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This Fresh Squeezed Lemonade recipe is made with just 3 ingredients! It's perfectly sweet (but not too sweet!) and makes the best refreshing summer drink. Take it to a BBQ, Potluck, or just enjoy it at home.
Looking for more beverage recipes? Try my Strawberry Lemonade, Chocolate Milkshake, or Strawberry Banana Smoothie!
What I love about this drink:
- Delicious – This is the BEST lemonade recipe and will absolutely ruin your tastes buds for any type of store-bought lemonade. No other lemonade will ever measure up– it's that good!
- 3 Ingredients – Lemons, sugar, and water is all you need. It's easy to adjust the sweetness to your liking. Be sure to serve it with lots of ice.
- Freezer-Friendly – I love to double of triple the recipe, and freeze it (before adding water) so that we have fresh lemonade any time we want!
Lemonade ingredients:
- Lemons: Fresh lemons are essential for this recipe to get that great fresh-squeezed lemonade taste. Depending on the size of your lemons, you will need between 6-8 medium size lemons to get 1 ½ cups of lemon juice for this recipe.
- Sugar: White granulated sugar gets dissolved in water to create a simple syrup.
- Water: How much water you add really depends on how sweet you like your lemonade.
How to Make lemonade:
Make Simple Syrup: Add sugar and 2 cups of water to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Juice the Lemons: Strain the lemon juice through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher.
Combine Syrup and Lemon Juice: Add more water to taste, until you reach your desired lemonade sweetness.
Chill: Serve cold, over ice and enjoy!
Pro Tips:
- How to Choose Juicy Lemons: When choosing lemons from the grocery store, look for lemons that are tender to the touch, indicating they are juicy. If you pick up two lemons that are about the same size, the one that is heavier will be juicier.
- How to Juice Lemons: Make sure the lemons are at room temperature before you try and squeeze the juice from them. If using a handheld juicer, like this one, or this, place the lemon inside with the cut-side facing down. You may also use a fork to juice lemons. The tines of the fork and the bent edge of the fork can be used to work your way around the inner flesh of the fruit to get all of the juice out.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: This easy lemonade recipe can be made and kept covered in the fridge up to a day or two in advance. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 7 days (but I promise it won't last that long!).
To Freeze: You can freeze the lemon juice concentrate from this recipe and save it to make homemade lemonade, any time. Mix the cooled simple syrup and fresh squeezed lemon juice together. Pour into a freezer bag and freeze for up to 5 months. Allow the mixture to thaw and add it to a pitcher. Add water, to taste, until you reach your desired sweetness.
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Homemade Lemonade
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice, , about 6-8 lemons
- 4 ½ – 5 cups water, , divided
Instructions
- Combine sugar and 2 cups water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- Strain the lemon juice through a fine-mesh sieve into a 2-quart pitcher. Add simple syrup and stir to combine. Refrigerate until cold.
- When ready to serve, add 2 ½ cups of cold water and stir. Taste, and add more water if it's too sweet. Serve over ice, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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*I originally shared this recipe May 2015. Updated April 2019 and May 2022.
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Wonder if can use instead of sugar some stevia. Would it be the same amount
Yes
I used this to make the syrup for a classic MPls golf course drink “Bootleg”. 1 part lemon & lime simple syrup, 2 parts gin or vodka, mint to taste and blend. Pour over ice and add 6-9 oz lime bubbly water.
I make scratch lemonade a few times every year. Usually we just wing it and do a bunch of trial and error. I figured we’d try a recipe to save time. This was much too sweet for our family. We added additional water to dilute it. Next time I’ll cut the sugar by about a 1/3 because I prefer a stronger lemon to sugar ratio.
I love this recipe I made it for my family and they love the taste.
This is the 4th time I’ve made this LEMONADE. My husband and I love it. I’ve used home grown lemons. Thx a bunch😊
This recipe was just the right amount of sugar for me and my family…we love it! I add fresh mint leaves to my glass…Perfection…Thank you for sharing.
Delicious! However, I used half sugar and half honey.
This was way too sweet for my taste, I wish I had added half the amount of simple syrup in the first time but unfortunately poured the entire thing in.
The great thing about this recipe is you can make it as sweet as you want. If it’s too sweet, simply add more water.
I added instead of 2 cups I added one cup
i have a family of 6 and boy do we love this recipe with the hot whether coming this will be a go to drink
Can’t wait to try! One question, can I use cane sugar ?
yes you can ive done it before it tastes the same