Refreshing Watermelon Lemonade Drink
My watermelon lemonade recipe is the perfect summer porch drink: cold, sweet, tart, and refreshing with the classic flavors of summer. This bright red drink speaks the love language of the South, loud and clear!
I’ve been living on juicy watermelon lately. We take our summer watermelon seriously at the Harris household. We like to grow our own, but you don’t have to be a gardener to enjoy the perfect melon. Be sure to check out my post Picking a Ripe Watermelon. It will help you bring home that crisp sweetness from the grocery store or farmer’s market.
What Can I Do with Lots of Watermelon?
Since we do grow watermelon, some years we end up with a bumper crop of it. I mean, tons of it! As much as I love it, there’s only so much watermelon I can eat. So I’m always looking for an answer to the question: what can I do with all this delicious watermelon?
That leads naturally to the question: What tastes good mixed with watermelon? So I thought, why not whip up a simple drink recipe to enjoy it in liquid form? With 96% water, watermelon is practically a beverage already. Tart lemon turns out to be the perfect complement to the delicately sweet melon juice.
During the scorching summer days in the South, nobody can resist a large pitcher of lemonade chilled with ice cubes. Adding watermelon juice and fresh mint leaves makes this traditional summer drink taste even better, as well as giving it a beautiful ruby-red color. Technically, this is a watermelon mint lemonade recipe, and it’s at the top of my list of most refreshing summer drinks.
How to Make Watermelon Lemonade
There are only five ingredients in this super simple recipe: water, sugar, watermelon, lemons, and mint. I use 4 whole cups of watermelon chunks, which blend down nicely.
As for equipment, all you need is a blender, a saucepan to make the simple sugar syrup, and a fine mesh sieve to strain the watermelon pulp.
TIP: For minimum mess, you’ll want to use a strainer that fits the opening of your drink pitcher well.
Of course, you could add something to make this a cocktail recipe if you want, but fresh watermelon lemonade is all I need.
TIP: After I boil the simple syrup, I add ice cubes directly to the steaming liquid to cool it down before I mix it with the watermelon juice.
Stacy Lyn’s Watermelon Lemonade Recipe
One last note: I love that this watermelon lemonade drink is so healthy. Along with being ultra hydrating, watermelon has plenty of antioxidant vitamin A and vitamin C. Enjoy!
Watermelon Lemonade Recipe
Equipment
- Blender
- Fine-meshed strainer / sieve
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 quarts of cold water divided
- 4 cups watermelon cubed
- 3 lemons juiced
- 8 sprigs of fresh mint
Instructions
- Make a simple syrup by combining the sugar and 1/2 cup of the water in saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and then set aside and cool completely.
- In a blender, add watermelon and blend until smooth. To remove the pulp, strain watermelon puree through a fine mesh strainer into a 2-quart container. Add syrup and lemon juice and stir completely. Add remaining water (5 1/2 cups) and top with ice. Pour into glasses and serve with lemon slices and/or watermelon wedges if you have leftover watermelon. Garnish with mint.
