Homemade Apple Lemonade Recipe

This simple, refreshing, and delicious apple lemonade is the love child of Fall apple cider and Summer lemonade! The combination of these two fruits makes for a super fresh and fruity drink that is perfect to enjoy all year round.

Apple adds a wonderful layer of flavor to a classic lemonade, and it’s super simple to make too. You only need 3 ingredients!

There’s nothing quite like an ice cold lemonade or limeade to keep the summer heat at bay. From easy rhubarb lemonade to kid-favorite color changing galaxy lemonade and ginger limeade, I always have my fridge stocked with lemonade or limeade throughout summer.

And now that we have planted a couple of apple trees in our backyard with another over-the-fence haul of apples from our neighbor’s apple tree, we have way more apples than I know what to do with every Fall.

So I figured I’ll turn that bounty of fruit into another refreshing lemonade we can enjoy throughout late summer and autumn!

A refreshing Summer and Fall drink

• The combination of sweet apple flavor with tart lemons makes for a delicious and refreshing drink.
• There are multiple ways to make this drink, and all of them only include 3 ingredients!
• While I juice the apples, I provide options to make this drink without a juicer.
• It’s perfectly sweet and tart, the best of apple and lemon flavors!
• Easy to make.
• Perfect drink for any time of the year! If you enjoy homemade apple cider in the Fall and lemonade in the summer, you’ll love this drink!

Ingredients you’ll need

• Apples or apple cider
• Lemons
• Sweetener (such as sugar, maple syrup, or honey)

Ingredient notes

What type of apples to use

You can make this apple lemonade with ANY type of apple you like! If you’re using fresh apples, then you may need a juicer to extract the juice. If you don’t have a juicer, then you can also use a blender. But this might be a little more tedious.

The flavor of the apple lemonade will change with the type of apple you use. The sweeter the apple, the less sugar you will need to add at the end, as it will be less tart.

• Granny smith apples – Can be used to make green apple lemonade. The resulting lemonade will be very tart and delicious! You may need to add additional sugar to balance the tartness. It has a more puckering tart flavor, with a very sharp zing.
• Honeycrisp – I use honeycrisp in this post. Honeycrisp has some sweetness and tartness, so it has the best balance of flavors. This is why I recommend this apple the most. I personally find that I don’t even have to add any sugar if I use honeycrisp, because I like the tartness! But you can add sugar to make it sweeter too.
• Fuji apples – These are the sweetest apples. So, if you use these apples, the apple lemonade will be sweet and tart without additional sugar (depending on your taste).

So you can choose any type of apple you like, or even a combination of apples to make this apple lemonade.

Apple cider

To skip juicing or blending and straining apples, you can also use apple cider (non-alcoholic) to make apple lemonade. Using an apple cider that you like to drink will make this recipe much easier. Apple cider is also cloudy, because it has not been filtered.

But instead of apple cider, you can ALSO use apple juice. Preferably 100% apple juice, and not from concentrate, for the best flavor.

That being said, you can make this with any kind of apple juice you have at home. Just remember, that the more flavor the apple cider has, the better tasting the apple lemonade will be.

Lemon

I always prefer to use fresh lemons to make lemonade. Fresh lemon juice has a flavor that cannot be replicated with bottled lemon juice. The taste is just better if you make this with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

You can also substitute the lemon with lime juice. This will make the apple limeade more tart, but still delicious!

Sweetener

I do prefer to use white sugar, as it doesn’t add any extra flavor other than sweetness to the apple lemonade. But you can substitute the sweetener with other sweeteners of your choice. I also find that I don’t really need to add much sugar (if any), when I use a sweeter apple to make this apple lemonade.

Maple syrup and honey are both great alternatives.

You can also use sugar substitutes. As there is no set amount of sugar to add, add the sugar substitute to your taste.

How to make apple lemonade

Step 1 – Get the lemon juice ready

Cut the lemons in half and squeeze out the juice (image 1). Pass the juice through a sieve to remove the seeds and pulp. For about 1/2 cup, I need to juice about 3 lemons, but this will depend ENTIRELY on the size of the whole lemon and thickness of the peel.

Step 2 – Get the apple cider ready

If you’re using fresh apples, then you can juice the apples with a juicer OR with a blender (images 2 – 4).

Juicer instructions

Depending on your juicer, you may have to cut the apples into smaller pieces. Juice the apples and collect the apple juice in the jug. Skim off the froth on top, and pass the juice through a fine sieve to remove any foam or pulp (images 5 – 6).

Blender instructions

Cut the apples into smaller chunks and place in the blender jug. You can add just a little water to help with blending, but don’t add too much so that the flavor won’t be watered down.

Blend the apples until it forms a pulp. Pass the pulp through a sieve to squeeze out as much juice as possible. Then pass the juice through a cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve to remove pulp further.

