Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Make the lemon juice

Roll about 4–6 medium lemons on the counter to loosen juices, then cut in half and squeeze until you have 1 cup of lemon juice. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a measuring cup to remove seeds and excess pulp if desired.

Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar with 1 cup lemon juice in a pitcher. Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve. If using simple syrup instead of granulated sugar, add 3 tbs of simple syrup and skip stirring to dissolve.

Add 3 cups cold water to the pitcher and stir well. Taste and adjust sweetness or dilution: add up to 1/2 cup more water if too tart, or up to 1–2 additional tablespoons sugar (or simple syrup) if too tart.

Refrigerate the lemonade base while you prepare the strawberry purée, or add 1–2 cups ice to chill immediately (reserve some ice for serving).

Hull and roughly chop 1 cup fresh strawberries.

Place the chopped strawberries and 1 tablespoon sugar (or 1 tbs simple syrup) into a blender or food processor. Add 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice to brighten the flavor, if using.

Blend until mostly smooth. For a slightly textured purée, pulse to your preferred consistency. If the purée is very thick, add 1–2 teaspoons of water and pulse again.

Taste the purée and adjust sweetness as needed. If you prefer a seed-free drink, strain the purée through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard seeds and solids.

Chill the purée briefly or keep refrigerated until ready to combine with the lemonade base.

In the pitcher with the lemonade base, stir in the strawberry purée. Start by adding half the purée, stir, taste, and add more until desired fruitiness and color are achieved. Typical ratio is about 1 cup lemonade base to 1/3–1/2 cup purée, but adjust to taste.

Fill four serving glasses with ice (approximately 1/2 cup ice per glass). Pour the strawberry lemonade evenly into the glasses.

Garnish each glass with 1–2 fresh strawberry slices, 1 lemon slice, and a mint leaf.

Serve immediately. If not serving right away, keep chilled in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours; stir gently before serving as separation may occur.