How to Make Homemade Lemonade Taste 10x Better
It's not an official title, but I'm pretty sure I'm Parade's summer drinks correspondent, at least for this year. In the last month or so, I've tried out six different summery drinks: the viral cracking latte, the Midwestern lemon shake up, a lime sherbet and Sprite float, the viral Fluffy Coke, iced tea sweetened with jam and I've even tried salting beer. The through line with all of these beverages? Lucky for me, there hasn't been a dud in the bunch.
Because my editors know that I'm on the beverage beat I wasn't surprised to get another summer sipper to sample. This time it was a new twist on lemonade that sounded very intriguing. You start with a basic lemonade recipe, but add one extra ingredient, vanilla simple syrup. Would this lemonade upgrade live up to the hype? There was only one way to find out.
Related: The Chef-Approved Way to Make the Best-Ever Strawberry Lemonade
How to Make Vanilla Lemonade
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
The inspiration for this drink was the fun recipe from food writer and cookbook author Ashely Rodrigez on Food52, but I definitely took some liberties with my version, though the general idea is the same: lemonade + vanilla.
Before you begin making this lemonade, make the secret ingredient—your vanilla bean simple syrup. Start by combining 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan, adding in about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (I used the popular Bourbon Vanilla Bean paste from Trader Joe's). Boil until the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes syrupy. Let cool, then place in a jar for easy use.
For the lemonade itself, I made a single serving by using a 16-ounce pint glass filled with ice, 4 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of my vanilla simple syrup (the rest, if not used for more lemonade, will definitely be used in my morning lattes). Stir it up and sip away.
Related: The Secret Ingredient for the Best-Ever Pink Lemonade
What I Thought About Vanilla Lemonade
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
You know that scene in Bridesmaids where Kristen Wiig's character is sipping on a fresh lemonade before going into the bridal shower and she shudders because it's so good? This is that lemonade—times 1,000. This was the most elegant upgrade to lemonade that I’ve ever experienced and there’s no going back now.
It was sweet, tart, refreshing and everything a summer lemonade should be. Vanilla and lemon are already classic combinations in baking, so why shouldn’t they be in your glass as well? The lemon juice has to be fresh—it gives your glass a little more zhuzh and nothing beats the tiny pieces of lemon floating throughout (it makes it more rustic, IMO). If I hadn’t made it myself, I would’ve definitely wondered what the magic ingredient was to make this frosty glass so darn delicious.
Side note: I tried this out with freshly squeezed lime juice too, and that might’ve been even better. It was like drinking vanilla Key lime pie in a glass, and it took all my strength not to make a full-on cocktail complete with br?léed marshmallow and a graham cracker crumble on top.
Make this one on repeat for the rest of the summer. You won't be sorry.
