The Best Easy Healthy Sugar-Free Lemonade
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This healthy sugar-free lemonade recipe is super simple to make, uses just a few wholesome ingredients, and is the perfect balance of tangy and sweet. It helps you stay hydrated and healthy on hot summer days, and all throughout the year!
Lemonade is known by many as the perfect summertime drink, but for me, it’s my all year round favorite drink.
This healthy lemonade is of course great to have on a hot summer day, but it’s also a great low calorie way to stay hydrated and also to stave off sweet cravings without all the added sugar. It’s also loaded with nutrition from vitamin C to minerals to phytonutrients.
Why This Is the Best Healthy Lemonade. Period.
In my opinion, I think this is the best healthy lemonade out there, and possibly the best lemonade period. Here’s why.
- It’s the easiest.
- It’s super flexible (as a most of my recipes) to help you choose whatever ingredients you would like to use for your diet.
- It uses basic ingredients that many people will already have in their pantry. No need to shop for exotic sweeteners.
- It’s frugal. While you can choose to use more expensive sweeteners, there’s no need.
- It’s the perfect balance of sweet and sour.
- It has healthy whole food ingredients: no white sugar and no icky additives.
- Finally, that added extra something: a dash of salt. It makes all the difference.
Ingredients
Here’s a short list of ingredients you’ll need. For the full details, see the recipe card below.
- water
- bottled or fresh lemon juice
- sweetener of choice (I prefer pure stevia extract)
- salt
Directions
Here are the basic directions. For the full directions, scroll down to the recipe card below.
- 1. Squeeze the lemons (if using fresh lemons).
- 2. Add lemon juice to the pitcher. Add water.
- 3. Add sweetener. Stir to combine.
- 4. Add ice to the pitcher, if desired.
- 5. Garnish, if desired.
Why Make Your Own Sugar-free Lemonade
Clean Ingredients
What I don’t love about regular lemonade is how much sugar it has in it. And that’s not to mention the not-so-savory ingredients in packaged lemonade drinks and powders like the ever-popular Country Time Lemonade. Get a load of this list:
high fructose corn syrup, modified cornstarch, glycerol ester of rosin, sodium benzoate, potassium sobate, calcium disodium EDTA, and yellow #5.
No thanks.
There’s been mercury detected in high-fructose corn syrup due to the means of processing, and sugar is now being linked to all sorts of health issues.
Make this instead and be in total control of the ingredients.
Save Money
Take a look at your grocery bill and see how much you are spending on drinks: sodas, sweet drinks, and “healthy waters”?
By making your own drinks like this lemonade, you can treat your whole family to a wonderful summery drink without breaking the bank. This is one of the best tips I know of for saving on your grocery bill, but this list of tips for healthy grocery shopping on a budget has a lot more.
Consume Fewer Calories
I focus on nutrition rather than calories, but sodas and juices are pretty much full of empty, sugar-laden calories that have been implicated as part of the cause of our obesity epidemic. Some brands of lemonade in the grocery store have 29 grams of sugar per serving; that’s a lot!
If you’re hoping to control your weight, it’s a good idea to restrict these sugar-laden drinks. Plus, I’d rather splurge on a healthy dessert than drink a soda. To quote my aunt, “I’d rather eat my calories than drink them.”
How to Store
If you’d like to have this stevia lemonade in the fridge at the ready, just mix the ingredients together, adding the ice when ready to serve. It should be kept in the fridge for about 3-5 days.
Recipe Notes, Tips, and Substitutions
Lemon Juice
Use more or less lemon juice as you’d like. 1/8 cup lemon juice is the equivalent of the juice from 1 lemon so use that approximation if using fresh lemons.
Sweeteners
You can use any sweetener you like for this lemonade. Traditional lemonade is usually made with regular sugar, but I love using pure stevia extract because it’s so easy, inexpensive, dissolves easily, is readily available, and doesn’t affect blood sugar.
A liquid sweetener (like liquid stevia or this sugar-free simple syrup) is the next best option since it dissolves easily.
If you’re not eating low-carb or keto, honey and maple syrup are great options. For those, you’ll need one-third to one-half less. This post on baking with honey has more information.
Other low-carb sweeteners can be used to make a keto lemonade, but if they’re granulated, powdering the sweeteners first is key so they dissolve well.
