Fresh Cherry Lemonade with Lychee

Refreshing, easy-to-make, and delicious fresh cherry lemonade with lychee! This cherry lemonade, made from scratch with fresh ingredients, is a perfect thirst quencher that you will love to have not only during summer but all year long!

After a small break, I am back with my cherry recipes! We picked many cherries (16 pounds) this season, and we made some cherry jam and cherry chutney. Now it’s time for a refreshing drink – cherry lemonade. I love pink lemonades, and I have already shared lemon curd lemonade with rose syrup. This time I thought of adding fresh cherries to make my pink lemonade. Let’s get straight into the details and procedure. 

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Steps involved
• Different ways to use the cherry syrup
• Dietary specification and yield
• Storing suggestions 
• Fresh homemade cherry lemonade recipe with step by step pictures
• Recipe notes
• More cherry recipes
• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

We need five ingredients for making this cherry lemonade, and here they are.

Sugar and water for the sugar syrup – I went with an equal amount of water and sugar to prepare simple sugar syrup. You can use sweeteners of your choice. Please refer to the recipe notes for details.

Cherries – I have used a mix of fresh dark sweet cherry and some sour ones. I didn’t use any cherry pitter, and I went with the knife method for pitting the cherries. I have explained how I remove the seeds in the previous post, but here it is again.

Wash the cherries and pat them dry. Then place them on a cutting board and, using a large knife, i.e., the chef’s knife, press/mash on the cherry until it opens. Next, open the fruit apart partially to reveal the pit and discard the pit. Finally, chop the fruit roughly and use it in the chutney.   

Lychee – An optional ingredient, but it adds a floral and sweet flavor to this lemonade. 

Lemon juice: You need ¼ to ⅓ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice. You can add more or less as per your taste preference. I highly recommend freshly squeezed lemon juice but no harm in using bottled ones. 

Steps involved

There are three main steps involved in making this cherry lemonade. It’s pretty straightforward and effortless. 

1. First, we need to prepare the sugar syrup
2. Then we need to make cherry concentrate or the syrup by blending all the ingredients.
3. Finally, prepare the cherry lemonade with the concentrate.

Different ways to use the cherry syrup

While you can use cherry syrup to make this lemonade, you can also make several other recipes. Here are a few ideas.

• You can use this syrup to make any mocktails or cocktails.
• Blend the syrup with ice cubes to make some cherry slushies.
• Blend the syrup with yogurt and add to popsicle molds and freeze for a creamy cherry-yogurt popsicle.
• Or mix it with coconut water and add to popsicle molds and freeze for a simple vegan popsicle.
• While making the cherry lemonade, you can use sparkling water or soda and make a fizzy drink. 

This is not the end of the list. But let me stop here. If you have other recipe ideas with this cherry syrup, please let me know via the comments.

Dietary specification and yield

It’s a simple vegan cherry lemonade. But make sure to use vegan sugar! With the below measure, you get over 2.5 cups of cherry syrup. And with that, you can easily make eight servings (8 oz) of cherry lemonade.

Storing suggestions 

The cherry syrup or concentrate stays well for up to one week in the refrigerator. You can also freeze and use it all year long. 

Now without any further ado, let’s see how to make this cherry lemonade.

Fresh homemade cherry lemonade recipe with step by step pictures

Prepare the sugar syrup.

• In a saucepan, combine ½ cup of water and ½ of sugar and bring it to a gentle simmer over medium heat and stir as required.

• When the sugar dissolves, let it cool completely. 

Prepare the cherry concentrate/syrup.

• Add the sugar syrup, pitted cherries, lychee, and lemon juice.

• Blend it until smooth. And that’s it. The cherry concentrate or the syrup is ready. Store this in an air-tight container. I did not strain the mixture.

Prepare the cherry juice/lemonade.

• Mix ⅓ cup of the prepared cherry syrup or the concentrate with ⅔ cup of water (1 part of cherry syrup and 2 parts of water) and mix well. Add ice cubes and lemon wedges and serve right away.

Recipe notes

• Adjust the amount of sugar and lemon juice as per your preference. As we prefer sweet juice, I went with a little over ¼ cup of lemon juice. Depending upon the lemon and cherry variety, adjust the measure.
• Lychee is entirely optional. It adds floral -refreshing flavor, and we love it. Give it a try with lychee if you can source it but skip it if you can’t. 
• I did not strain the cherry syrup after blending. We love the bit and pieces of skin. For a smooth juice, you can strain the cherry syrup.
• Also, adjust the ratio of water to cherry syrup as per your taste. The above measure worked perfectly well for us, and I did not add any additional sugar or lemon juice before serving.
• Instead of sugar, you can use sweeteners of your choice like monk fruit sugar or stevia. If using maple syrup or honey, add them while blending, and no need to make sugar syrup. Make sure to add ½ cup of plain water while blending. 

More cherry recipes

If you are looking for recipes with fresh cherries, then check these out. 

Loved this recipe?

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📖 Recipe