Summer is coming up fast and what better way to cool off than making homemade lemonade? Oh, I know…those ready-made drinks are easy. But making this fresh squeezed lemonade recipe is easy too. Plus, you only need 4 ingredients that you can actually pronounce to make it. Wholesome and fresh, my kids love it when I have this ice-cold homemade lemonade recipe waiting for them on a hot day.

Best Lemonade Recipe

What makes the best lemonade? Real lemons. Seriously, if you’re buying that stuff at the store in those jugs or that frozen concentrate, what are you buying? I know, I did the same thing myself. I thought it was because the lemonade drink I made didn’t taste like it, but now I know the secret to the best lemonade and am sharing it with you!

Easy Lemonade Recipe

What could be easier than 4 ingredients? Exactly! You know what you’re getting. It only takes a little time to make the simple syrup, let it cool, and then put it together for the best lemonade from lemon juice in town!

Lemonade Ingredients

• Fresh squeezed lemon juice – Making a fresh homemade lemonade recipe with lemons is the only way. It will take about 5 or 6 lemons to get the required amount for this recipe.
• Cold water – This dilutes your lemon mixture for balance.
• Simple syrup – Made with a cup of water and a cup and ¼ of white sugar, this is the secret to getting that perfect pitcher of fresh lemonade!

How do you Make Lemonade from Scratch

Making this simple lemonade recipe is quick and easy. You’ll first make a simple syrup out of sugar and water on the stove top. As that dissolves together, you’ll juice your lemons. When the sugar dissolves, you’ll let that simple syrup cool. Then you’ll combine it all together in a pitcher and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Refreshment awaits!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Anonymous

Expert Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Lemonade Every Time

• Pick good lemons. When making this lemonade recipe with lemon juice, instead of getting a bag of lemons, choose your own. Squeeze them gently to feel for a little bit of give and skin that isn’t too thick. The color should be bright and they should smell fragrant.
• Don’t skip making simple syrup. This was a mistake I made when I first tried to make homemade lemonade. You wind up with sugar at the bottom and a sour drink. The simple syrup ensures your sweetness gets mixed through the entire pitcher when you make lemonade with lemon juice.
• Feel free to garnish. If you’re setting up an alfresco dining table, a sprig of lavender or rosemary looks really pretty in the glass!

How many lemons do you need to make a pitcher of lemonade?

Depending on the size of the lemons you choose, it should take about 5 or 6 lemons to give you the juice you need to make one pitcher of lemonade. 

What is the best ratio of lemons to sugar for lemonade?

In this fresh lemonade recipe, you’ll see that the best ratio is 1 ¼ cup of white granulated sugar to roughly 5 lemons. This will give you the right balance in all the flavors for your best lemonade.

Is lemonade and lemon juice the same thing?

No, lemon juice is simply the juice you squeeze from lemons. It’s very sour. Lemonade has water added as well as sweetener to tamper down the sour flavors from the lemons.

Is it cheaper to make your own lemonade?

Yes, it’s cheaper to make lemonade yourself rather than buy it ready-made. Plus, you’re eliminating additives that you’d get from those store-bought brands.

Is drinking homemade lemonade good for you?

Homemade lemonade is a far better choice over sodas and those packaged drinks. However, because it has sugar in it, you should always watch out not to have too much.

Does lemonade hydrate you?

Lemonade is great for hydration. Sour flavors stimulate your saliva production plus the water that lemonade is made with helps keep you hydrated. No wonder it’s such a popular summer drink!

What goes well with Lemonade

Any type of barbecue or grilled foods go well with lemonade. Picnic foods, burgers, sandwiches, fresh fish and shrimp, and spicy foods are all perfect to pair with lemonade.

What can I add to lemonade to make it better?

Lemonade made from fresh ingredients is as good as it gets. You can infuse it with herbs though like rosemary, basil, or lavender to give it a unique twist. Adding other fresh fruits is fun to experiment with too.

How to Store Lemonade

Lemonade needs to be kept in the fridge. It’s not that it will go bad if you leave it out, not right away anyway, but it tastes best chilled. The fridge will keep it fresh and cold.

How Long Does Homemade Lemonade Last?

When you make this lemonade, it will be good for about a week in your fridge. If you want to make a bigger batch, I recommend you freeze it.

Can You Freeze Lemonade?

Yes, you can freeze it just fine. I like putting it in freezer storage bags to lay flat in the freezer. My family drinks so much lemonade in the summer, this saves me loads of time!

How to Thaw Lemonade?

All you need to do is put it in the fridge to thaw out. Do it the night before a big party and you won’t have anything to worry about.

Print Pin

Classic Homemade Lemonade Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 15 minutes

Chill time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 4 servings

Calories 255

Lemonade is the perfect summer drink that is incredibly tasty and refreshing. This super easy homemade Lemonade recipe requires only 3 simple ingredients and has the perfect balance!

Equipment

• Citrus juice press
• Lemonade pitcher

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 cup water (for simple syrup)
• 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 3 cups cold water

Instructions 

• First, make the simple syrup by combining the sugar and 1 cup of water into small saucepan. Bring to a simmer until the sugar dissolves completely, then remove from heat and set aside.
• While the water heats up for the simple syrup, juice about 5-6 lemons until you get 1 cup of juice. After the simple syrup has cooled, combine with the juice and water into a serving pitcher. Add more water depending on your preference, and refrigerate for 45 minutes.
• Serve over ice with sliced lemons.

