Strawberry-Basil Lemonade Recipe
Email
Fresh strawberries and basil turn the drink kids love to make and sell into a sophisticated booze-free refreshment. Add plenty of ice or use an ice ring to keep it cold.
What to buy: Although bottled lemon juice works just fine in this recipe, it’s worth checking the refrigerated aisle for freshly squeezed lemon juice. If you’re feeling ambitious, squeeze the juice yourself (you’ll need about 14 lemons), straining out the pulp and seeds.
This recipe was featured as part of our Nonalcoholic Summer Sippers photo gallery.
INGREDIENTS
For the strawberry-basil syrup:
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 pound strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced 1/2 inch thick
- 3/4 cup tightly packed basil leaves
For the lemonade:
- 8 cups cold water
- 2 cups lemon juice, chilled
- Ice
- 1/2 pound strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced 1/2 inch thick, for garnish
- 1/4 cup tightly packed, blemish-free basil leaves, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
For the strawberry-basil syrup:
- Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Add the strawberries, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the strawberries have softened, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, add the basil leaves, and stir to incorporate. Cool to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl; discard the solids. Cover the syrup and refrigerate until ready to use.
For the lemonade:
- Pour the water, lemon juice, and 1 1/2 cups of the strawberry-basil syrup into a 3-quart pitcher or punch bowl and stir to combine. Taste and add additional strawberry-basil syrup as needed. Add ice and garnish with the sliced strawberries and basil leaves.
This looks delicious!!!
Works good with watermelon too
I just made this last night, it tasted really good. I love the combination of the strawberry and basil. I added roughly double the water because I thought the final product was too sweet and potent, and I left the basil leaf garnish out cause they didn't look so great when I added them. I squeezed the juice by hand, it only took 10 lemons to get 3c juice as opposed to the mentioned 20, you just have to know how to pick the good ones and roll them well before juicing. This would've been great with sparkling water substituting for the regular water.
These flavors are perfect together! A friend turned me on to the idea of adding basil to fruits. (Fruit kabobs are great with a bit of basil syrup drizzled over.) I would try the microwave for the strawberry basil syrup. I suspect you could keep the kitchen a little cooler that way; just microwave the sugar/water until piping hot, then let the basil and strawberries steep in it. (Or rewarm the mix a bit.) Can't wait to try this!