Making Homemade Lemonade with Honey
Making lemonade at home seems like it has become a lost art. How many people really own a juicer, whether electric or hand juicer, anymore? Gone are the days when most people would juice their own lemons and make a pitcher of refreshing lemonade for their families.
Last year I had a lovely women that would come to visit us quite frequently so she could play with my little Elliot. We loved having Hope in our home and Elliot would look forward to seeing her at every visit. She had tons of creative ideas for activities and crafts that she would share with us, and this was one of them. One day, she brought us a bag of lemons and asked if we had ever made homemade lemonade before.
Oh, was Elliot excited! He just loves cooking with mommy. So I pulled out my hand juicer, not very well used up to that point, sliced up some lemons and juiced them. We didn’t have refined white sugar in the house, so we made the recipe our own with some of our organic honey. Boy was it ever amazing! Elliot asks for homemade lemonade quite frequently now.
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We make it a little differently each time but the premise is the same. We love making our own food items and Elliot always wants to help out! A couple days ago we grabbed some lemons at the store at Elliot’s insistence and whipped up another batch. I thought this was the perfect time to share a wonderful refreshing drink recipe to enjoy with the sun outside.
Check it out!
On a cutting board, roll your lemons out, while applying pressure. This will soften the lemons and release all of the juices, making them easier to juice.
Slice up your lemons and press the halves down on your juicer, twisting back and forth (hopefully conveniently positioned over a bowl to catch the juice).
Stop once you reach about a cup of juice. In this recipe, I added each ingredient separately to the pitcher, melting the honey first.
It turned out fine, but I recommend the method in the recipe.
Stir well and then add ice to cool.
After doing it this way, I remembered that we’d had better results last time melting the honey in the water on the stove first and then combining them with the lemonade, so the recipe below will reflect that change.
Let’s do it!
Ingredients
4-6 cups of water
About 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
About 1/2 cup of honey
Instructions
1. Gather your supplies and ingredients.
2. On a cutting board, roll your lemons, pressing down a bit to soften the fruit and release the juices before slicing.
3. Cut your lemons in half and position your juicer over a bowl.
4. Press the lemon halves down on the juicer while twisting to release all of the yummy juice and pulp. The seeds and pulp will gather in the juicer for you to decide whether or not to add them into your lemonade.
5. Keep juicing until you have about a cup of juice. This may take about 6-7 lemons.
6. On the stove in a medium saucepan heat your water over low heat.
7. When warm, add in your honey and stir until completely dissolved. I’m not sure why this makes a difference, but it really does.
8. Pour this into your prepared juice pitcher, and add in your lemon juice. Stir well.
9. Add ice to the pitcher to cool it down. You may even want to pop it into the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes or so first.
10. Enjoy!
I use the word “about” in my ingredients list because I can’t count on the size of your lemons, or your taste preferences for any of it. And that’s what makes this recipe great! You can make it your own. Too strong, add more water. Not sweet enough, add more honey. Not lemony enough, add more lemon juice. Yum!
This is now one of our favorite summertime drinks when it’s hot outside and you just need something sweet and refreshing. If I can purchase enough lemons, my little one will drink pitcher after pitcher of this lovely concoction, and I don’t blame him, it’s delicious.

Health Benefits of Lemons
There’s a good reason that lemonade is the drink of choice during the hotter months of the year too. it has so many health benefits for you, as long as you’re not grabbing the convenient flavored lemon drink from the grocery store, or adding in a ton of refined white sugar. Honey itself adds a good dose of vitamins to your drink.
One of the best health benefits of lemons and a pretty darn good reason to drink homemade lemonade during the summertime is that it promotes hydration. As most people don’t like the taste of water on its own, but will drink it flavored with lemon, lemons might just help reach your water intake goals for the day.
Lemons are also high in vitamin C, which alone has tons of health benefits. First of all vitamin C is an antioxidant that’s great for brain function, giving you energy, and protecting your body from illness. It’s even great for your skin and hair.
“A study published in the American Society for Clinical Nutrition concluded that people who consumed more vitamin C have less risk of wrinkled and dry skin” (Healthline). And the extra water in your system doesn’t hurt to improve your skin and hair stay hydrated.
If you really enjoy drinking lemonade, this could also help you with weight loss. When you feel hungry during the day, chances are you are just thirsty. Drinking more will fill up your body and give it the water it needs without giving you the calories. And on top of that, “a study published in the Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition showed that polyphenol antioxidants found in lemons significantly reduced weight gain caused by a high-fat diet in mice. In addition, insulin resistance was improved” (Healthline).
There are so many more benefits, but you get the picture!
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I even used my leftover lemons and lemon peels to make a homemade all-purpose cleaner for our home. Lemon is great for cutting grease and is an anti-bacterial. With leftover lemon peels, you can also make lemon oil and lemon extract that can be used in your foods for a natural flavoring, or in your laundry for a nice scent and for its anti-bacterial properties.
There are so many great ways to use leftover lemon peels in your home. Stay tuned for some great recipes!
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