I realize as far as recipes go, suggesting one needs one for lemonade is questionable. What’s next, a set of detailed instructions for salted water, simple syrup, or buttered noodles? (Whoops!) But it turns out I have opinions on everything and there’s no time like the nth heat wave of the summer to share what I consider the correct, best formula for lemonade and it is — who could have ever seen this coming? — mine.
I feel so adamantly about this that this is what hangs on the wall above the kitchen counter, but don’t be deceived by any implied charm. It’s there because we were in a fight, or at least a moment of petulant hostility. You see, last fall I was out of town for a couple days and my husband texted to say our daughter had wanted to make lemonade so they pulled a random recipe off search results but it was too bland and sweet and, yes, I consider this a personal slight. “You don’t need to pull random recipes off AI! You could have just texted me! I think we are in a fight.” And then I taped this up when I got home so this wouldn’t happen again.
Here’s the thing: The fewer the ingredients, the more that hinges on getting each amount exactly right. And while I’m dispassionate about most juices, I make up for it with my love for lemonade. I absolutely need it to be freshly-squeezed. Bottled lemon juice never tastes correct to me. [I blame pasteurization for the muted, tinny flavor.] I don’t like it very sweet. I don’t faff around with simple syrup. I don’t like it very watery, in fact, I always hold some back, mostly because I prefer to finish my drink with a splash of seltzer for fizz. Plus, you can always dilute lemonade if it’s too tart, and this one leans tart, but you cannot pull it back from the edge of bland if you’re out of lemons.
So I welcome you to roll your eyes at me providing a recipe (!) for lemon juice, sugar, and water (!) but I also hope you make it this weekend. Tinker with it however you please — I’ve got some suggestions below — but don’t waste good lemons on a whim of a formula when you could have a perfect glass. It doesn’t feel like summer without it.
House Lemonade
- 1 cup (235 ml) fresh lemon juice (from 5-6 lemons)
- 1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 cups (475 ml) cold water, plus up to 1 more
Pour the lemon juice through a sieve to remove pulp, then into a pitcher. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the first two cups of cold water. This is the lemonade base I use. It keeps in the fridge for several days, but tastes best on the first two.
→ To make a finished pitcher of lemonade, add ice, and 1/2 to 1 cup more cold water to taste.
→ To make a glass of fizzy lemonade, pour it over ice until 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the glass and finish with seltzer.
For other flavors: You could swap one of the cups of water with watermelon juice, or 1/2 cup with strained raspberry or blackberry purée, or, as I did for friends this week, swap the sugar with maple syrup and shake it up with some mint leaves and bourbon.
Previously
6 months ago: Simple Crispy Pan Pizza
1 year ago: Burrata with Crushed Cherries and Pistachios, Focaccia with Zucchini and Potatoes
2 years ago: Summer Steak with Corn and Tomatoes and Braised Chickpeas with Zucchini and Pesto
3 years ago: Summer Pea Salad with Unexpected Dressing
4 years ago: Roasted Tomatoes and White Beans, Plum and Cream Scone Cobbler
5 years ago: Zucchini Butter Spaghetti
6 years ago: Collared Greens with Cornmeal Dumplings
7 years ago: Burrata with Charred and Raw Sugar Snap Peas and Simplest Spaghetti al Limone
8 years ago: Watermelon Cucumber Salad and Linguine and Clams
9 years ago: Crispy Spiced Lamb and Lentils, Stovetop Americanos, and Easy Drop Berry Shortcakes
10 years ago: Charred Eggplant and Walnut Pesto Pasta Salad, Strawberry Milk, and Corn and Black Bean Weeknight Nachos
11 years ago: Saltine Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches, Strawberry Cornmeal Griddle Cakes
12 years ago: Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad, Frozen Coconut Limeade, and Cherry Almond Dutch Baby
13 years ago: Bowties with Sugar Snaps, Lemon and Ricotta, Espresso Granita with Whipped Cream, and Pickled Vegetable Sandwich Slaw
14 years ago: Strawberries and Cream Biscuits and Broccoli Parmesan Fritters
15 years ago: Charred Corn Tacos
16 years ago: Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons, Raspberry Brown Sugar Gratin
17 years ago: Pesto Pasta Salad with Green Beans
18 years ago: Breakfast Apricot Crisp and Chocolate Sorbet
19 years ago: Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes and Quick Zucchini Saute
I am picky, too. I like my lemonade just like this. I don’t like it with sugar and water cooked together – somehow it doesn’t taste fresh that way. Simple is best.
I add a pinch of sea salt to my lemonade
I’m sure this is very perfectly balanced lemonade, however I too have unreasonable lemonade opinions and the best lemonade involves leaving the lemons (sans seeds) in the lemonade for a few days and letting them sit. Day three is peak lemonade. Sugar, squeeze the juice of many lemons, chop the whole lemon up and add just enough water to cover then sit in in the refrigerator for a few days. Add water and any extra sugar if not sweet enough. Lemonade is like spaghetti!
I want this!
