I have tried a lot of different strawberry lemonades over the years, a brand new one actually just today that my son called way too sweet. I’ve even previously shared a strawberry lavender lemonade recipe… It feels like most are either super tart or super sweet with nothing being the perfect combination of in between. And now I’m envisioning Goldilocks drinking different glasses of lemonade – anyway, I digress. This homemade strawberry lemonade has what I think is the perfect combination of the two – sweet and tart. And I’ve included tips at the bottom of the recipe for adding a little tartness or a little sweetness if you disagree. But I’m hoping you don’t!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy – this recipe is super simple! It’s just a matter of making a simple syrup and then combining it with a few other ingredients. Refreshing – serve this over ice for the most refreshing summer drink ever. I mean there’s a reason drinking lemonade is on everyone’s summer bucket list! Great for a crowd – I’ve included instructions on making this recipe for more people and it’s super simple to double, triple, etc.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Ice – this is totally optional and only used for serving (if you want to serve it cold over ice)Strawberries – fresh strawberries are best since frozen tend to hold a bit of the water from being frozen and dilute the drink.Fresh lemon juice – make sure it’s fresh-squeezed, the bottled stuff just won’t give you the same flavor at all! I used about 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice, which ended up being about three small lemons. Water – you can use water for regular strawberry lemonade or unflavored sparkling water for sparkling strawberry lemonade, also good! Sugar – you’ll use the sugar + water to make a really easy simple syrup, the simple syrup is shown in the photo above.
How to Make Homemade Strawberry Lemonade
If you know how to make a simply syrup then this recipe is going to be a cinch! If you don’t, don’t worry – making a simple syrup is like the easiest thing ever. Start by combining 1/2 cup water and ¾ cup sugar in a small pot or saucepan. Heat on the stove over medium heat until sugar dissolves into water to create a simple syrup. Set aside. Now you’ll place 2 cups chopped strawberries, ½ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and ½ cup of the simple syrup in either a blender or food processor. I typically use a blender but if you don’t have one, a food processor can work as well. Blend until smooth – it’ll be a liquid, not something thicker like a smoothie. This is what you want. After blending, pour the mixture through a mesh strainer to get the juice out and keep any strawberry seeds or large chunks in the strainer. If you want to keep the large chunks (like I did with this strawberry mocktail), to add in for later, go for it! Combine 3 oz of the strawberry juice mixture and 4 oz of sparkling water in a glass that’s 8 oz or larger. Add ice, fresh strawberries, and lemon wedges for garnish. Or you could even add a mint leaf (or just make this strawberry mojito mocktail instead). Enjoy fresh!
Expert Tips
Double the recipe to make a 2-quart pitcher full of strawberry lemonade. Then add 32 ounces of water and 24 ounces of the strawberry mixture to make your lemonade. Get an actual shaker bartender kit to measure out the right amount of the ingredients. I wrote this recipe in ounces rather than something like a cup because liquid is measured more accurately in ounces. Make this less sweet by making a simple syrup that’s a 1:1 ratio (1/2 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water) or make it sweeter by making it a 2:1 ratio (1 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water). Simply changing the sweetness of the simple syrup can change the overall sweetness of the lemonade! Alternately you could also just use less simple syrup in the recipe but that tends to change the measurements as well.
More Delicious Drinks
Best frozen hot chocolate – a chilled and almost slushy chocolate hot chocolate that’s flavorful and delicious! Cotton candy drink – this strawberry flavored drink has a surprise ingredient – cotton candy! It’s not only fun to make but fun to drink! Caramel apple drink – this caramel apple mocktail combines apple cider, caramel, and a little whipped cream for a delicious drink everyone will enjoy! Halloween punch for kids – this zombie Halloween punch will have all of the kids screaming for joy with its combination of sherbet, soda, and spooky things! Homemade fruit punch – the classic flavor of fruit punch brought to your own house! This one is even better a day or two later once the fruit flavors have mingled together.
