This lemonade recipe is a basic homemade lemonade recipe. It requires only 3 ingredients - lemon juice, sugar, and water and you can have a glass or even a pitcher of refreshing, made from scratch lemonade in absolutely no time at all.
I love all things lemon, and lemonade is one of them. I have been making and drinking lemonade all my life. My mom used to make it when I was younger and now its my turn to make for my family.
Typical Lemonade Making Process
I have been making lemonade so often and have always been making it without any specific recipe or measurement. It has always been a practice of eyeballing the lemon juice and sugar when making lemonade:
- Add a few spoons of lemon juice into a glass or pitcher.
- Add a few spoons of sugar.
- Measure and add water. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Test the lemonade.
- Add more lemon juice if it is not tart enough.
- Add some more sugar to balance the lemon juice.
- Test again.
The process repeats until I get the right taste.
There is nothing wrong with this process, however, it tends to be a bit time-consuming especially when you have to make it for a crowd. It's always so much easier to have the measurements ready so that you can leave out the guessing game when you are pressed for time and when you want to make sure the taste is consistent and as good as you want it to be.
So I decided to do a post on lemonade recipe so that I can note down the exact measurements for making homemade lemonade, be it for a single serving or a larger serving for a larger crowd. And with concise measurement, doubling or enter tripling the recipe will be a breeze too.
How to Make Lemonade - Ingredients & Methods
Ingredients
A basic lemonade recipe only requires 3 ingredients:
- Lemon juice
- Sugar
- Water
However, the methods in which these 3 ingredients are combined vary and even though the end result is still the same, i.e. deliciously refreshing homemade lemonade, different people have different preferences when it comes to the methods of making lemonade.
Lemonade Recipe : Method 1
- This method requires you to prepare a simple sugar syrup solution as the sweetener for the lemonade.
- You then add lemon juice and the simple syrup into a glass or pitcher and dilute both with water and ice cubes to make your lemonade.
- The simple syrup can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for at least 1 month. Plus you can make it in larger quantities and use it for other beverages or treats too.
- With the simple syrup, you need not spend time stirring the sugar in the lemonade to dissolve it, hence some people's preference for using simple syrup in their lemonade recipes.
Lemonade Recipe: Method 2
- The second method is a lemonade recipe made using homemade lemonade concentrate (either frozen or liquid concentrate). Lemonade concentrate is essentially lemon juice that is mixed with simple syrup in a concentrated form (without any water dilution except for the water in the simple syrup). It can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 to 4 months.
- Whenever the mood for lemonade strikes, all you need to do is dilute the lemonade concentrate with water and ice cubes, and enjoy your instant lemonade.
- While this is a super quick way of making lemonade, you would need to prepare your lemonade concentrate in advance. It is nevertheless, a very convenient method of making homemade lemonade.
Lemonade Recipe: Method 3
- This third method is the most basic method. You need not prepare anything in advance, which means when you want to have the lemonade drink, you simply add some lemon juice, sugar, and chilled water into a glass and stir until the sugar is dissolved. You then add ice cubes, and your lemonade is ready to be enjoyed.
- This third method is my most preferred way of making lemonade. Sugar dissolves very quickly with stirring (often with a minute or two) and not having to go through the extra step of making sugar syrup or lemonade concentrate is something I personally favor.
- I do find it convenient not to have to juice lemons every time I want to make lemonade, so I do keep squeezed lemon juice in the freezer. That way, I need not cut and juice lemons every time I want to make lemonade.
Notes
How to juice lemons for this lemonade recipe?
- Before you even cut and juice the lemons, prepare them first by rolling them on your counter top. Use the palm of your hand to do this, just like rolling a rolling pin. Exert pressure on the lemons as you roll them.
- This process helps to soften the skin and loosen the pulp inside. When you cut and squeeze them, it is much easier to press the juice out.
- There are a few ways in which you can juice the lemons. Cutting and squeezing them by hand is one option but you would need to use quite a lot of enegry for this to make sure you press out all the juice effectively.
- The other method is to use a a juice pressor or a hand held juicer or citrus juicer. All three will work well.
Can you freeze fresh lemon juice?
- Making fresh homemade lemonade requires the use of fresh lemon juice. However, instead of squeezing a fresh batch of lemon juice every time you want to make lemonade, you can actually squeeze the lemon juice in advance and freeze it for later use.
- To do this, simply cut and juice your lemons. Strain the juice and pour it into ice cube trays or small freezer-safe containers. For easier use, you can even measure the juice beforehand and freeze it in separate containers. When you need to use the juice, you will have it readily measured, so all you need to do is drop the frozen lemon juice cubes into your glass along with the sugar and water and let it dilute completely before consuming the lemonade.
- When freezing the juice, it is best to keep the frozen juice in fully covered containers or zip lock bags. Fresh lemon juice can last frozen for a good 3 to 4 months.
Lemonade Recipe
Here is the full printable version of my homemade lemonade recipe.
📖Recipe
Lemonade Recipe
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
- 150 ml lemon juice (juice of approximately 2 lemons, strained)
- 150 g white sugar
- 500 ml drinking water (at room temperature)
- 1000 ml drinking water (chilled)
- Ice cubes (optional)
Instructions
- Measure 500ml water (at room temperature) in a measuring jug. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
- Transfer the sugar solution into a 2 liter pitcher. Strain the lemon juice in.
- Add the chilled water and stir to mix.
- Keep the lemonade chilled until ready to serve. (Refer to notes below if you wish to add ice cubes to your lemonade)
Notes
- This recipe makes 2 liters of homemade lemonade made entirely with chilled water and without ice cubes.
- If you wish to add ice cubes, reduce the chilled water in the recipe accordingly. This will avoid the lemonade from becoming too diluted as the ice cubes melt.
- To make the lemonade in a single serving of 350ml glass, use 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 300ml of chilled water. Stir to dissolve the sugar. If you wish to add ice cubes, reduce the water accordingly and top up with ice cubes. The sugar used in this recipe is regular white sugar. If you use granulated sugar instead, the weight of the sugar (in grams) will be slightly lesser. However, the difference in taste will be negligible.
- Make the simple syrup by measuring 150ml water into a small pan. Add all the 150g of sugar. Turn on the heat to medium-low and stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the simple syrup from heat. Leave it aside to cool completely to room temperature. Place it in the refrigerator to expedite the cooling process.
- To make the lemonade, measure 150ml lemon juice into a 2 liters pitcher. Add the sugar syrup and 1350ml chilled water. Stir to mix. Serve.
- If you wish to add ice cubes, reduce the water accordingly to avoid the lemonade from becoming diluted.
- Refer to my recipe on how to make frozen lemonade concentrate here. When freezing the concentrate, pour it into containers or zip lock bags that can fill 500ml of the lemonade concentrate.
- To make the lemonade, remove one frozen lemonade concentrate cube from the freezer. Let it melt completely. Add into a 2 liters pitcher along with 1500ml chilled water. Stir to mix. Serve.
- If you wish to add ice cubes, reduce the water accordingly to avoid the lemonade from becoming diluted.
Nutrition
And that's that. My homemade lemonade recipe with 3 easy methods.
Here are my other posts you might want to check out:
Enjoy!
Leave a Reply