This recipe for homemade fruit snacks makes other easy health snacks look hard. With just 2 ingredients, you’ll have delicious gummies that your kiddos will gobble up!
My girls love gummies. It’s an everyday occurrence for me to hear “Mom, can I have a pack of gummies?!” Don’t get me wrong, there are healthy fruit snacks available out there, but they can get pricey when you’re feeding a fruit snack fanatics!
I am completely and totally in love with the idea of making easy healthy snacks for the girls for two reasons. For one, I know exactly what’s in the recipe and homemade fruit snacks made with zucchini – yes, please!
For another, it’s so much cheaper to make your own healthy snacks for kids than buying prepackaged snacks.
And when you can use a vegetable [we’re calling zucchini a vegetable whether it has seeds or not, it’s green, people!] right from your garden in a snack that your kids will devour, well, that my friend is a Mom Win!
Zucchini is one of my favorite things to grow in our garden because it is so versatile in recipes and I’m excited to be able to now use it in a recipe that the girls will just devour in no time.
The homemade fruit snacks come out perfectly chewy, similar to the consistency of a raisin, and are perfectly sweet. If you find that you’re children prefer just a tad more sweetness, you can cut down on the water in the simmering process so that a little more grape concentrate is absorbed into your zucchini pieces.
This recipe has directions for making the homemade fruit snacks in the oven, but if you have a dehydrator, you can easily translate the recipe to your small appliance.
We have this dehydrator and I love it – I often make homemade fruit roll-ups, dehydrated fruit for trail mix, kale chips, and so many other snacks for the girls and me.
If you’re looking for ways to get more veggies in your kiddo’s diet [yes, still calling the green zucchini a vegetable because after all, you’re removing it’s seeds in this recipe] and you’re looking for easy healthy snacks that you can make at home, these gummies are for you!
With only 2 ingredients, you can whip these up with zucchini from your garden in no time – well, once they get done drying that is!
Homemade Fruit Snacks
Ingredients
- 6 - 8 C zucchini, peeled and de-seeded
- 1 can grape juice concentrate
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- To de-seed the zucchini, simply cut it in half, and then with a spoon, drag the spoon along the center of the squash, scraping out the center seeds. Discard the seeds and cut them into 1/2 “ pieces.
- In a large pot, bring the juice, water and chopped zucchini to a boil. Turn to a simmer, and simmer the mixture until the zucchini is somewhat translucent. (approx. 30 – 40 minutes). Do not overcook and turn the zucchini into mush.
- Drain the zucchini and let cool.
- In your oven, set the temperature to 135 F
- On a baking pan lined with parchment, arrange the zucchini pieces so they are not touching.
- Leave the zucchini in the oven for approximately 12 – 18 hours. Candy should be dry and slightly sticky. Not hard or too moist. Adjust your dehydrating times accordingly.
- Will keep up to a week in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy... if your kids will let you share!
Rachel Anderberg says
I am trying it with eggplant
Kimberly Flickinger says
This is a great idea and the fruit snacks sound delicious! Thank you for sharing, definitely pinning for later.
Amber Ludwig says
Oooh I am totally trying this!! I cannot get my son to eat veggies for the life of me!!