Cherry Lemonade Recipe

5 from 1 vote

This Homemade Cherry Lemonade is flavorful, refreshing and perfect for hot summer days. You only need 4 ingredients if you include water to bring this gorgeous drink together.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Cooling time30

Total Time1 5

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 107kcal

Author: Briana

Equipment

large pitcher (that can hold about 52-ounces of liquid or more)
citrus squeezer
cherry pitter (or paring knife, chopstick, or pastry tip)
metal sieve
medium saucepan

Ingredients

Cherry syrup

12 ounces sweet cherries, pitted (fresh or frozen)
16 ounces water
¾ cup white sugar

Lemonade

10 ounces lemon juice, freshly squeezed
16 ounces cold water
1 batch cherry syrup (from above)
Ice
Lemon slices, cherries, and mint sprigs for garnish

Instructions

Cherry syrup

Start by making the cherry syrup. This can be done up to 5 days in advance and kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
In a medium saucepan, add the pitted cherries and 16 ounces of water. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every so often. After 15-20 minutes, the cherries should have lost a lot of color, while the water will have deepened in color. Remove from heat.
Strain away the cherry pieces through a fine metal sieve and discard. Add the cherry juice back to the pot over medium-low heat. Combine the cherry juice with the sugar in the saucepan, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Allow the syrup to cool completely before mixing up the lemonade.

Lemonade

After the cherry syrup has cooled, add lemon slices and optional cherries to the bottom of a large pitcher. Add ice if desired. We tender to prefer to leave the ice out and serve it over ice instead.
Pour in the entire batch of cooled cherry simple syrup, 10 ounces of fresh lemon juice, and 16 ounces of cold water. Stir, then adjust to suit your tastes.
Add ice cubes to the bottom of a glass. Pour in the lemonade. Serve with extra cherries, fresh lemon slices, and fresh mint sprigs. Enjoy!
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. To prolong the life of this drink, it can be frozen for up to 6 months and defrosted in the fridge overnight.

Notes

To remove the pits from fresh cherries, we recommend using a cherry pitter, knife, chopstick, or even a pastry tip. Here's a helpful guide on how to pit cherries!
Sweeten to taste. Everyone has a different tolerance for sweet, so if making this for the first time, add sugar slowly and as needed.
Allow the cherry syrup to cool completely. Make sure you don't add piping hot cherry syrup to the pitcher, or else it will just heat up the drink, and melt the ice. Allow it to cool completely before mixing the lemonade.
Use freshly squeezed lemon juice! Because there are so few ingredients in this recipe, they all have quite an impact. Make sure to use freshly squeezed lemon juice for best results. It can be squeezed and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days before mixing the lemonade together if need be.
Use fresh or frozen cherries. Once again, this will yield the freshest result. While cherry juice can be used and a time saver, nothing quite compares to the flavor of fresh cherry simple syrup in this lemonade!
To make ahead: To make this lemonade a day or so in advance and store it in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap. Do not store ahead of time with ice! Add lemon slices and extra cherries before serving.
To prep ahead: For best results, pre-squeeze lemon juice up to two days in advance, and store it in its own separate container in the fridge for up to 2 days. You can prepare the cherry syrup up to 5 days in advance and store it in the fridge in an airtight container.
Sugar can be swapped for your favorite sweetener in this recipe. This recipe can be made low carb friendly by using a sugar replacement.

Nutrition