The 5 Best Popsicle Molds of 2023, Tested and Reviewed

Jan 28, 2024

Beat the heat this summer with these easy-to-use and fun-to-make popsicle molds.

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Food & Wine / Kevin Liang

Some might say the freezer aisle has become a lawless place. But even with the broad array of options available at your local grocery store, there are a dozen solid reasons for making frozen treats at home. At-home popsicle molds are a convenient and fun way to DIY popsicles for the family, as a treat for guests when entertaining, or to hoard for your relief the next time the thermometer passes 100 degrees. We’re not judging; popsicles offer a sweet and welcome reprieve on hot days (or sick days).

You can make simple and sweet fruity pops for the kids or high-octane boozy refreshers for the grown-ups. Level up with a Thai coconut milksicle or model your next batch after a gorgeous strawberry and mango Mexican paleta. After you settle on a flavor, all you have to do is make the base and pour. The mold does most of the work, which is why it’s so important to have a popsicle mold that is functional, reliable, and easy to clean.

The shape, material, and size are each important factors when picking a popsicle mold. After all, most of us don’t have extra room in our freezers. And if the mold isn’t sturdy enough, you leave yourself vulnerable to spillage and leakage throughout the popsicle-making and storing process. To save you from the trouble of trying every popsicle mold on the market yourself, we have done the work for you by testing over 20 models. Below, we chose our best popsicle molds for every freezer, recipe, and picky toddler.

Courtesy by Amazon

Sturdy, cute, and hassle-free, this mold won us over in every category.

No complaints here — when we say Best Overall, we mean it!

The Zoku Classic Pop Molds are meant to be used time and time again for mess-free desserts. The vibrant green plastic mold is sturdy enough to keep it from tipping or slipping in your freezer, and pouring any popsicle-ready base couldn’t be easier. We loved the reusable sticks and the fact that it comes with a fitted cover. Even better, it’s made up of individual molds in a holder, so removing only a single popsicle is a breeze. The sticks are drip-catchers, too, so they catch stray drops of melted ice pop to help keep hands, clothes, or floors free of melted-sicle. During testing, we also appreciated the fill line that told us when to stop pouring so as to not over-fill.

Cleaning up was easy using the dishwasher or washing by hand. From start to finish, the popsicle-making process with the Zoku was so simple that it earned a perfect score on our kitchen tests.

Price at time of publish: $20

Amazon

This mold makes some of the cutest ice pops we’ve ever tried.

A set of four limits the amount of popsicles you can make in one setting.

Forming smooth and ovular pops, this mold produces perfect popsicles with its fun and functional design. The WYOK Popsicle Mold, Set of 4 is a silicone tool with shallow divots. The standard shape is rounded, but the fun part for us is included with the “Ice World” shape option, where each popsicle is formed into a different creature, complete with little ears and expressive faces.

Regardless of the shapes, getting the pops out of the mold is as simple as twisting and gently pulling. The silicone material is flexible for easy release. Attractively designed, it comes in several colors and shapes and is dishwasher-safe. The mold also fits into a freezer nicely without taking up too much room.

Price at time of publish: $14

Food & Wine / Emily Johnson

Food & Wine / Emily Johnson

Food & Wine / Emily Johnson

Amazon

If you don’t love spending money on seasonal tools, this mold offers function and value.

Taking the plastic containers out of the base can be tricky, but it doesn’t override this mold’s benefits.

Testing the icy waters of homemade popsicles with your kids for the first time? Does the idea of spending money on a seasonal frivolity give you pause? We got you. This highly-recommended set of six produces a standard popsicle big enough to make a satisfying dessert for an adult while still being manageable for small hands. It’s exceptionally versatile, allows you to make several types of popsicles in a batch, and can be extracted without awkward manipulation of the whole tray.

When testing, the resulting popsicles were solid and had great shape. No wider than eight inches, the mold didn’t take up too much space in our freezers, and they were sturdy enough to be worry-free when it came to spilling. We also liked how this set comes with a funnel, which makes pouring quick and mess-free. It’s a high return on investment for popsicle lovers everywhere.

Price at time of publish: $15

Food & Wine / Michael Navarro

Food & Wine / Michael Navarro

Food & Wine / Michael Navarro

Amazon

Adorable shape, perfectly small size, and an easy-to-use design.