The juice yield will also be less, as it’s hard to manually squeeze out the apple juice from the pulp. If you do not own a juicer, then I recommend using apple cider or apple juice to make this apple lemonade recipe.

Apple cider instructions

If you can purchase food-safe apple cider from the store, then skip the blender and use apple cider, or apple juice if that’s easier to find. 100% natural apple cider / juice is better for flavor. Measure out how much apple cider you’ll need for this recipe and set it aside.

Step 3 – Mix the apple and lemon juice

As soon as the apple juice is ready, mix it with the lemon juice (image 7).

You can adjust the ratio of lemon and apple juice to suit your taste. For me, this ratio provides a lovely lemony flavor that doesn’t overpower the apple flavor from the cider.

Step 4 – Add sugar

Now, add the sugar and stir to dissolve (image 8). Since we don’t have to add a lot of sugar, the sugar will EASILY dissolve in the apple lemonade. No need to make syrups or heat the mix to dissolve the sugar.

Plus, you can choose which sweetener you want to add!

Step 5 – Serve

This apple lemonade is STRONG! Which is perfect, because I can serve it with ice and not be worried about the drink being too diluted.

You can also add water straight into the apple lemonade to get the flavor you like. I prefer not to do this, because that way, I can’t add ice, which would make the drink watery as I drink it.

To serve – add a generous amount of ice into your glass, and pour the apple lemonade drink. Garnish with apple and lemon slices and serve.

Recipe tips

You will notice that the lemons I use don’t have the zest. This is because I do like to peel my lemons before juicing them (if I remember to at least). This is because the peel can be used for other recipes. It’s not a tip for this apple lemonade recipe, but it’s a great tip for other recipes and to make the most of your lemons!

To slow down the apple juice from turning brown – I like to add about 1 tbsp of lemon juice for each cup of apple juice. This does not stop the oxidation process, but slows it down until you finish juicing the apples. This works the best with a slow juicer, as a high speed juicer can oxidize the apples much faster due to the heat.

If you do not own a juicer, then skip the bender, and just get a good quality apple cider or apple juice from the store.

The ratio of lemon juice, apple cider, and sugar will vary due to many reasons. So adjust the amounts to your preference. These variations can include,

• Personal preference – liking it sweeter or more tangy.
• The freshness of the lemons – some lemons can be very tart and others may not be as acidic or strong-tasting.
• Type of apples used and how sweet they are.

This apple lemonade does have a very strong flavor, and can be diluted a little bit. However, I prefer to keep it undiluted so that it can be served with ice. But you can choose to add a little water to dilute it a little. When in doubt, keep the flavor strong, so you can adjust the flavor with ice or water.

This recipe is a guide, so you can adjust it to your liking! Below are some ways to make this apple lemonade even more interesting if you choose to!

Recipe variations

Adding spices

You could absolutely add spices to this drink. Cinnamon or cloves will be a nice addition. But, this drink is not heated to infuse flavor. You can opt to heat the apple juice with the spices on low heat to infuse the spice flavors into the drink, if you prefer.

Adding herbs

Absolutely! Mint or basil would be an incredible addition. Rosemary and / or thyme will also work well. Muddle some fresh herbs and then mix it in with the apple lemonade. As it sits, the herb flavor will infuse into the drink.

Ginger or ginger juice

I am very biased here, but… heck yes! I love ginger in my drinks (ginger limeade, anyone?), so can’t think of a reason not to add it to the apple lemonade.

Just please note that ginger can very easily overpower other flavors. So, only add a little bit to get the subtle heat and spice from ginger without outshining the apple flavor.

Alcohol to make an apple lemonade cocktail

Yes, you can also make this into an apple lemonade cocktail! It tastes amazing.

• Add vodka to keep the flavors the same, but to add a boozy hit.
• Add vodka and soda water to make an apple lemonade spritzer. If you have a soda maker, you could even carbonate the apple lemonade drink (depending on your soda maker).
• Make an apple lemonade margarita by mixing tequila (reposado tequila would be perfect!) with the lemonade.
• Add gin to make a herby apple lemonade cocktail.

Adding other fruits

Make the apple lemonade even more fruity by adding other fruits. Just have to make sure to pass the apple lemonade through a fine sieve to remove any fruit pulp and seeds before serving. Here are some ideas,

• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Red currants
• Plums
• Pomegranate
• Rhubarb
• Elderberry syrup (instead of sweetener)
• Elderflower syrup (instead of sweetener)

Storage tips

The apple lemonade drink will last in the fridge for about 10 days with proper storage precautions. This means, not leaving it out at room temperature for extended time periods in between refrigeration. Such temperature fluctuations can reduce the freshness of the apple lemonade.

Frequently asked questions