Homemade Lemonade Concentrate – Instant Pot, Stove Top

Homemade Lemonade Concentrate – All natural, 3-ingredients, super easy, homemade lemonade concentrate. Make it once and enjoy fresh lemonade year round!!

Amazingly easy, fail proof recipe for making homemade lemonade concentrate. Make this easy and fresh lemonade concentrate with no preservatives, no artificial flavoring, simply refreshing!

Perfect balance of sweetness and just the right amount of tanginess from the fresh lemons makes this the far best lemonade recipe you may have ever tried. Try this no fail recipe for making homemade lemonade concentrate and I bet you will never buy store bought lemonade again. Fresh as it gets!!

We all love lemonade  and I think there nothing compared to fresh and pure homemade lemonade. We love it so much that we could have it all year round. But many a times we don’t get fresh lemons and the store bought lemonade have so much preservatives and is overly sweet too.

I simply don’t understand why would you need any preservative, when lemons have been used as a preservative in so many things we make such as jams, preserves, pickles… something I just don’t simply get it.

While making homemade lemonade is super easy and requires almost zero prep time. Many a times we don’t get fresh lemons, especially when they are not in season. Well, that’s when this homemade lemonade concentrate comes in handy. I just make it twice a year and enjoy year round, this tangy, thirst quenching lemonade.

If you are like me who loves to entertain, then this is the perfect drink mix just right for you. You would be so glad that you have it handy and all you do is just dilute it with some water, add some ice and you have most amazing, refreshing lemonade to serve to your guests in no time.

My little one loves to stir up lemonade, specially when we have guests coming over and she would proudly take all the credit for making this delicious lemonade. It’s that easy, even kids can make it without any mess, any fuss!!! How cool it is?

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE LEMONADE CONCENTRATE

Absolutely love making this refreshing, tangy, thirst-quenching homemade lemonade concentrate this time of the year. With just the 3 ingredients you can make your very own homemade lemonade concentrate that is all natural, no preservatives, no artificial flavoring, absolute crowd pleaser fresh homemade lemonade concentrate with freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar and water.

Sharing my recipe for making homemade lemonade concentrate. I love to make this in my Instant Pot since I don’t have to baby sit this, but you can absolutely make this recipe on stove top as well.

INSTANT POT HOMEMADE LEMONADE CONCENTRATE 

Turn on the Instant Pot, add water and sugar into the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Close the instant pot with vent on sealing position.

Cook on Manual/Pressure cook mode (high) for 15 mins. Let pressure release naturally, around 15 mins. Open the instant pot carefully.

At this point the sugar is cooked through and you will see a nice sugar syrup consistency. The color of the syrup will be somewhat light amber color. Let this syrup come to a room temperature.

IMPORTANT:  Do not add lemon juice while the sugar syrup is HOT!!

Once the sugar syrup is at room temperature, add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Mix well and fill it in clean and dry glass bottle and refrigerate the concentrated lemonade mixture.

Mix 2 TBSP (or as per taste) of lemonade concentrate in a glass of water, mix, add some ice and enjoy this delicious homemade lemonade.

Note: The homemade lemonade concentrate stays fresh for around 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator.

If planning on freezing, divide the mixture into freezer safe containers or Ziploc bags and freeze it.  Thaw at room temperature, mix the required amount of lemonade concentrate into water, add ice and enjoy.

You can also freeze these in as ice cubes, which is what I do. Just drop couple of lemonade cubes into water and enjoy. this refreshing homemade lemonade!!

Note: The homemade lemonade concentrate can be frozen for up to 6 months.

TIPS FOR BEST LEMONADE CONCENTRATE

It’s important to use fresh, high quality ingredients when making jams, jellies, preserves or drink concentrate because you want the preserved product to be nice and fresh as well.

It is important that the lemons are good quality, juicy and full of flavors. Best, buy when lemons are in season.

Store bought lemonade comes with preservatives, artificial flavoring and are overly sweet. Making it at home we are keeping it absolutely natural, in its purest form.

Cooking the sugar syrup to right consistency is a key factor while make lemonade or any kind of drink concentrate. What you are looking for is a light amber color, this is when sugar is cooked through. Cooking further can result in sugar crystallization and leading to undesirable end product.

Freshly squeeze the lemon juice. Strain the juice using a fine mesh strainer. You may use little or no pulp depending upon your taste.

Note: I prefer pulp free lemonade, since my kids do not like pulp in their lemonade.

IMPORTANT: Use clean and dry equipment for juicing the lemons. This helps prevent any mold formation.

Types of sugar used for making the sugar syrup – refined sugar or white granulated sugar, brown sugar.

Do not use confectioners sugar (powdered sugar), as it contains cornstarch that does not dissolve in water. The syrup will turn cloudy or grainy.

Depending upon the type of sugar used white or brown, the color of the sugar syrup will also be vary.

Depending upon the amount of pulp added, the tanginess will vary. More pulp result in more tangy lemonade. Also the color of the lemonade with pulp will be more bright yellow as compared to with less pulp or no pulp.

Use clean and dry glass bottles to store lemonade. Never store lemonade concentrate in a metal container, as the acids in lemons will interact with metal, leading to serious health issues. I think it also takes some taste of the metal it is stored in.

Sugar syrup thickens a little once it cools down and also upon refrigeration.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW TO KNOW IF THE SUGAR IS COOKED RIGHT

While I personally never use a thermometer for this, I basically eye ball it. One of the ways you can say that the sugar syrup is cooked properly is by its color – light amber color. This is also called Clear-Liquid Stage. Basically, at this temperature all the water has boiled away and resulting in simple sugar syrup or sugar concentration.

In addition to the color test, you can do this test also. Take some sugar syrup onto a plate. Wait for few secs for it to cool down. Now take some syrup on one your fingers and rub it between the two fingers in a circular motion, it will feel greasy on contact. These two simple old techniques have worked for me always without using any candy thermometer.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO USE LEMONADE CONCENTRATE

With this just one homemade lemonade concentrate you can make so many of your favorite drinks or even cocktails. I love to make fruit drinks/mock-tails using fresh seasonal fruits. Sharing some of the few variations of drinks that we absolutely love.

Be imaginative, little creative and stir up some amazing drinks this summer and enjoy with your loved ones. Do share a pic if you try this recipe. Would love to see your creations.

Old Fashioned Lemonade

Indian Style Lemonade

Minty Lemonade / mojito

Strawberry Lemonade Margarita

Kiwi Lemonade / mojito

Mango Lemonade

Pineapple Lemonade

Berry Lemonade

HOW TO STORE AND FREEZE LEMONADE CONCENTRATE

Homemade lemonade concentrate stays fresh for 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator.

Store the lemonade in a clean and dry glass bottle. Let the lemonade mix cool down completely and then transfer it into a glass bottle.

Homemade lemonade concentrate may be frozen for up to 6 months. I make ice cubes out of this mixture and store these lemonade cubes into freezer safe Ziploc bags/containers. Just throw in the cubes into a water and enjoy the freshest lemonade.

Alternatively you can divide the mixture into small portions and store it in freezer safe bags/containers for later use. Make sure to label/date the bags.

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