FAQs
How many tablespoons of lemon juice is in one lemon?
A typical lemon has 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. You can either use that approximation when making this recipe (or measuring lemon juice for any recipe that uses it). I recommend squeezing the lemon juice into a bowl, and then using a measuring spoon from there.
Is sugar-free lemonade good for you?
That depends on what you think of any given sugar substitute used in processed sugar-free lemonade and what your definition of sugar-free is.
I don’t like the artificial sweeteners used in most store-bought sugar-free lemonades like Nutrasweet (aspartame), Splenda (sucralose with additives), and acesulfame potassium. However, I like and use a monk fruit sweetener, allulose, xylitol, but mostly stevia extract.
Can you use ReaLemon product for making sugar-free lemonade?
You can, but I don’t recommend it. That so-called “lemon juice” like “ReaLemon®” and similar knockoffs are loaded with stuff including preservatives that aren’t good for you.
Can you use Meyer lemons to make this lemonade?
Yes, just keep in mind that those cute little lemons are sweeter and less acidic than traditional lemons, so your lemonade will be less sour, so you might need less sweetener.
How to Make a Single-Serving Glass
Below are the full instructions for making a pitcher of this low-carb lemonade. For those times when you just want one glass, here are the ingredients for that:
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar equivalent sweetener
More Healthy Lemon Recipes
For more healthy ways to enjoy the taste of lemon, try these:
- Easy Sugar-Free Strawberry Lemonade – the perfect easy strawberry lemonade mix alternative
- Whole Lemon Lemonade – another lemonade option, this one includes an extra nutritious boost from the peel and all.
- Lemon Smoothie – super refreshing. Literally like sunshine in a glass!
- Gluten-Free Lemon Tarts – delicious tartlets filled with Sugar-Free Lemon Curd
Homemade Sugar-Free Lemonade
Ingredients
- 8 cups water (64 ounces)
- 1 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed or bottled)
- 1/4 teaspoon pure stevia extract (or equivalent to 1 cup sugar (see notes)
- 1/16 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pour water into pitcher.
- Add lemon juice and stevia or other sweetener.
- If using a granulated sweetener, dissolve it first by heating it with 1/2 cup water until fully dissolved. Then add to the remaining water.
- Stir, add ice cubes and garnish with fresh fruit or mint, as desired, and enjoy.
Notes
- Lemon Juice: Use more or less to taste. About 1/8 cup equals the juice of 1 lemon.
- Sweeteners: Use your preferred sweetener. I like pure stevia extract since it’s easy to use, dissolves well, and doesn’t affect blood sugar.
- Liquid sweeteners (like liquid stevia [store-bought or homemade] or sugar-free simple syrup) also work well.
- Honey or maple syrup can be used if not low-carb—use about 1/3 to 1/2 less. For granulated low-carb sweeteners, powder first so they dissolve smoothly.
- Ice Cube Alternatives: Frozen fruit or frozen cucumbers work great for this drink.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
Delicious but too watered down the recipe needs double the lemon. Bet it would be delish with soda water or vodka too ?. I used 4 Stevia packets but mixed them in a bit of hot water first to dissolve them fully so there was no grainy texture.
Hi Ness. I just updated the post – thanks for reminding me and great tip. I have been meaning to recommend using more lemon juice b/c I like it that way myself now! I never really use stevia packets but that is a great idea for any granulated sweetener.
Hi again – I just realized that I did have that tip about dissolving the sweetener in there already :)!
RESPONSE TO CYNDI… Making sure children have nutritious food is stealing their childhood??? parents “controlling” their children is wrong???? not controlling children & letting them do whatever they want is what should be done???? that is why their are so many out of control kids, that turn into out of control adults!!!! for the 1st time ever, children have a shorter life expectancy then their parents!! you don’t see something wrong with that??? you are what is wrong with the world today!!!!!
The whole attitude of it’s wrong giving children nutritious food .. that they should be given things that have no nutritional value AND in fact have been shown to be detrimental to health is what is IDIOTIC!!!! so they should just have alcohol, cigarettes, heroin, cocaine & whatever other idiotic thing you think they should have is ok???? those things ALL used to be promoted as being healthy for young & old alike… not letting children have them would in your eyes be depriving them of childhood???????????? After all, not letting them have those things in just “controlling them” to use your words!!! you are such an IDIOT for not giving kids the nutrition they NEED & REQUIRE to grow & flourish!!!! & instead support detrimental to their health things!!!
