All the color and splendor of a galaxy in a simple lemonade slushie! Dried butterfly pea / blue pea flowers, lemons, club soda and sugar are all you need to make this magical Color Changing Galaxy Lemonade Slushie. A simple butterfly pea flower lemonade summer drink with a dash of magic that both kids and adults will love!
About an year ago (almost to the day) I shared this raspberry color changing pink lemonade slushie recipe with a little bit about the science behind that natural, color-changing magic that I loved as a kid, and still do! 🙂 If you want to read the science behind the color change, read on, and you will find the explanation after the recipe!
I decided to redo that post this year with pure, unadulterated lemonade flavor and ALL the glory of that magical color changing trick, resulting in this perfect summer drink with gorgeous galaxy-like swirls! If you love Galaxy drinks, then you will LOVE this Galaxy Lemonade!
Summer has always been the lemonade season to me. I always have a batch of lemon syrup in my fridge during those months, because the urge to make an icy-cold lemonade or a refreshing lemon cocktail is forever strong during the summer months for me. So having a concentrated lemon syrup in the fridge means that I only have to pour it over ice or mix it with soda or some booze, any time I want to. I do prefer making my own lemon concentrate instead of store-bought, but if you’re in a pinch, you’re more than welcome to use store-bought lemonade or limeade instead.
There’s a very simple idea behind this Color Changing Lemonade Slushie (Galaxy Lemonade Slushie), but it’s all about the theatrics of the end product. And it all starts and ends with the magic ice cubes! 🙂
These ice cubes help make the magical butterfly pea flower lemonade drink that looks and tastes spectacular!
How to make “Magic” Ice Cubes and the Color Changing Lemonade Slushie (Galaxy Lemonade Slushie)
I’ve talked about Butterfly Pea Flowers
The crushed ice and soda are the main components of this galaxy slushie. When you crush the magic ice for this color changing lemonade slushie, make sure to maintain little bits of chunky ice in there along with the completely crushed ice as well. The reason is that as the crushed ice melts first, the bits of ice chunks remain whole for a bit longer, giving the drink little spots of blue inside the pink and purple – creating a very colorful and striking galaxy-like effect.
WHERE TO BUY BLUE PEA / BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWERS
You can find blue pea flowers (butterfly pea flowers) on Amazon, here
You can add luster petal dust to create an extra shimmery effect as well if you want, but as the ice melts, the luster petal dust will settle to the bottom. So not as effective, but it’s still an option if you want to be even more adventurous with your drink!
To create the different layers of the color changing lemonade slushie (white, pink, purple and blue), I filled the bottom third of the glass with regular crushed ice, followed by magic color changing crushed ice (blue pea flower ice).
Then you pour the lemon syrup up to the half way point, approximately, and watch as the blue ice turns purple and pink! Swirl the drink for a gorgeous galaxy effect.
I DON’T WANT LEMONADE! I WANT COCKTAILS!
Don’t worry! I got you there too 😀 Here are FOUR AMAZING cocktails that use Butterfly Pea / Blue pea flowers, to create amazing cocktails!
I’ve also shared how to infused Butterfly pea flowers with your Alcohol to make incredible cocktails! Your color changing lemonade slushie can then be topped with soda for a kid-friendly version. But there are plenty of other options too (All of this coming soon!! All of this ON THE BLOG NOW!)
- Vodka and soda for a Color changing Galaxy Lemonade Slushie Vodka Spritzer
- Tequila grapefruit syrup for a gorgeous Galaxy Palermo
- Tonic water for a glow in the dark Galaxy Lemonade Slushie version!
- Ginger beer and vodka for a Magical Mule!
- Add some fresh fruits or herbs like raspberries, strawberries and mint
And finally, top it up with a little more magic ice and serve. Wow your guests, kids, friends and family with this beautiful color changing galaxy lemonade slushie. If you use tonic water instead of soda water, this lemonade slushie will glow in the dark too if you have a black light. How cool is that? 🙂
This is nothing but a simple lemonade slushie, albeit a little more involved than a regular one, but serve this up at your next BBQ, cookout, party or get together, and your guests are likely to never forget it! 🙂
Plus, for those who are curious – my cookbook is coming along! I’ve enjoyed coming back to the blog and sharing my favorite recipes with you again. But I am really excited to share some of the amazing recipes on the book with you too! Make sure to follow me so I can keep you updated.
RECIPE VIDEO
Have you checked out my new cookbook?
