Refreshing citrus lemonade is made with lemon, orange and grapefruit juice. It’s the perfect blend of tangy and sweet and will be an instant hit. Easy enough for everyday and tasty enough for special occasions!
This citrus lemonade drink is an old family favorite, I’m so excited to actually be writing it down and creating a recipe for it! My mother would always whip up something similar to this when she had citrus she needed to use up.
My favorite thing about this drink is how easy it is. No simple syrup, no stovetop. just mix it up and you’re good to go. I’m all about easy, can you tell? Ha! My raspberry lemonade recipe is just as easy.
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The other thing I love about this citrus lemonade recipe is that it’s very easy to customize to your taste. I think that the recipe provided has a good balance of citrus flavors, sweetness, and tang but definitely taste as you go to make sure it’s just right for YOU.
If you are hesitant about the grapefruit, don’t be! It adds a really unique flavor that takes this citrus lemonade over the top. There is actually more grapefruit juice than lemon or orange juice, but it isn’t overpowering. It brings all the other flavors together really nicely.
When you start adding the water to your lemonade mixture, make sure it is warm! This is what helps the sugar to dissolve. If you want to serve the drink right away, use warm water and leave off about a cup and then top off your pitcher with lots of ice.
That way you can still get everything dissolved but give the lemonade time to cool down without being diluted too much. As you add water, be sure to taste! Once you add all the water it’s hard to adjust the flavors, but if you are tasting as you go you can get the flavor just the way you want it. You can also add less sugar at the begining and adjust that as you go. But I promise, this drink isn’t to sweet. I can’t handle how sweet a lot of the store bought lemonade mixes are!
I love to garnish this drink with basil or mint, the basil might sound crazy but it is out of this world tasty! I promise, give it a try. The citrus is refreshing and then pairing it with the refreshing and fragrant basil really sends it over the top.
Do you like the blue stamp on my hand in that picture? HA! We went to a fun historical farm that is up the road from our house and they do not mess around with that hand stamp ink. It took a solid three days for that sucker to come off! I didn’t realize it was there until I was editing this video, but that makes it more like real life, right? That’s what I’ll keep telling myself.
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Refreshing Citrus Lemonade
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sugar see note
- 1/3 cup lemon juice about three lemons
- 1/3 cup orange juice about 1 orange
- 2/3 cup grapefruit juice about 1 grapefruit
- 12 cups water warm, see note
Instructions
- Juice the lemons, orange, and grapefruit over a fine mesh strainer to catch all the seeds and pulp.
- In a large pitcher, add the sugar, lemon juice, orange juice, and grapefruit juice.
- Add 9 cups of warm water, taste the mixture and finish adding water to your taste. You may want less than 12 cups or more than 12 cups. See note.
- Once the water is all added, stir vigorously until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Allow to chill and serve. Garnish with mint or basil sprigs.
Alli says
Family favorite for sure!