quick smoothie breakfast or snack. Our FAVORITE is Strawberry, Mango, Blueberry, Ginger with Vanilla Almond Milk
My kids love coconut milk and chocolate pops! I’d LOVE to try making these on the Zipcicles!
My kids love popsicles! The recipes sound so good! Great idea!
these are so perfect!
Frozen water with some honey, lemon and pieces of fruit through it. Looks really good with all the fruit chunks through it!
My kids love ice cream but making juice and freezing it in this container would be so much better for them.
I have one that loves popsicles, with all their sugary goodness. The other wold probably take ice cream over popsicles, but any frozen treat will do for him.
So cool! It’s one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” products!!!
My kids would LOVE a creamy strawberry banana, I can’t wait to try the pina colada! Thanks for the recipes!
My Kids love pops like this, and I’d love to make them ones which were more healthy! This would be amazing!
We are all about greek yogurt and berry pops!
My kids love homemade strawberry, spinach and honey ice pops. They would love these too!
Fresh mint, honeydew melon, agave and some ice. Very quickly smushed in the vitamin. These look perfect to put all of our concoctions in!!
Yum! My kiddos love orange, pineapple, banana!
These are so COOOOOL!
My kids love popsicles and these would be an awesome addition to our already homemade frozen yogarts 🙂
I can’t wait to try these! My kiddos love Astro Pops, I can’t wait to experiment using these zipzicles to find a “healthier” alternative. Fun!
My kids love anything frozen. I’d love to cut down on sugar making my own!
My kids love freezies but I never buy them. What a great idea! Can’t wait to try these.
Frozen yogurt pops!! First time ever seeing these! Wow~Got to try them!
Love the pops hate the sugar. Love your recipes too!
Pops minus sugar
My boys love our homemade fudge pops!
My kids LOVE coconut anything! These would be great for strawberry coconut goodness!
My son loves otter pops, but I hate the sugar. These look awesome! Our current favorite is mango lemonade Popsicles.
Our favorite is freezing leftover green smoothies. Don’t like green? Add blueberries. Just the right amount of sweetness (all natural, of course!). Want it sweeter? Add raw honey. Blend with 4-6 fruits and veggies!
Any kind of popsicle. I just got a Zoku for my birthday so we are excited to try that but these look awesome!
My family loves Greek yogurt pops. I add blueberry & honey to sweeten and they get devoured.
My kids would love homemade banana or rootbeer pops! YUM!!!
I would love a chance to win these. My kids love Ice Cream and otter pops. Thanks.
My kids love frozen orange juice pops with blueberries in them
My kids love strawberry lemonade pops!
My kids LOVE freeze pops but I don’t like how much sugar are in them. I would love to make my own healthy version with these container bags.
My kids love popsicles and we make our own all the time but these would be great because they always like the plastic wrapped ones!
My kids LOVE otter pops. I love this nice alternative! They also love banana pops! Anything COLD! 🙂
My kids love ice cream!
I so need these. My kids love frozen treats. All of them, and I’m such a meany and say no. These are awesome!
My kids love strawberry pops! Mmmmmm! Perfect for the summer heat.
My boys love smoothies, a nice cool treat for the hot summer days!
Smoothies! I’d love to put the smoothies into these containers!
We love making our own homemade popsicles….these would be fantastic to have!! Thank you for the opportunity to own some of these great Zipzicles!!!
Any kind of Popsicle!
My son loves the smoothies that we make in our blender, using strawberries, bananas and any other fruit we have onhand. And having these Zipcycles on hand would be perfect, because we could fill them up with any leftover amounts of smoothie!
My son loves the smoothies that we make in our blender, using strawberries, bananas and any other fruit we have onhand. And having these Zipzicles on hand would be perfect, because we could fill them up with any leftover amounts of smoothie!
My kids love strawberry rhubarb. With some almond yogurt….my son is allergic to dairy and 5 other foods too.
frozen yogurt popsicles!
Strawberry watermelon
We have been using our juicer a lot with fruits and veggies. The kids don’t always love to just drink the juices, but if we freeze them in pop form, they gobble them up!