Close but :)
The true best lemonade involves squeezing the lemons, and then letting the rinds sit in the sugar for a couple hours. That gets the fuller lemon flavor more efficiently than tossing them into the whole jug (basically, you’re trying to get the lemon oil flavors, and the oils dissolve better into sugar than into water)
Did you paint the recipe card? It looks like a nice loose watercolor.
Every spring I take diced rhubarb, add water and sugar to cover (1:1 ratio), simmer until soft, and strain. The pulp makes an excellent topping for plain yogurt, and the syrup makes my very favorite pink lemonade.
I do this too! I love my rhubarb pulp topping on my morning oatmeal. Delicious!
Does anyone here watch Pasta Grannies? First thing I thought of when I saw “5-6 fresh lemons” was this adorable grannie giving skin care secrets! https://youtu.be/inO3xGew5nc?is=EEfSDIF3Z33A6lzG
The lemonade looks amazing and a recipe is just what I need – mine is never 100% what I want. Going to give it a try this weekend!
Great video….thanks.
My aunt, a big tea drinker (with lemon) used the spent lemons afterward for her elbows all the time!
I’m not joking! I literally looked for a plain lemonade recipe from you less than ten days ago. Unfortunately I already used up all my fresh lemon juice! Oh well, guess I need to buy another bag of lemons 🍋!
I made this and originally thought I was just going to make regular lemonade but then my brain had other plans, basically, we replaced one of the lemons with a lime, and we just dumped in a bunch of frozen blueberries. it actually tasted really good!!!
Just a humble suggestion that your Strawberry Rhubarb soda syrup is an amazing addition to lemonade (I first did it a few years ago and now get constant requests)
My mom made the best lemonade, and her trick is to get more of the zest flavor into the lemonade. She would thinly slice and muddle the lemons with sugar, then add water. My potato masher isn’t as good at her, and my vegetable peeler is better, so I peel off some strips of peel and rub them into the sugar before making the lemonade. Smells so good.
Where did she get the juice if she’d sliced the lemons? Or did she grab some more lemons that were whole?
My 3year old keeps asking to make lemonade. Has she ever had it? No. Will she drink it? Also, probably no. Will we make it? Yes! Your mint limeade and strawberry lemonades got me through pregnancy.
I made this yesterday and the tart-to-sweet balance was exactly right for me. I also tried topping each glass with a little seltzer, and that bit of fizz made it even more refreshing. Definitely keeping a pitcher of this in the fridge while the weather is hot.
This looks great, almost like my favorite, French citron pressé, which is about 50% lemon juice, with sugar added to taste at the table by the recipient. And I completely agree with you about bottled lemon juice— it ruins anything it’s used in.
A splash of coconut Lacroix is also delicious!
Looks absolutely stunning!
OMG 🤩
…were one to be interested in using this as the basis for a Pimm’s Cup, what would be your recommendations? Do the fizzy version and then add the Pimm’s, perhaps?
I heat one of the cups of water with strips of the lemon peel that I shaved off of one of the lemons. I let it cool before straining the peel out and proceeding with the rest of the recipe. The white pith beneath the lemon peel makes the lemonade taste bitter to me.
I literally came here today to see if you ever had a recipe for lemonade, thinking that though simple, it wasn’t a drink to muck about with. Is this kismet that the first recipe on the homepage today was this one? My only regret is that I need to run to the store for seltzer before I can make this haha.
I am a forever (or at least close to it!) reader, and long time commenter, and THIS is the recipe I didn’t know I was waiting for. I often don’t make lemonade when I want to, because I don’t feel like trying to figure out the right ratios. But yours, I trust. And I’ve been working on my watercolor skills, so I’m thinking I’d like to make one to hang in my kitchen (after I test your ratios and make sure they’re just right for me), then perhaps I’ll make some others to swap out seasonally, because I am exactly the right age to want a seasonal decor swap, but only ones that make me happy. Maybe in the fall it will be pumpkin/squash pudding, as I always have to look up the ratios. Maybe cacio e pepe will show up??? Maybe I just need to make a calendar!!! As ever, thanks for your charming writing and lovely recipes. I just got 2 summer squash from my mother in law and can hardly wait to make the galette!
A calendar of watercolor paintings with recipes – I would buy that ! Each one could later be framed and used for decor. I think you have a great idea !
Thank you, because I had the BEST Arnold Palmer (aka 1/2 lemonade, 1/2 iced tea) recently and I’d love to make them at home.
I knocked everyone’s socks off at the last lemonade stand by making original lemonade AND raspberry lemonade – shockingly easy as I pulled back the sugar a bit and stirred in several tablespoons of raspberry jam. It was a hit!
I recently finished chemo, and I am off alcohol for the forseable future – so I have been ordering a lemonade every time we go out. I have to say, 80% of the time it is horrible, clearly made from crystals. But the gamble is worth it when you get a real glass made with fresh juice. I also am now in love with Salted Limeade.
Do I make the fizzy glass of lemonade from the finished pitcher (approx 3:1) OR from the lemon sugar water (approx 2:1) in the previous step?
Need a recipe for gazpacho, please Green grape gazpacho if you’re up for it
Would you use the same ratios to make limeade? Thanks!