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Homemade Lemonade is refreshing and bright with fresh lemon juice and a bit of sugar to balance the sweet and sour.
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. And if you’re in the mood for something a little different, try one of my eight different lemonades!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Homemade lemonade is made with fresh lemons, which provides a burst of natural citrus flavor. This freshness can be hard to replicate with store-bought options.
- When you make lemonade at home, you can control the sweetness and tartness levels to suit your taste. You can adjust the sugar or honey content to make it as sweet or tangy as you prefer.
- Homemade lemonade consists of just a few simple ingredients: lemons, water, sugar, and optionally, some people like to add fresh herbs or fruit slices for added flavor. You can avoid artificial additives and preservatives commonly found in commercial lemonade.
Recipe Ingredients
- Hot tap water
- Granulated sugar
- Fresh lemon juice: about 8 lemons, depending on the size.
- Ice
- Cold water
- Lemon slice: optional, for serving
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
Popular Substitutions and Variations
- You can use bottled lemon juice for this recipe, just try to get a good brand, the really cheap stuff can taste bitter and have a bad after taste. If you are really in a pinch you can use half store bought lemon juice and half freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Instead of traditional sugar, you can use honey to sweeten your lemonade. Honey adds a unique flavor and can be a healthier alternative. It is naturally sweeter than sugar though so use about 2/3 cup honey for every cup of sugar.
- Experiment with various fruits like oranges, limes, or grapefruits to create citrus-infused lemonades.
- You can make sparkling lemonade by adding carbonated water or soda water to your lemonade mixture for a fizzy version.
- Pour homemade lemonade into popsicle molds and freeze for a refreshing summer treat.
How to Make Homemade Lemonade
Step #1. Add the hot water and sugar to your pitcher and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Step #3. Serve right away and add a slice of lemon to the rim of your glass if you’d like.
Step #2. Add all the other ingredients and stir well to combine.
Recipe FAQs
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.
Lemonade can go bad just like any other fresh food item. I’d recommend enjoying the batch within 3 days, and keep the pitcher refrigerated in between pours.
Lemonade should be kept in the fridge to keep it nice, fresh, and cold! It’ll help preserve it for longer, too.
Expert Tips
- 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.
- Select ripe and juicy lemons for the best flavor. Freshly squeezed lemon juice is key to a tasty lemonade.
- Roll the lemons on a countertop before juicing to help release more juice. You can also warm them in the microwave for a few seconds to make them juicier.
- After squeezing the lemon juice, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any pulp or seeds for a smoother texture.
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.
More Summertime Recipes to Consider
Ice Cream
Simple Homemade Ice Cream Recipes
Pies, Crisps & Tarts
Homemade Coconut Cream Pie
Summer Recipes
Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade
No Bake Desserts
Berries and Cream
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Easy Homemade Lemonade Recipe
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, however.
- 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.
- Want to take your lemonade up a notch? Zest 4 lemons and stir that lemon zest into the sugar before you add the sugar to the hot water! Mix the lemon zest and sugar together until it smells bright and fragrant. It’s an extra step but that lemon oil in the zest adds tons of flavor to the lemonade and I like to do it occasionally when I’m in the mood to zest my lemons.
- If you like this recipe, be sure to try my eight other lemonade recipes, too!
Love this simple lemonade recipe and my kids thoroughly enjoy the results!