My girls LOVE popcicles…..strawberry and grape the most. I’d love to control the ingredients and add some healthy stuff to their treats! I “liked” the Zipzicles FB page.
We like filling up our retro tupperware ice pop molds with 100 percent juice blends. The pina colada recipe sounds awesome!
This is brilliant! we’ve been doing snow cones with sugar-free flavoring. These are awesome!
I would love to try all the flavors! Thank you! 🙂
My kids love most popsicles, but especially pineapple mixed with coconut milk. They request “healthy popsicles,” because it’s such a treat that I’ll let them have them for snack and dessert in the summer.
I would love to try all the flavors! Thank you! 🙂
My son loves frozen treats in all flavors! Awesome giveaway, thank you.
definitely blueberry, and it’s a superfood!
definitely blueberry, and it’s a superfood!
My kids always beg for Otter Pops, too! But I just can’t stomach the idea of them eating all that sugar and artificial stuff, so usually we stick with making our own popsicles or buying the 100% fruit kind. My kids’ favorites frozen treat are popsicles or orange creamsicles.
my son loves berry yogurt popcicles. i have been making my own in freezer pop style but these look less messy.
My son loves frozen raspberries with yogurt centers. He eats them like candy!
My youngest only eats melted frozen treats (think milkshakes) so we let everything melt and he sucks it down–preference is probably a chocolate milkshake
My kids love otter pops when other people give them to them. I never buy them because of the sugar and food dyes! I would LOVE to win!
My kids love frozen yogurt pops!
My kids LOVE pops!! Lime is his favorite- I would love to make my own for them!
We love to make homemade Popsicles but using these would be less messy!
My kids love anything frozen, popsicles, smoothies… they would love trying these!
Anything with fresh berries!
My kids love when I freeze smoothies into popsicle molds!
I would love to offer these to my niece and nephew!
I love homemade pops. will try these recipes too. WOuld love to win the containers for them too! lol
My son loves fresh orange juice popsicles wiht kiwi pieces in it
My kids love anything homemade & frozen!!
My boys love all kinds of popsicles, I would love to make them homemade!
My kids love pink lemonade blended with raspberries frozen
My kids love fudgescicles and otter pops, but since we’ve started eating healthier we haven’t been buying them. This is a great alternative!
My kids love coconut icecream bars. Unfortunately they also love freezies that they sometimes have at school or neighbours houses. I have been trying to find a product like this to make my own for 2 years now. Thanks so much!!! Also, liked Zipzicle on Facebook 🙂
Last summer, my kids were obsessed with Otter pops that they got at camp and I refuse to buy them! I would love to try making a healthier version at home. Their favorite ice pop is mango, banana, carrot and plain Greek yogurt–reminscent of a creamsicle! I will be trying your recipes, too.
My boys love Popsicles, but we have cut out artificial food coloring from their diet since one has ADD they have not had any this summer. They would love this living in Las Vegas.
Chobani Champions, frozen, are our favorite. Kind of packaged like a Zipsicle!
This is a brilliant product idea! My daughter’s favorite frozen treat is ice cream sandwiches, but she’d love a zipcicle, too!
I need these for my son who is allergic to everything (sugar, soy, dairy, wheat, corn, sulfites, chocolate)! I make him pops in other stuff but he totally misses having otter pops like other kids and sucking out the sweetness. I have never seen these and can’t wait to buy some and surprise my little man here soon!
I love this idea, my daughter loves fruit but I don’t like all the sugar in frozen pops.
I made some pops yesterday with my niece and she loves the strawberry lemonade!
Oh yeah! Those are awesome – my kids love those freezer pops, too, and I’d like to be able to offer a healthier pop. Especially since much of the natural or sugar-free stuff has other additives or is too expensive for my budget.
My kids would love mango pops!
My three boys LOVE the strawberry pops we made out of the strawberries they picked.
What a great idea!
Pick me! Pick me! I have 2 little girls that would LOVE to make homemade, healthy squeeze-pops!