Wow – so much sweetness! 8-O/
I squeeze half a lemon (from our tree) into a 1.25 litre bottle of Soda-stream water and we love it. Lemons have more natural sugar than oranges, so our kids are used to the tangy taste. They are allowed to have Sprite (etc) when they go out with friends, but actually don’t like the “sticky” feeling of all that sugar. Unsweetened lemonade for the win!
We love our soda stream! I’m a little confused though – oranges in fact have much more sugar than lemons. I so wish I had a lemon tree – jealous :).
I was under the impression that if Stevie is white it is not real stevia . So can you give me some input in that ? I put leaf stevia in water bottled water and put it in the refrigerator for a few days . I had to use much more than 1/4 of a teaspoon . But it was okay ,
White stevia is refined. I use refined stevia that is processed with water only.
At first I followed the recipe as written. Using 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice made a lemonade that barely had a lemony flavor (too watered down). I like a bit of tanginess in my lemonade. In the end I used 1 cup juice and additional sweetener (both erythritol and stevia) and then it was just right.
Adding grapefruit juice gave it a nice twist too! Next time I will try using seltzer water for a soda like effect.
Oh yum!!! I will try this!!
This looks to be a fantastic recipe, but do NOT use xylitol as it is extremely poisonous to dogs. It can cause complete liver failure within 12-24 hours and your dog would die, especially a small dog. I know as my dog swallowed a piece of gum and within 8 hours, she was lethargic, unable to walk, etc. Therefore, she was at the vet on IV for four days and it took her another six weeks to get well. Xylitol is a sweetener which humans can process, but not dogs. So be careful
HI Susan. Yes, that is true. Of course there are other things that are toxic to dogs and cats as well – like raisins and grapes. Thanks for reading and sharing :).
You are right to TEACH your children and HELP them make the right choices I am figuring this out at 53 So many of the things we put into our body has horrible reprocussions on our health I went on a low carb diet years ago and got used to using artificial sweeteners and I have always been confused to know what to buy and the other ones are cheaper that is the problem in most cases is the price of good things but in the long run it is more cost effective to spent the extra money and buy what is healthiest choice. Your health is worth so much more than the money you save. I also want to add that sugar is poison to us. If a mouse knew it was eating poison and was going to kill him with a miserable death “do you really think he would eat it?”
Exactly. Thanks for commenting and for reading!
Thank you for this delicious lemon aide recipe the family loves it. I can’t wait try some your other recipes. .
So glad you enjoyed it! I hope the others work for you as well.
Hi, i know this is most likely a stupid question, but i have a 4oz. bottle of NuNaturals NuStevia white stevia powder i bought at a health food store. Im a newbee….So no where on the bottle does it say extract, so have i messed up and bought the wrong thing ? And after doing all this reading i looked on the back and the first thing i saw was Maltodextrin~~~~oops here next to the Maltodextrin it says, stevia extract but as i read on it says the Maltodextrin is to help with the measuring … I am a bit slow and sort of have a little more of a hard time understanding things, would you please try and help me with this before i go buy more ? I am so trying to undo a lot of damage done to me by my mom filling me with junk foods day in and day out as a child causing me to be extreme obese when i was small…. (and still battle every day of my life) So could you post a picture or something showing just exactly what you buy ? I just cant Thank You enough . I am so glad i have found you, God Bless and keep up the awesome work you do <3
….
Hi there. I don’t buy any stevia with maltodextrin in it. I only buy the pure stevia extract. There is a link in the post and I have some in this post as well. I am trying out other brands too but I like that one. Welcome and hope to see you around again! I had a lot of health issues from bad diet too so I’m happy my experience can help others. https://wholenewmom.com/kitchen-tips/stevia-what-it-is-and-how-to-use-it/
Unfortunately, NuNaturals Nustevia Pure White Stevia Extract now has “Natural Flavors” listed under “Other Ingredients”. :/ Kal has added maltodextrin to their “pure” stevia. Have you found any brands that are pure?
I have talked w/ them about their natural flavors and they told me that they are all food ingredients. I would have to look up the specifics . I typically use their Reb99 product. There are others that I use. I hope to do a post on them as well.
