Your Favorite Summer Snack
This paletas recipe throws together two of the best food groups – Mexican food and popsicles – and we are so here for it. (And yes. Those are food groups. The food pyramid is dead.) For the uninitiated, paletas (pronounced puh-LEH-tuhs) are Mexican-style popsicles. Where conventional popsicles typically contain juices and artificial flavorings, paletas boast fresh, local, real fruit! They can be either water-based (paletas de aqua) or milk-based (paletas de leche). Today, we’re making water-based fruity paleta flavors, choose-your-adventure style! What’ll it be: strawberry, mango, pineapple, or kiwi?
You Only Need 3 Ingredients
The ingredients list for this paletas recipe is short—let the seasonal fruit shine!
Fruit: The star of the show, the fruit! You’ll need 6 cups of chopped fruit. We’ll blend half of it and leave the other half in chunks to add fun texture to our paletas. Sweetener: Sugar or honey make great sweeteners for ice pops. Not only do they add sweetness, but their molecular structure helps to improve the texture of the popsicles. For this reason, we don’t recommend artificial sweeteners. Citrus: Lime juice helps to cut through the sweetness (while keeping the color of your fruits bright!) You could replace the lime with lemon or even orange juice.
let’s Make Paletas!
Berry-licious
You can use frozen (and thawed – find out how to store strawberries here) or fresh strawberries for this flavor. For a fun twist, throw in: vanilla extract, basil, banana, orange (juice), or lemon zest!
Mad For Mango
The only thing better than juicy ripe mangoes is mango paletas! Use any ripe variety of mango (though Ataulfo mangoes will be the sweetest). To change things up, add: pineapple, orange juice, chamoy, chili powder, or strawberries.
Pineapple Please
Paletas de piña are a classic (and my personal favorite)! You can use fresh, canned, or frozen (and thawed) pineapple. For variety, you could add: passion fruit puree, guava, basil, or mango.
Kiwi Cuties
Aim for the ripest kiwis you can find, which will be the sweetest and the easiest to scoop out (because you’ll need a lot of them)! Some fun varieties on the kiwi flavor would be to add: spinach (they’re already green, why not amp up the nutrition with hidden spinach?), apple, mango, or strawberry.
Bring the Tajin!
Tajin is a Mexican seasoning with mild chili peppers, lime, and salt. It’s great on fruit, veggies, the rim of drinks, and…paletas of course! If you want to supercharge your paletas with flavor, dip each paleta in a glass of water then sprinkle with a dash of tajin (a little goes a long way!)
