This Healthy Sugar Free Cherry Lemonade is low carb and keto friendly, but full of flavor! All you need to make this easy lemonade recipe is some sweet cherries, fresh squeezed lemon juice, water and your favorite sugar replacement to make this delicious and healthy cherry lemonade. This summer drink is refreshing, bright in flavor and has a gorgeous red hue that is very enticing! Make it for a backyard keto bbq!
This sugar free cherry lemonade recipe is healthy, and a keto or low carb dieters dream! If you’re looking for a summer afternoon pick me up, or a great base for a refreshing summer cocktail, look no further! It’s so simple to make with only a few staple ingredients. You can use fresh or frozen cherries, but this time of year (August) in the Midwest we have more cherries than we know what to do with! Briana is originally from Traverse City, Michigan which is the cherry capital of the world! You could say her affinity for cherries runs deep. Cherries are also a decently keto-friendly fruit, at only 19 net carbs for 100 grams of fruit, which is quite a few cherries! We definitely plan to utilize this delicious summer fruit a lot more in coming recipes.
If you’re looking for a sugar free drink option to enjoy during the summertime, you’re in luck. Want to jazz up your keto lemonade with a little more flavor and color? This sugar free cherry lemonade recipe is the perfect and healthy choice. Make this healthy cherry lemonade to go with your favorite BBQ foods, like this keto bbq bacon cheeseburger with jalapeños, these crispy baked chicken wings, this keto bacon wrapped brown sugar chicken, or these oven baked keto ribs, and don’t forget the homemade spicy bourbon sugar free bbq sauce! We’ll share some other ideas for what to pair this delicious cherry lemonade with later on this post. If there’s something on our website that you’d like to see, please let us know in the comments! Your input is helpful, so we can get in the kitchen and create it!
Here’s What We Used For This Healthy Sugar Free Cherry Lemonade Recipe:
- Sweet Cherries, pitted (fresh or frozen)
- Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
- Granular Sugar Free Sugar Replacement (we used the Sola Company Sweetener, use code 10BRIANA for 10% off your order!)
- Hot Boiling Water
- Cold Water
- Ice
How Do I Make Cherry Lemonade?
There are various ways you can make homemade cherry lemonade. One way would be to create a very concentrated cherry syrup, and then combining it with fresh squeezed lemon juice. You could also use a pre-made sugar free lemonade, and then combine it with a cherry syrup.
We don’t make ours that way for a few reasons. Our method of simply combining fresh cherries with boiling water cuts down not only on total carbs and sugar, but also on time when making it, so it’s super easy and approachable. With our method, you don’t need to use very many cherries to get a cherry flavor and color! We simply pit the cherries, and add them to a bowl, then add fresh squeezed lemon juice and a sugar replacement.
Then, we add in some boiling water and mash the cherries gently with a spoon. Then, we add in fresh water. You can let this mixture sit in the fridge for up to three days before serving, if you want to make it ahead of time. This also lets the flavors come together further. We also add thin slices of lemon to the bowl if we are going to let it sit for a while, to further enhance that lemon flavor.
What Sweetener Should I Use?
If sugar or carb count isn’t an issue for you, you can of course use regular sugar. Honey or agave syrup are also good choices. However, around here, we eat low carb and refined sugar free, so we always use sugar replacements! We are super used to the taste of high quality sugar replacements, since we truly believe that excessive sugar consumption is just not healthy, so for us we are completely used to sugar replacements in everyday life.
The sugar replacement we used for this recipe is the Sola Company Sweetener, which is a blend that measures and tastes just like sugar, without the calories or blood sugar spikes! You can use the code ’10BRIANA’ on their website for 10% off and free shipping! If you like, you can sweeten with stevia, or any other sugar replacement you want. We like to use Sola for this recipe since it measures the same as sugar, and has a pretty equal sweetness level.
Are There Good Substitutes for Fresh Lemon Juice?