Maltodextrin is commonly used as a filler, but is a BAD addition to any food & should be avoided. It can cause GI upset, bloating &/or diarrhea in many people. The source for maltodextrin varies… it can be corn, wheat, potato, or rice. Gluten intolerant beware!!
Thanks for this! I should add, however, that there is some maltodextrin from cassava that I think is fine. Thanks for reading and for commenting!
you are a freaking nut let your kids be kids, and the “mercury” in high fructose is so minimal that it barely registers. for got to mention that point in your highlights didn’t ya. stevia??really??? I really detest people that do this to their children .steal their child=hood because they found something they can control
Hi Cyndi. There are a lot of other issues w/ HCFS besides the mercury. This post at Huffington Post tells more details. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/high-fructose-corn-syrup-dangers_b_861913.html Maybe you would like to address your accusations to that author as well. I think my concerns are well founded.
What do you think is wrong with stevia, may I ask? I don’t feel that caring for my kids’ health is “stealing” my kids childhood. In fact, I think I may be securing it and giving them a much healthier future. Have you noticed the incredible increases in diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cancer, and more? Much of this is due to the toxins in our food and environment. Perhaps you haven’t been touched by it personally yet, but for those of us who have, we know the benefits of changing to a more whole food diet.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my response. Thank you.
Shesh, no kidding. I *wish* I had not acquired a taste for junk food and sugary sodas when I was young. I’d be in much better health today! If your kids grow up without it, they won’t even miss it as adults, I don’t think.
Same here!
I was raised on sweet tea, which gave me a sweet tooth to this day that is hard to control. Later I tried to switch to soda pop which had High Fructose Corn syrup sweeteners. Now I am severely insulin resistant & pre-diabetic but while keeping my A1C down between 5.8 and 6.2, I still have advancing symptoms of Diabetes, which I have been unable to stop and reverse. I am extremely ill, but still functioning. I have studied health to try to reverse it for 11 years and the only thing left to me are extremes – long fasts and liver flushes to try to help my health which I am about to try to do soon. I sure wish my parents would have made healthier choices for themselves and us kids – my parents died horrible deaths and my brother who still uses sugar is so sick that he will probably die soon, within the year, and his death will be horrible too, because he is going through really bad things now. Gastroparesis (paralyzing muscles in the stomach which doesn’t allow digestion and seems to go all the way down through to his bladder too – loss of bladder function) along with many other things. I don’t want to go through those horrible things! I am trying to figure it all out and I am unable to drink anything except juiced vegetables, water and water with lemon squeezed in it – any sweetener causes me trouble. And generally, I am often dehydrated because of it. Please don’t bad-mouth a mom who is trying to help keep her child healthy! It may save their life when they are older.
Ugh. I am so sorry you are dealing with this. Can you use pure stevia extract?
Stevia is the only thing I could use but my taste buds don’t like it very much, I’ve tried several brands, and it really makes me hungry from the sweet taste. I use it from time to time but it is better for me to stay away from any sweetener, so I go without a sweetener except when I just have to have something. My taste buds are doing a lot better because of it.
Interesting. Glad you figured out something that works for you!
Sabrina, you should do some research on the Ketogenic Diet. It could really help you.
Wow Cyndi!
I wish I’d had healthier options as a child. Not blaming my parents, we just didn’t know. HFCs is horrible for us, there is a reason other countries don’t allow it. I am now having to go to functional specialist to get my body back in sync. Gmo, HFCs should be banned in our foods.
I was looking for a Keto lemonade recipe and came across this post. I can’t believe Cyndi, I feel she needs to be educated in food and the ultimate price our children pay if they don’t learn how to eat healthy. With the food chain so heavily polluted and degenerative diseases not to mention Cancer is now prevailant in our societies. My daughter is 9 healthy, mentally physically, spiritually and certainly is enjoying every aspect of her childhood.
Perhaps we should have a praying session to help Cyndi have a healthy home and family?
Anyhoos many thanks for the recipe great blog ??
Ignore the haters ?
Thanks for the kind words and hope you like the Lemonade! It’s a fave here! We are paying a HUGE price for our kids not eating healthy. I’m convinced it’s the main reason for all of the mental illness and disease that is rampant now. That and toxins everywhere. Take care and hope to see you around again!