These Paleo Gummies couldn’t be easier to make! The three flavors, Pomegranate, Apple Cinnamon, and Cranberry Orange, are flavored with fruit juice and made with gut-healing gelatin for a superfood boost. You can use any flavor of fruit juice you’d like to customize these to your tastes, too! This post is sponsored by Vital Proteins.

I can’t deal with any chit chat today because LOOK guys, I made homemade and healthy gummy bears!!!
I love making healthier versions of my favorite candies (see my Twix Bars and Peanut Butter Cups), but until now, I haven’t ventured into fruity candies. That’s a shame because fruity candies are some of my favorites.

Luckily, these homemade paleo gummies are way easier to make than I ever imagined. So many flavors of gummy candy are in my future, and I have a bag of citric acid on order from Amazon to figure out to make some sour candies too.
But first, let’s stick with the classic fruit gummies! These are so easy to make, I could barely believe it. For the basic fruit gummy, you really just need two things: fruit juice and gelatin. If you want them a little flavor boost, maybe you’ll add some sweetener or extracts, too, but first let’s talk about the basics. Because they’re so simple, you need the best quality of both ingredients.

I used all 100% pure juices with no sugar added or anything, and I used Vital Proteins Grass-Fed Beef Gelatin. I adore Vital Proteins products because I know they are the highest quality! The gelatin comes from pasture-raised, grass-fed beef, and it is SO good for you. Gelatin is a total superfood – it’s very healing for our immune systems and gut health, and it’s 100% pure collagen, which is wonderful for making our hair, skin, and nails look shiny and beautiful.
To make the gummies, the juice is heated until almost boiling along with the sweetener – I used honey for the pomegranate and cranberry orange gummies, and maple syrup for the apple cinnamon gummy. As soon as the juice is steaming hot, the heat is turned to the lowest setting and any extracts are stirred in. Out of the flavors I made, only the apple cinnamon uses an extract – cinnamon extract for that spicy cinnamon flavor.

Then, whisk in the gelatin one tablespoon at a time, letting it dissolve, before dividing the liquid into the molds. I made these into cute little gummy bears, obviously, using this gummy bear mold. It came with a dropper, which made things super quick and easy.
You can use whatever kind of candy mold you’d like, but I’d recommend silicone so they pop out easily. If you don’t care about cute shapes, you can also just pour them into a loaf pan or 8×8″ pan and cut them into gummy cubes once set.

These cute paleo gummies couldn’t be easier – just three to four ingredients, and they’re a candy with health benefits! They’re super delicious, too – the fruit flavor is super pure, and they’re infinitely customizable to suit your tastes. My favorite was the tart pomegranate, but the spice of the apple cinnamon was also irresistible, and the cranberry orange combo is a holiday classic.
The recipe for each flavor makes 200 gummy bears, for a total of 600 gummies. That’s based on the size of my gummy bear mold – your yield might vary a bit. You can keep them all for yourself, or wrap them up in cute jars and give them to your favorite people. Enjoy!

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Remember to #bakerita if you try the recipe!

Paleo Gummies (Three Flavors: Apple Cinnamon, Pomegranate + Cranberry Orange)
Ingredients
Apple Cinnamon
- 1 cup pure apple juice
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon extract*
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons Vital Proteins Grass-Fed Gelatin
Pomegranate
- 1 cup pure pomegranate juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons Vital Proteins Grass-Fed Gelatin
Cranberry Orange
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons pure orange juice
- 2 tablespoons pure cranberry juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons Vital Proteins Grass-Fed Gelatin
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine the juice and the maple syrup or honey and heat over medium heat until steaming hot (just before boiling).
- Lower the heat to the lowest setting and if using, stir in the cinnamon extract. Whisk in the gelatin one tablespoon at a time, making sure each tablespoon is fully dissolved in the liquid before adding the next.
- Once the gelatin is fully dissolved, remove from the heat and use a dropper to put in your gummy molds.
- Put in the refrigerator to firm up completely - if your molds are small like my gummy bears, it should only take about 10 to 15 minutes for them to firm up enough to pop out.
- If you don’t have enough molds to use all the gummy mixture at once, you can pour the extra into a small pan and cut them into squares, OR you can gently reheat/melt the mixture over low heat when your molds are empty and ready to be used again (I did the second option).
- Store the gummies in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Repeat for other flavors!

