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This easy fresh strawberry lemonade recipe is exactly what the warm weather ordered. All you need are four fresh ingredients: water, sugar, lemons, and fresh strawberries for a seriously delicious drink with all the flavor and no blender required! Skip the store bought stuff, fresh-squeezed lemonade at home is a breeze.
Y'all I brought you this recipe back in 2016; that was so long ago! It was in desperate need of an upgrade and update.
But this easy strawberry lemonade recipe still stands as my family-fave go-to refresher on a hot summer day. We find that store bought lemonade can be really acidic or chemical-tasting, so our homemade lemonade is the perfect balance of sweet and tart with natural ingredients instead of high fructose corn syrup.
It's a really simple recipe, using the strawberries and sugar to make a delicious strawberry simple syrup with my favorite classic lemonade and that's it! It's so easy and Greyson absolutely loves helping out with the juicer for the fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
It's a recipe that the whole family can get into and the perfect summer drink...(it also makes a mean strawberry vodka lemonade if you're looking for a refreshing summer cocktail 😉 just add a splash of vodka! ).
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How Strawberry Lemonade was Invented
The story behind strawberry lemonade is like so many other drink histories: murky, with multiple people claiming ownership.
One story claims that someone at a carnival dropped hot cinnamon candy into the lemonade they were selling, making the lemonade pink.
The other story claims that another person at a circus ran out of water to make lemonade to sell so they stole a circus girl's washing tub, where she had just washed her red tights, dropped lemon slices in, and called it 'pink lemonade'. It sold like hotcakes.
Gross but...well, the work apparently ain't honest but it paid the bills!
How to Make Strawberry Lemonade at Home without a Blender
So how do we make a pitcher of easy homemade strawberry lemonade with actual strawberries and not red dye? With plenty of sweet ripe strawberries!
We first make a strawberry simple syrup, where the sugar dissolves in a small saucepan of water with chopped up strawberries over medium heat. It simmers a bit, the strawberries release all their color and flavor, and you have the best smelling and tasting simple syrup ever.
This is the time to use those older, wrinkly, or ugly strawberries you don't want to eat by themselves or have on top of your strawberry pound cake. They're still delicious and make the perfect syrup.
Next, squeeze a bunch of lemons for fresh lemon juice. You'll have one or two cups of lemon juice.
Now, chop up some fresh strawberries and macerate them inside of your large pitcher. That means cover them in sugar and let them release all that good strawberry juice. This is an optional step, but it adds so much during strawberry season!
Next, stir the lemon juice and macerated strawberries together!
You now have to make a decision: do you pour still water into the strawberry lemon mixture or spice it up by pouring in club soda and making strawberry lemonade soda? If you've never made your own soda, this summery drink is the time to do it! It's one of my son's favorite things.
Now that your chosen water is in, add the strawberry syrup and give it a really good stir.
Cover the top with plastic wrap or put a lid on it, and put that baby in the fridge to get it nice and chilled. You can also add in a few cups of ice.
Ingredients
Water.
Granulated Sugar.
Strawberries.
Fresh Lemons.
Sugar Substitutions
For this strawberry pink lemonade, you have a lot of choices for what sweetener you want to use, especially if you want to make this a keto or healthy pink lemonade recipe!
Agave Nectar, which is a syrup with a high fructose concentration that's way sweeter than sugar. So a little goes a long way.
Honey, which gives it a beautiful floral flavor.
Raw Sugar, it's less processed than granulated white sugar and can give a slightly rich taste.
For my keto friends, you can use stevia (if you are used to the aftertaste) and monkfruit. I've seen them pretty frequently in mainstream grocery stores, so they're not difficult to find!
Variations
- Instead of making the simple syrup, you can just follow the directions for making this recipe, just add the full amount of sugar to macerate the strawberries and stir the lemonade well.
- Swap the strawberries for raspberries! Raspberry lemonade is so, so good. The perfect drink when raspberry season comes around.
- Change the lemons for limes and make a fantastic strawberry limeade!
Storing Strawberry Lemonade
Cover the pitcher of lemonade with a lid or plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days. This makes it perfect to make ahead before your next cookout, brunch, or summer party.
Recipes using Strawberries
I absolutely love using strawberries in all types of dishes, sweet, savory, and drinks! A few favorites?
Pan-seared salmon with strawberry avocado salsa is one of my hands-down faves in the summer. I will eat the ocean out of seafood (sustainably!) in the warmer months!
