Frozen Fruit Cups Recipe
These frozen fruit cups are grandkid-approved, sugar-free, and perfect for summer snacking (or low-effort grown-up sangria if you’re feeling fancy.)
Back in the day, my kids ate these all summer long, and now the grandkids dive into them like it’s a competition. Bonus points if you mix them in a bowl older than the person eating from it (shoutout to my ancient green Tupperware that’s somehow survived four kids and eight grandkids).
Whether you’re wrangling toddlers or just need something cold in your wine glass at 5 p.m., this recipe delivers. Turns out frozen fruit cups are the ultimate multi-generational snack—kids slurp ’em, adults spike ’em.
Frozen Fruit Cups
Ingredients
- 12 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate thawed
- 12 ounces frozen lemonade concentrate thawed
- 20 ounces frozen sliced strawberries or 1 qt fresh strawberries or combination of fresh and frozen thawed and undrained, to taste
- 10 ounces frozen mixed fruit like peaches and berries thawed
- 20 ounce can crushed pineapple undrained
- 4 bananas sliced
- 1-2 liters diet 7 up soda to taste
- 5 ounce paper Dixie cups
Instructions
- Set up 5-ounce Dixie style cups in a large shallow baking sheet with edges. You should be able to fit around 24. Get out a large plastic mixing bowl. If you can find one of those old school, green Tupperware bowls from the 1970s, even better!
- Slice the bananas into thin, bite-sized pieces. If you have a plastic-edged knife, this is a great step for children as young as 2 to 3-years-old.
- Slice the strawberries, if using fresh. Dump all the fruit, canned pineapple, and juice concentrates together. You can experiment with the juice and fruit flavors to fit the tastes of your snackers. Stir everything together until well mixed. Cut large fruits into bite-sized pieces.
- SLOWLY pour the diet soda into the bowl and gently stir. Pour too fast and you'll have a fizzy mess. Using a large spoon, divide the fruit mixture into the dixie cups. No matter how careful you are, some will spill. You'll be happy you have the tray to catch the mess.
- Carefully place the whole tray in your freezer and let the fruit cups sit. If you have a small freezer, you might have to do a smaller batch or use smaller trays and plates to keep the cups upright while they freeze.
- Minimum freeze time is 1 hour and the fruit will be barely frozen and slushy. Best is to freeze them longer or overnight. Once completely frozen, you can take them off the tray and store the cups in gallon size freezer zipper bags.
- When ready to serve, set a cup on the counter for about 30 minutes, until slightly thawed. Pour into dessert dishes or eat right out of the cup. Or microwave one cup for about 15 seconds, until slightly thawed.
Notes
Kelly Brakenhoff is the author of 15 books and a seasoned ASL interpreter. She splits her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and children’s books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog.
In 2025, two of her children’s books were selected for the CBC Favorites Award Lists, honored by teachers and librarians nationwide for excellence in children’s literature. Parents, kids, and educators love the Duke the Deaf Dog books and activity guides because they introduce ASL and the Deaf community through engaging stories.
And if you enjoy a smart female sleuth, want to learn more about Deaf culture, or have lived in a place where livestock outnumber people, the Cassandra Sato Mystery series will have you connecting the dots faster than a group project thrown together the night before it’s due.
A proud mom to four adults, head of the dog-snuggling department, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.
