Vegetarian Fruit Snacks
Vegetarian Fruit Snacks are a two-ingredient recipe with fruit juice and agar agar powder. You can make different flavors depending on the juice you use. The homemade fruit snack are soft and a fun recipe to make.
After my posts on easy homemade fruit snacks (jello version and natural fruit juice version), I had several people ask me about whether there was a vegetarian recipe since the ones I shared used gelatin.
In fact, I came across several vegetarian versions that used agar agar powder. I’m pretty familiar with agar agar powder as it’s used in a lot of Chinese desserts.
I loved fruit snacks as a kid and still love them now. I like that I can make ones with fruit juice with natural flavor with no artificial flavors or preservatives. They’re a fun treat and pretty easy to make.
Ingredients
- Fruit juice – you can use your favorite flavor like orange, strawberry, peach, grape, cherry, raspberry, or pear.
- Agar agar powder – like gelatin, it’s a thickening agent, and it’s also vegetarian.
The desserts made with agar agar powder usually have a consistency similar to Jello. The powder is quite cheap at Asian supermarkets, so I was happy to test it out.
One note, this type of agar agar powder contains added sugar. If you use pure agar agar you will need to use less to make these fruit snacks.
You will also need a fruit snack mold. The one I used for this post can be found on Amazon*
How to Make Fruit Snacks
Combine the fruit juice and agar agar powder in saucepan. Bring them to a low boil and stir until smooth. Once smooth, take the pan off the heat.
Pour the liquid mixture into the silicone mold. Place the mold in the refrigerator and chill the fruit snacks for about 15 minutes or until they are set.
Remove the fruit snacks from the mold and enjoy or store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
I tried it several times, but I could never quite get it to be as chewy as the fruit snacks I like or the ones I made with the gelatin. Some were very firm and crumbly, some were too soft, some tasted like Jello.
I finally got a version that was pretty tasty, but it’s more like a soft fruit snack. It’s firmer than Jello, but only has the tiniest chew. It’s still pretty tasty though and I know some people like their fruit snacks soft rather than chewy, so I decided to share the recipe.
I’m not going to give up though. I don’t think it’s possible to achieve the chewy fruit snacks with only agar, but I’m going to try another vegetarian version with pectin.
More Snack Recipes
- No Bake Healthy Granola Bars
- Keto Gummy Bears
- Vegan Gummy Fruit Snacks
- Homemade Fruit Leather made with Fruit Puree
*Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Agar Fruit Snacks
Ingredients
- 1 cup fruit juice
- 4 tbsp Golden Coins agar agar powder, (see note)
Instructions
- Boil fruit juice and agar agar powder in sauce pan on low boil and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and pour into silicone molds.
- Place molds into fridge to set for about 15 minutes. Pop out of molds and serve. Store uneaten fruit snacks in fridge.
Notes
When to remove the liquid from the heat ? Is it just started to boil ?
You remove it from the heat as soon as everything is dissolved and smooth.
Do you have the link for the silicon rose mold? It’s super cute!
Yes! Here you go! https://amzn.com/B002ZI0QQI
I’ve had a lot of good results with this brand: silikomart.
The agar agar shown in the photo here (Golden Coin) is not pure agar agar. It has a lot of sugar filler, which is why the ratio seemed so off to Tanya. You could probably half the amount listed in this recipe and be ok.
Hmm that might be the issue. I couldn’t find any other type of agar agar.
I think agar’s ratio to liquid changes with more acidity
(orange juice) I remember reading that once…
Oh i didn’t know that! I will have to do some research
Just tried these out and I’m wondering if your measurements are a bit off? I had one cup of fruit juice (freshly juiced oranges) and the 4 tablespoons of agar powder was ridiculous. It was wayyyy past stir-able consistency. Instantly went crazy chunky. I was able to save it by slowly adding back in about 3 cups of juice while heating on the stove top. I’m wondering it maybe you meant 4 teaspoons of the powder rather than tablespoons? It may just have been my type of juice though…?
Hmm, I’m wondering, what sort of agar powder did you use?
The same happened to me, but I used pomegranate juice and I was wondering the same thing. I used Now brand agar agar powder.
I love the rose shape! Where did you find the mold?
On Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Silikomart-Silicone-Chocolate-Rose-Mold/dp/B002ZI0QQI/ref=sr_1_6?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1389256847&sr=1-6
I just made these and I think they turned out great. I used 1 cup of all natural just tart cherry juice mixed with 1 T. of agar flakes (can’t find the powder anywhere)…thanks for the recipe!!!
so glad they turned out well for you!
Thanks for posting this recipe! I bought some agar agar and didn’t know what to do with it. The proportions here gave it an interesting texture. I’m going to play around with some different juices and see what works best (I used a wildberry juice this time).
I usually use agar agar to make jello-like molds, with fresh fruit pieces inside. I wish I could get it to be more chewy like real fruit snacks, but this was an interesting in-between that still tasted good to me.