For this recipe, we do recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice if possible. The flavor is hard to beat. Since there are so few ingredients in this sugar free cherry lemonade recipe, using high quality ingredients go a long way. It can be a bit daunting to squeeze a bunch of lemons, we get it. Our suggestion would be to use a high quality citrus squeezer to get all of the juice out easily.
What Should I Serve This Healthy Sugar Free Cherry Lemonade With?
This Sugar Free Cherry Lemonade recipe goes great with many summery meals and sides! To brighten up your dinner with a lively drink, serve it with this Sirloin Steak Salad Recipe! For an afternoon snack or light lunch, try it with this Summer Salad Recipe with Grilled Peaches, Mozzarella, Avocado and Strawberries. Make it a whole meal by serving it with this Keto Maple BBQ Glazed Shrimp and Roasted Green Beans with Garlic and Lemon.
Can I Use Frozen Cherries?
Yes, definitely! We don’t think dried cherries would work very well for this, but either fresh or frozen cherries are perfect. If you try this with frozen cherries, let us know how it works!
What Should I Garnish With?
We love garnishing with fresh cherries, slices of lemon, and herbs of choice, like mint. There’s mint growing in our tiny urban garden, so we used that. You of course don’t need to garnish with anything, unless you want to.
How Long Will This Cherry Lemonade Last in the Fridge?
This will keep about three days in the fridge in a sealed container. We don’t recommend adding any ice to the mixture before refrigerating because it will water the mixture down. Only add ice to serve. This batch makes about six servings of eight ounce glasses.
Tools We Used For This Recipe:
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How to Make This Healthy Sugar Free Cherry Lemonade Recipe:
There’s really not too much to this recipe at all. First, you will need to pit the cherries if they’re fresh. We like to use a plastic cutting board that we don’t really mind getting stains on. Cherry juice stains a lot! We don’t have a cherry pitter, and instead we just smash the cherries with our knife by pressing down on them firmly. This allows us to remove the pits.
In a medium sized bowl, add your pitted cherries. Add in your fresh squeezed lemon juice, and gently push on the cherries with a wooden spoon so you release the juices.
Add in your sweetener, then your boiling water, and mix together well. Then, add in your cold water. Stir, then give it a taste so you can decide if it’s sweet enough. For us, 3/4 cup granular Sola was the perfect amount. Add ice and lemon slices to your glass.
Ladle your lemonade into your glasses, and garnish with more lemons, cherries, and mint. Serve and enjoy!
If you get a chance to try this recipe, let us know what you think, would ya?! Leave us a comment below. You can also catch up with us on Facebook or Instagram. Pin this recipe to your favorite Pinterest board so you can make it later. Also, we love sharing your versions of our creations over on Instagram @afullliving, so tag us!
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Until Next Time,
Briana & Chamere
This Healthy Sugar Free Cherry Lemonade is low carb and keto friendly, but full of flavor! All you need to make this easy lemonade recipe is some sweet cherries, fresh squeezed lemon juice, water and your favorite sugar replacement to make this delicious and healthy cherry lemonade. This summer drink is refreshing, bright in flavor and has a gorgeous red hue that is very enticing! Make it for a backyard keto bbq!
- 3 oz sweet cherries (fresh or frozen)
- 3/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
- 3/4 cup sugar replacement of choice (or to taste)
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 cups cold water
- Ice
- Garnish with: lemon slices, cherries, mint or herbs (optional)
Put freshly pitted cherries into a medium bowl with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Using a spoon, gently press on the cherries to release the juice.
Add in sweetener, then boiling water and stir until dissolved.
Stir in cold water, taste, and adjust sweetness level to taste.
Divide cherry lemonade among six glasses filled with ice. Garnish with lemon slices, cherries, and herbs of choice. Save in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Macros: Makes 6 servings, 13 calories per serving, 4 total carbs, 0 grams fiber.
Macros are estimated via MyFitnessPal and are provided as courtesy, we cannot guarantee the accuracy.
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