Homemade Lemonade

Nothing says summer quite like a glass of old-fashioned, freshly squeezed homemade lemonade! Three ingredients, a lemon simple syrup, and one pitcher are all it takes to land the sweet-tart balance just right. Once you know the ratio, you can scale it up for a crowd or tweak it to suit your own taste.

Before You Get Started

Lemonade is about as simple as a recipe gets, but a few small things decide whether your glass tastes bright or bitter. These three matter most:

• Peel only the yellow zest. The white pith underneath is bitter, which you don’t want in the syrup.
• Chill before serving. Lukewarm lemonade melts your ice and tastes watered down.
• Taste before you serve. The ratio is a starting point, not a rule. Adjust it while it’s still in the pitcher.

How to Make Homemade Lemonade

Here’s how it comes together, from pan to pitcher (bout 10 minutes of hands-on work, plus chilling time)!

Step 1: Make the Lemon Simple Syrup

We sweeten lemonade with a simple syrup rather than stirring sugar straight into the juice, because loose sugar sinks to the bottom of the pitcher and stays there. A syrup blends in smoothly and stays put.

Use a vegetable peeler to take two wide strips of zest off a lemon, staying in the yellow and stopping before you hit the white. 

Combine 1 cup of the water, the sugar, and the zest strips in a small saucepan, bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. 

Pull out the zest and let the syrup cool to room temperature.

⇢ Make the syrup a day ahead. It keeps in a jar in the fridge for about a month, so a fresh glass is only a squeeze away.

Ways to Flavor the Syrup

The syrup is where all the flexibility lives. Everything here happens in that same saucepan.

• Fresh herbs: drop a sprig of mint, basil, or rosemary in with the zest and pull it out with the zest strips.
• Honey instead of sugar: use 1 cup honey in place of the granulated sugar. Honey is sweeter, so plan on adding a little extra water at the end (or start with just ¾ cup).
• Less sweet: cut the sugar to ¾ cup and leave everything else the same.
• Strawberry lemonade: puree and strain 1 cup of fresh strawberries, then use the puree in place of the water in the syrup.

Step 2: Juice the Lemons

You need 1 cup of fresh juice. Let your lemons come to room temperature first and roll each one firmly under your palm on the counter before cutting. 

Cold, un-rolled lemons hold onto their juice, and you’ll go through noticeably more of them.

⇢ How Many Lemons: Plan on roughly 5 to 6 large lemons, 8 medium, or 10 to 12 small ones per cup, though lemons vary enough that it’s worth buying an extra or two.

⇢ For Large Batches: Squeeze straight into a measuring cup so you can see exactly when you hit your mark. A hinged citrus press or a simple reamer moves much faster than squeezing by hand.

You can strain the pulp out if you like, but I really enjoy the old-fashioned touch of pulp in my glass.

⇢ Juice ahead and freeze it. Fresh juice freezes beautifully in an ice cube tray, so if you’ve got a tree or a good sale, the squeezing and the sipping don’t have to happen the same day.

Step 3: Stir It Together and Taste

In a large pitcher, combine the remaining 3 cups of water, the lemon juice, and the cooled syrup. Give it a good stir, then taste it before you do anything else. 

Lemons vary a lot, so two batches made the same way can land in different places.

If it isn’t quite right:

• Too tart: add syrup, a tablespoon at a time.
• Too sweet: add lemon juice rather than water, which keeps the flavor from going flat.
• Too strong: add water in ½ cup increments. Start with less than you think you need.
• Tastes flat: add a small pinch of salt. It won’t taste salty, but it makes the lemon brighter.

⇢ Swap in club soda for fizz. Use seltzer or club soda in place of the water in the pitcher, and stir gently so you keep the bubbles.

Step 4: Chill and Serve

Refrigerate the pitcher for at least 4 hours. Lemonade tastes noticeably better properly cold than it does poured warm over a glass of ice, and the flavors settle together as it chills.

