Red, White and Blue Popsicles (Dye-Free)

Why You'll Love these Red, White and Blue Popsicles

• Healthy popsicles for a hot summer day
• Refreshing
• Festive without using red or blue food coloring
• Vegan and gluten-free
• Perfect for July 4th, Memorial Day or Labor Day!

Ingredients

All you need to start your popsicle party are these 5 ingredients! See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for quantities.

• Plant-based vanilla yogurt: This is the base for all three layers. I prefer coconut milk yogurt but feel free to use any type. The thicker and creamier, the better!
• Medjool dates (pitted): Dates are a natural sweetener that I use in many smoothies and desserts. Use more dates if using unsweetened vanilla yogurt.
• Vanilla extract
• Beetroot powder (for the red layer): This is a concentrated form of beets that have been ground into a powder. It has a mildly sweet taste on its own that is not noticeable in the popsicles.
• Spirulina powder (for the blue layer): Spirulina is a blue-green algae that is often sold as a supplement for its claimed health benefits (although not regulated by the FDA). The blue pigment comes from photosynthetic compounds in the algae.

How to Make these Red, White and Blue Popsicles

The key to achieving the three different colors is to make the popsicles in layers. Freezing the popsicles for just a couple minutes between each layer ensures that the colors won't bleed together.

1. Prepare the blue bottom layer. Add vanilla yogurt, dates, vanilla extract and spirulina powder to a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour contents into popsicle molds to fill each one about ⅓ the way up and set in the freezer for 2-3 minutes to prevent bleeding colors with the next layer.
2. Add the white middle layer to the molds. Carefully spoon vanilla yogurt into each mold until they are ⅔ full. Place molds in the freezer again to set while preparing the final layer.
3. Prepare the red top layer. Add vanilla yogurt, dates, vanilla extract and beetroot powder to the blender. Blend until smooth. Pour contents into molds until each are full.
4. Freeze. Cover the molds and insert wooden popsicle sticks. Place in the freezer overnight or at least for several hours until fully frozen. To release the pops, simply run the body of the popsicle mold under warm water for a couple seconds. 

Recipe Tips

Add milk to thin, if needed. If your blender has difficulty getting going, add 1-2 teaspoons of plant-based milk to thin it out. Start with 1 teaspoon and add more as needed.

Sweeten with more dates. If using sweetened vanilla yogurt, 3 dates will likely be enough for each the blue and red layers. If using unsweetened yogurt, I'd recommend using 5 dates to add more sweetness.

Substitutions

I kept this recipe simple by using beetroot powder and spirulina powder, but there are other ways to create the red, white and blue colors without using artificial dyes. Doing so would create different flavors for each layer as well!

Blue layer: There are very few blue foods to choose from. Blueberries are the only fresh fruit option, but keep in mind that this will yield more of a purple color than a true blue. Frozen blueberries mixed with maple syrup will give a deep blue color, but still close to purple. Another blue powder option is blue butterfly pea powder.

White layer: Using plant-based yogurt is simple and effective, but you can make it a little more gourmet by using the blend from my vegan berries and cream popsicles consisting of full fat coconut milk, cashews, maple syrup and vanilla extract.

Red layer: Fresh strawberries are a great option, both for their color and flavor.

More Delicious Vegan Popsicles

• Vegan "Nutella" Fudge Pops
• Healthy and Creamy Key Lime Pie Popsicles
• Creamy Vegan Vanilla Bean Matcha Popsicles
• Vegan Chocolate Fudgesicles
• Easy 1-Ingredient Watermelon Popsicles