Ingredients
Magic Ice Cubes
- 25-30 dried blue pea flowers
- 2 ½ cups of boiling water
Lemon Syrup (this will yield about 2 1/2 - 3 cups of syrup)
- 2 cups of lemon juice about 10 - 12 lemons
- 1 ½ cups of sugar white or brown sugar will work
Color Changing Lemonade Slushie (Galaxy Lemonade Slushie)
- Regular crushed ice or shaved ice
- Crushed magic ice
- 1/4 cup - 1/3 cup lemon syrup per drink
- Club soda to top
- Vodka for the adults, of course
- Purple luster dust optional
Instructions
Magic Ice Cubes
- Steep the dried blue pea flowers in boiling water for about 20 - 30 minutes, until the water has a very deep blue color - the darker the color the better!
- Strain the tea, and pour it into ice cube trays. Freeze until completely frozen (overnight).
- When needed, crush the ice in an ice crushing blender. (You can use some extra water to help with blending the ice, but remember not to completely crush all of the ice and to have some small chunks intact).
- Keep in the freezer until needed.
Lemon Syrup
- Mix the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Stir to dissolve. Bring the syrup to a simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened.
- Let the syrup cool down and store in a bottle in the fridge. This lemon syrup can be diluted at a 1:3 ratio to make regular lemonade.
Color Changing Lemonade Slushie (Galaxy Lemonade Slushie)
- Fill ⅓ of a tall glass with regular crushed ice. Fill the rest with the crushed magic ice. (Optional - add a dash of shimmery luster dust).
- Pour about ¼ - ⅓ cup of the lemon syrup into the glass and top it with club soda (or lemon lime soda).
- Add some extra crushed magic ice on top and serve with stirring sticks and straws.
Alternate way of serving for a crowd
- Fill ⅓ of the glass with regular crushed ice. Pour ¼ - ⅓ cup of lemon syrup and stir and serve with stirring stick and straw.
- Fill the glass with crushed magic ice in front of your guests, and top it with club soda. Let them stir and see more of that colorful magic while they enjoy the drink!
Recipe Notes
NOTE : Blue pea tea / Butterfly pea tea stains just like any other tea or coffee, so be careful about getting it on your clothes.
NOTE 2 : You can skip the ice, and pour the cooled down butterly pea / blue pea tea into regular ice with the lemon syrup to create the color change too 🙂
Here’s the science behind this fun reaction –
All the “blue fruits” and “blue vegetables” like blueberry, blackberry, black raspberry, eggplant, purple cauliflower, red cabbage, and blue pea flowers (butterfly pea/blue pea flower) etc. all contain a water-soluble pigment called Anthocyanin – which is responsible for the purple to blue hues in these fruits and vegetables. Blue pea flowers are the only flowers that can be used to extract a natural blue color that’s soluble in water (the flower itself is dark purple/blue).
Anthocyanin actually changes its color depending on the pH level of the solvent it’s in, and therefore is a natural pH indicator. So it can change from orange to pink to purple to yellow depending on whether it’s in an acidic or basic solution.
I used these blue pea flowers/ butterfly pea tea as a pH/color indicator to test common solutions in science class and this was how I was introduced to this magical ingredient! 🙂 It turns yellow(ish) when baking soda (basic – high pH) is added, and a beautiful purple/pink when lemon or vinegar (acidic – low pH) is added.
It’s due to the acidity in lemon that the blue crushed ice turns beautiful shades of pink/purple!
I’ve now created a NO CHURN GALAXY ICE CREAM too! It’s all natural, with no food coloring and it’s easy and fun to make! It’s complete with a Galaxy Chocolate magic shell coating (making it perfect for parties!) and you can see how it’s made step-by-step!
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Can you just use regular lemonade rather than making lemon syrup?
Hi Linda!
Yes you can use regular lemonade. I make my own because I like a stronger lemonade than the bottled lemonade. 🙂
Thanks for such an informative, beautiful and thorough post on this! I stumbled upon Galaxy Drinks via Pinterest, and came here. It’s been a while, and I have enjoyed making them, sharing them with friends, (as well as your post, which I’m about to add in an email, so here I am rambling!), and trying various versions…a gf of mine brought over some Coconut Rum, which I normally would have sneered at, but it is a FINE addition to the concoction!
Also, I don’t have time right now to read all of your posts, but wanted to add that I made mine, by making Whole Lemon Lemonade. It was a bit of a mess, as the recipe I first followed had one using some water, which, either I had too small of a blender, or the lid was not on tight enough….BEFORE the aforementioned rum!
