Strawberry Lemonade

This homemade Strawberry Lemonade recipe is the perfect naturally-sweetened refreshing drink for summer! It’s made from blended strawberries, fresh lemon juice, and honey, making it the perfect healthy refreshment for warm days and summer parties!

 

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

As soon as the weather gets warm, we are all about the refreshing drinks! Iced tea, lemonade… we love it all, but conventional lemonade can be so high in calories and packed with sugar. Staying hydrated is very important in the summer, especially for kids, and a refreshing glass of this Strawberry Lemonade is an absolutely delicious way to get all the hydration you need for a hot summer day.

Lemonade in North America is often made with sugar syrup or even sugary crystals that dissolve in water. In Europe, on the other hand, when you order a lemonade in a restaurant it’s made with fresh lemon, sometimes fresh fruits, fresh mint or fresh ginger, and no refined sugar at all – just some honey on the side so you can sweeten it to your taste! It’s really the perfect way to make lemonade and it’s the way we make lemonade at home ALL the time!

There are several different ways to sweeten homemade lemonade. Here are a few options:

• Simple Syrup. This syrup can be made with equal parts water and sugar combined in a small saucepan over medium heat until it reaches a simmer and then a boil. By this point the sugar should be dissolved. The mixture can be cooled and stored in the fridge, then added to your cold drinks to sweeten them.
• Natural Liquid Sweeteners. Sweeteners like maple syrup, liquid honey, or agave nectar give natural sweetness without added refined sugar, and since they’re liquid, they dissolve easily in water or lemonade.
• Raw Sugar. Raw sugar is less processed than conventional granulated sugar and can give a richer flavour. It needs to be dissolved in water before it’s added to lemonade, so be sure to moisten it with some hot water before adding it to your drinks.

1. It’s a HEALTHIER Choice. Lemons are packed with Vitamin C and antioxidants making them a healthy choice along with the strawberries for this delicious drink! Enjoy it in place of a cocktail for a lower calorie and more nutritious treat.
2. It’s QUICK to Make. It takes only 15 minutes to make this delicious lemonade!
3. It’s VERSATILE. It can be sweetened to your tastes, made with whatever fresh fruit you have on hand, and it can be made with still or sparkling water. Your choice!
4. It contains NO REFINED SUGAR. Honey is a liquid sweetener, so it dissolves easily in liquid, and it adds a lot more flavour than sugar. It also contains nourishing properties and health benefits that sugar doesn’t. Because honey tastes sweeter than sugar, you’ll probably find yourself adding less honey than you would sugar to your lemonade, simply because honey has so much more flavour.
5. KIDS love it! Our kids go crazy for this lemonade all summer long, and we know yours will, too.
6. It’s packed with FRESH FRUIT. We love any excuse to enjoy fresh produce and this lemonade is packed with fresh berries!

Follow our tips and tricks for making this Strawberry Lemonade recipe at home!

Fresh strawberries and fresh lemons give the best fresh strawberry flavour and intense lemon flavour. Be sure to choose fresh, in season fruit for the best results!

The key to a good healthy lemonade is a blender! CLICK HERE to see the one we use (paid link) – it’s excellent for blended drinks like this Healthy Strawberry Lemonade and it really does the job well and leaves no chunks behind. Just chuck in all the healthy ingredients and let the blender do all the work for you!

Use a fine mesh strainer or sieve to strain the seeds out to keep the strawberry lemonade smooth and enjoyable to drink, especially for the kids. If you like some texture, feel free to leave it as it is!

A balance between tartness and sweetness is desired for the best tasting lemonade. Taste and adjust sweeteners as needed until it’s at the desired taste.

If this is your first time making this homemade strawberry lemonade recipe, here are a few issues you might encounter and how to fix them:

If you don’t strain the mixture after it’s done in the blender, the seeds and pulp from the fruit will be left in the fruit mixture. This will give the lemonade mixture a thicker texture, but if that’s not what you’re after then be sure to strain it. You can even strain it twice so it’s super smooth.

Make sure to use fresh ripe berries and fresh lemons. If your strawberries aren’t fresh and ripe, the lemonade will lack flavour.

Taste the lemonade and adjust the taste to your preferences, adding a little bit more honey or lemon juice if it is too tart or too sweet.

You’ll need these items on hand to make this easy homemade strawberry lemonade recipe (paid links):

• Blender
• a chef’s knife
• a cutting board
• citrus zester
• citrus juicer
• a liquid measuring cup
• a large pitcher
• a fine mesh strainer

You’ll need these ingredients to make this homemade strawberry lemonade recipe:

• 2 cups of water
• 1/4 cup honey (liquid honey is best) or other vegan substitute
• juice of 7 lemons (each lemon produces about 2 tablespoons of juice)
• 4 cups fresh strawberries, chopped
• 1-2 cups ice (optional)
• 3-4 cups of cold water or sparkling water (less if using ice)
• lemon slices, fresh strawberries for garnish (optional)

1. Strawberry Limeade – instead of lemons use the zest and juice of limes for a more tropical flavour.
2. Coconut – use coconut water instead of sparkling water for a tropical coconut strawberry twist on the classic.
3. Mint or Basil – infuse the lemonade mixture with basil or mint and serve with basil or mint leaves for just a hint of added flavour.
4. Ginger – add zest of ginger to the lemon mixture for a spicy strawberry lemonade flavour.
5. Green Tea – use cold green tea instead of cold water or sparkling water for a strawberry green tea drink.
6. Raspberry– try our Easy Healthy Raspberry Lemonade for a raspberry version of this recipe.
7. Popsicles – Turn this delicious drink into Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles on a hot summer day!

We hope you love this delicious drink recipe as much as we do! Let us know in the comments below, what other drink recipes would YOU like to see on thebusybaker.ca? We’d love to know!

• Raspberry Peach Green Tea Smoothie
• Healthy Cucumber Lemonade
• Watermelon Green Tea Refresher
• Green Apple Spinach Smoothie
• Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade (Copycat Recipe)
• Healthy Lemonade
• Healthy Blueberry Lemonade
• Strawberry Milkshake

Watch the video below to see exactly how we make this cool drink. You can find more delicious recipe videos on our YouTube channel.