Strawberry Basil Lemonade
Homemade summer lemonade with fresh strawberries, basil, and lime, without refined sugar.
- Preparation
- 15 min
- Cook/bake time
- –
- Total
- 45 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
- 105 kcal
- Servings
- 4 glasses
- Prep
- 15 min
- Resting
- 30 min
Only 15 min of that is hands-on – the rest takes care of itself.
Homemade summer lemonade with fresh strawberries, basil, and lime, without refined sugar. The basil gives the fruity lemonade a surprising freshness that belongs to summer evenings on the patio. Ready in 15 minutes, sweetened with honey or agave.
Why this works
The aromatic compounds of basil sit in oil glands on the leaf surface and are volatile. Briefly pressing them opens the glands, while long steeping or heating drives out the fine notes and leaves the bitter tannins behind. The strawberries need little sweetness because their sugar content increases with ripeness while the acidity decreases at the same time. You should therefore always sweeten after tasting, never just by following the recipe.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Purée the strawberries
Wash the strawberries and remove the green hulls. Purée them finely together with the lime juice and the agave syrup. Go ahead and taste the mixture, because very ripe strawberries often need hardly any additional sweetness.
- 2
Incorporate the basil
Add the basil leaves and purée them only very briefly. If you blend them for too long, the flavor becomes grassy instead of fresh, so a few seconds are completely sufficient.
- 3
Let it steep
Chill the syrup for 30 minutes so that the fruit and herbs can combine in peace. If you like it clear, strain it through a fine sieve afterwards, and if you love the little pieces, just leave them in.
- 4
Pour over
Distribute the syrup among glasses with plenty of ice cubes and top up with ice-cold sparkling water. Garnish each glass with fresh basil and a few strawberry slices. Stir gently once, and your summer lemonade is ready.
Our best tips
- Very ripe, dark red strawberries hardly need any sweetener, so taste first, then sweeten.
- The syrup keeps covered for 3 days in the fridge, perfect for spontaneous visitors.
- Ice cubes made from strawberry purée do not water down the lemonade and look spectacular.
Tasty variations
As a cocktail
Add 4 cl of gin or white rum per glass, and the summer drink is ready.
With mint
Replace the basil with fresh mint for a non-alcoholic strawberry mojito vibe.
Nutrition facts
| Calories | 105 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 19 g |
| – of which sugar | 16 g |
| Fat | 1 g |
| Fiber | 4 g |
Where the 105 kcal come from
per serving
Calculated from the ingredients – how we do it
We add up reference values for every ingredient and divide by the number of servings. These assumptions are baked in:
- Reference values per 100 g – for the raw ingredient, exactly as listed.
- Tinned goods count at drained weight, bone-in meat at purchase weight: you eat about 70 per cent of a chicken thigh and leave the rest.
- Water evaporates as you cook. The energy stays in the pot, the weight does not – so the figure is per serving, not per 100 g of finished dish.
- Anything listed without a quantity – “salt and pepper” – is not counted.
A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use frozen strawberries?
Yes, they are especially aromatic when thawed because frozen goods are harvested ripe. The lemonade will be slightly thinner with them.
How do I make a syrup to store from this?
Briefly boil the purée with 100 g of sugar and fill it hot into sterile bottles. It keeps for 4 weeks when chilled.
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