Not sure if you allow links, so feel free to remove (duh, me!), but here’s one that gives you the Whole Lemon Lemonade: [link removed] . I saw one that included sweetened condensed milk, which seems interesting, and might throw me into a pre-Diabetic sugar shock! Anyway, I make it that way, minus the water, maybe with an extra ice cube, or two. Water, booze, fizzy stuff can be added later, of course!
Some people worry about the pips/seeds, so you could always squeeze them out, with a strainer, before blending. And I leave the rough stuff/pulp in, because I’m like that, even though it does say to strain!
I am almost out of the Thai tea flowers, but that may be because my first batch was almost midnight blue! And we didn’t do the ice cube thing, because I was so excited to try it, the first time. We just added it on top, like a Pousse Cafe.
Thanks again, and cheers!
Thank you Malicity!
I am so glad you gave this a go! It’s definitely so much fun 🙂
We too LOVE whole lemon lemonade at home, especially when it’s made with Meyer lemons! Thank you so much for the fantastic adaptations you made too… I am definitely adding some Rum next time! 😉
I’m just wondering,
if you were to get butterfly pea powder, mix it with water and freeze it, would it have the same effect?
Hi Abigail!
Butterfly pea powder should definitely work just as well as butterfly pea flower tea 🙂
thanks!
If you read the article you’ll see it references several nightclubs that have been doing the butterfly pea ice long before The NY Times wrote the article. And in Asia this has been made for years. It’s not new to us Asians.
I agree, as an Asian myself, I’ve been using butterfly pea flowers since I was a little kid, as I’ve mentioned in several other places on this blog. I’ve shared a number of recipes using these flowers on the blog. It’s certainly nothing new to me, and my aim was to introduce it to my readers who may not be familiar with it. I hope that helps.
Cheers,
Dini.
Not original New York Times published an article on butterfly pea flower ice color changing cocktails in July 2016.
Hi, I actually wrote an article in June 2016 before this. So, I definitely know the NYT article isn’t original.
Thanks! 🙂
https://www.theflavorbender.com/color-changing-purple-pink-lemonade-slushies-popsicles/
This is so amazing!!!!!! I am having a space themed birthday party, do you think this could be converted into a large batch recipe to put in a big drink dispenser? Also, at the risk of sounding like an overly nervous first time mom, is butterfly pea flowers safe for a breastfeeding mother to consume?
Thank you so much Jossie! 😀
To make a bitch batch, I would recommend making lemonade in a big dispenser (extra lemony lemonade!), and have the crushed (or small) butterfly pea ice in glasses. So that when they pour the lemonade into the glasses, they’ll see the color change! 🙂
This is because, if you make the drink in a large dispenser (with the ice as well), the lemonade that will be dispensed will be a flat purple, so you won’t get to see that color change.
I hope that helps!
Regarding whether it’s safe for breastfeeding moms (you can never be overly cautious! 😉 ) – I do buy the organic butterfly pea flowers to make the tea and ice, and they are known to be caffeine free. But, there is conflicting advice online about butterfly pea. Some articles say it should be avoided like other herbal teas for pregnant and breastfeeding moms, whereas other articles say herbal tea is OK, as long as it’s not consumed in large quantities. Unfortunately, I can’t be sure about how safe it is for breastfeeding moms 🙁
Such a BEAUTIFUL cocktail! I think my kids would love this–without the vodka of course!
What an incredible recipe! This is so enchanting and a wonder for kids and adults! I hadn’t heard of blue pea flowers so I’m off to get my hands on some and wow my kiddies.
Hi, I was just wondering if you knew of any other things that could change the ph instead of lemon? My sister just recently found out she has a lemon allergy (the citric acid in it I believe) and I would love to make something for her with the flowers, that she would be able to drink other then plain tea. Thanks!
Hi Katie!
I would love to find out if there is something else that can cause the ph change too! A mild acid is DEFINITELY required for the color change, and as far as I know fruits usually contain citric acid. However, some vinegar contains acetic acid, but it probably doesn’t taste as good as fruit based acids. If it’s only citrus she is allergic to, other fruits like pineapple can work. I’m sorry I can’t help you more! If I find out more, I will let you know! 🙂
Thanks Dini!
I just ordered the flowers last night and they will take a few weeks to ship, so I will definitely try using pineapple when they come in! If you happen to find out anything more, I am super interested!
