Easy Homemade Lemonade

Sipping on ice-cold lemonade on a hot day is the epitome of summer in the south. Get your hands on a bag of fresh juicy lemons and create amazing easy homemade lemonade to enjoy all summer long.

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a dime a dozen

Few things beat a refreshing glass of lemonade to greet the unofficial first day of summer. I didn’t plan it out this time, it was sort of thrust upon me and I tried to make the most out of the lemons life handed me.

This week I was searching for a couple of lemons to roast with chicken (yum). I added a bag of lemons to my grocery list for good measure, expecting to use the extra 1 or 2 for salad or garnish for other meals.

To my surprise, the bag of lemons I requested and had delivered through Instacart contained TWELVE lemons!! I thought lemons came in small bags of 3-4?? I’ve apparently been out of the grocery shopping game for too long.

Nevertheless, I managed to use about 4 and was running out of ideas of how to use the remaining bowlful. Then the idea hit me: fresh lemonade! The perfect way to use ALL of the lemons without wasting any delicious citrus.

easy peasy lemon squeezy

When I think of freshly squeezed lemonade, my mind immediately goes to the state fair where endless booths offer extremely large cups filled to the brim with sugary lemony goodness.

I’m not sure what exactly goes into those lemonades that make them so desirable, but it’s so easy to recreate lemonade at home.

Homemade lemonade only requires 3 ingredients: lemons, sugar, and water. The sweetness of sugar and tartness of the lemon in one drink are an undeniably great combination.

how to: juice lemons

Begin by slicing roughly 8 lemons in half. It’s okay if the seeds don’t fall out, they should be contained in the juicing process.

A lot of recipes insist using an electric juicer to maximize your yield. I love using my juicer for larger citrus such as oranges or grapefruits. I’ve found that an inexpensive citrus juicer does just as good as an electric when it comes to lemons.

With the inside of the lemon facing down towards the bowl, squeeze each lemon half into a medium bowl or mason jar. The juicer will contain most (if not all) of the seeds and in no time you’ll have about a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice!

Refrigerate your lemon juice in a mason jar or covered container.

If you love tart tastes you should definitely give this juice a sip. It puckered me up like no other!

lemon juice simple syrup lemonade — Simple syrup and lemon juice

how to: create a simple syrup

A simple syrup may sound intimidated and loaded with bad ingredients, but this one only contains water and sugar.

Heat one cup water and one and half cups sugar over medium high heat. The water doesn’t need to come up to a full boil, our goal is to dissolve the sugar.

As the water heats up, stir until the sugar dissolves and remove from heat. Allow the syrup to chill and refrigerate.

I couldn’t forego tasting this syrup I just created as a lover of all things sugar. It will look just like water, but let me assure you it is SO sweet.

how to: make homemade lemonade

Combine the lemon juice and simple syrup with 7 cups of water. If you’d like to serve it immediately, use cold water. Otherwise, you’ll want to refrigerate it and be patient a little while longer before diving in.

Enjoy over ice (with fresh lemon slices and a sprig of rosemary if you wanna get fancy) and embrace the summer heat.