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Learn how to make watermelon lollipops with this easy watermelon candy recipe. Featuring pink hard candy pops decorated with a green chocolate rind and dotted with dark chocolate seeds, these sweet watermelon lollipops look just like a wedge of juicy summer melon!
Why Make These Watermelon Lollipops?
Watermelon lollipops are a fun and simple treat to make at home. I’m a big fan of candymaking because I can make unique flavors and get creative with my decorating choices (see also, these green apple lollipops that look just like caramel apples!)
These watermelon lollipops taste and look just like a slice of watermelon—seeds, rind, and all. I’ve colored and flavored the hard candy with a bright pink gel food coloring and watermelon flavoring, then dipped the tops in green-tinted white chocolate. Add some hand-painted “watermelon seeds” and white chocolate piping, and these really do resemble little slices of melon.
Homemade lollipops come together with just a few ingredients (plus some patience while the sugar reaches the right temperature!) Watermelon lollipop candy will keep well at room temperature for at least a month, making these a sweet choice for gifting and shipping.
Watermelon Lollipop Ingredients
- Watermelon Flavoring – Choose a watermelon flavoring specifically made for candy and confectionery, rather than the extracts you might find in a grocery store. My preferred supplier is Lorann Oils.
- Gel Food Coloring – My go-tos are these Liqua-Gel colors by Chefmaster. These are useful in many pastry applications, so I suggest owning a wide range of colors if you don’t already have them. For this recipe, I used Neon Brite Pink.
- Oil-Based Food Coloring – You’ll need an oil-based food coloring for tinting the white chocolate. Do not use gel food coloring—oil and water do not mix! If you use gel, your green chocolate will have a spotty, speckled appearance.
- White Chocolate – I make lollipops and other chocolate candies with a high-quality chocolate couverture, like Callebaut or Valrhona, or a better store brand such as Ghirardelli, Guittard, or Lindt. Avoid using chocolate chips.
- Dark Chocolate – For painting the “seeds.” You can use chocolate chips, or any chocolate you’d like.
- Nonstick Cooking Spray – For easy removal, lightly grease the lollipop mold with nonstick cooking spray.
- Granulated Sugar – For making the sugar syrup. Caster sugar (measured by weight) will also work.
- Corn Syrup – You can use corn syrup (I prefer Golden Barrel), liquid glucose, or Light Karo Syrup. For accuracy, use a kitchen scale to measure by weight rather than volume to avoid losing too much of the sticky syrup in the measuring cup.
How to Make Watermelon Lollipops
To make these watermelon lollipops, start by preparing a silicone mold with nonstick spray and placing a lollipop stick in each slot. In a saucepan, heat sugar, corn syrup, and water without stirring until the mixture reaches 300°F, ensuring the correct consistency for hard candy. (I also brush down the sides of my pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystallization.)
After reaching the crack stage, mix in watermelon flavoring and pink gel food coloring, then carefully pour the hot syrup into the prepared mold. After allowing a few minutes for the lollipops to set, dip them in green-tinted white chocolate and add piped white chocolate decorations. Finish with dark chocolate dots to resemble watermelon seeds.
Sugar Cooking Stages
Thread (105° C) – Jams, jellies, marmalades
Soft Ball (116° – 122° C) – Fudges, fondants, meringues
Hard Ball (126° – 130° C) – Nougats, gummy candies
Crack (144° – 150° C) – Hard candies, toffees, brittles
Caramel (172° – 193° C) – Caramel
Tools and Equipment for Making This Watermelon Lollipop Recipe
This recipe requires several special tools and ingredients. These include:
- Lollipop Mold – A silicone mold specifically designed for making homemade lollipops.
- Lollipop Sticks – Lollipop molds come in a variety of sizes, so be sure to choose the right sticks.
- Candy Thermometer – There are a wide range of candy thermometers available. I alternate between a laser thermometer and a digital thermometer. For cooking sugar, you’ll definitely want to use a probe-style thermometer rather than a laser. For ease of use, I’d suggest buying one that clips to the side of your pan, although a hand-held digital thermometer will also work. (Avoid glass thermometers, which can shatter and run your batch of candy!)
