Your new favorite summer drink, this basil lemonade features 1 1/2 cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice with sugar and basil. Easy and delicious!
If you love lemonade and the taste of basil, I bet you’re going to love this incredibly refreshing basil lemonade recipe. It’s my absolute favorite summertime drink. And just so you know, this makes some mean lemonade even without the basil… if that’s more your speed. Feel free to use this recipe as a guide for just regular lemonade. Y’all enjoy!
What is basil lemonade?
Basil lemonade is just as the name states… lemonade with basil. But, it does go a bit beyond that with this particular recipe. Still super easy and only requiring four ingredients, the hardest part is juicing the lemons and muddling the basil and sugar together. The majority of work is in juicing 6 to 8 lemons. But, it’s absolutely worth it for this refreshing drink. Add in some lemon slices, pour over ice, and enjoy!
How to squeeze fresh lemons
There are many different ways to squeeze fresh lemon juice. Here are five methods you can choose from:
By Hand – Begin by rolling the lemon firmly back and forth on your counter pressing down with your palm. Then slice the lemon across the center. Holding the lemon’s cut side up, begin squeezing the juice out over a bowl. Holding the lemon this way will cut back on seeds and pulp falling into your bowl.
Use a Fork – Admittedly, this method can be a little more challenging to get all the juice out. Roll the lemon firmly like I said in the prior method. Then, pierce your lemon many times with a fork. Finally, squeeze your lemon firmly so the juice comes out of the holes created by the fork. You may need to massage the lemon some to get more of the juice out.
Food Processor – Cut your lemons into small pieces. Take out as many seeds as you can. Place the lemon pieces in your food processor and pulse until it is pureed. Finally, strain your juice through a fine mesh sieve.
Kitchen Reamer – Take your kitchen reamer and press your half-cut lemon down while twisting at the same time to force the juices out.
Citrus Juicer – Probably the easiest method is to use a citrus juicer. It’s how I juice mine. These gadgets were made for the purpose of extracting juice from citrus fruit, like lemons, making the process easier and faster.
Recipe Card
Basil Lemonade
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed basil leaves
- 6 cups water, divided
- 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (6 to 8 lemons)
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, muddle the sugar and basil together with a wooden spoon. Add 2 cups of water and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until all of the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow the basil to steep in the syrup until cool.
- Once cool strain the simple syrup into a pitcher. Add 4 cups of water and the lemon juice. Stir well. Serve over ice with a garnish of basil and lemon.
Nutrition
Please note:
If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Very light and tasty. Easy to make. I strained the pulp out of the lemon juice. Lovely flavor.
Awesome! This one often gets overlooked, but I think it’s super delicious! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Made this and it is PERFECT! No tweaking needed.
Awesome! So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
I’m using this recipe today…I’ll be pepping it up with a bit of limoncello for that boozy vibe and using as a soaking syrup to make a Basil & Lemon Tiramisu!
Sounds great! Enjoy!
My picky 7-year-old approved! It was so good! ????
Awesome! So glad y’all enjoyed it!!
How many days will this lemonade last? I was thinking of making it a few days in advance
A few days – maybe 3. Hope you enjoy it!!
I thought this was fabulous and it was a hit at my party tonight. Everyone was asking for the recipe. I’m surprised at how yellow your lemonade is though, mine was a beautiful brown from all the muddling bruising up the leaves. Are you not muddling very hard? Either way, I will now choose brown lemonade over pink 😀
I’ve not had mine turn brown, but do put a little force into getting all that flavor out of the basil. Regardless, I’m glad everyone enjoyed it!
Wow, I see that I am 1 1/2 years late coming to the basil lemonade party, but better late than never! Perfect for a pesto weary, basil growing warrior. What an addictive drink – our family of 8 can’t get enough! I just stripped our basil plant to freeze basil syrup because we are getting our first hard freeze of the year tonight here in Central Texas. So happy to have recently come across your website. I am looking forward to finding food recipes to go with my lemonade (rather than vice-versa)! May the Lord bless you and your family with a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks so much, Caroline! I’m hoping to get one more harvest off mine before the cold comes later this week. I’m so happy to hear you enjoy this one and hope you’ll find lots more too! Happy Thanksgiving to y’all, too!
I’ve only recently come to love ‘proper’ lemonade. Growing up in England our lemonade was mostly a lemon flavored soda and did not have the sour greatness of fresh lemonade.
This recipe will for sure be used soon
Amy | https://bucketloadofjoy.com