Strawberry Lemonade is the original pink lemonade. I made this recipe with fresh lemon juice, one whole pound of strawberries and just a touch of rose water. In my house, this Strawberry Lemonade recipe is the official drink of summer!
Strawberry Lemonade, Pink Lemonade, whatever you want to call it, it’s my daughter’s favorite drink. She doesn’t like carbonation so bubble waters and soda’s aren’t at the top of her list when she’s feeling festive, which is fine by me!
However, I don’t love how artificial and sugar laden the store-bought or restaurant versions of lemonade can be, which is why I set off to create a from-scratch strawberry lemonade I can feel good about serving her and only takes me 10 minutes to make. And really, homemade strawberry lemonade can pack a powerful nutritional punch.
This recipe has 1 whole pound of strawberries and 1 ½ cups of lemon juice. The strawberries alone provide 444% of your DV of vitamin C, 9 grams of fiber and nearly 700 mg of potassium. The lemon provides 44 grams of Vitamin C and an additional 376 mg of potassium. Now, it’s not all business and nutrition. I use honey in this strawberry lemonade recipe to sweeten it up, but you could also use sugar. I'm not saying it's health food, but making homemade versions of our favorite things is certainly an improvement over what you can find at the store.
The special ingredient is rose water. You typically find it in rice puddings, strawberry compote or candies like Turkish Delight, but it’s wonderful in all kinds of recipes. You don't need it to make this lemonade delicious, but it adds a little something extra and helps boost the floral sweetness of the strawberries. It was a hit in my house, and I hope it will be in yours too. Make a batch of Strawberry Lemonade for the kids, and for a slightly more grown up pink lemonade try our rosé lemonade.
Table of Contents
What’s in Strawberry Lemonade?
Sometimes I think we get in our own way when it comes to making something from scratch. We have accepted a message that it takes too much time, but really in the time we spend doom scrolling our phones we could probably make a lot of things from scratch and our tastebuds would be better for it.
This pink lemonade is loaded with berries. If you have super sweet, totally in season strawberries you might be able to get away with a little less sugar or honey. If your strawberries aren’t very sweet you might need a little more. Taste and adjust as needed.
- Honey or sugar: Regardless of which kind of sweetener you use, make sure you warm it with water to either melt the sugar granules or make a honey syrup so it combines more easily with the other ingredients. At this moment I have 10 different kinds of honey in my kitchen. It’s a whole thing. However you can use whatever sweetener you prefer. Taste and experiment.
- Lemons: Because lemons are used so much in the Mediterranean Diet, I just always have them around. I juiced 6 lemons in for this pink lemonade. Zest your lemons before you juice them and either add the zest to the blender or save it for another use.
- Strawberries: Use the sweetest, juiciest strawberries you can find. We don’t strain this lemonade so you will get all of the benefits of eating the whole fruit. (It still pours like a drink and not a smoothie! Don’t worry!
- Water: I use 5 cups of water, but if you prefer your drinks a little thinner you can increase the amount to 6.
- Rose Water: This is an optional ingredient, but rose water just adds that something special that makes this strawberry lemonade stand out from the crowd. It’s also a pretty easy way to experiment with a new ingredient if rose water is new to you.
How to Make Strawberry Lemonade
Making homemade lemonade is so easy to do. Just make the syrup then blend everything together. Pour that beautiful pink drink into a pitcher and serve over ice!
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, add 1 cup of water and ¾ cup of honey or sugar. Bring to a low simmer, stirring to dissolve the honey or sugar into the water. This should only take about a minute. If using sugar the liquid should go from gray to clear. If using honey, it should become cohesive.
- Into a blender, add the lemon juice and strawberries. Blend for about 30 seconds until you’ve created a liquid and you don’t have any strawberries pieces. Depending upon the power of your blender you might have to blend it a little longer.
- Into a pitcher, combine the strawberry lemon puree, honey water (or sugar water), rosewater and 4 cups of cold water. Stir to combine.
Ways to Dress Up Strawberry Lemonade
Lemonades are so fun to play with because they adapt beautifully to so many flavors. Here are a few ideas to dress up your lemonade game this summer.
- If you like it sweet, increase the honey or sugar.
- Garnish with a sprig of fresh, thyme, rosemary or lavender.
- Swap out 4 cups of still water for carbonated water.
- Make it a grown up drink and add elderflower liqueur like St. Germain, or keep it simple with gin, vodka or a bottle of white wine.
Celebrate Good Times, Come On
Sunny, pitchers of pink lemonade, frothy, refreshing pitchers of Mint Lemonade and maybe even a batch of white sangria just scream summer to me. I love these long, warm nights with friends in the backyard playing games and catching up to break us from the isolation of winter.
Put some chicken souvlaki on the grill, make a layered hummus dip, and some salads for the perfect, simple summer get-together. When it comes to salads I like to let the season shine and keep it pretty simple, watermelon salad with mint and feta, cucumber radish salad, and Greek salad to round things out. If I'm working with an abundance of garden strawberries, I may even make strawberry pudding for dessert.
Part of living the Mediterranean Way is about coming together, sharing our gifts and enjoying the company of friends and neighbors.
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Strawberry Lemonade
Ingredients
Instructions
- Make the honey syrup or simple syrup: In a small saucepan set over medium heat, add 1 cup of water and ¾ cup of honey or sugar. Bring to a low simmer, stirring to dissolve the honey or sugar into the water. This should only take about a minute. If using sugar the liquid should go from gray to clear. If using honey, it should become cohesive.
- Blend the ingredients: Into a blender, add the lemon juice and strawberries. Blend for about 30 seconds until you’ve created a liquid and you don’t have any strawberries pieces. Depending upon the power of your blender you might have to blend it a little longer.
- Enjoy! Into a pitcher, combine the strawberry lemon puree, honey water (or sugar water), rosewater and 4 cups of cold water. Stir to combine.
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Notes
- Rose water is an optional ingredient it, but it's a fun one to play with. Use it in drinks, puddings, candies and more.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils, honey, jams and spices.
This beverage has all the tastes of summer. I will be making this again for sure!
Thanks so much, Cathy!