- Food Safe Paintbrush – You’ll need a food safe paintbrush for painting the dark chocolate “watermelon seeds.” Never use a brush that has previously been used for paint or other art projects.
- Disposable Piping Bags – You’ll need a disposable piping bag (and small round tip) to pipe the white chocolate lines. If desired, you can also use a second bag to pipe the seeds.
- Cello Bags – Clear bags for storing or gifting your finished pops.
- Pastry Brush – Use a pastry brush to apply water brushing to the sides of the pan to prevent crystallization.
- Silicone Mat – Placing the dipped lollipops on a silicone baking mat prevents the pops from sticking.
Watermelon Candy Tips and Tricks
The total number of lollipops will depend on the size and depth of your lollipop mold. If you have watermelon syrup left over after filling the mold, pour it out onto a silicone mat, cool, and toss in confectioner’s sugar, like my old-fashioned hard candy recipe.
Do not refrigerate homemade lollipops. The damp, humid refrigerator will create condensation, leading to sticky sweets.
Sugar temperatures must be precise—too low and your candy won’t harden; too high and you’ll end up with caramel! So, pay close attention to your thermometer, be patient, and do not walk away while your sugar is cooking, no matter how tempting it might be to multitask!
Should I Temper the White Chocolate?
Tempering is the process of heating and cooling couverture to specific temperatures, for fast-setting chocolate with a distinctive shine and snap.
I’ve tested this recipe with tempered and untempered chocolate, and either one will work. Tempering is the best choice if you want to lollipops with chocolate that will remain shelf stable in all conditions. But it’s not mandatory, and it’s certainly easier (and more beginner-friendly!) to skip the tempering step.
If you aren’t familiar with tempering, you can simply melt and dip the chocolate as indicated in the recipe below. You can also use green and white candy melts instead. Unlike couverture, candy melts (also known by a range of other names such as melting chocolate, coating chocolate, melting wafers, confectionery coating, candy wafers, or dipping chocolate) is pre-tempered and will work straight out of the bag.
Other lollipop recipes you might enjoy:
Caramel Apple Lollipops
Peppermint Christmas Lollipops
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!
Watermelon Lollipops
Watermelon lollipops decorated with a green chocolate rind and dotted with dark chocolate seeds, just like a wedge of juicy summer melon.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cooling Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 lollipops 1x
- Category: Candy and Confectionery
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Sweets
Ingredients
200 grams granulated sugar (1 cup)
160 grams light corn syrup (1/2 cup)
60 milliliters water (1/4 cup)
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon watermelon flavoring
85 grams white chocolate, divided (about 3 ounces)
1 tablespoon dark chocolate or chocolate chips
Pink gel food coloring
(I used Neon Brite Pink)
Green oil-based candy coloring
Nonstick cooking spray, for greasing mold
Instructions
Spray lollipop mold with nonstick cooking spray. Add lollipop sticks. Set aside.
Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar dissolves, then stop stirring.
With a pastry brush, brush down the sides of the pan with water.
Bring to a boil. Boil without stirring until syrup reaches 300° F / 150° C on a digital thermometer.
Remove from heat. Stir in watermelon flavoring and pink gel food coloring.
Carefully pour hot sugar mixture into prepared mold.
Set aside and allow to cool completely, about 15 minutes.
Once set, pop lollipops from the mold onto a small tray lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate on medium power, stirring every 15-20 seconds, until completely melted. Scoop 1-2 tablespoons of melted chocolate into a piping bag fitted with fine-point round tip. Tint remaining chocolate with green oil-based food coloring.
Working quickly, dip the top half of each lollipop in the chocolate. Place on silicone mat allow chocolate to harden.
Pipe a decorative white line underneath the green chocolate portion.
Melt dark chocolate in a small, microwave-safe bowl. With a food-safe paintbrush, pipe a few “seeds” on the pink part of each watermelon lollipop.
Return to silicone mat and allow chocolate to set completely.
Once set, wrap lollipops in individual cello bags or layer between sheets of parchment in an airtight container. storage container. Store at room temperature for up to one month.
