This Single-Serving Lemonade Recipe with lemon juice and sugar is easy to make in only 2 minutes. Use a sugar substitute like Splenda®️ to make sugar-free lemonade. This recipe is about the ingredients lemonade ratio, so you can make a glass or a gallon. It's perfect for one, two, or a crowd.
🍋Ingredients
Lemon juice—freshly squeezed or bottled (ReaLemon®️)
Sugar—regular sugar or substitute like honey or granular Splenda®️
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This is an easy recipe for homemade lemonade for one or a crowd. The recipe is just a ratio of 2 parts lemon juice to 1-2 parts sugar (to taste) to 5 parts water—make one glass of lemonade at a time or a pitcher. Always taste test and more sugar may be needed.
A glass of lemonade with regular sugar has 105 calories, but sugar-free lemonade with granular Splenda®️has 30 calories—a good fit for most healthy diets.
Relax and sip your glass of lemonade on a hot day, or serve it with any meal. I love it with beef, like grilled burgers or grilled strip loin steaks.
Lemonade ingredient ratio
I suggest starting with 1 part sugar, 2 parts lemon juice, and 5 parts water. Assume 1 cup of ice cubes is about ½ cup of water. Taste test and add more sugar or ReaLemon if needed.
Honey Lemonade
To make honey lemonade, honey is sweeter than sugar, so decrease the volume by 25% and dissolve it in hot water before combining it with other ingredients.
Fresh squeezed lemonade
Making fresh-squeezed lemonade only takes a bit more time to squeeze the lemons. For one 12 oz glass, generally use one large or two medium lemons.
Homemade Sugar-Free Lemonade
To make sugar-free lemonade, substitute the equalized amount of artificial sweetener for the sugar. Common sugar substitutes are sucralose (Splenda®), saccharin (Sweet n’ Low®), and aspartame (Equal®). Splenda Granulated Sweetener is a one-to-one substitute.
Two tablespoons of Splenda Granulated Sweetener is 12 calories vs two tablespoons sugar = 97 calories.
One Splenda Sweetener Packet is equal to 2 teaspoons of sugar.
If you use artificial sweeteners, you should discuss the risks and benefits with your doctor, considering your individual medical condition.
❓FAQs
Assume two tablespoons per medium-sized fresh lemon, but this will vary by the type and size of lemons. The general range for a medium-sized lemon is 2-3 tablespoons, while a large lemon may yield 4-5 tablespoons.
This varies by the size and shape of the cubes. A cup of ice cubes will be ½ to ¾ cup of water.
Raspberry Lemonade Variation
The Raspberry version is 206 calories with sugar and 36 calories with Splenda®️ in a total volume of about 2 ½ cups.
For the raspberry lemonade, first, make the tea in hot water, then add the sugar and ice.
1 Raspberry herbal tea bag
¼ cup Sugar or Granulated Splenda
¼ cup lemon juice
1 ½ cups boiling water
2 cups ice cubes
📖 Recipe
Single Serving Lemonade Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup lemon juice (ReaLemon®️) - or Juice of 2 medium or 1 large lemon
- 2-4 tablespoons sugar to taste - or Granulated Splenda®️
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup ice cubes
Instructions
- Mix lemon juice, with sugar and water. Add ice last.
- Taste test and add a splash of lemon juice or sugar if needed for your taste.
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Recipe Notes
- Assume one medium lemon will yield about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. However, this can vary from 2 to 3 tablespoons.
- Ice cubes will vary in the amount of water per cup of ice depending on size and shape. Assume ½ to ⅔ cup of water per cup of ice cubes.
- The nutrition is calculated as regular lemonade with sugar.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally published February 22, 2010, and updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Jean Whittaker says
Hello, You do not mention the calories per glass for the lemonade -- I know you
Use regular sugar or Splenda to decrease the calories by 70 calories per glass. This is just a ratio thing type recipe that is darn useful.
You do NOT say how many calories are in a glass of lemonade. I do not have the that information
Thanks,
Jean
DrDan says
Hi Jean,
Welcome to the blog. My math was 8 yrs old, and my references have improved. I didn't redo it when I combined the two recipes and re-edited the images.
So here is the math.
2023 NOTE: The recipe size was for a very large (24 oz cup) it is now set for a 12 oz glass.
1/4 cup Splenda = 24 cal vs 1/4 cup sugar = 194 calories
1/2 cup RealLemon = 24 calories
the tea and the water we will call zero.
The volume is a bit variable. The ice is probably 4-6 oz of water, depending on size so ice cubes and airspace in the cup.
So Regular Lemonade with Splenda will be 48 calories for a total volume of a little over 3 cups.
The Raspberry version with Splenda is 36 calories in a total volume of a little over 2 1/2 cups.
If sugar is substituted for Splenda, it adds 170 calories to the above numbers. The 70 was wrong.
The automatic calculation in the nutrition box does some rounding so it is 47 instead of 48 for the regular Splenda lemonade.
The post is updated.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
CookinsForMe says
I love homemade lemonade and make it during the warm months. I use Fiber fit sweetener (pure sucralose without the dextrose or maltodextrin of Splenda) and the juice of a real lemon, even throwing the lemon halves in the glass. Mmmm!
And thanks for telling me how to find the recipes. I'm computer literate but missed the 'more' on the pages.