This easy fresh strawberry lemonade recipe is the perfect summer drink. A lemonade made with juicy strawberries and lemons 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 welcomed fave on a hot summer day.
Love a refreshing summertime drink? Try my country fair lemonade, mint watermelon lemonade, or a sparkling tuscan lemonade cocktail.
This post may contain Affiliate Links. Please see my Full Disclosure Policy for more details.
Jump to:
- The Best Refreshing Summer Drink!
- Why You'll Love this Recipe
- How Pink Lemonade was Invented
- Equipment Needed
- Ingredients
- Making Strawberry Syrup for the Best Strawberry Lemonade
- How to Make Strawberry Lemonade at Home without a Blender
- Best Natural Sweeteners for Strawberry Lemonade
- Tips for Perfecting Your Homemade Lemonade
- Variations and Substitutions
- How long will Strawberry Lemonade Last?
- FAQs
- More Sweet Summer Drinks
- 📖 Recipe
The Best Refreshing Summer Drink!
Let me tell you, as soon as the weather starts to get warm, my family and I get excited to whip up some easy strawberry lemonade. It's the perfect companion for any outdoor activity - be it a picnic, a fancy brunch, or even a romantic date night in.
You just need some juicy strawberries and sugar to make a scrumptious strawberry simple syrup and mix it with your favorite lemonade recipe. It's terrifically effortless, and the kids love to lend a hand in the process!
The best part? You get to be the master of your lemonade universe! You decide how smooth you want it, how much strawberry flavor you desire, and what kind of sweetener would make it a knockout.
This splendid recipe is sure to be a hit with the whole family, and undeniably the ultimate summer drink. If you have any suggestions on making lemonade, pop them in the comments. I would love to learn about how you make the ultimate lemonade for your family!
Why You'll Love this Recipe
- More Affordable than Store-Bought - you can make gallons of lemonade if you wanted to for a much more affordable price than a half gallon at the market.
- Simple Ingredients - there's nothing wild or unexplainable in here, unlike many store-bought brands of lemonade. Four easy fresh ingredients that you most likely already have on hand are all you need.
- Very Customizable - I absolutely love how easy it is to add any type of delicious flavors to this drink. You can also swap the sugar for healthier alternatives, which I talk more about in this post!
- No Special Appliances Required - a lot of recipes require a blender, but we don't need one here.
How Pink Lemonade was Invented
Before this pink drink became the ideal refreshing drink of the strawberry season, it was something else entirely.
The story behind the kid-favorite lemonade with the beautiful pink hue is like so many other drink histories: murky, chaotic, 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!
Equipment Needed
- Citrus Juicer - I love this pressing juicer so much, it really squeezes every bit of juice out!
- Small Saucepan - we're making a simple syrup, we've gotta have a pan to do it in.
- Fine Mesh Sieve - you'll need a fine mesh strainer to make your sweet strawberry syrup.
- Large Pitcher - this recipe makes a good amount of lemonade so you'll need a large pitcher
Ingredients
The ingredients are simple: strawberries, lemons, water and sugar. No need to bust out anything weird or fancy here.
- Water.
- Granulated Sugar.
- Strawberries - frozen berries work if you can't get your hands on the fresh ones.
- A bunch of Lemons - freshly squeezed lemon juice from fresh lemons is best in this recipe, the bottled store-bought lemon juice can end up too tart.
Making Strawberry Syrup for the Best Strawberry Lemonade
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!
Making the fresh and delicious strawberry syrup is incredibly easy. Any extra can go into popsicles, slushies, cocktails, you name it!
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 a strawberry shortcake cake.
They're just delicious enough to make the perfect syrup.
Step 1 | Make the strawberry syrup by dissolving the sugar in a small saucepan with 1 cup 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.
Step 2 | Let the simple syrup simmer (never boil!) for 5 minutes, then strain the syrup through a mesh strainer to remove the strawberry mush into a heat-safe bowl or container. This will also get out any strawberry seeds and there's no worry about if the sugar is dissolved enough in the lemonade.
How to Make Strawberry Lemonade at Home without a Blender
Step 1 | 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 more of that strawberry flavor.
Step 2 | Next, stir the fresh lemon juice, water, and macerated strawberries together
Step 3 | Now that your 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 and ready to serve. You can also add in a few cups of ice but if you do, reduce the amount of water you use so it's not diluted.
Step 4 | Pour lemonade into glasses with or without ice and add in frozen fruit if you'd like!
Best Natural Sweeteners for Strawberry Lemonade
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 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!
Tips for Perfecting Your Homemade Lemonade
- Strain your strawberry simple syrup, the flavor and color has been leached from the syrup's strawberries so they should be discarded.
- Different lemons have a different impact on your lemonade! Meyer lemons are sweeter and have a distinctly different flavor than your typical fresh lemons.
- Use a blender or food processor if you love having strawberry puree in your 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!
- Use frozen strawberries 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.
Variations and Substitutions
- 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 for a quick strawberry lemonade recipe
- Swap the strawberries for raspberries! Raspberry lemonade is so, so good. The perfect drink when raspberry season comes around.
- Make Strawberry Limeade - Change the lemons for limes and make a fantastic strawberry limeade!
- Use frozen strawberries instead if you can't find fresh strawberries out of season.
- Turn it into a refreshing summer cocktail - add a splash of tequila or make a yummy vodka strawberry lemonade cocktail!
- Try pouring it into popsicle molds for a sweet summery treat! Drop in some
- Strawberry Lemonade Soda - 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.
How long will Strawberry Lemonade Last?
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.
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.
First tip, use fresh lemons. Second tip, the strawberry syrup we make in this recipe completely incorporates into the lemon juice and water so that the lemonade is sweet and flavorful.
Bottled lemon juice has preservatives and additives that can make it taste extra sour and bitter, so I suggest using only fresh lemons.
More Sweet Summer Drinks
Click here to subscribe SWEET TEA & THYME’S NEWSLETTER for free and fresh recipes right into your inbox!
To pin this recipe and save it for later you can use the Pin button on the recipe card, the sharing buttons above or below this post, or on any of the photos above.
Tag me @sweet_tea_thyme on Instagram to share your remakes with me, I love looking through your photos!
Leave a 5 star rating and comment on the recipe card to let me know if you enjoyed this recipe.
📖 Recipe
How to make Strawberry Lemonade
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!