Strawberry Milk Tea Vegan Boba Popsicles
Refreshing and tart strawberry swirls into a sweet and creamy oatmilk, holding onto chewy boba in these strawberry milk tea inspired vegan boba popsicles. The boba softens into a chewy bite, which along with the cool, melting strawberry and sweet oatmilk creates the perfect strawberry frozen treat.
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How to Make Boba Popsicles
Boba, or tapioca pearls, are those chewy, slightly sweet bubbles found in milk tea (sometimes the tea is also called boba). The trick to making boba popsicles? You’re not going to use any boba. I tried, but full-sized tapioca pearls freeze so hard (I’ve read other places that the smaller ones do better, but I didn’t try them so I can’t confirm that). To make it even more of a bummer, frozen tapioca boba lose their chew and become brittle and a little grainy. It’s possible that a long soak in sugar water would have lowered the freezing temperature of the boba, but rather than add the extra sugar-soaking time I decided to go a different route. Instead, we are making mochi going incognito as boba! Mochi is made out of sweet rice flour (aka glutenous rice flour, NOT just rice flour), and while it will harden when frozen it softens much more quickly than the tapioca, and retains it’s chewy texture. There’s a reason you can buy ice cream wrapped in mochi- it holds up to freezing well! You can roll your mochi into perfect boba shaped balls if you like, but we saved a little time by rolling it into a long snake and cutting it into mini-marshmallow sized pieces.
Looking for Frozen Vegan Treats? Try one of these!
- Pistachio Vegan Carob Chip Ice Cream
- Creamy Vegan Cantaloupe Creamsicles
- Strawberry Magnolia Spice Ice Cream
- Garden Mint Cookie Crumble Ice Cream
- Blueberry Aquafaba Ice Cream
- Ice Cream Birthday Cake
- Root Beer Float Vegan Sassafras Ice Cream
Sweet on Strawberries? Try one of these Vegan Strawberry Recipes!
- Champagne and Strawberry Rice Crispy Treats
- Mini Strawberry, Rhubarb and Wintergreen Berry Tarts
- Strawberry Vegan High Protein Smoothie Recipe
- Homemade Vegan Strawberry Flavored Chocolates
- Knotweed & Strawberry Compote Over Oatmeal
- Strawberry and Japanese Knotweed Crisp
How to Make These Vegan Strawberry Boba Popsicles
Homemade popsicles and creamsicles aren’t hard to make, all you really need is a popsicle mold. I had one growing up, and I remember my mom getting Kool-aid and filling it up- which I thought was amazing at the time, but present me strives to do something a little tastier than powdered red beverage. If you do eat a lot of popsicles, it’s definitely worth investing the $15 or so it costs to get yourself a mold. You’ll save money in the long run, and have so many more flavor options. For this recipe, I used a mold that makes 10 popsicles, each about 3 fluid ounces.
The first step for these popsicles is to make the “boba”. It’s actually made with sweet rice flour instead of tapioca starch, as that has better freezing qualities. Working the with mochi dough can be a little finicky, but also endlessly forgiving. It breaks easily, but has no problem coming back together and can’t be over mixed. Once the boba are formed, they need to be briefly cooked in hot water before being transferred into cool water so they don’t stick together.
Then it’s time to make the two different liquids for the popsicles. The first is super easy- pureed strawberries. I like to use defrosted frozen strawberries, and just give them a good blend. The second layer is a sweet oatmilk layer (although you can use a different plant-based milk if that’s what you have). For this one we need to do a little cooking. I use the same saucepan I boiled my “boba” in to combine the oatmilk, sugar, and cornstarch. And if you were wondering, the cornstarch does two things- it makes the resulting popsicle more creamy and less icy, and also reduces the viscosity so that the strawberry puree, oatmilk, and boba are less likely to separate and form distinct layers. It only takes a few minutes on the stove to thicken the oatmilk, and then it’s off to the freezer. To get nice swirling action, I like to start by using half of each of our three elements at a time. Divide half the oatmilk, half the strawberry puree, and half the boba between the 10 popsicle molds. Then repeat, before using a popsicle stick to lightly swirl the elements together. Finally insert your popsicle sticks and freeze.
To release the frozen strawberry boba popsicles from the molds, run a little warm water on the outside of the molds and gently pull the popsicles out. Enjoy your homemade treats!
Strawberry Milk Tea Vegan Boba Popsicles
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup sweet rice flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp. warm water
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 10 oz. fresh or frozen strawberries, defrosted
- 1 1/2 cups oatmilk (or other plant-based milk)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. cornstarch
Instructions
- Start by making the boba. Put a small pot of water on the stove, and bring it to a boil and prepare a separate bowl with ice water. While it is heating up, combine the sweet rice flour with the sugar and water until a dough forms. Transfer the dough onto a clean counter top, and divide into 2-3 pieces. Roll out each piece into a long snake, about 1/4 of an inch thick. Use a knife to cut the snakes into small pieces- you should be left with bits that roughly resemble a mini-marshmallow. Place the boba in the boiling water, and in a couple minutes they will start to float. Scoop the boba from the boiling water and place in the ice water. Set aside.
- Blend the strawberries into a smooth puree and set aside.
- To make the creamy oatmilk layer, combine the oatmilk, 1/2 cup sugar, and cornstarch and whisk well. Heat on the stove, stirring, for a few minutes until the cornstarch has thickened. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Once cool, start filling your popsicle molds. To create nice layers, pour about half of the strawberry puree equally into the molds, followed by about half of the oatmilk layer and then half of the boba. Repeat, adding the rest of the strawberry, then the oatmilk, and lastly the boba. Use a popsicle stick to gently swirl the fillings together, trying to avoid large clumps of boba. Add the top and sticks into the popsicles, and freeze overnight before enjoying.
Notes
For this recipe you will need a popsicle mold with 10 popsicles, as well as 10 popsicle sticks.
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