Dragonfruit Lemonade

This Dragonfruit Lemonade is sweet and refreshing and ridiculously easy to make. Using frozen pink dragonfruit, this fruity lemonade has a gorgeous purple color. A homemade dragonfruit syrup is combined with freshly squeezed lemon juice and water then served over ice. It’s beautiful and so delicious!

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Why This Recipe is So Good 

• You can make a simple syrup or skip it! Simple syrups are great because you don’t have any sugar crystals at the bottom of your glass, they can be used to make mocktails and they store pretty well in the fridge. If you don’t want to make a syrup, just add the ingredients to a pitcher and stir!
• Dragon fruit is such an eye-catching fruit, and it makes the best drinks at home. Whether you found dragon fruit at the grocery store and weren’t sure what to do with it. Or you want to recreate Starbucks’ dragon fruit refreshers or Chick-fil-A’s dragon fruit lemonade, this fruit is so fun, colorful and makes delicious drinks at home using good-for-you ingredients. This lemonade is made with frozen fruit, sugar, water and lemon juice. No dyes, colorings, or artificial flavorings. 
• This tropical fruit is native to Mexico and South America and it tastes mildly like pears and kiwi fruit. Depending on the variety, the inside is red, white or yellow with pink or yellow skin. You can use fresh or frozen dragon fruit, but if you want a vibrant magenta color, use pink dragon fruit. 

Recipe Ingredients

Dragon fruit syrup – You can make a simple syrup by heating frozen dragon fruit with cane sugar and water or you can add the sugar and frozen dragon fruit into the pitcher with the lemonade, then stir to combine. Whichever method works for you!

Lemon juice – Freshly squeezed lemon juice makes all the difference to homemade lemonade. We use this citrus juicer because it makes juicing all the lemons so much easier. For this recipe, you need 6 – 7 large lemons, which is about 1 bag of lemons. 

Water and ice for serving

How to Make Dragonfruit Lemonade

All ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Dragon fruit simple syrup

Add sugar, water and frozen dragon fruit puree to a medium sauce pot. Cook on medium-low heat until the syrup has come to a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally to break up the dragon fruit puree. Once at a simmer, remove the pot from the heat, then allow it to cool to room temperature. The syrup will thicken as it cools. Use a fine mesh strainer to strain out the seeds or leave them in. 

Dragon fruit lemonade

Add lemon juice, water, and dragon fruit syrup to a large pitcher. Taste and add more dragon fruit syrup to your liking. Chill lemonade before serving or serve immediately over ice. Enjoy. 

Tips and Tricks

• Skip the dragon fruit syrup: Instead of making a dragon fruit syrup, you can add ¾ – 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup of frozen dragon fruit puree straight into the pitcher with the lemon juice and water. Stir until the sugar and dragon fruit puree have dissolved. Serve over ice. 
• Use frozen dragon fruit! If you want a brilliant pinkish/purple colored lemonade, use frozen pink dragon fruit puree or look for fresh pink dragon fruit in the produce aisle. Frozen pink dragon fruit can be found in most grocery stores in the frozen fruit section. I love to use the preportioned packets of fruit from this brand.
• Leave the seeds or strain them out: Dragon fruit has tons of edible, flavorless black seeds. I find they can look nice in the lemonade or mocktails, but you can totally strain them out using a fine mesh strainer. 
• Different flavors: Switch up the flavor of this lemonade by blending mango or pineapple chunks until smooth, then adding them to the lemonade for a delicious tropical drink. 

Looking For More Recipes?

• The Best Dragon Fruit Mocktail 
• Lime Passionfruit Mocktail
• Sparkling Limeade
• Strawberry Green Tea Lemonade
• Mint Ginger Lemonade with Homemade Mint Ginger Syrup
• Watermelon Mint Lemonade
• Blackberry Lemonade
• Mango Lemonade
• Cherry Limeade with Real Cherries

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