This Strawberry Lemonade Vodka Cocktail is a sweet-tart and boozy sip for a hot day. It's easy to make and supremely refreshing.
This drink is as delicious as it is pretty. I mean, just look at that color! And as far as I'm concerned, strawberries and lemons were meant to be together. It's made by the pitcher, so it's easy to enjoy at cookouts and parties. Or heck, it's also just nice to make a big batch so that you have a refreshing supply of strawberry lemonade for yourself in the fridge for the entire week.
Looking for more cocktails made with vodka? Try my Vodka Collins and Dirty Shirley Cocktail! This Vodka Sunrise is another great choice, too!
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🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
It is delicious. This drink is sweet, tart, and completely delicious.
It's easy to make. All you need to do is add some vodka to homemade strawberry lemonade!
It's perfect for summertime sipping. It's refreshing and the color screams "summer"!
💭 What is a Strawberry Lemonade Vodka Cocktail?
This drink is giving tropical. It's giving summertime.
Despite this drink's impressive appearance, it's really easy to put together. Basically, it's just delicious, homemade strawberry lemonade + vodka.
It's really easy to whip up a batch of homemade lemonade, and just as easy to flavor it with a homemade simple syrup. It really is worth all of the squeezing that you have to do. And if you pick up a citrus juicer, it really doesn't even take that much effort.
From there, you just add some vodka and fun garnishes!
📝 Ingredients
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed, please! This recipe calls for quite a bit of lemon juice, so it will be tempting to use store bought lemon juice. Please don't! The flavor just doesn't compare to freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Water: Plain old water is fine.
- Strawberry simple syrup: You can use use store bought syrup (I like Torani brand syrups) or homemade strawberry simple syrup.
- Vodka: I used Ketel One, but use whatever you like to drink.
- Garnishes: I garnished my drink with sliced strawberries, lemon wheels, and sprigs of fresh mint.
👩🏻🍳 How do you make this drink?
To start out, you'll squeeze up a batch of homemade lemonade. I know what you're thinking. "Why would I make lemonade when I can just buy a bottle at the store?" It's not an unreasonable question! But trust me here. When you make your own, it's super fresh, really delicious, and you can control the sweetness.
Speaking of sweetness, you're going to sweeten and flavor your lemonade with strawberry simple syrup. It also gives your drink that gorgeous pink color that you can see in the photos.
From there, you'll just add some plain vodka to the pitcher and give it all a stir. Easy peasy.
When you are ready to pour individual glasses of this cocktail, I really like to fill the glasses with ice and slip some thin slices of strawberry and lemon wheels down between the ice and the glass. That way, you can see them through the glass even after you pour the drink into the glass. I also decided to garnish the glasses with sprigs of fresh mint from my garden.
The garnishes aren't required, but I think that they really add something to the drink. I mean, look at how pretty they are!
❓ FAQs/Tips and Tricks
Yes, if strawberry isn't your thing, you can swap out the strawberry simple syrup in favor of another flavor. Check out all of my syrup recipes for some inspiration and options.
I mean, technically no. You can use store bought if you really want. However, I strongly recommend using fresh lemon juice. The flavor will be much brighter, fresher, and overall much better.
Yes! You can make it up to 1 day ahead of time. Just combine all of the ingredients (minus the garnishes; do those right before drinking it) in a pitcher and store the lemonade in the fridge.
Sure can! Just omit the vodka.
🔗 More strawberry-forward recipes
If you're more in the mood to chew your strawberry goodness, try these 4th of July Strawberries or some delicious Strawberry Freezer Jam!
🔗 Other lemonade drinks and fruity cocktails
- Sparkling Tuscan Lemonade Cocktail from Sweet Tea and Thyme
- Blueberry Lemonade - A Gin Cocktail from Gastronom
- Pineapple Mai Tai from Mitten Girl
- Watermelon and Passionfruit Mezcal Margaritas from The Margarita Mum
✨ Recipe
Strawberry Lemonade Vodka Cocktail
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups strawberry simple syrup
- 2 cups plain vodka
- lemon wheels sliced strawberries, fresh mint, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the lemon juice, water, strawberry simple syrup, and vodka in a pitcher.
- Store in the refrigerator until you're ready to drink it.
- When you're ready to drink, pour the cocktail into glasses over ice.
- Garnish with lemon wheels, thinly sliced strawberries, and fresh mint, if desired.
Notes
- Omit the vodka if you'd prefer a non-alcoholic drink
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Nutritional information is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.
Jennifer
I made this recipe yesterday for my friend's retirement party. It was so good that, after a while, we stopped telling new guests about it so we didn't have to share! This is definitely going to be one of my new go to signature drinks for get togethers. It takes a hot minute to put together, but definitely worth the time.
Lauren Pacek
Hi Jennifer, I'm so glad that you liked this drink!! I agree that it takes a bit to prepare, but is totally worth it. Thanks so much for making it and leaving a review!