Strawberry sweet tea. A must have. Especially in the south, it's too hot not to have it.
Baking? Strawberry coffee cake muffins for the win! They're so easy and delish with a lemon glaze. Give them to mom for mother's day or bring them to brunch!
Tips for the Best Strawberry Lemonade
Strain your strawberry simple syrup, the flavor and color has been leached from the syrup's strawberries so they should be discarded.
Freeze strawberries and add them as 'ice cubes' to your pitcher. Your lemonade won't get watered down! You could also make lemonade ice cubes and add them as well!
FAQs
Strawberry lemonade is made with strawberries, while pink lemonade is made pink using red dyes.
If you plan on making this to freeze and keep on hand, here's how you do it (I suggest making a double batch of it!):
Mix together the strawberry syrup and lemon juice and freeze it in a freezer-safe airtight container. When you want lemonade, thaw the concentrate and add water (and possibly frozen strawberries for that *chef's kiss*).
You can totally use frozen strawberries for every part of the recipe, it's great when you want strawberry lemonade during the off-seasons.
More Fun Summer Drinks
- Watermelon Agua Fresca, classic summer flavors! It's a must when dining al fresco this summer.
- Homemade Shirley Temples, not too sweet and a kid favorite!
- Iced Guava Passionfruit Drink (Starbucks Copycat), which is fun, tropical, and saves you a Starbucks' run!
- Brazilian Limeade, we love this creamy Brazilian steakhouse limeade!
Tools I Used in this Recipe
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📖 Recipe
The BEST Strawberry Lemonade Recipe
This easy fresh strawberry lemonade recipe is exactly what the warm weather ordered. All you need are four ingredients: water, sugar, lemons, and fresh strawberries for a seriously delicious drink with all the flavor and no blender required! Skip the store bought stuff, fresh-squeezed lemonade at home is a breeze.
Ingredients
Strawberry Simple Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 7 strawberries, hulled and chopped
Strawberry Lemonade
- 2 cups strawberries, hulled
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 8 lemons
- 3 cups ice water
- Lemon slices and frozen strawberries, to garnish
Instructions
Make Strawberry Simple Syrup
- Add the water, 1 cup of granulated sugar, and the chopped strawberries into a small saucepan over medium heat on the stove.
- Let the water come to a simmer and dissolve all the sugar, you can stir to help it dissolve.
- Let the simple syrup simmer (never boil!) for 5 minutes, then strain the syrup through a mesh sieve into a heat-safe bowl or container.
- This can be done ahead of time or right before you make the lemonade, just make sure to add extra ice to cool it down.
Make Strawberry Lemonade
- In a large pitcher, take the remaining strawberries and pour the remaining sugar over them. Stir to cover the strawberries in the sugar and let the berries macerate for 5 minutes.
- Juice all the lemons and add the juice to the pitcher with the macerated strawberries and sugar.
- Add water to fill up the pitcher, then stir in the strawberry simple syrup.
- Add ice cubes or frozen strawberries and place in the fridge to cool if you have time, otherwise serve with ice/frozen strawberries!
Notes
Sugar Substitutions
For this strawberry pink lemonade, you have a lot of choices for what sweetener you want to use, especially if you want to make this a keto or healthy pink lemonade recipe!
Agave Nectar, which is a syrup with a high fructose concentration that's way sweeter than sugar. So a little goes a long way.
Honey, which gives it a beautiful floral flavor.
Raw Sugar, it's less processed than granulated white sugar and can give a slightly rich taste.
For my keto friends, you can use stevia (if you are used to the aftertaste) and monkfruit. I've seen them pretty frequently in mainstream grocery stores, so they're not difficult to find!
Variations
- Instead of making the simple syrup, you can just follow the directions for making this recipe, just add the full amount of sugar to macerate the strawberries and stir the lemonade well.
- Swap the strawberries for raspberries! Raspberry lemonade is so, so good. The perfect drink when raspberry season comes around.
- Change the lemons for limes and make a fantastic strawberry limeade!
Make Ahead Strawberry Lemonade
Cover the pitcher of lemonade with a lid or plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days. This makes it perfect to make ahead before your next cookout, brunch, or summer party.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 118Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 5mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 3gSugar: 25gProtein: 1g
All nutrition facts are estimations. Please see a physician for any health-related inquiries.
Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.
Myrtle says
I made the recipe. used splenda instead of suga. Recipe absolutely delicious.
Thanks Myrtle! I’m so happy to hear that!