Strawberry Lemonade
Homemade strawberry lemonade is cold, refreshing, sweet, tart, and packed with real strawberry flavor. Frozen strawberries make it especially easy to prepare and gives the lemonade a icy-cold, bright berry flavor that’s perfect for hot summer days.
Lemonade seems like something might be a pain in the you-know-what, but you know what? It really isn’t. You don’t have to spend hours squeezing lemons or making complicated syrups to make it all work. This homemade strawberry lemonade recipe has a prep time of about 15 minutes. That’s it!
Why Frozen Strawberries Work So Well in Lemonade
- You don’t have to wash or hull the strawberries
- Frozen strawberries are available year round
- You get fresh lemonade with a bright berry flavor
And, yes, I know you can just buy lemonade, but it’s fun to make things, friends. Plus, the store-bought kind doesn’t have pretty strawberries in it. At best, it has a fake strawberry flavor, while our from-scratch fresh strawberry lemonade has just a few simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- Granulated sugar
- Water
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice – you will need about 5 to 6 large lemons
- Thawed sliced frozen strawberries – thawing them first releases juices that flavor the lemonade.
How to Make It
- Simmer: Combine the sugar with 3 cups of water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat and stir.
- Cool: When the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from the stove and allow the syrup to cool.
- Mix: Pour 4 cups of cold water, the sugar syrup, and lemon juice into a large pitcher. Add the strawberries and stir to combine.
- Serve: Pour into glasses with ice cubes and garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint.
Variations and Other Tips
- Sweetness Level: Lemonade is supposed to be sweet to balance the tartness from the lemon juice, but how sweet depends on your tastes. If you serve it on a warm day with lots of ice, I don’t recommend changing the ingredient amounts. The ice will water the drink down as it melts a bit. That said, you can add up to one to two cups more of water to cut the sweetness if that’s what you prefer.
- Make it Fizzy: Use sparkling water or soda water to make a fizzy, refreshing drink!
- Frozen Strawberry Lemonade: Instead of thawing the strawberries, place them in a blender or food processor with the lemonade and blend until you have a slushy frozen strawberry lemonade.
- Strawberry Puree: If you don’t want the strawberry slices in the pitcher, you can puree the strawberries first, strain the pureed juice through a fine-mesh strainer, and add it to the lemonade.
- Change the Fruit: You aren’t stuck with strawberries – try other fruit like frozen blueberries, raspberries, peaches, cherries, or other fruit that you like.
More Summer Drink Recipes
- Pineapple Agua Fresca – light and extra refreshing
- Sparkling Berry Lemonade – bubbly and perfect for summer parties
- Passion Fruit Iced Tea – easy tropical-inspired drink
- Grapefruit Ginger Fizz – citrusy with a zingy kick
- Refreshing Orange Smoothie – creamy, bright and easy to make
Strawberry Lemonade
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 7 cups water divided
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice from about 5 to 6 large lemons
- 1 1/2 cups sliced frozen strawberries thawed
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar with 3 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat until all of the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the stove and allow it to cool.
- Pour 4 cups of water, the sugar water, and lemon juice in a large pitcher. Add the strawberries and stir to combine. Serve over ice and enjoy.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Recipe FAQs
I like using thawed frozen ones because you get a lot of liquid from the berries, which helps flavor the lemonade. If you want to use fresh strawberries, I recommend sprinkling a little sugar over them and warming them in a sauce pan to break them down. This will help release the juices.
I don’t recommend it because fresh lemon juice tastes a thousand times better. It’s worth squeezing the juice yourself.
Yes, that would be a super easy option. You can doctor up store-bought lemonade and skip making your own. Just add the thawed berries to the lemonade to flavor it.
Yes, let them thaw and then slice them. Or you can lightly mash them in the pitcher.
Making a simple syrup, which is sugar heated with water until it dissolves, is so much better than just adding sugar to cold water. If you skip making the syrup, the lemonade will be grainy from the sugar.
It will keep for several days, but the strawberries won’t be as pretty after a day or so. You can always scoop them out after a day if you prefer.
More Summer Recipes
- Orzo Pasta Salad – cold pasta salad with fresh vegetables and chickpeas
- Sheet Pan Chicken Ratatouille – a classic dish made easy on sheet pan
- Baked Black Beans – a classic BBQ side dish
- Lemon Parmesan Pasta Salad – easy to make, fresh flavors, perfect for potlucks
I hope you make strawberry lemonade at least once this year! There’s nothing better on a hot summer day – I hope you enjoy this lemonade recipe!
Happy sipping!
This post was updated from the archives. It was first published in May 2021.