A simple and refreshing homemade lemonade recipe! You only need sugar, water, and lemons to make this classic drink recipe. Check out the step-by-step video just below the recipe! This recipe makes 1/2 gallon of lemonade but can successfully be doubled!
Prep time: PT10M
Cook time: PT5M
Total time: PT15M
Rating
4.92 stars (305 reviews)
Keywords
best lemonade, homemade lemonade recipe, lemonade
Ingredients
6 cups water (divided)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice¹ (seeds removed, pulp may remain )
Categories
Drinks
Cuisine
American
Steps
Combine 1 cup (236ml) water and 1 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside, allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Pour 1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice into a pitcher. Add sugar/water mixture (simple syrup).
Add remaining 5 cups (1180ml) water and stir well. Pour over ice and serve, or transfer to refrigerator and allow to chill several hours before serving.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 8 oz glass
Calories: 103 kcal
Carbohydrates: 27 g
Sodium: 8 mg
Sugar: 26 g
Reviews
JA Luna on 2026-08-13 (5 stars): This recipe is simple and delicious the only thing I recommend is taking the sugar level down to half or ¾ because the sugar can overwhelm the natural lemon flavor, but that's just our family's experience.
leo jasieiwcz on 2026-08-08 (5 stars): I liked it a lot!!
Todd on 2026-08-07 (5 stars): So 👍👍👍👍👍😍😍😍😍😍😘😘😘😘✔️✔️✔️🤩🤩🤩🤩😃😃😃😁😁😆😆🥰🥰😘😘😍😍😻😻
amanda on 2026-07-30 (5 stars): i made this for the first time and it only took 1 good try to get the freshest and most delicious lemonade ever
Eleanor Hauser on 2026-07-29 (5 stars): This recipe was so good we had a lemonade stand and we got $158.
Candace Manning on 2026-07-24 (5 stars): This is the best lemonade I’ve ever tasted. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Linda on 2026-07-20 (5 stars): Excellent! Delicious and easy to make!
Shannon LaBeau-BlueEyes on 2026-07-19 (5 stars): Best tasting lemonade!
Kat on 2026-07-12 (5 stars): Thank you for creating and sharing this recipe Samantha! My family is more of a fan of tart lemonade, so I cut the simple syrup in half and used 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice and 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice.
And my favorite addition to this is FRESH MINT from our garden!
Can’t wait to try more recipes - thanks again!
JONATHAN HALL on 2026-07-03 (5 stars): back up from 200gramd of sugar to 180 / 170.
or 150grams plus 2 large teaspoons of honey.
also add some lemon zest and a spring of mint. other than that tiptop.
if you leave out 3/4 of the liquid you can use it as a intense lemon syrup, add gin and some tonic.
Jeremy on 2026-06-30 (5 stars): yep simple syrup is where it is at. best lemonade I ever made, did it again this time with blue raspberry syrup. huge hit with my kiddos
Myriam on 2026-06-30 (5 stars): Best lemonade recipe ever. Lemonade used to be my favorite drink, but I stopped drinking it years ago because I can't tolerate tart/sour flavors anymore. When my daughter wanted us to make lemonade together, this is the recipe I chose, and I am so grateful I did! We both love it and I can finally drink lemonade again :)
