This lime flavored paleta only uses 4 ingredients! Paletas de limon are sooooo underrated in my opinion. These are so refreshing during the summer and they are delicious!

Lime is easily my favorite flavor for paletas. I LOVE limes. They have such a special place in my heart because the fresh citrusy smell reminds me soooooo much of my time in Mexico when I was really really young. They say that our sense of smell is closely linked with memory! For me, the scent of lime is associated with my time traveling through Mexico with my family.

Although the ingredient list is short, this was one of the hardest flavors to develop a recipe for. It took me quite a few tries to get it right. Limes do not have any flesh to blend up and freeze, like strawberry or mango. This makes it a little more difficult to formulate a water based mixture because without any flesh, fat, or stabilizers, you’ll just end up freezing 100% liquid that freezes to a solid block of ice.

The solution to this is to use stabilizers like gelatin or cellulose gum. They prevent large ice crystals from forming, and you end up with a much more desirable texture. More on this below.

You only need 4 ingredients!

• Limes- fresh lime juice only! Please do not use artificial lime juice- it does not taste the same. You’ll need enough limes to make 3/4 cup to 1 cup of lime juice (about 8-10 limes). The best limes are shiny, have smooth skin, and feel squishy.
• Water- lime juice on its own is much too sour. You’ll need water to mellow it out.
• Granulated sugar- you definitely need some sugar to sweeten the lime juice. You can add more or less to your liking, but just remember that fruits lose some flavor and sweetness when they are frozen, so add more sugar than you think you need once you taste the mixture before freezing.
• Gelatin or cellulose gum- a stabilizer is 100% needed for lime paletas because unlike other fruits, limes do not have any flesh to blend up and freeze. Gelatin is the best option for this in my opinion, because it is cheap and available at any supermarket. However, I couldn’t forget about my vegan readers so another option is cellulose gum. You can purchase it from Amazon here.
• Gelatin does two things to a popsicle:
  • This ingredient is more about the mouth-feel. It stabilizes the mixture so that it doesn’t just freeze to a solid block of ice, making it much more palateable texturally.
  • It prevents the paletas from dripping as they melt. The only caveat to this is that the texture of the paletas will turn jello-like if you let it sit out at room temperature for too long.
• Optional: Alcohol! You can add some vodka or tequila if you want to make some boozy popsicles.

Color

You do not need to add any kind of food coloring! I only added it this time for visual impact, but it is not necessary at all. If you really want that vibrant green color for you paletas, here are a few things you can try to avoid using toxic dyes:

1. Spinach- you can juice some spinach and add it to your mixture! You don’t need a lot, and it adds pretty much no flavor so it won’t change the paletas. I tried this on my first batch. It worked very well, but wasn’t as neon green and vibrant as I was looking for.
2. “Natural” food dye- the only way to get a really vibrant lime green color is to use food coloring. I found this Watkins Assorted Food Coloring made with 100% natural juices and spices (no artificial dyes) on Amazon. This is better than your typical food coloring with red 40 and all those other horrible ingredients, but I did find polysorbate 80 on the ingredient list. I mixed green and yellow to get a vibrant lime green color.

Equipment needed:

To make paletas, you will need a popsicle mold, popsicle sticks, and plastic bags for storing. You will also need a blender.

I recommend a silicone popsicle mold because they are easier to remove the popsicles from. The exact one I have is no longer available on Amazon, but I found a similar one that you can purchase. It also comes with the popsicle sticks and baggies. Here are all the links to purchase everything you will need for this recipe:

Popsicle sticks & baggies

Popsicle mold, sticks, & baggies

What is the difference between a popsicle and a paleta?

Though similar, paletas and popsicles do have some key differences that will prove paletas are way better, in my opinion. 

Popsicles are mass produced and have lots of additives and artificial flavoring. Paletas use natural ingredients like fruits and are made fresh, so they don’t require additives or preservatives to extend shelf life. 

Paletas also have a rich history and are culturally important to Mexican street snacks. Nowadays, you will find plenty of brick and mortar paleta shops but it is still common to get your paletas on the street from paleteros (ice cream carts). 

Two Types of Paletas

There are MANY paleta flavors & combinations, but there are generally 2 types of paletas made:

1. Water based- these are typically fruit pops that have a water or juice base. These paletas are more true to the integrity of the fruits, and are also healthier (and vegan too!). A few of my favorites on the blog are tamarindo, strawberry, and mango & chamoy!
2. Cream based- these are creamy paletas with a texture that is more similar to ice cream than a popsicle. They usually have some combination of heavy cream, milk,  mexican crema, and/or sweetened condensed milk. These also tend to have more flavors available because it isn’t limited to fruits- some common popular flavors are coconut, coffee, strawberry, and arroz con leche.

Try some of my other paleta recipes:

Click here to see a list of ALL of my paleta recipes!