Calories: 255kcal

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 255kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 64g | Vitamin A: 4IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg

More lemonade recipes:

• Ginger Lemonade
• Hot Ginger Lemonade
• Lavender Lemonade
• Blueberry Lemonade

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bustled into my kitchen to make a recipe I’m totally jazzed about and I realize with sudden dawning horror…I’ve forgotten to buy buttermilk! It’s happened to you too, right? It got me thinking, how do you make buttermilk when you don’t have buttermilk? Well, you make it of course! This buttermilk recipe ensures you’ll always know how to make buttermilk with just 2 simple ingredients!

Best Buttermilk Recipe

Sure, you could run out and buy it, but the best buttermilk recipe is the fresh kind you make at home. And it’s super-likely that you have just what you need to make it in your fridge right now!

Easy Buttermilk Recipe

Save time and money on running to the store and just grab 2 ingredients from your kitchen and make your own buttermilk at home. Then just 5 minutes later, your buttermilk will be ready to go.

Buttermilk Ingredients

• Whole milk – The “milk” in this recipe, of course, is necessary to make buttermilk at home.
• White vinegar – Sorry, not butter, though the traditional way to get buttermilk was from the liquid remaining after churning butter from cultured cream. This is just our modern-day shortcut!

How do you Make Buttermilk from Scratch

Making buttermilk from scratch simply requires pouring white vinegar into whole milk. After 5 minutes, you can stir it up and see how it’s changed in texture. You can taste it too! Making buttermilk from milk is super easy.

Got buttermilk?
Megan

Expert Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Buttermilk Every Time

• Use whole milk. You want the fattiness from the milk to help make that cultured texture.
• You can use apple cider vinegar. When making buttermilk with vinegar, you have options. If you don’t have white vinegar, another vinegar should do the trick. Except malt. I wouldn’t use that!
• Be patient. It takes about 5 minutes for the reaction to occur with the cultures. Staring at it will make it feel like forever.

How do you make buttermilk from regular milk?

To turn regular milk into butter milk, you’ll add one tablespoon of white vinegar per every cup of milk. This is the ratio to uphold no matter how much buttermilk you want to make.

How long does it take to turn milk into buttermilk?

For this recipe, using vinegar it only takes about 5 minutes to turn milk into buttermilk.

Is homemade buttermilk as good as store bought?

Homemade buttermilk comes out thinner than its commercial counterparts. It also reveals vinegary notes in the taste. It’s a great replacement for the cultured buttermilk from the store when you need it in recipes.

Is lemon juice or vinegar better for making buttermilk?

Either one will serve the purpose of making buttermilk. Since lemon juice and vinegar are both acidic, it helps the milk curdle. It’s really a matter of preference, or what you have on hand at home.

Can you substitute milk and lemon juice for buttermilk?

Yes, you can! Milk and lemon juice is also a suitable buttermilk replacement.

What are the benefits of drinking buttermilk?

When you drink buttermilk, you get lots of protein that helps your bones, muscles, and skin stay healthy. If you buy it commercially, it also has extra vitamins and minerals added to it to make it even more nutritious.

Should buttermilk be thick?

Buttermilk is thicker than regular milk, so expect the texture to look different. However, homemade buttermilk will be thinner than what you’ll make with whole milk and vinegar.

How does vinegar turn milk into buttermilk?

The acidity of the vinegar turns the milk into buttermilk. Essentially, it sours it which will serve its purpose in recipes that call for buttermilk to be used.

Is buttermilk and milk interchangeable?

No, they’re not interchangeable because while using regular milk in making homemade ranch dressing won’t be problematic, in baking it is. Buttermilk will require adjustments in baking soda and baking powder when added in place of milk due to the higher acid content.

How do I make 1/2 cup of buttermilk with milk?

When you make buttermilk substitute, to measure a ½ cup, you will measure a ½ cup of milk and then add 1 ½ teaspoons of vinegar.

What is a substitute for buttermilk?

Nothing tastes quite like buttermilk. If you don’t have it, it’s easy to make using this recipe to avoid a trip to the store. Real buttermilk has the most wonderful taste of all, but in recipes, this buttermilk substitute will do nicely.

What to Use Buttermilk For

Some people love drinking buttermilk as-is. In my house, it’s something I love to use in everything from pancakes to biscuits and ranch dressing to fried chicken. Honestly, it’s better to make it when you need it anyway. When you do buy it ready-made at the store, you have to remember to use it all before it goes bad.

How to Store Buttermilk

Buttermilk will taste the best and uphold its quality if you put it in a glass container in your fridge. This will make it easy to see how much is left when you go to use it up.

How Long Does Buttermilk Last?

Your homemade buttermilk will last when stored properly in that container in your fridge for as long as 2 weeks. Ideally, you’ll finish it off before then.

Can You Freeze Buttermilk?

Freezing buttermilk is a brilliant idea. It’s something I’ve started doing myself so that I automatically just pop a storage bag of it out the day before I’m going to use it. It will be good for about 3 months so planning ahead with buttermilk is never a bad idea.

How to Thaw Buttermilk?

Just take it out the night before and put it in your fridge. It will be ready to work with the next day.

Print Pin

How to make Buttermilk

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1 serving

Calories 152

This easy Buttermilk recipe tutorial is the perfect guide to teach you how to make buttermilk from scratch.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tbsp white vinegar

Instructions 

• Pour the vinegar into the whole milk and gently stir to combine. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes so the milk will curdle and achieve a buttermilk texture and taste.

Calories: 152kcal

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 152kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 322mg | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 395IU | Calcium: 277mg | Iron: 1mg

More buttermilk recipes:

• Buttermilk Lemonade Fried Chicken
• How To Make Buttermilk Biscuits
• Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
• Buttermilk Biscuits