This Whole Lemon Lemonade is sure to be your new favorite refreshing summertime (or anytime) drink. It’s made with only wholesome ingredients, no squeezing or peeling needed, and much more nutritious than homemade lemonade.
Once you try this frothy blender lemonade recipe and its blend of sweetness and bitterness, you’ll likely never go back.
A glass of homemade lemonade is the perfect super simple summertime drink to quench your thirst, but who has time to squeeze all those lemons? Not me, and likely not you, either.
With this recipe, the world gives you lemons, and you put the WHOLE thing in your blender and you make the easiest and healthiest lemonade ever.
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What Makes This Blender Lemonade Recipe Better
Most blender lemonade recipes call for tossing quite a bit of the pulp and seeds and/or adding in condensed milk. This recipe is simpler and doesn’t require either of those steps.
Of course, you can sift out the extra lemon if you like, but I like to use a high-powered blender (like Vitamix or Blendtec, but I’m partial to Vitamix). It blends the lemonade well so you have less waste, more benefits to your drink, and it’s faster too!
Ingredients / What You’ll Need
- blender (I recommend a high-powered blender like Vitamix)
- mesh strainer – (optional)
- lemons (I recommend organic since you’ll be eating the peel)
- knife and cutting board
- water (filtered water is, of course, best and highly recommended)
- sweetener – I prefer using stevia extract, but you can use honey, coconut sugar, maple syrup, simple syrup, or whatever sweetener you like. I don’t recommend using granulated sugar or agave nectar for health reasons.) You could also use dates in place of another sweetener.
- dash salt
Benefits of Lemon Peel
Yes, the peel adds some bitterness to this recipe, but I personally love it. And I love the nutritional boost that it gives to this drink.
As mentioned in this post about Homemade Vitamin C Powder, there’s more vitamin C in the peel of citrus fruits than in the fruit itself.
Most people don’t eat citrus peel, or use just a little for a garnish. But depending on your taste buds, you can even consume the whole peel in this super healthy lemonade.
There’s a whopping 129mg of vitamin C in 100g of peel compared to 53mg in 100g of peeled lemon fruit. That’s more than double! (source)
Blender Lemonade Variations
There are so many great options for adding a delicious and nutritious twist to this lemonade. Simply add a handful of any of the following fruits to the blender before blending. Truly the possibilities are endless.
Recipe Notes
Pulp and Seeds: You can remove the seeds and the pith as well if it’s thick. Personally, I never have, however, a thick pith will add more bitterness to your lemonade.
There are lots of nutrients in the seeds as well including dietary fiber, antioxidants, pain relief, fighting infection, and more. (source) So I say why not include them in your blended lemonade if you can?
Use Organic Lemons: If you can’t find organic lemons, at least scrub the peel really well. Better yet, peel off just a bit of the outer part of the peel.
Smaller Lemons Are Better: It’s not always the case, but typically smaller lemons will have less pith. The pith is highly nutritious, but it does add more bitterness to the drink.
Choose Thin-Skinned Lemons: Typically thinner thinner-skinned lemons will be easier to squeeze and will feel more substantial than thick-skinned lemons. You’ll have a less bitter drink using lemons with thin skins.
Straining: If using a high-powered blender, you might not need to strain the lemonade. The drink will be thicker, but I like it that way.
Sweetener: You can use any sweetener or combination you like for this recipe. If using stevia alone, 1/16 – 3/16 teaspoon is likely all you’ll need. Combining sweeteners will give you a more balanced taste. If using date paste, or another equal substitution for sugar, you’ll need a bit more since honey and maple syrup are sweeter than sugar.
Wash the lemons well, scrubbing with a brush or cloth.
Cut off the thick stem end, if desired.
Cut lemons into quarters or wedges. Remove seeds and any thick pith, if desired.
Add lemon wedges, water, sweetener, and salt to blender.
Blend until smooth.
Sift out any large chunks that remain after blending.
Put the large chunks and pulp into a mesh strainer. Press the pulp to extract as much of the juice out of the pulp.
Pour the lemonade into glasses.
Add ice cubes and garnish with lemon slice or fresh mint leaves as desired. Serve immediately.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
