Easy Homemade Lemonade is refreshing and bright with fresh lemon juice and a bit of sugar to balance the sweet and sour.
Easy Homemade Lemonade Recipe
There’s really nothing better than a fresh glass of homemade lemonade on a hot summer’s day. With the Fourth of July right around the corner, this is the perfect drink to sip as you cook out or hang out by the pool — it’s the best refreshing beverage for just about any Fourth festivity!
It’s so, so simple to mix up, too, which I absolutely love! A lot of homemade lemonade recipes require you to make a simple syrup on the stove, but for this one, all you have to do is add your sugar and some hot water directly to the pitcher. After mixing it for a little longer than a minute, the sugar dissolves, and you have a perfect simple syrup hack with half the effort and cleanup!
Definitely do use fresh lemon juice for this one if you can. It makes it all the more refreshing and vibrant. The packaged stuff really doesn’t compare when you’re making lemonade from scratch. After all, the lemon juice is kind of the star of this drink, so go all in and use the fresh juice! And don’t even get me started on frozen lemonade concentrate… This recipe takes just as little time to make but tastes SO much more incredible! Enjoy over a lot of ice, and add a sprig of mint for pretty garnish, if you’d like.
What percent of lemonade is lemon juice?
Traditional “old-fashioned” lemonade has about 15 percent lemon juice in it. This recipe has 1 part lemon juice, 1 part sugar, and 4 parts water, plus a lot of ice (which melts down to temper the sourness of lemon, too). You can always use less or more water depending on how sour or mild you like your lemonade.
Does homemade lemonade go bad?
Even though lemons are preservative citrus fruits, lemonade can go bad just like any other fresh food items. I’d recommend enjoying the batch within 3 days, and keep the pitcher refrigerated in between pours.
Does homemade lemonade need to be refrigerated?
Lemonade should be kept in the fridge to keep it nice, fresh, and cold! It’ll help preserve it for longer, too.
Can you leave lemonade out overnight?
No, you shouldn’t leave lemonade out overnight. In fact, the FDA says perishable foods should only be left out at room temperature for up to two hours before it’s considered unsafe to consume. If you’re enjoying the beverage at a barbecue or selling it with your kiddos at a neighborhood lemonade stand, it might be work keeping the pitcher on ice in a cooler or other bin to keep it cold and crisp.
Easy Homemade Lemonade Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Easy Homemade Lemonade is refreshing and bright with fresh lemon juice and a bit of sugar to balance the sweet and sour.
Ingredients
- 2 cups hot tap water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 8 lemons)
- 4 cups ice
- 2 cups cold water
- Additional sliced lemons for serving
Instructions
- Add the hot water and sugar to a large pitcher, and stir well until the sugar dissolves, about 90 seconds of stirring.
- Add the lemon juice and ice, and stir to combine well.
- Add the additional cold water, and stir to combine. Adjust the water to taste (if you like a less sweet lemonade, you may want to add more water).
Notes
- I love the trick of adding the hot water to the pitcher — it’s like making a fake simple syrup, and you don’t have to wait for it to cool! You can definitely make a simple syrup though by heating the 2 cups of water and the sugar on the stove until dissolved. I recommend chilling your simple syrup before using.
- I don’t recommend bottled lemon juice for this recipe, UNLESS you can find that fancy volcanic lemon juice from Italy (sold at Costco). Here’s what it looks like on Amazon, but it’s silly expensive there. Other options would be high quality lemon juices that aren’t from concentrate.
- Category: drink
- Method: no bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: lemonade recipe, homemade lemonade recipe, drink
Want To Save This Recipe?
Here are some more lemon recipes you may enjoy:
- 8 Different Homemade Lemonade Recipes
- Strawberry Lemonade Slushie
- Made to Order Lemonade aka Fresh Lemon Shake-ups
- North Carolina Lemon Pie
- Lemon Recipe Roundup
- Lemon Garlic Baked Chicken Legs
- Lemon Chiffon Cake
- Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
- Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade; summer sipping just got tastier
- Creamy Raspberry Lemon Wraps
- Lemon Filled Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate and Lemon Sugar
- Blueberry Lemon Muffins
- Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Vinaigrette
You need few other things than a tall glass of lemonade to make an afternoon perfect. This simple homemade lemonade recipe is going to be a stable in your home and you’ll enjoy it again and again.
About Melissa
Melissa is dedicated to helping parents figure out the nightly questions, "What's for Dinner?!" with her no-fuss approach to cooking. Read more...
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