Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Prepare strawberries

Rinse strawberries, hull and roughly chop them so they break down quickly.

Combine chopped strawberries, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, and simmer for 6–8 minutes until strawberries are very soft and sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat. Use a fine-mesh sieve to press and strain the mixture into a bowl or jar, extracting as much syrup as possible. Reserve the solids for another use or mash them into the syrup if you prefer texture.

Let the syrup cool to room temperature (about 15–20 minutes) or chill in the refrigerator for faster cooling.

Juice fresh lemons until you have 1 cup (about 4–6 lemons depending on size). Strain seeds and excessive pulp if desired.

In a large pitcher, combine the 1 cup fresh lemon juice with 2 cups cold water and stir.

Taste the mixture. If it tastes too tart, add up to 2 tablespoons simple syrup (or more to taste) and stir until incorporated. Note: the strawberry syrup will also add sweetness, so start conservative.

Fill the pitcher halfway with ice (or fill individual glasses with ice). Pour the cooled strawberry syrup into the lemonade base in the pitcher and stir gently to combine. Use all the syrup for a stronger strawberry flavor; reserve some to adjust sweetness/color if desired.

Slowly add 2 cups chilled club soda or lemon-lime soda to the pitcher and stir once gently to combine. The soda adds fizz — if you want still lemonade, omit the soda and increase cold water by 2 cups.

Taste and adjust: add more cold water for milder flavor, more strawberry syrup for sweetness and color, or more simple syrup for sweetness without additional strawberry flavor.

Pour into glasses over ice. Garnish each glass with a lemon slice, a strawberry half, and a mint leaf if using.

Serve immediately so the soda remains fizzy.