These are awesome! I love the addition of collagen too. I use vital proteins everyday!
Me too! I love their products :) thanks so much, Megan.
These are absolutely GORGEOUS, Rachel! And so fun! I love your pictures! I couldn’t wait to see the recipe after seeing your Insta-story about them. Such a great idea to make homemade gummy bears. I have a serious addiction to the store bought kind (which is why I never buy them) so this healthier version was made for me!
You’ve got to try them, Gayle! I was shocked at how easy it was :) and you can make SO many different flavors. Wish I could give you a jar :)
Yum, those are just too beautiful! I would love to try them all:)
Thanks so much, Natalia!
These photos are gorgeous and the gummie bears are adorable! I understand that the whole point here is the Vital Proteins Gelatin, but do you have any idea whether these gummies can be made with vegetarian gelatin? (Lots of vegetarians at my house ;) )
Hi Wendy! I haven’t tried it, but I think you could substitute agar agar powder in equal amounts for the gelatin. Be sure to report back if you try it! :)
Hi I Tried Agar Agar but it did not work for me, what am i doing wrong!! ;(
Hi Roxy, this recipe is not meant to be made with agar agar. Agar agar performs slightly differently than gelatin. I suggested trying it at their own risk to another user who wanted a vegetarian version, but can’t guarantee it’ll work since I never tested it that way.
I made the cranberry ones as described and they are still liquidy after coming out of the fridge. I gave them even more time to solidify and no luck. Any suggestions? I was so excited about this recipe!
Hi Elizabeth, is it possible anything was mismeasured? Or did you use gelatin packets from the store? I’ve heard those can be less gelatinous than the Vital Proteins one I used.
I had the same problem with the cran-orange gummies. Been in the fridge over an hour and still liquid.
Hi Britteny, after looking over the recipe I think the issue may be that there are 2 extra tablespoons of liquid in that version…I’m going to adjust it to total 1 cup. They worked for me many times, so not sure exactly what’s going on, but I’ll retest since it’s a repeated issue! Sorry you had that trouble. If they never end up solidifying, you can try adding an extra teaspoon or two of gelatin to the mix and resetting – I know that’s annoying though! So sorry they didn’t turn out for you!
Were the molds a bigger size? Bigger sizes take *significantly* longer to set, from my experience.
If they never set up at all, not just were a little more jiggly/softer jello, then I’m going to guess this is an enzyme issue. I’m not sure if fresh cranberries or oranges have enough enzymes to interfere with gelatin bonds, but maybe. If people are using juice that has been heated at higher temperatures at some point (or maybe juices from concentrate rather than fresh), that would get rid of any enzymes that could prevent the gelatin from setting. Juices that hadn’t been heated at high enough temperatures for long enough might have in-tact enzymes that mess with the gelatin setting up. Fresh pineapple juice and ginger root are known to have this enzyme issue with gelatin. I’m just guessing that maybe something like this is going on. If the gelatin was working but just wasn’t enough, I doubt it would be completely liquid after sitting in the fridge for over an hour, unless the molds were huge.
I know the pomegranate ones I’ve made have worked fine with both store bought packets (one 1/4 oz. packet for each Tbsp. of gelatin called for in the recipe), and with the Vital Proteins gelatin (though I did notice the scoop that comes with the Vital Proteins container holds just slightly more than my household tablespoon measurements). Vital Proteins gelatin doesn’t stink as much when you’re whisking it into the hot liquid, but otherwise they worked pretty much the same for me.
Not only do these look perfect, but the fact that they are THAT easy to make AND healthy makes me want to get to the store and get the stuff to make them right now!
Aww thanks so much Annie! They seriously are so easy!
I can’t believe you made gummy bears! They are so colorful and beautiful!
I am so making these Rachel!! They are absolutely adorable and I love how they are actually a healthier version! My son who’s 24 LOVES gummy bears! He doesn’t eat chocolate, so fruit candy are his fave. And at the rate he eats them, he totally needs something healthier than store-bought sugar filled gummies! Can’t wait to try!!
Oh you’ve got to make him some in his favorite flavors!! He’d love it :) thanks so much, Mary Ann!
oh wow, these loo beyond perfect Rachel! You did a great job!
OMG I love these! My girls will go crazy over these!!!!
Where I tend to go for the chocolate and my hubby, the gummy bears…you’ve made a fan out of me! I cannot get over their beauty! I mean, it’s a bear! You rock, my friend!!