Raspberry lemonade is easy to make and will be a hit at your next summer gathering. Fresh lemons and ripe raspberries give amazing flavor and color!
One of my favorite ways to make a family dinner or party extra special is to make a delicious drink to go with it! Sure, you could buy one, but once you taste homemade raspberry lemonade, there will be no going back! Fresh lemon juice always has amazing flavor but the raspberries add a sweeter edge and give the lemonade an amazing pink color! You might think the color in these photos is exaggerated, it’s not! I took them about 30 minutes after I made the lemonade, and it was as pink as ever. So pretty and so delicious.
I made a handy recipe video to go along with this post, just to show you how easy it really is! A lot of times, drink recipes call for a simple syrup. The purpose of a simple syrup is two-fold: 1} a simple syrup allows to you dissolve all the sugar you need into a small amount of water so sweetening a drink is easy. And 2} many times you can infuse flavor into a simple syrup with berries or herbs. A simple syrup is made by heating equal parts sugar to water in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.
But remember how I’m a lazy cook? Yeah. That means I don’t make a simple syrup. I don’t want an extra pan to wash! I mix the sugar and water right in the serving container. The trick to doing it the lazy way is making sure all the sugar is dissolved. To do this, I use warm water to mix up my lemonade and stir for 3-5 minutes.
For raspberry lemonade, the stirring is extra important because that is when you mash up the berries a bit. Mashing the berries allows more flavor and color to get into the lemonade. I’ve tried it with whole berries and didn’t like how faint the flavor was.
Once you have stirred everything together, YOU HAVE TO TASTE IT! Seriously. I’m not sure how you could make lemonade without taste testing! I, of course, have provided a recipe, but I prefer a more tart lemonade and you might like it sweeter. So taste and adjust! Start with the base measurements provided in the recipe and go from there.
If you are looking for a more herby garnish, mint leaves to wonderfully with raspberry lemonade. I love the fresh combination. Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think!
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Quick & Easy Raspberry Lemonade
Ingredients
- 12 cups water warm, 2-4 cups shy of a gallon (see note)
- 1 cup lemon juice fresh squeezed , 5-6 lemons (see note)
- 6 oz fresh raspberries
- 1 1/2 cups sugar see note
Instructions
- Roll each lemon back and forth on the countertop a few times, pressing down slightly. This helps release the juice.
- Cut each lemon in half and juice, straining out the seeds.
- Pour about three quarters of the lemon juice into about 12 cups of water.
- Add the raspberries and sugar.
- Stir constantly for 3-5 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved and the raspberries are broken up. You may have to lightly mash the raspberries with your spoon.
- Taste and adjust flavor, adding more lemon juice, sugar, or water as desired.
- Leave juice a bit on the strong side if you are going to be putting ice in the serving container or glasses. This will allow the flavor to remain great as the ice melts into the drink.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
When adding the lemon juice and sugar, add less than the listed amounts. You will want to taste the lemonade and adjust the flavor according to your preference after mixing.
If you are serving it over ice or putting ice in the serving vessel, leave the flavor slightly stronger than you want it to be. This will account for added water as the ice melts, keeping your raspberry lemonade flavorful.
Alli says
Beautiful and tasty drink!
Claire says
This would be perfect for summer 🙂 I will try it
Alli says
Thanks Claire! Let me know if you like it!
Tara says
I love how easy this is to put together. Such a beautiful color and so perfect for summer!
Alli says
Thanks Tara!