Serve over plenty of ice, with lemon wheels or a sprig of fresh mint in each glass. Some colorful straws don’t hurt either.

⇢ Freeze part of the batch into cubes. Lemonade ice cubes keep the last glass from tasting like watery lemonade half an hour into the afternoon.

How Much Lemon Juice for a Gallon of Lemonade?

As written, this recipe makes about 6 cups, or a cup and a half of lemonade per person for six people. That’s a little over a quart, so if you’re filling a full pitcher or a gallon jug, here’s the math done for you.

Batch	Lemon Juice	Sugar	Water	Lemons Needed	Yield
Half batch	½ cup	½ cup	2 cups	3	About 3 cups
As written	1 cup	1 cup	4 cups	5 to 6	About 6 cups
Large pitcher	1½ cups	1½ cups	6 cups	8 to 9	About 9 cups
Full gallon	2¾ cups	2¾ cups	10½ cups	14 to 17	16 cups

⇢ The rule for any size: use an amount of water equal to your sugar for the syrup, and pour the rest of the water into the pitcher. For the gallon batch, that means 2¾ cups of water in the saucepan and the remaining 7¾ cups in the jug.

Larger batches take a little longer to come up to a boil, but the syrup still only needs 5 minutes of simmering. Give a gallon closer to 6 hours in the fridge to get properly cold.

Serving

A pitcher of lemonade is the easiest thing you can carry out to a table full of grilled food, and it’s the one thing kids and grown-ups will both go back for. Set it out with a bowl of ice alongside so nobody’s glass goes warm.

For dessert, my Easy Banana Pudding is the one that disappears first at our cookouts, and it can be made the day before.

Storing Homemade Lemonade

Store: Fresh-squeezed lemonade keeps in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Give it a stir or a shake before each pour, since the pulp and syrup settle. Don’t leave a pitcher out on the counter for more than a couple of hours, and definitely not overnight. That’s right, lemonade can go bad!

Freeze: Lemonade freezes well for up to 3 months. Leave a little headroom in the container, since the liquid expands as it freezes. It’s also worth pouring some into an ice cube tray or a set of popsicle molds while you’re at it.

Make ahead: A pitcher made a day ahead tastes every bit as good as one made an hour ago. By day four or five the lemon flavor softens a little, so if you’re making it for a party, aim for the day before rather than earlier in the week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my lemonade taste bitter?

Almost always the pith. If any of the white layer under the peel made it into the syrup, that bitterness ends up in the pitcher, so peel shallow and stay in the yellow. Over-squeezing can do it too, since crushing the rind and membranes releases the same bitter compounds. 

If a batch has already turned bitter, adding a little more syrup and a pinch of salt will mask some of it, but the real fix is starting over with a cleaner zest.

Can I use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh?

You can, and it will work. It just won’t have the same fresh, bright taste, so it isn’t my preference. If bottled is what you have, taste as you go, because bottled juice tends to run more sour and you may want a bit more syrup than the recipe calls for.

Can I use Meyer lemons?

Yes, and they make a lovely, slightly floral lemonade. Meyer lemons are sweeter and less acidic than standard lemons, so start with ¾ cup of sugar in the syrup and add more only if you want it sweeter. They’re also thinner-skinned, which makes the zest easier to over-peel, so go gently with the peeler (and avoid that white pith!).

Why is my lemonade cloudy?

That’s exactly how it should look. Old-fashioned American lemonade is cloudy by nature, because fresh juice carries pulp and natural oils that don’t fully dissolve. Clear lemonade usually means bottled juice or a commercial mix. A little cloudiness is a good sign, not a problem.

Other Great Lemon Recipes

• Frosted Lemon Bars (with Cake Mix)
• Old-Fashioned Lemon Squares
• Lemon Bundt Cake (with Cake Mix)
• Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
• Honey Lemon Fruit Salad Dressing
• Lemon Vinaigrette