There’s no fill line on these, so keep a close eye when filling.

A mini popsicle can be a fun treat, whether serving kids or crafting a boozy popsicle-shaped ice replacement for a chilled summer bottle. Ideally, a mini popsicle should be easy to unmold and comfortable for the hands of both kids and adults. The Chef’n Sweet Spot Mini Popsicle Maker, Set of 6 met our criteria with its cute, rounded shape and silicone base.

Unfortunately, unmolding a single pop without unmolding the whole tray is impossible, so plan on serving these to a crowd when ready to enjoy. Despite the malleability of the silicone mold, the tray is small enough to be sturdy. Between that and how short the sticks are, this mold should have no problem squeezing in between that bottle of vodka and wintertime rations you’re storing in your freezer.

Price at time of publish: $14

Food & Wine / Mary Honeyman-Speichinger

Food & Wine / Mary Honeyman-Speichinger

Food & Wine / Mary Honeyman-Speichinger

Food & Wine / Mary Honeyman-Speichinger

Amazon

This mold is super sturdy and freezes popsicles evenly. We love how reliable it is.

Unmolding stainless-steel popsicles can be tricky, so this isn’t the most kid-friendly mold we tested.

Stainless steel mold sets tend to take up room in the freezer, but if you have the space, they can be a reliable investment for at-home popsicle makers. This set was built for stability and reliability — set into a metal rack, nothing is jostling these popsicles once they’re in the freezer. We found that juice- and cream-based recipes perform well in this mold, so the options for playing with flavors are endless.

It’s no surprise that this mold is an excellent example of the benefits of stainless steel kitchen tools. For instance, it won’t retain the flavor of the last popsicles you made. It’s easy to clean, and unmolding the popsicles doesn’t require much more than running the container under warm water. While the popsicle rack requires dedicated freezer space, this mold was one of the more compact models we tried. Investing in this mold is the perfect option if you live in a warm climate and are a year-round popsicle consumer or simply a popsicle fan.

Price at time of publish: $39

Food & Wine / Debbie Wolfe

Food & Wine / Debbie Wolfe

Food & Wine / Debbie Wolfe

We can’t get enough of the Zoku Classic Pop Molds. After trying 20 different popsicle molds of every shape, size, and material, this one stood out as our clear winner with a perfect score. Across the categories of design, ease of use, performance, and ease of cleaning, this mold was our favorite by far. It’s cute, durable, and highly user-friendly for the whole family.

This starter kit includes two dry treat mix flavors plus a reusable, dishwasher-safe silicone mold.

The silicone mold is a bit thin and unwieldy and should be placed on a tray before freezing to prevent spills.

Don't forget about the dogs! We tested Cooper's Treats Pupsicle Starter Kit and recommend it to pet parents who want to make healthy, frozen treats for their pups. Included in the DIY kit are two 4.3-ounce jars of dry mix flavors, as well as a reusable, dishwasher-safe silicone ice mold with paw and dog bone shapes. The grain-free mixes are made from four simple ingredients, and each jar contains enough mix to make about 25 pupsicles. Just add equal parts of water to the mix, stir, and freeze for two hours.

Once you've decided on the best popsicle mold (for humans!) from our comprehensive list of tested favorites above, we suggest you add Cooper's Pupsicles to your cart to treat your furry friends, too.

Price at time of publish: $30

Most popsicle molds are plastic, silicone, or stainless steel. Plastic and silicone are typically easier to unmold than stainless steel, but both can retain the flavor of previously made popsicles. This isn’t something to worry about every time you think about putting ice pops in the freezer, but if using permeating flavors like alcohol, spice, or intense herbs, it’s something to consider. While stainless steel is highly durable, unmolding popsicles is sometimes a more prolonged process (like running the molds under water). They can also be bulkier and a pricier investment.

Generally, hand-washing popsicle molds makes them last longer. Some molds come with cleaning brushes, making it easier to get in the nooks and crannies when cleaning up. For most, a little soap and hot water are all it takes.

If you have room in your freezer, a sturdy tray is a great option, as it minimizes the chance of spills, leakage, and uneven freezing. Not everyone has this kind of space. Compact or flatter molds, like those for mini popsicles, are often made of flexible silicone and are made to sit on freezer shelves or in a freezer’s door compartment.

