Easy, Homemade Lemonade Recipe

This delicious, homemade lemonade recipe is a burst of tart and sweet flavors. It’s sweetened with honey, not corn syrup, artificial flavors, or dyes. It’s a family favorite!

Wintertime in California means citrus, and lots of it. Nearly every yard in my neighborhood has a lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, or orange tree—sometimes several. Here’s a recent haul from a friend’s lemon tree, ready to be washed. And this was only part of the harvest! Naturally, I had to find a way to use this delicious fruit.

The kids love lemonade, and we had been buying the powdered stuff. When I read the ingredients, I learned that it doesn’t actually have lemon in it–just citric acid for tartness, artificial flavor, yellow dye, and LOTS of sugar. Yuck!

This year, we experimented with different ways to make lemonade. We have lots and lots of honey, so I wanted to try using honey instead of white sugar.

This delicious, homemade lemonade is a burst of sunshine in the middle of winter. It’s a little bit sweet and a little bit tart, just like lemonade should be.

The Very Best Homemade Lemonade

Ingredients

6-7 organic lemons

3/4 cup honey or 1 cup white sugar

Pure, filtered water

Instructions

Wash the lemons and peel them, trying not to get too much of the white pith. Set the peels aside so you can dry them for cleaning, skincare, and other cool stuff.

Put 6 cups of filtered water in a saucepan and add the honey or sugar. Warm the water until the honey/sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat.

Let this mixture cool while you juice the lemons–juice as many as you need to get 1 cup of juice.

Mix the lemon juice with the honey water, using a mesh strainer to catch any bits of seed or pulp.

You can stop here and freeze this in large canning jars to have lemonade-on-demand all summer long.

Want to drink your lemonade right away? I don’t blame you. Pour the mixture over ice and serve (with a sprig of mint, if you’re so inclined).

Kitchen Tips for Homemade Lemonade

Because we’re using the lemon peel, it’s important to use organic lemons or those that haven’t been sprayed with pesticides. Ask your farmer/gardener/neighbor to be sure.

For juicing large quantities of fruit, I recommend the juicer attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer. It’s easy to use, even if you’re 7 and insist on wearing oversized rubber gloves. Plus it will save you tons of time, and strains out the pulp and seeds from the lemon juice.

I love the plastic canning jar lids shown above. While they aren’t safe to use for canning, I use them all the time when keeping items in the fridge and freezer.

Tools Used to Make Homemade Lemonade

Here are the tools I recommend to make this recipe quickly and easily:

Vegetable peeler: the OXO peeler is comfy to hold when you are peeling lots of lemons.

Juicer attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer: this makes juicing citrus super-easy.

Mesh strainer: to ensure there are no seeds or pulp in your lemonade.

Plastic canning jar lids: if you want to freeze your lemonade for later.

Glass serving pitcher: not the same as mine (above), but this one is made with beautiful rippled glass.

The Very Best Homemade Lemonade

Yield: 1.5 quarts

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

This delicious, homemade lemonade recipe is a burst of tart and sweet flavors--without corn syrup, artificial flavors, or dyes. A family favorite!

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Ingredients

• 6-7 organic lemons
• 3/4 cup honey or 1 cup white sugar
• 6 cups filtered water

Instructions

1. Wash the lemons and peel them, trying not to get too much of the white pith. Set the peels aside so you can dry them for cleaning, skincare, and other cool stuff.
2. Put 6 cups of filtered water in a saucepan and add the honey or sugar. Warm the water until the honey/sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat.
3. Let this mixture cool while you juice the lemons--juice as many as you need to get 1 cup of juice.
4. Mix the lemon juice with the honey water, using a mesh strainer to catch any bits of seed or pulp.
5. You can stop here and freeze this in large canning jars to have lemonade-on-demand all summer long.
6. Want to drink your lemonade right away? I don't blame you. Pour the mixture over ice and serve (with a sprig of mint, if you're so inclined).

Notes

Because we're using the lemon peel, it's important to use organic lemons or those that haven't been sprayed with pesticides. Ask your farmer/gardener/neighbor to be sure.

For juicing large quantities of fruit, I recommend the juicer attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer. It's easy to use, will save you tons of time, and strains out the pulp and seeds from the lemon juice.

Add a few lightly smooshed strawberries or rapsberries to make a delightful twist on traditional lemonade.

Recommended Products

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  Berkey Water Filter System
• 
  OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler
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  OXO Good Grips 2-in-1 Citrus Juicer