Posted May 26, 2019, Updated May 10, 2024 Who doesn’t love a cold glass of lemonade after a day of fun in the sun?! This strawberry lemonade recipe is made with fresh strawberries, sweetened with honey (or a sweetener of your choice) and has no artificial ingredients, making it a great way to beat the heat this summer! Store-bought strawberry lemonade varieties usually contain high fructose corn syrup, food dyes, and a laundry list of other undesirable ingredients. However this homemade strawberry lemonade is made with only 4 all-natural ingredients! Plus it only takes 5 minutes to make.
Strawberry Lemonade: Ingredients & Substitutions
Strawberries. I recommend fresh strawberries for the best flavor and ease of blending. If you have frozen berries they will work too, and will actually help the lemonade chill faster. Lemon Juice. freshly squeezed or bottled (I prefer organic) both work great. Honey. granulated sugar is a great substitute for honey. You can use pure maple syrup, but it will impart a maple flavor. Water. I use filtered water from my refrigerator to make this recipe. Feel free to use tap water if you live in a place where it is safe to drink. Another fun twist would be using soda water to make a fizzy lemonade.
How to Make Strawberry lemonade
Let’s walk through how to make strawberry lemonade together, and don’t forget to watch the video. When blending anything like drinks or smoothies, it’s important to add the liquid ingredients first. So in this recipe begin by adding water followed by the strawberries. Then, blend the water and strawberries together until the mixture is smooth. Next, add the lemon juice and honey and blend for 30 seconds. The goal of this step is to make sure the honey (or sugar) is completely dissolved. Add the last cup of water and blend for 10 seconds or until the mixture is smooth. You will notice that there is a significant amount of froth after the blending is complete. That’s totally normal and it settles and disappears during chilling.
Taste & adjust
After all 3 cups of water and ¾ cup honey have been added, taste the strawberry lemonade. The sweetness of your strawberries will affect the amount of sweetener used. I usually don’t add more than ¾ cup, but once I made this with a particularly sour batch of berries and I ended up adding 1 full cup of honey to get the right sweetness!
Chill
Put the ice in a large pitcher and pour the lemonade into the pitcher with ice. Put it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (preferably longer to fully chill).
Serve
Serve this Strawberry Lemonade cold over ice after a long day of fun in the sun! It’s a delicious and healthier alternative to lemonade mixes that everyone will love! If you make and love our recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along with us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so we can see your creations!
