A delicious fruit lemonade recipe with no refined sugar, this Natural Cherry Lemonade is super easy for kids to help make and the perfect drink offering for your next summer party, BBQ – or just a special treat while hanging out on the porch.

Cherry Lemonade Recipe

Forget the sugar-laden cherry lemonades you can grab at the drive-thru.

This homemade cherry lemonade packs the same tart-sweet flavor combination without all of that added refined sugar. Plus, you can make an entire pitcher of it for about the cost of a single glass from a fast-food restaurant.

Whether you serve it plain with just a bit of ice, or go full-InstaGLAM like we did by topping it with a variety of fruits, it is the perfect drink option for any summer occasion: tailgating, BBQs, parties, or just hanging out with friends by the pool. (The bonus to all of those fruit toppings is they double as a healthy snack as you sip away on your refreshing lemonade.)

Store-bought lemonade can seem like an innocent drink offering in the summer, but after checking out the nutritional information for our favorite brand of lemonade, I was shocked to find out that an 8oz glass contained 40g of sugar! In comparison, an 8oz glass of Coca-Cola only has 27g of sugar. Crazy, right? Who would have thought that offering your child a glass of lemonade would be almost twice as much sugar as offering them a can of coke?!

This homemade cherry lemonade has 7g of sugar for the same portion size – and you can reduce it further by reducing the amount of maple syrup you add, if desired. Plus, it’s all natural sugars from the fruit and maple syrup which also comes with all of the vitamins and minerals of those ingredients.

You get about 1 cup of cherry juice from the recipe below (you can double or triple as needed), which will make about 16 servings of cherry lemonade. I keep the cherry juice in a mason jar in the fridge and just grab a tablespoon every time we want to make a fresh cup – but you can pre-mix a full pitcher and keep in the fridge (if you have the room – which we never do).

Cherry Lemonade Ingredients

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: prepare the syrup in advance by combining the maple syrup and cherry juice and storing in the fridge. You can also use sugar-free, natural fruit juice from the store.

How to Make Cherry Lemonade

Place cherries and water in a medium-sized saucepan.

Set the saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to simmer until liquid is reduced by about half, 5 minutes.

Strain out the cherries and save the cherry liquid. (They can be used for a smoothie, pie, or discarded.)

To make the lemonade:

Juice one lemon and place the juice in serving glass. (About 2 Tablespoons lemon juice.)

Pour in the cherry syrup and maple syrup and stir well.

Add the lemon halves to the glass, along with a handful of ice cubes, and then top with 1 cup water.

Garnish with additional fresh cherries, if desired, and serve immediately.

Pin this Easy Cherry Lemonade Recipe for your next summer get-together:

Grab your free printable for our homemade cherry lemonade:

This homemade cherry lemonade is one of my favorite recipes for summer parties. It’s quick, delicious and thirst-quenching, while avoiding unnecessary sugars.

For more healthy party recipes, check out our Clean Eating Onion Dip or our Honey-Glazed Peach and Chicken Kebabs recipe.