This drink looks really magical, beautiful! The kids will sure be super excited to drink it. Thanks for sharing!
My kids are so excited to try and make this! So clever!
I can’t wait to make this! I was wondering about the lemonade base. In the slushie recipe you make a simple syrup and add the lemon juice, and in this one you just add the lemon juice to the sugar. Does it matter with this one which version you use? Thanks!
You have a good eye Tovah! 😉 Yes they are two different ways, and you can use either one. I prefer adding the lemon juice and sugar together and cooking it because I feel that it produces a more concentrated lemon syrup. That being said, you can’t go wrong with either method! 🙂 I hope that helps! Cheers, Dini
So fun and gorgeous! Being a science nerd too I love hearing about the chemical reactions that make it so pretty! Absolutely stunning!
This is CRAZY COOL! OMG!
I love using luster/pearl dust in cocktails/ recipes for an effect (They also have edible star glitter too That love using) This Is soo cool!!!
Thank you Deanna! 🙂 This drink doesn’t use shimmery dust, but it’s an option. But I actually made shimmery liqueurs a couple years ago and the flavored shimmery liqueurs last year for the blog! They are so much fun!
These are SO COOL!! I can’t wait to try these this summer!! AWESOME!
Thank you Michaela!
This is so so so so so cool. I am mega impressed that you’ve come up with this. It is genius!
Thank you Emma! I was surprised it wasn’t more of a thing! It’s a great ingredient!
This is so cool! I am in awe of your scientist skills!
Thank you Michelle!
How fun!! I’ve watched your video a couple of times and think this is so fun! What a great summer sip!! I like your spiked versions too!!!
Thank you Debra! The spiked versions will be on the blog soon too!
This is super cool, but the health food stores in my area don’t seem to have these flowers, and I just saw this and thought it’d be cool for a party tomorrow… since it’s the same chemical as causes the color in blueberries, etc., do you think it would work if I made a syrup from blueberries and then diluted it and made ice cubes, or is it not strong enough? (Sorry, not that science-y over here.) I think I’ll order some leaves for the future though as it’s super cool. 🙂
Hi Nzie! You could use blueberries, but when blueberries are crushed, the juice is already purple (eventhough blueberries have the same compound, blueberry juice is purple, because it’s already acidic). So when you add the lemon syrup it may change to a purple pink color as it’s diluted, but you won’t see that striking blue to purple and pink color change 🙂
I do have to find the flowers online too unfortunately! But the plant grows in tropical countries well! 🙂
I hope this information helped! 🙂
Thanks very much. Hmmmmmmm I’ll have to think…. and probably order some. 🙂
I really can’t say enough how much I love this! You’ve totally inspired me to try the butterfly pea tea – this takes galaxy treats to a whole new level!
I’ll be making some cocktails too! It’s an incredible ingredient!
This is by far the coolest drink I have ever seen! I love that all of those beautiful colors come from an all natural source, too!
Thank you Ashlyn! I love this tea solely for the color change!
Such beautiful photos!!! And what a creative recipe!
Thank you Kit 🙂
This is the coolest slushie recipe ever! Live the colors and shimmer. Fun to make for kids and love the adult option too!
Thank you Sandra! I didn’t add the luster dust for this (the ice makes it shimmer), but it’s an option for extra shimmer!
I cannot get over how cool this is! I so need to try this! I love how the crushed ice makes it sparkle too, really gives it that galaxy look!
Science question though – if the water you’re using to steep the flowers is a little acidic will it go yellow?! Just wondering if you could have colour changing lemonade from yellow to blue/purple?
Thank you Michelle!! 😀 The more acidic the solution, the tea turns a brighter shade of pink (a hot pink, bright red for very acidic solutions) 🙂 But alkaline solutions turn the blue tea to green and yellow, but that would take very strong alkaline solutions (like bleach), which makes it not edible… 🙁 I’ve been trying to find other edible indicator solutions that show a color change, but apart from this and red cabbage, I haven’t been able to find anything 🙁
This is just the coolest thing ever. I wish I had a tenth of your creativity!
Thank you Julie! and of course you are insanely creative!
Ok, this is seriously mesmerizing to watch!! So so cool! Sounds delicious as well!
Thank you Angela!
OMG! These are amazing, and irresistibly Instagrammable. My girl and I are all over these!
YAY! I couldn’t wait to take the photos for this 😀
These are so, so fun! My kids would love them!
Thank you!! 🙂 This is definitely heaps of fun for kids!
This is awesome!
Thank you Wendy!