Food and Recipes Drinks Cold Strawberry Lemonade Be the first to rate & review! Sip, sip, hooray for a spectacularly refreshing drink! By Elizabeth Mervosh Elizabeth Mervosh Elizabeth Mervosh is a recipe tester and developer for the Meredith Food Studios in Birmingham, Alabama and tests and develops recipes for brands including Southern Living, Real Simple, Food & Wine, People, and Health. She received her bachelor's degree in political science from American University in Washington, D.C. After university, she dipped her toes in the restaurant industry and never looked back. She completed her culinary degree at The Culinary Institute of America. Elizabeth has been a part of the Meredith Food Studios since 2017. Prior to that, she cooked in restaurants in New Orleans, Charleston, and Chicago. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on April 21, 2023 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox Active Time: 25 mins Total Time: 35 mins Servings: 4 Your summer sipping just became infinitely more tasty thanks to this strawberry lemonade recipe. The best part? You only need four ingredients. Here, learn how to make homemade strawberry lemonade so your summer Saturday evenings, picnics, potlucks, and parties will feature a refreshing drink all can enjoy. Strawberry Lemonade If all you know of strawberry lemonade is powdered lemonade mixes, prepare yourself for a wildly different experience. The bright, invigorating flavors of fresh strawberries and lemon juice do not compare, in any way, to the fake, questionable flavors of those drink mixes. They're far superior. Sure, in a hurry, powdered mixes or questionably pink drinks in the gas station cooler will work to satisfy a quench. But when you have the time and craving for the real thing, this is the recipe to make. Ingredients for Strawberry Lemonade This recipe for strawberry lemonade calls for just four ingredients: Fresh strawberries: This is a wonderful way to use up a bounty of berries after you've gone picking at the nearby berry patch, or after you've let a pint or two get a bit squishy. Save the prettiest berries for a garnish. Fresh lemon juice: Promise me you won't reach for the bottled kind. I get that it's easier, but nothing compares to the flavor of freshly-squeezed lemon juice. You'll need 3/4 cup, which is about what you'll get from four large lemons. Get a few extras in case the lemons are drier than expected. You can always use lemon rounds as a garnish. (Or try our Lemonade Iced Tea.) Sugar: You'll use sugar to make a strawberry syrup. Water: Then you'll need water to thin out the strawberry lemonade concentrate so the drink is perfectly crisp and sippable. How To Make Strawberry Lemonade The full recipe for strawberry lemonade is below, but here's a quick recap: Boil strawberries in sugary water: In a saucepan, combine the hulled and quartered strawberries, some sugar, and a bit of water. You'll bring this to a boil, then let it simmer until the berries are very soft. (They may fall apart if you try to lift them out of the water.) Let the mixture cool for a few minutes.Make strawberry syrup: Once the strawberries have cooled a bit, empty them into a fine mesh strainer over a bowl or pitcher. Use the back of a spoon to press the strawberries against the strainer to squeeze out as much juice as you can. Discard any leftover bits.Combine syrup, lemon juice, and water: Add the fresh lemon juice to the strawberry syrup and water until you get the flavor you prefer. More Lemonade Drinks If you have a craving for cool, refreshing lemonade, consider these other drinks: Lemonade Iced Tea Frozen Blueberry Lemonade Frozen Lemonade Frozen Raspberry Lemonade Frozen Strawberry Lemonade Ingredients 12 oz. fresh strawberries (about 3 cups), hulled and quartered, plus sliced strawberries for garnish 4 1/2 cups water, divided 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 4 lemons) Directions Boil strawberries: Bring strawberries, 2 cups of the water, and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Continue to gently boil over medium, stirring occasionally, until strawberries are very soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Make strawberry syrup: Pour strawberry mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a small heatproof pitcher, pressing on solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Finish lemonade: Stir in lemon juice and remaining 2 1/2 cups water. Serve Strawberry Lemonade over ice and garnish with sliced strawberries. Rate it Print