Making your own fresh squeezed lemonade is easy and fun! Make it by the glass or by the gallon with this simple homemade lemonade recipe.
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Nothing is better on a hot summer day than fresh squeezed lemonade. There’s a reason lemonade stands pop up all over the place and young entrepreneurs everywhere pin their hopes on selling vast quantities of it.
There is a HUGE difference between lemonade from concentrate or powder and lemonade that is made from scratch with fresh lemons, water, and sugar. If you want to avoid preservatives, chemicals, corn syrup, and all kinds of other nastiness, then it’s totally worth it to make your own!
This easy recipe just has three ingredients, and is simply the best lemonade you’ll ever have! The best thing about it is that you can adjust the sugar content based on your taste and health preferences!
How Do I Easily Squeeze Lemons for Lemonade?
Option 1: If you have muscles to spare, you can just squeeze them with your hands. If you have any cuts on your hands, though, the lemon juice running over them will not feel nice.
Option 2: You can use a hand-juicer like this.
Option 3: (Highly recommended, especially if you are making lemonade for a crowd and have a lot of lemons to juice). The Black and Decker Citrus Juicer. This is what I have, and I LOVE it.
You plug it in and then just press down on the top with your lemon, and the juicer rotates automatically! Lift up and press down again, and the juicer switches directions so that you can really get all the juice out of that lemon!
It also has adjustments for the amount of pulp you want to let through, and it catches all the seeds. The container measures the amount of juice, and there’s a spout so you can pour the juice out without even taking the top off.
How to Make Fresh Squeezed Lemonade Step by Step
The first thing you actually want to do is boil some water and sugar together to make a simple syrup. Why can’t you just add sugar to cold water and then add fresh lemon juice? (This is what my daughter wanted to know).
It’s because the sugar won’t dissolve all the way and will just collect at the bottom of your pitcher. Boiling the sugar and water together gets the sugar to fully dissolve (and stay that way).
You’ll need 1 cup of white sugar and 1 1/4 cups of water. Just add them to a small saucepan on the stove and heat over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves completely in the hot water. Then simmer for another five minutes. Then take the pan off the burner and let it cool for about 20 minutes. You don’t need to wait for it to cool to room temperature, but you don’t want it boiling or steaming!
As the simple syrup cools, it’s time to juice your lemons! You’ll need about 4 small/medium lemons.
If you’re making a gallon of lemonade, you’ll need about 16 small/medium lemons.
Just slice them in half and then squeeze the heck out of them. You will have the most luck and get the most juice if you use a juicer, like the ones I suggested above.
Using a citrus juicer will speed up the process and save your hands!
As you can see, my Black and Decker Citrus Juicer caught A LOT of seeds!
Make sure not to let any lemon seeds get in your fresh-squeeze lemon juice!
Your goal is to get 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
For a gallon of lemonade, you’ll want two cups of lemon juice.
Now all you do is add the lemon juice, simple syrup, and extra water to a large pitcher! The amount of water you add depends on how sweet you want your lemonade. You can add between 3 and 4 cups of water. (Start with three and taste it and then add more if you want to get the perfect amount of sweetness).
If you want a more tart, lemon flavor, feel free to add more lemon juice. The great thing about this easy lemonade recipe is that you can totally adjust it to be perfect for your tastes!
To be extra fancy, garnish with lemon slices.
Fresh-squeezed lemonade! Perfect for summertime!
And that’s it! Super easy!
How to Make Fresh Squeezed Lemonade by the Glass
If you want to make a single glass of lemonade, just add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to a glass along with 1/4 cup of simple syrup and 3/4 cup to one cup of water. Taste and add more water if desired.
How to Make Fresh Squeezed Lemonade by the Gallon
To make fresh squeezed lemonade for a crowd, you’ll want to quadruple this recipe. To break it down, you’ll need:
16 small/medium lemons (enough to make 2 cups of lemon juice)
4 cups of sugar mixed with 5 cups of water to make the simple syrup
An additional 12-16 cups of water, to taste.
Just follow the same steps as illustrated above in the post to make the lemonade.
How Long Does Fresh Squeezed Lemonade/Lemon Juice Last?
If you want to squeeze your lemons and make your simple syrup beforehand and then mix the lemonade together just before serving, you need to know how long your fresh squeezed lemon juice will last.
The answer is 2-3 days, covered, in the refrigerator. The simple syrup will last indefinitely 🙂
Once you mix up the lemonade, it will last 5-7 days in the refrigerator.
If you end up with more lemon juice than you need, you can freeze it! An easy way to do it is to pour it into an ice cube tray. Then once the juice is frozen, pop the blocks out of the tray and put them in an airtight plastic bag and return to the freezer.
Is Fresh Squeezed Lemonade Healthy?
Well, even though it’s more healthy than lemonade concentrate or powder or most other bottled lemonades (because it doesn’t have preservatives or chemicals), I’m not sure I would call it “healthy” due to the amount of sugar.
If you’d like a sugar-free recipe for lemonade, you can get it here.
How do you Make Strawberry Lemonade?
Just puree some strawberries, strain the seeds, and add a spoonful or two of the puree to your glass!
How to you make Sugar-free Lemonade?
I suggest following the recipe as written, but substituting Monk Fruit Sweetener, Xylitol, or Erythritol for the sugar. These sugar substitutes are a 1:1 ratio with normal sugar and are plant-based without any strange aftertaste (like you sometimes get with Stevia).
Can you use Lemon Juice Concentrate?
If you’re asking if you can use frozen lemon concentrate from a can, I would say that defeats the whole purpose of using real lemons here! If you’re asking if you can use pure lemon juice from a bottle, the answer would be yes. Just use the same amount as the fresh-squeezed lemon juice in the recipe.
O.K. Have I answered all your fresh squeezed lemonade-related questions? If not, please leave a comment!
This recipe adapted from Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade in the book Our Best Bites: Mormon Moms in the Kitchen.
Another MUST TRY drink recipe for summer is my Banana Pineapple Punch.
Be sure to also check out my collection of 20 Perfect Punch Recipes and Ten Party Ice Cream Punch Recipes.
Fresh Squeezed Lemonade Recipe by the Gallon
Making your own fresh squeezed lemonade is easy and fun! Make it by the glass or by the gallon with this versatile homemade lemonade recipe.
Ingredients
- 4 cups sugar
- 16 cups, plus 5 cups (for the simple syrup)
- 2 cups fresh lemon juice (about 16 small/medium lemons, juiced)
Instructions
- Add the 4 cups of sugar and 5 cups of water to a medium-sized pot on the stove. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar is dissolved. Once sugar is dissolved, simmer another five minutes and then remove from the burner. Allow to cool for 20 minutes.
- Juice your lemons and save 2 cups of lemon juice. Once the simple syrup has cooled, pour it into a pitcher, along with the 2 cups of lemon juice.
- Add 12-16 cups of cold water, to taste. Chill for at least an hour, or serve immediately with ice cubes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 200Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 52gFiber: 0gSugar: 51gProtein: 0g
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