Watermelon Popsicles with Mint, Ginger & Lime

We’ve been enjoying lots of my Watermelon Agua Fresca lately. It’s the perfect porchside sipper and tastes just as good on its own as it does topped off with a little sparkling water. Or wine, if that’s your thing. I won’t judge you if you decide it could do with a little adulty beverage addition, either… it’s pretty much begging to be a mojito, right? Well, it turns out that it also makes the perfect watermelon popsicles, too.

It's summer. You should totally make the Watermelon Agua Fresca with Mint, Ginger & Lime from http://meatified.com. And then turn it into these amazing watermelon popsicles!

I had some leftover Watermelon Agua Fresca hanging out in my fridge, but it needed using up so that I could get that giant pitcher out of there. We have a ridiculously over sized fridge, but in the summer it’s really hard to manage fridge space with all the produce we go through, so that pitcher had to go. So I figured, why not throw that agua fresca into some popsicle molds?

So this recipe for watermelon popsicles is basically the easiest one in the world. Or at least the easiest recipe ever to make it onto the site. Usually I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that the recipes I share here are “blog worthy”… whatever the hell that means. I would have been a little embarrassed to put up a recipe like this, for fear of looking lazy.

But as part of Operation Be More Me, I’m trying to let go a little of that really negative, nagging voice of perfectionism. The voice that tells me that no one would want to waste their time on such a silly recipe. The voice that tells me that there’s nothing special about an easy recipe like this (and because my negative inner voice is apparently also a passive aggressive doodyhead, it also implies that there is, therefore, absofuckinglutely nothing special about me, either). Yeah, that voice. The one that I should really punch in the metaphorical face.

Phew, I guess I got a little deep there for a popsicle-sharing moment. But I promised myself that I’d stop self censoring myself, so there you go.

Now, if I’d stopped to think about these watermelon popsicles before I made them, I would have assumed that I needed to add extra sweetener to the agua fresca base, since freezing dulls the flavors a little. But since necessity is the mother of invention, I just chucked the mixture straight into my favorite popsicle molds (thus making room for yet more freaking produce in the fridge) and went about my merry way.

It's summer. You should totally make the Watermelon Agua Fresca with Mint, Ginger & Lime from http://meatified.com. And then turn it into these amazing watermelon popsicles!

A little surprisingly, these watermelon popsicles turned out perfectly first time. Because I’d made sure to use a very ripe watermelon to make the agua fresca base, there was no need to add any extra sweetener, anyway. If you make sure that your watermelon is a good ‘un, you’ll be golden. Which means you’ve got a delicious, allergy friendly, no added sugar watermelon popsicle.

Now you may well be looking at the watermelon popsicles in the photo and wondering how on earth I’ve managed to use watermelon juice to make a popsicle that’s two toned in color. Actually, it’s kind of a neat trick that I discovered by accident. If you were to use fresh, just-blended watermelon juice, you’d get a bright pink popsicle that looks, well, just like watermelon. However, if you use juice that’s leftover and that has been hanging out in the fridge overnight, say, you’ll see that the juice naturally starts to separate.

It's summer. You should totally make the Watermelon Agua Fresca with Mint, Ginger & Lime from http://meatified.com. And then turn it into these amazing watermelon popsicles!

It's summer. You should totally make the Watermelon Agua Fresca with Mint, Ginger & Lime from http://meatified.com. And then turn it into these amazing watermelon popsicles!

When that happens, you get a bottom layer of fruity pulp that is pink, with a paler, more watery layer on top. That doesn’t mean the juice is bad, so not to worry. But without any kind of weird stabilizers or emulsifyers, you’ll see that fresh juice will separate like this. It makes no difference to the finished watermelon popsicles and is actually rather pretty. Just give your separated juice a stir before pouring into popsicle molds, to make sure that each popsicle gets a little of both fruit layers. Once they’re fully frozen, they’ll be like the photos: watermelon pink, swirled through a paler base color.

I like to add slices of fresh lime and mint to each watermelon popsicle for a pretty presentation and a refreshing finish. You can skip these if you like, although my husband is a weirdo who actually eats the entire lime slice at the end.

It's summer. You should totally make the Watermelon Agua Fresca with Mint, Ginger & Lime from http://meatified.com. And then turn it into these amazing watermelon popsicles!

If you use this classic popsicle mold, you’ll get ten watermelon popsicles out of this recipe, but it’s obviously ridiculously forgiving and you can use whatever molds you like. For a perfect sweet-salty treat, I like to sprinkle my watermelon popsicle with a little coarse salt when it comes out of the freezer. It’s strangely good!

Print

Watermelon Popsicles with Mint, Ginger & Lime

  • Author: Rachael Bryant / Meatified
  • Yield: 10 popsicles 1x

Ingredients

Scale

Equipment:

Instructions

  1. POUR: Drop a lime slice and mint leaf into each mold. Stir the Watermelon Agua Fresca, then pour it into the popsicle molds, leaving a little room at the top for the popsicle mixture to expand – you won’t quite use all of the agua fresca. For a solidly watermelon colored popsicle, make sure to use fresh, just blended Watermelon Agua Fresca. For a two toned popsicle like in the photos, use leftover chilled Watermelon Agua Fresca (see notes).
  2. FREEZE: Pop the lid onto the top of the popsicle tray and carefully transfer the filled molds to the freezer. Freeze the popsicles for 60 – 90 minutes so that the mixture has partially set up, then push popsicle sticks into each mold, through the lid. Return to the freezer and freeze until solid. Carefully run each popsicle under a little warm running water to loosen them enough to remove from the mold. If you like, sprinkle the popsicles with a little coarse sea salt just before serving.

Notes

If the Watermelon Agua Fresca was blended and then allowed to chill overnight, it will separate out into two layers: the colored pulp at the bottom, and a lighter more watery layer on top. That’s ok! It will just mean your popsicles have a pretty, two toned effect instead of coming out as a solid pink. Just give your separated Watermelon Agua Fresca a stir before pouring it into the popsicle molds, so that each popsicle gets a little of both layers.

It's summer. You should totally make the Watermelon Agua Fresca with Mint, Ginger & Lime from http://meatified.com. And then turn it into these amazing watermelon popsicles!

3 comments

Leave a Reply

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

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.