My kids love freezie pops and popsicles! I have been wanting to try making them homemade for some time but never get around to buying containers for them. The closest I’ve come so far is to freeze Simply Gogurt for them. 😉
My kids avorite are Orange Juice pops 🙂
I’m so looking forward to making these for my daughter.
Sadly I don’t think my kids have ever had a popsicle but they do love ice cream! I’d love to share with them the fun of otter pops without sharing all the sugar!
my kids and I made some rocky road popsicles, and they love any fruit, juice pops I give them!
My kids love frozen pops, however it would be really nice be to able them healthier options to what is available in stores. If I was able to make my own at home I would be more willing to let them have their favorite treat everyday!
OH! We LOVE pops at our house! Would love to win these! Will probably (definitely) buy some, even if i don’t win!
We love having a cool treat in the freezer in the summer!
My son love ice cream. His favorite is chocolate but I bet he would et any flavor in front of him.
my kids love good ‘ol otter pops. I love the idea to make your own!
My girls love frozen yogurt! I am excited to try the zipcicles, they look amazing! I won’t buy the otter pops because of all the sugar and coloring.
My boys love anything coconut 😉
My kids love ice cream. It would be great to offer them some healthy alternatives.
My little one loves plain yoghurt frozen – these would make ti so much cleaner to eat than in little shapes, or with a spoon!
Frozen Strawberry and yogurt smoothie pops.
DS loves ice cream cones – but he doesn’t eat the cone 🙂
Watermelon
My daughter absolutely LOVES any frozen treat -, icepops, italian ice, shaved ice, froz yogurts, icecream. You name it she loves it….mom too!!!! Our favorite is making homemade icepops togetherusing fresh berries
These look really cool, smoothies would be our favorite.
I have been trying to rig some way to do this exact thing with no success all summer! We experimented with at least 10 different contraptions and I’ve just about given up. I am so excited it already exists! GREEK Yogurt smoothie pops! And Dr.Pepper pops for me if I can successfully hide them in the freezer 😉
Right now it’s mango or strawberry pops!! Like Zipzicles on FB!!
This is a great idea. My son always wants me to buy him otter pops because he loves Popsicles. I would love to be able to make my own.
Coconut and piña colada pops!
These would be so great to make my own healthier popsicles!
Can’t wait to try this awesome invention!
Oh my! That’s awesome! I’m going to have to look into these!
my kids love frozen kefir pops!
Yippee, this is AWESOME! I like to make ours with 1 c. of fruit puree, 1 c. apple juice, 1 c. homemade yogurt.
The kids love frozen smoothies and frozen yoghurt. Acctually, not just the kids. I eat my fair share.
My kids love any kind of popsicle!
Me and my kids love pops. Specially the strawberry flavor, it makes our day. So easy to make and so yummy.
are they reusable
YES!
The favorite here is coconut orange creamsicles.
The kids’ current favorite treat is frozen healthy homemade reece’s peanut butter cups.
What a fantastic idea!
I have a question though: what do you substitute the yogurt with since my girls are allergic to dairy and soy…?
Thanks!
Where do you get the zipzicle bags?
We made both of these, and that are both huge hits at our house! FYI Wendy, you can order Zipicles online. Amazon has them. I had ordered some last summer and didn’t get around to using them until now – now I am going to need to order more.
These are some yogurt substitutes:
Coconut cream – allow a can of full-fat coconut milk to settle, skim cream off the top
Pureed silken tofu
Store-bought dairy-free yogurt – there are a growing number of dairy-free yogurt options available in most health food stores, including soy-, almond-, and coconut-based “yogurts.”
You can purchase on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CE1PQDE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00CE1PQDE&linkCode=as2&tag=supheakid-20&linkId=PFA55733EHRBKJEP
Good idea. With all the focus on children’s health, you may want to mention choosing organic strawberries over conventional considering 1) strawberries are loaded with pesticides, and 2) the WHO recently listed glyphosate (roundup – which is used on all kinds of produce) as probably carcinogenic. And these pesticides don’t just wash off since they are absorbed into the fruit.