Popsicle molds vary in size and shape greatly, and we love that you can buy them in fun shapes. Who doesn’t want to eat a dinosaur? In terms of standard shapes, some unmold more easily than others. This can be attributed to the material as well. Stiffer and less flexible molds can more easily damage or break a treat during unmolding.

To put these popsicle molds through the ultimate sub-zero endurance test, we made fruit- and cream-based popsicles. We carefully recorded the process, rating each mold based on everything from its design to how easy it was to fill each mold without making a mess.

We also considered their physical functionality based on the user. We measured our hand size and the results of tests using our dominant hand. This helped us define whether the popsicle mold in question was comfortable to use. We also measured whether each mold’s popsicle was too big or too small for adults and kids.

The design and sturdiness of each mold were essential factors, as one wrong move with a flimsy popsicle mold might mean sticky fruit juice all over your counter or, worse, inside your freezer and its ice trays. We also considered if the molds were a convenience in the kitchen, as freezer space is a precious resource. Did the molds take up too much space? Were they stackable? Can individual popsicles be detached, or must the whole mold be unmolded?

Most popsicles require nothing more than a bit of patience. The simplest way to remove a popsicle from its mold is to leave it at room temperature for 1–2 minutes. For particularly stubborn pops, running the mold under lukewarm water does the trick. It’s also important to note that the unmolding process is usually easier when a mold is made of a more malleable material, like silicone.

The best material for popsicle molds depends on your preferences. For a flexible, dishwasher-safe, and reusable option, silicone is a popular pick. On the other hand, plastic is a lightweight alternative that is often less expensive and just as easy to use.

Silicone popsicle molds are not necessarily better than plastic. Both are typically affordable, easy to use, and widely available. However, silicone may prove to be more durable and long-lasting over multiple uses compared to plastic.

Some popsicle molds are marketed as being dishwasher-safe. Putting them through the dish cycle can still break down the material more quickly than if you were to hand wash the parts. To keep your popsicle mold in better shape for longer, wash it gently in hot, soapy water. Note that this doesn’t apply to stainless steel molds, which are highly durable. Feel free to toss those in with your next load of dishes.

PopsicleLab Popsicle Molds ($40 at Popsiclelab)A classic shape with a user-friendly design, this was one of the more expensive molds we tested. The silicone tray is sturdy and aesthetically pleasing, but the price and disposable wooden sticks brought this option down in the rankings.

Tovolo Classic Pop Molds ($14 at Amazon)These are designed for mess-free eating with an effective drip catcher. The molds click into the base so popsicles can be unmolded individually. However, these are so kid-friendly that they aren’t comfortable for adult hands to hold.

American Ice Pop Maker ($36 at Amazon)This mold can make ten popsicles, but overall, the disposable sticks and higher price meant it wasn’t our highest rated.

Tovolo Dino Ice Pop Molds ($16 at Amazon)Unmolding the pops from this mold proved too tricky for us to award them a category. Even so, this is an adorable mold. Each design imprints on the popsicles clearly, and they freeze evenly despite the variety of sizes.

Zoku Space Pop Molds ($19 at Amazon)Another adorable contender, we love this mold’s look and how easy it is to clean. Unfortunately, the astronaut-shaped popsicle doesn’t always make it out with its legs intact, so blast off at your own risk.

Nuby Garden Fresh Fruitsicle Tray ($10 at Amazon)This is a reliable and kid-friendly mold by our standards. The pops it produces are tiny, so its results only suit little hands.

We tested a number of other popsicle molds that didn’t quite meet our standards, including more models from Tovolo, Zoko, Manba, and more. With some models, we struggled to release the popsicles from the mold, even when using the tricks up our sleeves. With others, we experienced some spillage, felt the construction wasn't quality or was too flimsy, were too much of a pain to fill, or were simply unsatisfied with the end result.

Christa Glennie has been a freelance writer and food editor for nearly 20 years. She is also the author of two cookbooks and specializes in food and drink trends, agriculture, the regional foodways of Western New York, and the restaurant business. Her respect for simplicity and uncluttered counters in the kitchen ultimately fuels a desire to find and own well-designed, multi-purpose, best-in-class kitchen tools. For this piece, she used insights from our team of testers who performed side-by-side testing of over 20 top popsicle molds.