There’s nothing better than an ice-cold glass of homemade lemonade on a hot day.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade in glasses

It’s been so hot lately that it’s a great time for some refreshing ice-cold lemonade.

The trick to making the perfect lemonade is to make a simple syrup where the sugar completely dissolves before it’s added to the lemon juice and water.

As simple as this sounds, before knowing this I’ve made my share of lemonade where I added granulated sugar to the lemon juice and water, and it never seemed to be sweet enough.

But that’s because the sugar never dissolved and just sank to the bottom.

A fun thing to do is to chill the glasses, then just before serving the lemonade turn each glass upside down into a small bowl of sugar to coat the rim of the glass.

It looks so good and tastes even better.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade in pitcher

Lemonade is so pretty served in various types of glasses too.

You can get all fancy and serve it in a wine glass, or even in a good old mason jar.

If you happen to have some fresh raspberries or blueberries, you can even throw a few in the pan when making the simple syrup and make a berry lemonade.

Let’s check out the ingredients.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade ingredients

You’ll just need some lemons, sugar, ice, and water

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE

A printable recipe with the measurements and instructions is located at the bottom of this post.

For the Simple Syrup:

Lemon zest on cutting board

Zest the lemon and set aside for a moment.

Add water to pot

Heat a saucepan on low to medium heat and add the water,

Add sugar to pot

sugar,

Lemon zest and sugar water in pot

and the lemon zest.

Boil lemon simple syrup in pot

Bring the sugar mixture to a boil and stir.

Lemon simple syrup in bowl

Once the sugar dissolves (about 6 minutes) remove the mixture from the pan into a bowl and let cool.

For the Lemonade:

Juice lemons in juicer

Lemon juice in jar

Juice and strain the lemons.

Empty lemonade pitcher

Then in a large pitcher,

Add lemon juice to pitcher

add the strained lemon juice,

Add simple syrup in pitcher

cooled simple syrup,

Add water in pitcher

…and water.

Then stir.

Add ice cubes to pitcher of lemonade

Next…

Add ice cubes to lemonade in pitcher

Add ice cube to pitcher of lemonade

…add the ice.

Sliced lemons on cutting board

Slice a lemon into about ½ inch wide slices, remove the seeds, if possible,

Add sliced lemon to lemonade pitcher

…and add to the pitcher.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade in pitcher

As an option, chill the serving glasses in the freezer.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade in glasses

Then dip the rim of the glasses in sugar just before serving.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade in glasses

Serve over more ice, garnish with a sliced lemon.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade in glasses

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Glass of Lemonade with Ice

Fresh Homemade Lemonade

There's nothing better than an ice cold glass of homemade lemonade on a hot day.
5 from 2 votes

Ingredients

For the Simple Syrup:

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • Zest from one lemon

For the Lemonade:

  • 1 cup fresh squeezed and strained lemon juice about 4 to 5 lemons
  • 4 cups cold water
  • 4 to 5 cups of ice cubes
  • 1 lemon, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices (remove the seeds if possible) for garnish

Instructions

For the Simple Syrup:

  • Heat a sauce pan on low to medium heat and add water, sugar, and lemon zest. 
  • Bring the sugar and water mixture to a boil and stir. 
  • Once the sugar dissolves (about 6 minutes) remove the mixture from the pan into a bowl and let cool. 
    Let the bowl of simple syrup cool on the counter until the temperature drops enough to chill it in the refrigerator.

For the Lemonade:

  • In a large pitcher, add the strained lemon juice, cooled simple syrup, and water.  Stir together and add the ice
  • Add sliced lemons to the pitcher and the serving glasses for garnish.  Serve over more ice.  
  • As an option, chill the serving glasses in the freezer. Then dip the rim of the glasses in sugar just before serving. 

This recipe was originally posted on June 15, 2013.

Drinks Made with Fruit or Berries

Here are more refreshing drinks made with fruit or berries you may like “Blueberry Limeade“, “Peach, Lemon and Iced Tea Agua Fresca” and “Pink Lemonade with Pomegranate Juice“.

Refreshing Drinks

More Refreshing Drinks You May Like:

Very Cherry Shirley Temple with Lime

Lemon, Mint and Orange Iced Tea

Brown Sugar and Mint Limeade

Honey, Citrus and Thyme Tea