Blueberry Lemonade – A Couple Cooks

Blueberry lemonade is so refreshing! This fun spin on homemade lemonade has a berry nuance and a bright purple color.

What’s more refreshing than a glass of sweet tart homemade lemonade? Here’s a fun variation on the theme: Blueberry Lemonade! Adding the popular berry to this sweet tart drink balances it with a berry nuance and gives it a brilliant purple color. It’s such a fun way to use this seasonal fruit! You can also add vodka for an instant summer cocktail. Every year we try a few more lemonade flavors, and this one is a favorite!

Ingredients for blueberry lemonade

Blueberry lemonade is simple and requires just 3 main ingredients, plus water! It’s so much tastier to make homemade lemonade than store-bought: the flavor is intensely sweet tart and fresh! Once you’ve whipped up a batch, you can see how easy it is to riff on fruity variations. Here are the three ingredients you’ll need:

How to make blueberry lemonade (basic steps)

Got your ingredients? The method for this blueberry lemonade is very simple: it just includes juicing, blending and mixing. There’s no need to cook a simple syrup on the stove, which is often the case in fruity lemonade variations. The basic steps are (or jump to the recipe):

• Juice the lemons. We recommend using a press juicer, which is the quickest, gets out the most juice, and saves your hands from cramping up after juicing all those lemons. The next best choice? A handheld citrus juicer.
• Blend the blueberries, sugar and water, then strain. Give it a whiz in the blender, then strain it through a fine mesh strainer to make it perfectly smooth.
• Mix the pitcher. Mix the lemon juice and blueberries in a pitcher with more cold water.

For the garnish

Drinks are all about the garnish, and that’s the case with this blueberry lemonade! It has a beautiful purple hue in the glass with ice, but even better? Add garnishes of lemon wedges or slices and a few blueberries. We eat (and drink) with our eyes, and this presentation takes it over the top!

Serving in a pitcher with ice

Are you planning to make this blueberry lemonade for a party, leaving it out in a big pitcher with ice? The ice melts over time, which can dilute the flavor drink. If you think it might let the pitcher sit out for quite a while, reduce the cold water you add at the end to account for dilution (for example, add 3 or 3.5 cups of cold water instead of 4 cups).

Spiked variation: add vodka!

Want to turn this blueberry lemonade into a simple summer cocktail? This lemonade is the perfect basis for a sweet tart summer drink. To make blueberry vodka lemonade, combine 1 cup of this lemonade with 2 ounces (¼ cup) vodka: you won’t be able to stop sipping! (Be careful, it goes down fast.)

You can also add other spirits! Spiked lemonade is great with gin: add 1.5 ounces (3 Tbsp) per glass. Or, add limoncello to up the lemony flavor: add 1 ounce (2 Tbsp) per glass.

More lemonade variations

This blueberry lemonade is one in a variety of fruity or herbal riffs on lemonade! Once you’ve tried this one, here are a few more to taste: